15/12/2011 South Today

Hello, I'm Sally Taylor. Welcome to South Today. In tonight's

programme: an investigation's underway after four people were

injured at a fireworks display. $NEWLINE A tough time for traders,

shoppers tighten their purse strings despite offers to tempt

them in. 40 years young, the Sussex charity

which has helped preserve sight in some of the poorest parts of the

world. Full metal racket, the young rock

band who are living the dream and the surprise that stunned them all.

The girls have been following me Spectators were left stunned after

an accident at a fireworks display in Dorset last night. Around six

rockets shot into the crowd at the event at Blandford Forum after a

box of fireworks malfunctioned. Four people suffered minor injuries,

but no-one was seriously hurt. Investigations into how it happened

have begun. Roger Finn has been speaking to a woman who caught the

whole thing on camera. It was meant to be the grand finale

to the Christmas Festival. Hundreds of people, including dunk children

gathered in the market place for a fireworks display. Set off from the

roof of a bank, Suzanne Patrick was phoning -- filming on her phone

when things went badly wrong. dangerous, I am a bit scared. It

was just Celtic, everybody was running and screaming. -- screaming.

Still scared, still shaking at 6 o'clock this morning when I got up

for work. Never experienced anything in my life like it. You

wondered if it would hit you, thinking somebody would get heard.

Once you light then you cannot stop it. They were just shooting down at

people, down the alleyway where kids were. I turned my back, I have

no idea how anybody didn't get hurt. The instant is being investigated

by Health and Safety Executive's and by Dorset trading standards.

Dorset Police said in the absence of malicious intent they will not

be initiating a formal investigation, today the first full

organisers said their thoughts were with those affected by the incident.

They also said it would be inappropriate to offer any further

comment until an investigation is complete. They spoke of a display

malfunction, and it is believed that the fireworks were known as a

cake garage. All lit by a single fused. It was meant to be the

happiest time of the Year, everybody celebrating. It's turned

into a disaster. $NEWLINE Christmas is just ten days away,

traditionally the busiest time of year for shops. But figures

released today appear to show many of us are keeping a tight rein on

our finances in the current economic climate. Official figures

show that retail sales fell by 0.4 per cent last month compared to

October figures. It brings to an end two months of growth. The

Office for National Statistics said that much of the decline was caused

by consumers cutting back on luxury items such as computers, mobile

phones, watches and jewellery. The drop is despite a large number of

special offers from retailers in an attempt to drum up pre-Christmas

trade. Concluding our look this week at the economy, our reporter

Alastair Fee is at the Oracle shopping Centre in Reading tonight.

Alastair.$$NEWLINE The family of a serving soldier who died after a

fight outside a Portsmouth Service. Footfall is up by 2.6 per

cent. They say it is because it has created an all round shopping

experience. His it is all about choice, how we shop and Wear. The

competition for our cash is greater than ever. At home, starting

Christmas shopping online. She counsels presents for her husband

and two young children. But to no shops still have their place.

look to see what is available then I will go and try something on.

That is how I will use it, to see what a shop has got. If I look for

dresses, I will look it up and see if I like it. Then I will go in to

try it on. The way we shop has changed, many town centres now

dominated by high street names. Easy parking and bars near by. This

shopping centre is one such success story. We are enjoying an

increasing number of people coming, we saw an increase of about 2.6 per

cent last month and we have seen about 1.1 million people coming to

our shopping centre over the last three weeks. That means they may

not be spending more, per head, but we are seeing more shoppers.

story is different on readings High Street, especially for independent

retailers. This has been trading for more than 100 years. It is

quite challenging at the moment, quite tight. I don't think it will

improve over the next few years. It will be challenging for five years.

If she has the time and money, a trip to the shopping centre can be

a whole day out. It is this experience retailers want to create.

I am joined now by the retail experts from a Reading University.

Why are these big centres bearing better than market towns?

Competition is cut-throat through many centres, places like Reading

are putting lots of investments into getting people then. Putting

on music, entertainment for children to draw people in and to

give them more than just the shops. They are getting people in but they

are not spending the money. Football is well up, but the

question is whether people will convert that into spending. So many

discounts and sells to attract people in, retailers are trying

their hardest to get people in in the hope that will translate to

spending. How big are all of the attractions to see around us?

People singing under the Christmas tree, people queuing up to see

Father Christmas. Is that something the market towns could learn?

have seen that market towns are under more and more pressure to

compete, to give people variety and reasons to go to smaller centres

with fewer shops. What we see in places like Reading is an attempt

to draw people into a big centre. Market towns could learn from this

and could attract people. Giving them more than just the shops.

Thank you. We won't get a final picture on how and where we are

spending money until retail figures are out in the New Year.

The family of a serving soldier who died after a fight outside a

Portsmouth nightclub say they are frustrated and angry that the case

was dropped by police Matt Brooks died five days after he was punched

to the ground by twenty two year old Dean Aldcroft from Portsmouth.

Mr Aldcroft said he was acting in self-defence. Today a Southampton

coroner recorded an open verdict, saying there was not enough CCTV

footage or reliable evidence to come to any other conclusion. Metal

thieves have put lives at risk after attacking three ambulances in

Reading, cutting off their exhaust pipes to steal the catalytic

converters underneath. The vehicles are used for a range of emergency

medical services. But they're now off the road for twenty four hours.

Aside from the cost of repair, there's concern that more money

will need to be spent improving security in the compound where

they're stored. Of all things to steal from, why in ambulance?

Crippling the emergency services. If we don't today 999 work, what we

do is critical and vital for the hospitals. For those vehicles, it

has really impacted our ability to support critically ill people who

need transport. The future of Hampshire's Rose Bowl

cricket ground is being discussed at a meeting this evening.

Eastleigh Borough Council is considering buying the site for six

and a half million pounds and then leasing it back to Hampshire County

Cricket Club. But local businessman Moez, who operates the hotel next

to it, says it's unfair. The council says it'll benefit the

local economy. And our political editor Peter

Henley is at tonight's meeting, and will be reporting on the outcome in

our late news at 10:25. One of the triplet snow leopards

born earlier this year at Marwell Wildlife has died suddenly. The zoo

says the unexpected death of Kitana is a very big loss and will have a

detrimental impact on their breeding programme, although her

two brothers are still well. Snow leopards are endangered in the wild,

and those bred in captivity are playing a crucial role in attempts

Still to come in this evening's South Today, given the expected

stormy weather stay with us for Reham's forecast. Stormy times

ahead, even some snow, I will be back with a full forecast late in

the programme. Back in the 1960s Jean Wilson

filmed the work of a charity she ran with her husband helping to

restore sight to people in Africa and Asia. For decades the films lay

forgotten in storage at Sightsavers headquarters in West Sussex. But

over the past year the reels of film, and more shot by other

cameramen, have been unearthed, digitised and restored to their

former glory. And today for the first time in many years Lady Jean

had the chance to see the pictures once again. Sean Killick reports.

East Africa, 1963, and a group of blind women led to a treatment

centre run by the will and Commonwealth Society for the Blind.

A West Sussex charity now known as Sightsavers. Why and so gain a

round of examination begins, any progress? Will an operation help?

If watching these pictures for the first time in decades brings back

many memories for Jean Wilson. outcome the patience to the village

I was in. By bicycles, walking. Some walk a very long way to get to

the eye camp. As you can see. Lady Wilson established a charity

with her late husband who was blind from childhood. Their aim to

restore sight to people in developing countries. 40 years ago

the Queen opened the Centre, as part of the anniversary, reels of

archive footage have been restored, months of painstaking work were

staring -- restoring the footage in Chichester. To the delight of Lady

Wilson. I am delighted to see how it has developed, starting back in

1950 with minimal resources and sky high aspirations. It has developed

steadily. Sightsavers is now one of the largest 50 charities in the

country. Really exciting to see the old footage, we saw some of the

teachers being trained on how to include Blind children in classes.

Something we continue to do today. An incredibly important help for

blind children to get to school. Lady Wilson helps the restored

footage will help in the years From the 1960s, we're going back

even further, this time to 1942. A corner of West Sussex was

transformed today while a film crew moved in to recreate a world war

two mission briefing. Fact Not Fiction Films is based in Horsham

and earlier this month they asked South Today to help them find some

extras. Danielle Glavin went to see if any of our viewers became stars

of the screen. A little pace of the past brought back to life for a

film. This is the set for shady lady, a documentary drama about

World War to being made by a company from Horsham. They have

already shot most of the film overseas. -- World War two. We try

to employ local people as a company, and we want to involve the

community. You can only make films like this for community spirit.

Many extras came forward after an appeal from South Today. I'm from

Portsmouth, I saw this advertised on television, I wanted to be part

of it. It is good fun, could insight into how it is made.

Fantastic to see how it works, to get stuck into it. I can meet new

people and to contact. Alexander has appeared on many

television shows but one small local film companies. It has been

proved that you can put something together like this here, on a

budget. We have got lots of support from the extras, crew and actors. I

think it takes a bit of vision and ambition to do it. The attention to

detail is incredible, the uniforms made by hand. This map took over a

week to draw. You can see all of the props, would you believe they

managed to find it all online? There have been hiccups, they could

not remove the jet engine from the The former liner QE 2 is to have

passengers on board for the first time since the end of her final

cruise from Southampton. She has been close to the public since

arriving in Dubai in 2008. Now her gangway is being opened in was his

brothers were the most exclusive New Year's Eve parties. Tomorrow,

South Today will be discovering some secrets of Jane Austen's

birthplace. There has been an Mycological dig at Steventon

rectory. Life there provided inspiration for her novels such as

pride and prejudice and Sense and And now the sport. Olympians, this

big year, 2012 around the corner. Over the Christmas break, R Allenby

and stuffing the turkey or are they in training? Not on Christmas Day

but some of them are still trying to get selected, quite a lot of

them so they have these gruelling training schedules. No let-up for

them over Christmas. Just as true for our Paralympians. Paralympic

rowers from the south are battling it out to represent Team GB at the

Paralympics and members of the squad recently picked up the medals

at the World Championships in Slovenia. Reham and David Smith

were both part of the team to win gold in mixed coxed fours but Andy

Houghton won silver in the men's adaptive single sculls. They have a

lot to prove. In Beijing, Britain topped the

medal table for rowing. 2012 hopefuls again seemed a long away

off. The huge part of the battle is making it to the start-line in the

Paralympics. Once we are there, we know we will be so strong. We will

have to put in so much time and effort, we need to get that exactly

right just to get selected. Like all the G B Rose, training is

intense, at least two sessions per day -- Team GB rowers. For one

hopeful, the training is nothing new. Dave Smith used to be on the

British bobsleigh team. I had a spinal cords tumour sitting in my

spine for 12 years. It caused massive problems throughout my

whole bobsleigh career. I missed the Olympics pretty much because of

that and three that I ended up in rowing. It pretty which saved my

life because that is where I discovered the tumour. Pam Ralph

only took up the sport last year after receiving a medical discharge

-- Pam Relph. It has been an amazing year. The lead-up to the

World Championship was amazing. I never believed that one year later

I would be standing on a medal podium with a gold medal around my

neck. It really was one door closing and another door opening. I

feel so lucky to be given this opportunity. The new year will

bring six months more of training and trials before team selection in

June. They did not make it easy on

themselves but they definitely displayed the form which earned

them a Olympic selection. Having battled to reach the finals, the

Poole-based trio Lucy and Kate Macgregor and Annie Lush came back

to beat the French in the world salient Championships in Perth in

Australia. Tomorrow they will go for gold against the USA.

To come back from being down and to win the next three fairly easily

into the last one, it was a great feeling. And in more sailing, Jong

pink and Rick Peacock are leading the 49 fleet.

looking ahead of the football, Portsmouth versus Southampton in

the championship. The big rivals in the League in 2005 and the last

time since won are Pompey was in 1984. Kris Temple got two club

legends together for a chat about their prospects. In the red corner,

Francis Benali and in the blue corner, Linvoy Primus. For the fans,

it does not settle quickly. There will be people celebrated for a

long time or commiserating. Both teams are very good. People might

say things were offside or argue over penalties. This could make or

spoil your Christmas! Yes, but as players as well we have been there

in the past but the current lot of players have to go out and no

people in the City and show their faces at some point. That is a lot

harder to do if you come off the back of a bad result and

performance in a local derby match. You can see more of that interview

tomorrow. If you cannot wait, it is on the BBC's football website as

well. We will also be talking about the

policing at that match as well. Important subject now, the weather.

He has, all eyes on the weather. Where is this tracking? We had

several versions? It has sunk further south. Let's look at what

we started the day with. A nice bright morning on the beach by John

in Bournemouth. And also a photo taken by Bryn Jones. And Annie

Kimblin have sent us a picture of So a lot to contend with, strong

winds and rain turning into snow for some. To be challenging morning

rush hour so be warned. This is that low pushing up from the South

West and it is a bit further south than we expected it to be which

means the abyss of the winds has drifted into the English channel.

Quite a lot of rain and particularly for the FA south, we

will see 20 to 30 mm of rain. -- for the further south. A yellow

warning covering a wider area but you can see the Amber Zone

indicating where most of the snow is likely to fall and really in a

triangular shape around the M5, M40 and the M4 motorway. Snow perhaps

in Oxfordshire and interesting south. Temperatures down to around

two Celsius in the cold places further north. The rain will sink

further into the Royal County as well into north-east Hampshire and

will be a mixture of sleet, wet snow and further rain. The rush

hour will be very problematic. It will ease away and that is what the

weather 1 and will go away. Temperatures between 3 and five

Celsius. A bit of a breeze so some of the showers could have a bit of

which in us. A risk of ice in Saturday early hours so an icy,

frosty start to Saturday morning but it is predominantly dry through

much of Saturday as well as into Sunday. Looking to be dry and

bright for the weekend but Derry chilly. Tonight though, the risk of

a lot of rain, strong winds gusting up to 50 mph in isolated places but

Time for a new feature on South Today. It is all about people who

are living the dream, whatever it may be. You might remember this,

earlier this year some Berkshire children got together after school,

formed a rock band and put the video on the internet. There could

not have guessed what would happen next. The children made headlines

all across the will put what they really wanted was to hear what

their idols, metallic the thought of their video. So even to mingle

with the start, Tom Hepworth meant to meet the Mini Band. The report

contains flash photography. MUSIC: "Enter Sandman" by Metallica

This is the video that started it all. The group of children formed a

band and recorded a video of themselves and popped it on YouTube.

Suddenly it went viral. It got 800,000 hits prompting a frenzy of

media attention. Radio, newspapers, magazines and even Russian

television wanted a piece of the action.

SPEAKING IN RUSSIA. -- Russian. They are playing a benefit gig for

a hospice but I thought I would catch up with them to ask what life

is like no other they are world famous.

The girls have been following me around school. It is quite cool!

Following you around, everywhere? His sister is their girlfriend.

What is it like being a rock and roll singer, have you got a certain

style? The style I like is definitely rock music. How do you

sing when using that. I go like... I thought he was burping at first!

It is very low. Harrison, are you all right? I think he is

embarrassed. The you have not demanded 46 black

fluffy towels and a big jar of jelly beans, have you? No, we do

not want to push anyone about. We do not want to be diva guys who

break classes just because somebody did not get the right to how well.

I would prefer to get it myself. The Mini Band are just about to

take to the stage. What they do not know it is we have arranged a

little surprise for them. The first band up are the Mini Band

but before you guys come up we have a very special message all the way

By the time you guys are our age, you will be so incredibly great.

The are all ready incredibly great. Harrier and Harrison and Archie.

All you guys Charlie. You guys rock. You are very cool. Maybe we could

work something and open up for you or if you guys will have us. We are

an up and coming band out of northern California so if you will

have us, we are there for the taking. You guys rock! They

recorded especially for you. What do you make of that? They are like

the biggest metal band in the world. It is amazing. I can't believe it.

Mini Band living the dream. They were in tears! Next week we will

make -- meet Mark James who is running two drained at once,

travelling the world as an airline steward and more music because he

is coming over to conduct the Sussex Symphony Orchestra. Find out

how he juggles his busy life on next week Living Their Dream. A bit

of a recap on the weather. We think Just to remind you it will be

fairly troublesome through the morning rush-hour, we think that

the wind may have diminished a bit, it has gusted a bit further south

but of course the risk of snow is there. A mixture of snow and sleet

for the morning rush hour. Watch out on the road because it could be