Hello, it's Peter here. Welcome to Fridays Levy Letter. I hope your day's going well and you'll be able to join me tonight on BBC One at half past six for Look North. We'll have all the day's news including an exclusive interview with a local soldier just back from Basra about his concerns over the security offered to British Troops fighting abroad.
We'll speak to the mother of Sandy Hadfield who was murdered, as she launches a support group for the families of victims. Well be catching up with Hollywood A-listers Ioan Gruffudd and Michael Apted as they visit the region to promote their film about the life of William Wilberforce. Its called Amazing Grace, and it tells the story of the man who helped abolish the slave trade in this country. Well be chatting with the star of the film and the director later on the programme. And well have the best of what people are getting up to for Red Nose Day. Well Im sure people are doing lots of interesting things for charity this year, and if you want to see some of the more unusual ways of raising money in our region then dont miss this tonight. Lisa will have the weather forecast today, and well have all the days news and stories from our region as usual at half past six on BBC One. Weekend Well the headline in one of the papers is that were expecting a foot of snow. Thats in the Express, and they love to do stories about the weather, and house prices, as we know. Well its certainly going to turn colder over the weekend, and there is the threat of some snow. If youve got something organised then I hope it goes very well indeed. If youve chatting with somebody over the weekend and theyre not signed up to the Levy Letter, then tell them to get in touch with one of the two addresses at the bottom of the page and click on Levy Letter, follow the instructions, and theyll get their daily letter from Monday. Cornmill Its a hotel in Hull, its closed down, and weve had so many emails about it. Weve covered the story throughout the week, so thank you very much for all of those. If theres a story you think we should be doing on the programme, or you think we should know about then email me direct to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Parties Yesterday I was talking about childrens parties, and the average cost of a childrens goodie bag apparently is £7.40. For the average party that would cost you about £85 on goody bags alone. Ive had a huge response on this, most people saying its absolute rubbish, and most people spend just a few pence. But whether its true or not I dont know, thats the official figure. Sat Navs Well it had to happen, and now were reading about it. Sat navs are as much of a dangerous distraction to drivers as using a mobile phone at the wheel according to road safety campaigners. Pressure group Brake says that the devices on-screen maps should be banned and drivers should be made to rely on their verbal directions only. This occurred to me, I was with somebody the other day, a taxi driver who kept looking at the screen of the sat nav rather than where he was going. I thought to myself that was just as bad as playing with the radio or with a mobile phone. Well Brakes idea is that most people listen to the verbal instructions only and have no screens. A poll of a thousand drivers found that more than half are too busy tuning the radio, talking on mobile phones, or using sat nav systems to pay full attention to the roads. Your views on that, get in touch and let me know. Gareth Hunt Sad news this week about the death of Gareth Hunt, who died of cancer at the age of 65. He was of course famous for the New Avengers, and also those coffee ads. It was only less than a couple of years ago that he was in this very building, he was in pantomime in Hull and came in and was such a lovely man. Ive interviewed him a few times over the years. So very sad news. He fought a two year battle with Pancreatic cancer and died at home in Surrey with his third wife Amanda and their three children. Joanna Lumley, who worked with him in the New Avengers said he was a great and dear friend. She said he was a very good actor who was often overlooked. He started at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and he was terrific. So there we are, the sad news of the death of Gareth Hunt. Its not been a good week as weve also lost John Inman as well, a very talented actor. Mobiles Another story about mobile phones. This time, patients will soon be able to use them in hospitals. When you go into hospital at the moment, I spent quite a lot of time visiting over Christmas, there are all these signs about how mobiles must be switched off. Well thats going to change. Patients will soon be able to use mobile phones in hospitals, and this is going to, I reckon, have an impact on some of these systems that charge. The Health service trust banned the phones over concerns that the electro-magnetic radiation would interfere with medical equipment, however guidance from the Department of Health says that mobiles can be used except near some specialist equipment. I should think that the people wholl be dreading this will be the staff. These phones at the side of the bed that seem to be extortionate to use, theyre going to take a battering through this. But mobile phones are going to be allowed in hospitals according to an article that Ive just read. Well as I say, if theres a story you think we should know about, get in touch and email me. Have a very good weekend, if youve got any pictures that you think we should see for the big screen then send them to me at the usual address [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thats it from me, have a very good weekend, and Ill see you on Monday. Peter And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box. 1.94.4
