04/04/2017 South Today - Oxford

Welcome to South Today. up.

Coming up: Has passion to save health services

Market researchers claim they were intimidated by people

in Banbury as they carried out interviews about changes to the NHS.

Also: Troops leave Brize Norton in Oxfordshire for Estonia,

in a show of strength against Russia.

The 12-year-old who's become the youngest person

ever to play the organ for an Oxford University college.

A market research company has refused to return

to Banbury after alleging its staff were intimidated.

QA Research was doing face-to-face interviews as part of the NHS's

consultation on planned changes at the Horton Hospital.

The plans and the consultation process, which ends on Sunday,

Adina Campbell has been finding out how divisive the issue has become.

This was one many protests last year before maternity services

were temporarily downgraded at Banbury's Horton Hospital due

But more changes could be on the way, including fewer births

in Banbury and a reduction in acute services, adding to more controversy

It's claimed this intimidating behaviour took place

here in Banbury last month, where this market research company

had been doing face-to-face interviews with people

here in the town about proposed changes to the Horton Hospital.

As a result, the company claims of its staff had been intimidated.

It says it informed the police as well as Oxfordshire clinical

commissioning group, where it said it would not be coming

back to Banbury again to do this kind of survey.

I'm concerned that they're intimidated,

The reason being that we are really passionate about our health.

It's certainly created a lot of controversy,

If people feel strongly enough about something,

Campaigners have criticised the consultation process but deny

We approached the group to find out what they were doing,

They said they were carrying out a survey, but we couldn't take

part because they were targeting certain people.

Angry comments have also been written on the campaign

And as the consultation nears its end, some doctors have

raised concerns about what it describes as "potential

intimidation" if they're known to support the proposals.

Of course it's awful if people feel intimidated,

and it's very important that they are able to give

their views, particularly those with real knowledge of the system.

They can always do that via me, and via my questionnaire,

The consultation ends on Sunday and a judicial

For now, the Horton's future is still controversial and unclear.

A woman from Milton Keynes has been jailed for having

38-year-old Amanda Tomkins admitted a number of sexual offences,

including five counts of sexual activity with a male

A 50-year-old man from Swindon has been questioned on suspicion

of murder following the death of a baby.

The three-month-old was taken to the Great Western Hospital

ten days ago, but died at Bristol Children's

A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out this week.

250 soldiers have flown out of RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to join

It's Britain's largest NATO deployment in decades.

The soldiers' presence is designed to deter Russian

Hundreds of pairs of British boots on the move, brought in by bus

to Brize Norton this morning from their base camp in Bulford.

Their ride was already waiting on the runway as the UK moves troops

into the Baltic state of Estonia, part of an international force,

a demonstration of strength to their Russian neighbour.

There's a series of measures that Nato are activating at the moment

in order to deter that Russian adventurism that we have

The deployment of the battle groups is an element of that.

The 250 troops flying out of here today will join a similar

Eventually, there will be 800 UK troops there.

The country's largest contribution to a Nato deployment

Last week, these heavy duty green machines headed out ahead by boat.

Armoured vehicles supporting the 1100 soldiers being

stationed in Estonia for the next eight months.

Estonian troops, French troops, American troops.

Different nations, taking part in exercises in Poland as well.

It's important that we all band together, show

British troops will make up the bulk of the Nato force there,

joined by French, Estonian and Danish soldiers, too.

Officially, they are called and enhanced forward presence.

They are, though, a warning against any form of hostile

There were long delays around Oxford for much of the day after a lorry

It happened on northbound carriageway between Hinskey

The road fully re-opened just before 7 o'clock this evening.

The charity Oxfordshire MIND says there needs to be

more housing for people with mental health problems.

A shortage of supported housing and affordable homes means many

are stuck on waiting lists or in hospital wards

26-year-old Peter from Oxford suffers from bipolar disorder.

He was discharged from a mental health hospital six months ago,

and is now supported by Oxfordshire Mind to live

It's been good to have liberty and be free and have to that

transition to independent life, because it's very

The thing about recovery is you need to, each individual, move forward.

If we haven't got the space to move people forward, they're

How do we expect them to recover and get better?

The charity's celebrating its 50th anniversary and says a lot has

Here in Oxfordshire, the number of people being sent out

of the county for treatment is at a record low, but its chief

executive says there's still a shortage of housing.

We have a waiting list of people wanting to come into our housing,

Also people who are ready to move on, but there is no

We need more affordable homes, more bed spaces, the council needs

to make more space available, the simple fact is looking

after people in that way is much cheaper than having them

There is huge pressure for new homes across the board,

and MIND has been involved in the design of the new Barton

development on the edge of Oxford, with plenty of open spaces

and communal areas to improve people's wellbeing.

While there is more on offer now for people with mental health

problems than there was 50 years ago, there is still a lack of money

and charities are sceptical about promises from government

A 12-year-old boy has become the youngest person

ever to play the organ for an Oxford University college.

Louis Moss from Chipping Norton has gained a scholarship to play

He's only been playing it for a year.

Louis has certainly struck the right note with the college,

and, alongside his school work, will be an organ scholar

Although still in practice mode, it won't be long until he's

performing up on the balcony, with an audience below.

At the moment I've just been pulling out stops and turning

pages and helping out with the undergraduate

But next term I'll be playing a few hymns

and a voluntary, a Bach Voluntary, which will be great.

Louis first began learning the difference between an octave

and a melody at the age of six when he took up playing the piano,

but at his local church he made the next step onto the organ.

It's thought he's only one of 750 young people in the UK

The scholarship could help boost the number of people playing

They don't have to be older chaps looking rather smart,

but they can just be young, fun people who are enjoying

an amazing instrument and all the possibilities

For now, it's practice, practice, practice.

And in the coming months, Louis will become the youngest known

person to play the organ for an Oxford College.

The weather is next and Alexis has the details.

Tomorrow will be a complete contrast as we start to see the sun make an

appearance once again. Overnight tonight with clearing skies it will

turn chilly in the countryside with lows of two Celsius. These are the

temperatures in our towns and cities. Lots of sunshine first thing

tomorrow, through the latter part of the afternoon the cloud will sink

southwards, turning the sunshine hazy. More cloud is expected

tomorrow afternoon damp sunshine. Temperatures will read double

figures with a light northerly wind. Tomorrow afternoon, temperatures

won't be as high as today, but it will still feel pleasant in any

brighter spells. High pressure will dominate on Thursday. We may start

on a cloudy note but things will brighten up as the day aggressors.

Temperatures may reach a high of 13 or 14 Celsius. A similar day on

Friday. Through the course of the rest of the week, tomorrow will be a

bright start, clouding over during the afternoon, but recent sunshine

through the morning. Thursday and Friday, brightening up to the

afternoon with a bit from the south, so we could get

to 18 or higher on Sunday. Now the national focus. Good evening,

things are looking good in the next few days, some pressure drifting in

from the Atlantic, bringing some finance settled with it. Just some

questions about the amount of cloud we will see under that. The cloud we

saw the sea links gave rise to a lovely sunsets are many areas. This

is the view from one of our weather watchers in Cornwall. Look at the

tones in the sky in Warwickshire this evening.

Here is