Whether you’re indoors or out and about today one thing is for certain - you’re probably either wrapped up warm or freezing cold!

Over the past few weeks winter has swept over the South in the form of frozen roads and bursting pipes. The gritters have been out in force trying to safeguard our roads and the Met Office has issued a severe weather warning as temperatures fall below zero.

Yesterday, snow forced schools to close in the South East and homes were flooded by freezing water after a mains pipe burst in the Thames Valley. But it’s often the elderly and vulnerable who suffer most during the cold months. Tonight on Meridian and Thames Valley we will be taking expert advice from Age Concern about how to keep safe and wrapped up warm over the next few days. If you have any tips for our viewers post them here on the blog - they may even end up on tonight’s programme.

However a group of Lifeguards have made sure the weather is not all doom and gloom this New Year.

These fearless Seaford savers braved the near-freezing sea temperatures in swim suits for their annual New Year Dip in Seaford Bay. Luckily for us it was all captured on camera and uploaded to Your News for your viewing pleasure…

 

You can upload your own video and photos of the big freeze here.

It’s been a busy year with fun, laughs and more importantly, regional news! The team have got together to wish you a very Merry Christmas with a special festive song straight from the studio.

Join Fred, Sangeeta, Santa and more in our special Christmas sing-song here.

 

Presenter Wesley Smith blogs 

When Hannah asked me to lend a hand in the kitchen at the Women’s Institute’s College in Oxfordshire, I must admit I had my doubts. The prospect of conjuring up mince pies and turkey left-overs brought back memories of my O-Level food and nutrition classes from quite a few years back!

At first, I thought I’d been proved right. The kitchens were divided into several spaces exactly like when I was at Thornden School at Chandler’s Ford in Hampshire and the fixtures and fittings were almost identical, although they are soon set to be refurbished.

But the ladies of Hampshire WI took me under their wing, although I must admit to feeling slightly self-conscious in the bright green WI apron. I hadn’t actually done any pastry-making since my final school exam, but it all came flooding back and was actually fun. The pressure was on to make perfect mince pies as the camera started to roll. After all, I was being observed by the experts. I cut the pieces of butter a bit too thick to start and my flaking-action needed a bit of work! Eventually, I got into a rhythm and the pastry took shape. The consistency seemed ok and they were soon ready to pop into the oven for 25 minutes.

Then it was off to lend a hand making a wreath for the front door, but at the back of my mind were those mince pies. Had I put in too much filling, would the pastry actually be edible? There could be no second take on this one. My handiwork would be exposed to the thousands of Thames Valley Tonight viewers once we opened up that oven. When we did, what a treat. They looked ok, even rather appetising.

My WI teacher was a very brave lady and volunteered to taste first once I’d done the icing. The smile on her face said it all; her pupil had been a success. My mince pies were proper, delicious, WI-style mince pies, golden and full of flavour. My teacher encouraged everyone else to tuck-in and that felt rather good. I might have got a C for O-Level, but my WI mince pies were grade A and should make a tasty centrepiece on my dinner table on Christmas Day.

Watch Wes attempting his mince pies at the WI by clicking here.

For all the Christmas recipes featured on Thames Valley tonight visit our Christmas cooking page here.  

ITV news trainee and journalist Mark Ansell blogs

Although Meridian Tonight is based in Whiteley near Southampton and Maidstone and Thames Valley Tonight is based in Abingdon, a vital part of our operation is in the bureaux.

We have bureaux in Salisbury, Bournemouth, and Brighton. Over the past two months I’ve visited them all and have really understood their value.

In Brighton, there’s a team which provide stories for the Meridian programmes. The bureau is made up of two reporters, two cameramen, and a producer. One of the main reasons we have bureaux is that we have to be near the news so that we don’t miss out on stories. The Brighton office allows us to have a presence in the city and all of the towns nearby. It means we know people in the area and can respond quickly to breaking stories. If a story breaks in Lewes, we can be there in minutes thanks to this office. Without it, we’d have to rely on a reporter and cameraman travelling all the way from the Whiteley office near Southampton to cover the news item.

The stories we cover from the bureaux are incredibly varied. Last week while I was at the Brighton bureau we reported on a number of stories including: a school that was badly vandalised, a procession supporting the victims of domestic violence, a house fire that killed an elderly woman and I had the opportunity to cover a story about a science lecturer at Brighton University who’s putting on a big chemical experiments show in Brighton. The aim of the show was to entertain children by showing that science is fun and exciting.

Without the bureau, I doubt that we would have been able to cover even half of these stories. This shows how vital bureaux are to our operation.

You can watch Mark’s science report here.

Dorset Trading Standards are investigating scores of complaints about a so-called Lapland Adventure which costs £30 a ticket.

The advertisements describe Lapland New Forest as ‘where dreams really do come true’. One parent said it was a few huts surrounded by a sea of mud with nearby trees sprayed white. Here at Meridian we’ve had lots of emails and calls from viewers upset by the alleged false advertisement on the park’s website.  

A spokesman for Lapland New Forest said his staff had been abused and even attacked and he refused to say whether they would stay open or whether dissatisfied customers could claim refunds.

If you have been to the park and feel you are entitled to a refund download a template complaint letter from Consumer Direct. There’s no guarantee you’ll get your money back but it’s probably the easiest and best way to make an official complaint.

Have you been to Lapland New Forest and would like to share your experiences? Tell us all here on the Meridian blog.  

Watch last night’s Meridian Tonight report on the Trading Standards investigation here.

**UPDATE**

The curtain finally came down on the New Forest Lapland experience today (04/12) amid scenes of confusion and recrimination. Its high profile publicity was tarnished by a catalogue of complaints and 50,000 customers unsure if they’ll get their money back.

Fred Dinenage blogs about one of his favourite Meridian features

Child’s Eye has been running for more years than I care to remember - but I’ve loved every minute of it.

I now get young Mums coming up to me in the street and telling me they were once on it - and they’ve still got the tape!

In fact in the next week or two we’re going to re-visit one of our ‘victims’ thirteen years ago.

Her name is Tarra Olive and she lives in Bournemouth. When she was on Child’s Eye - as an eight year old - she was at Elmrise School in Bournemouth. It was around Christmas time and I was asking the children what they would really like for Christmas.

Tarra said she wanted a kitten and on the programme (with the permission of her parents) we gave her a lovely little kitten whom she called Jack. I was disappointed - I rather hoped she’d call him Fred!

Anyway, she’s about to turn twenty one - and Jack has now become rather an elderly fellow. They’re still together - and we’re going to surprise them with a bottle of champagne and a tin of cat food!

Happy days. And I just hope that Child’s Eye will continue to run and run. It’s one of my favourite things.

Last week the pupils at Queen’s Park school in Bournemouth showed Fred their school allotment (pictured below). You can watch the special extended version of Child’s Eye here.

ITV news trainee and journalist Mark Ansell blogs

Seeing my first report on ITV Thames Valley Tonight was a great feeling.

There’s a lot of work that goes on before a report goes on air and I’ll outline the process using my report, called ‘local hero’ about a soldier who died during the First World War, as an example.

STEP 1
Firstly comes the idea, preferably original i.e. it hasn’t been in a newspaper, on the radio or on TV.

Last week I went back to my school in Thame, East Oxfordshire, for a reunion. I heard about Eric Rose, a former student of the school who died during the First World War. He’s just been made the face of a new stamp collection in Commonwealth countries commemorating Armistice and students at the school have been learning about his life. This sounded like a great story and I was reminded of it in the local paper, the Thame Gazette.

 STEP 2
Every morning at the editorial meeting we discuss all the stories we could cover in the day’s programme and think about future features.

I suggested the local hero story and the rest of the team were interested so I called the teacher at the school who had been teaching his Year 8 class about Eric Rose. He was happy for me to come in and interview a few of his students who’d been learning about Eric’s life.

STEP 3
Every story has to have a ‘sheet’ with all the information about the story including the location, contact details, pictures/footage to enhance the story and details of the cameraman and reporter.

Kim, the news editor, gave me the opportunity to cover the story which I gladly took!

STEP 4
Shooting the story.

I’ve been told on more than one occasion that the three most important things to remember in TV journalism are ‘pictures, pictures and pictures’!

My key concern was that we had a lack of objects relating to Eric that we could film but thankfully on the day Ian (the cameraman) and I shot the piece, there was a fair bit to shoot.

We filmed the school archivist showing the students some of Eric’s memorabilia; we also shot pictures of a display in the Humanities Department on Eric’s life and a remembrance board of former pupils of the school who had died in the First World War. The board is in the Sixth Form Library where my piece to camera was shot.

STEP 5
Edit the pictures and write and record the script.

After a few hours I’d put the report together with shots of the archivist showing the students Eric’s memorabilia, interview clips with the archivist and the students, my piece to camera in the library and shots of the remembrance board. The report wasn’t quite as well crafted as was needed to go on air so a craft editor reworked parts of it.

STEP 6
The producer checks the introductory link to the report that the presenter reads and then watches the report to check it. Then when it’s time for the bulletin, the team in the gallery (where the bulletin’s pictures and sound are controlled) play out the report at the right moment.

It felt strangely appropriate for my first report to be at my old school, the place where I had learnt so much. The staff and students were very accommodating and I hope the viewers found it interesting to watch.

You can watch Mark’s ‘local hero’ report by clicking here.