Derbyshire Times news bulletin 21st May

Derbyshire Times

21/05/2024

Derbyshire Times news bulletin with editor Phil Bramley

Transcript

00:00 Here's today's Derbyshire Times video bulletin.

00:02 Chatsworth Road in Chesterfield has reopened to traffic after it was closed by police for

00:08 several hours last night due to a suspected chemical spillage. The road was closed in

00:12 both directions between Westbars Roundabout and School Board Lane at around 6pm yesterday evening.

00:18 Emergency services, including multiple crews from Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service,

00:23 were called to the scene of the incident and the road was taped off.

00:26 A spokesperson for Derbyshire Police advised drivers to avoid the area and find alternative

00:31 routes. Traffic was diverted down Bank Street or turned around back up Chatsworth Road,

00:37 causing long delays as many lorries were unable to turn around.

00:40 One eyewitness reported that chemicals could be smelled and tasted in the air.

00:45 Derbyshire Police confirmed that the road was cleared and reopened to the public

00:49 at around midnight last night.

00:53 Derbyshire veterans who witnessed nuclear tests around 70 years ago have been officially honoured

00:58 with the presentation of medals by the King's representative in the county.

01:01 John Ward who lives in Chesterfield, Anthony Judge of Hathasidge, Roy Richardson of Glossop

01:08 and Jim Thompson of Sandiacre each received a nuclear test medal from the Lord Lieutenant of

01:12 Derbyshire in the Masonic Hall in Chesterfield. A medal was also presented to Shirley Cleeliffe

01:17 Belper who accepted it on behalf of her late husband Michael. During the 1950s, servicemen

01:24 had been stationed on Christmas Island at a time when the British military was carrying out nuclear

01:28 tests in the Pacific Ocean. There was little if any protective clothing for the witnesses to the

01:33 tests and John Ward is among those who blames their subsequent ill health to the explosion

01:38 that they suffered. Denise who lives in Whitwell was determined to make a memorable day for the

01:43 veterans after seeing how upset her father was when his medal was originally sent in a jiffy bag

01:48 to his house in New Whittington. She said "I have achieved what I wanted to do". A huge thank you to

01:53 you to first off for being willing to share in this day with everybody and a huge thank you to

01:59 the Lord Lieutenant for her willingness to be able to come and represent today and to support us in

02:05 this very important event and also to the Masonic Hall and to everybody for who have made this

02:11 possible but most importantly to Denise who has been absolutely the driving force in ensuring that

02:18 today has happened. It is absolutely vital that we remember the service of everybody who is a

02:25 veteran in our country and when I as the MP first met Mr and Mrs Ward a number of years ago when I

02:31 first became an MP I think it was 2018-2019 I was astounded by the story that Mr Ward told me when

02:38 I was sat in their front room when I was out knocking on doors and he told me about this story

02:45 that he had experienced in the 50s and the 60s which I had known nothing about and I thought I

02:50 knew a little bit about history and about then to find out that there were so many thousands of

02:56 people who also had experienced this and Mr Ward rightly told me that there was a need to make

03:02 sure that this was understood and signified and heard by so many more people and it's taken a long

03:08 time to get here but I was so pleased that the government saw fit to award the medal

03:12 last year and to recognize the service of everybody who had spent so much time and

03:19 experienced so much challenge and also had been exposed to so much difficulty over in that part

03:26 of the world and so it's brilliant to see you all here today to be able to bring that all together

03:31 to highlight the long campaign for recognition that has been fought for so many years but most

03:38 importantly just to make sure that we can say thank you to the service for everybody who served

03:45 over the course of those years in this area and that we can remember in events like this today

03:50 so thank you again for coming and I look forward to watching the further parts of the ceremony.

Derbyshire Times news bulletin 21st May

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