RED PROGRAMME OLLY LARA

Good afternoon, it's three o'clock, I'm Lara Gowen, and I'm Olly Bolton, and this is Leeds Hatch Radio News. There is a big push for slew jobs in Leeds, can we find out more? Learned drivers are having to wait months and months for their driving tests in the Leeds area. Why is the system stalled? And do you know how to wash your hands properly? We'll tell you how. But first... Rough sleeping is on the rise in the UK. Leeds-based charity Simon on the Streets have been desperately trying to fundraise to help get as many people off the streets as possible. Lara Gowen has more. So the big problem with homelessness at the moment is the lack of suitable housing solutions, and not only for rough sleepers, but for families, for anybody really with a housing crisis. Rough sleeping has increased by 14% in the last year in the UK. Leeds-based charity Simon on the Streets hold an annual big sleep out where volunteers spend the night outside to understand the trauma that homeless people face each day. People who are entrenched in that cycle of living on the streets, it's so difficult, and we can't even comprehend what somebody goes through, so it's just really only a snippet of what it's like. It was so cold, but it was very humbling, you know, to see everybody stick it out for the whole night. So just a little bit about somebody that we've been supporting off and on for a very long time. They are sofa-surfing currently at the moment, have been missing for over a week and just made contact today. We've been very concerned about this individual. With the big sleep out raising over £40,000, the organisation are now desperately trying to help these statistics go down. Leeds-based Health and Protein and Leeds residents are being encouraged to get their vaccinations to stay healthy. The very young and elderly are high on the priority list for getting their vaccines as winter approaches. You'd think everyone would know how to wash their hands properly, but since COVID-19, have we gotten lazy with the hand-washing? We pass it over to the man with the cleanest hands in Leeds, Mr Matthew Keynes. Today is National Hand-washing Day, which is a day to promote healthy hand-washing to prevent illnesses. Nurse lecturer Zahra Heem and Dr Christine Manzuka teaches proper hand-washing to spread the awareness of effective hand-washing techniques. I get old and I'm forgetting things. I'll always remember how to wash my hands. Because I don't think it's even the order of the hand-washing. As long as you cover all the different techniques, the order doesn't really matter because as long as you are getting in between the fingers, the base of your hand, nail bed, especially if you've got longer nails and things like that, as long as you're covering all those areas, the order doesn't really matter. There's guidelines and for those who need to talk about this more, there's an infection prevention control information and for those working in a hospital, they do get information from there. You just contact them and they'll give you the most up-to-date literature, information and pictures. The people of Leeds don't practice proper hand-washing techniques, despite washing their hands frequently. Whenever I'm making food, I go to the toilet and I just use soap and water. Because of where I work, I probably eat eight or ten times a day. I don't seem happy about this to myself after I wash my hands, but I wash my hands every single time after I use the toilet and most times after I eat my food. I wash them five and after every time I eat, like twice a day. So people say they know how to wash their hands properly, but today is global hand-washing day and I'm going to show you how to do it properly. Tap on, fiddle hands, soap. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me. Make sure you get it in the fingernails, all around the hands. Wash. Happy birthday to me. Make sure it's hot water. Tap off. Get a drying cloth. Dry your hands. And there we go. Infections prevented. Leeds has seen a record high of driving test wait times. With the stress on driving instructors and a lack of tests, the DVSA has put forward solutions to the problem. Abigail Johnson has more. Learning to drive is such an important skill. It's an essential way to get from A to B without relying on public transport. Over the last year, the waiting times of driving tests have seen a 20% increase, with students waiting up to five months for an available test. I spoke to Michael Linton, driving examiner, who talked about the stress under the DVSA. So currently in the UK, the average is about 25 weeks, so it's very frustrating. So you need to plan it very well. It is going to get better over time, but it's going to take a long time, because the key reason behind that is there's not enough examiners out there at the moment in the DVSA. So there's still a backlog that they've got to catch up with, as well as those that want to book tests. So it's going to take a long time. Research shows that Leeds has one of the highest numbers of learner drivers, and it has seen a record length of waiting times, in which the next available test is January 21st. I asked current learners what they thought of the driving test waiting times. So I was waiting, well I was waiting for my driving test for about six months, and then it got cancelled on me last minute, ten minutes before, and now I've got to wait another three months until January for my driving test. Yeah, I'm pretty notified, because it's stopping me from getting to work, and just, it's really caused a big hassle, and it needs to be. That's a waste of time. I had my test cancelled, and then I had to wait however many, I think it was two months before they then took me in for a new test, but it wasn't my fault that it got cancelled anyway. In a statement provided by the DVSA, they claim to have provided two million driving tests in total in the last financial year, and created almost 150,000 additional tests. But with all these additional tests and measures put in place, there still aren't enough for learners patiently waiting to get on the road. It's Black History Month, and Molly Cook has been down to the theatre to watch the production of Black is the Colour of My Voice. Black History Month in full swing, the production of Black is the Colour of My Voice has arrived at Dance and Hippodrome. Award-winning writer Athea Campbell's sensational production depicts the life of pianist and activist Nina Simone. Nicole Sherry makes her debut performance and will be touring across the UK this October. The production makes for an emotive watch, with the subjects of the police, race and the civil rights movement being heavily involved. I spoke to Dance and Hippodrome's Black History Specialist Kerry Griffith to find out why it's been successful. Yeah, a lot of us did predict that it might get a lot popular with it being Black History Month, so I do think that impacted the ticket sales and the type of audience we were getting in I'd say, yeah. How I feel, how I feel, how I feel of freedom in my heart. Made it so powerful, it was such a small and intimate performance, it was just phenomenal. It was totally amazing, it was very moving. A new sculpture has been unveiled in Leeds City Centre. It was created in response to a 2020 Leeds City Council review that highlighted a lack of diversity in Leeds sculptures. David Grasage has been down to Corrie Hills in the city centre to find out more. Located between Leeds Playhouse and the City College stands a giant cascading and twirling monument. Ribbons by Pippa Hale is a 16 foot high sculpture twisting and turning towards the skies above the city centre. I caught up with her and she explained its significance. So Ribbons is a sculpture that celebrates the women of Leeds and inspirational women of Leeds who uphold the city and make it what it is today. There's 383 of them named on the sculpture put forward by a public vote and they range from people who have broken glass ceilings in their profession or culturally alongside women who really fly beneath the radar. So it's a real celebration of everyone together. I joined Sally Johnson, a high profile figure in the Yorkshire film and TV industry, to find her name on the sculpture. 609, so my name apparently isn't 609 so first thing you have to do is find 609. I think it's one of them on the floor. I'm on the floor. Oh dear. While we were searching we met the family of Gene Gittins, a poet who wrote about the miners' strike. Right, so there is my name. Oh my goodness, thank you. No problem. Just, um, yeah. Oh, can I have a look at my mother? My mum's up below. My mother's Gene Gittins. She was a poet. She still is. She still is? Okay, that's even better. Many of the honorees said they couldn't believe they were included, such as Tracy Gray, a lifelong civil servant. I feel I've got a bit of an imposter syndrome, I have to say, thinking, but look at these really important people, and then there's me, somebody from the North East. So, yeah, I'm absolutely delighted. I really, I think it's fantastic having women represented on this sculpture, and great that Pip has done it. Yep. And Amy Hodgson, a university lecturer. It is really exciting. I, yeah, I still don't know who nominated me, and I feel a little bit of imposter syndrome, but it is, yeah, it feels really, really special. One inspirational figure was Karenjit Virdi, MBE, Head of South Asian Arts, UK. I'm lost for words a little bit, and quite emotional. I think my sister probably summed it up, in the sense of, because I didn't know what words to use, and she goes, it's like you've been immortalised, and it's strange to think you're alive and immortalised. So, for me, it's an incredible honour. What really stuck out at the unveiling was seeing how everyday people can do extraordinary things, and how they can be honoured forever. Leeds Winter Clothing Drive is back. This time they've partnered with Cardigan Road Community Centre to make a change across Leeds. Daisy Short has the story. It's changed immensely over the years. It's that time of year again where the Leeds Winter Clothing Drive starts taking in donations. This year, Zero Waste Leeds has teamed up with Cardigan Community Centre to make a change. We launched the Leeds Winter Coat Appeal about three years ago, asked the members of the public to donate their unwanted coats, hats, scarves, gloves. We will then pass those out to various community hubs across Leeds, so that they can go and help themselves to a winter item for free. With both groups already hosting great initiatives for those who need a helping hand throughout winter, Louise, a volunteer at Cardigan Community Centre, shares her thoughts on working alongside Zero Waste Leeds. Cardigan Community Centre has been offering a warm space to local residents for many years. This is the first year, however, that we've worked with Zero Waste Leeds. Through working with Zero Waste Leeds this year, our ability to offer a consistent flow of warm clothes to residents will be greatly improved. Tracey, the project coordinator at Zero Waste Leeds, speaks on working with Cardigan Community Centre. Cardigan Community Centre contacted us asking us if they could be part of the Leeds Winter Coat Appeal, which we were thrilled that they wanted to be a part of it. We didn't have any donation or distribution points in the LS6 area of Leeds, so we thought it would be a great partnership. So what has really changed, and what can we expect from this winter's clothing drive? We've now got far more donation points, a lot more distribution points where people can go and help themselves to coats. We've also extended what we are collecting. We're not just doing winter coats. We're now also doing winter items for babies, which will be donated to Leeds Baby Bank. It's important that people keep warm over winter, especially those who are most vulnerable in our communities. That sounds like a great idea to me. Yeah, hopefully that will help keep Leeds warm this winter. Yeah, that would be great. That's Leeds Tax Radio News. It is 13 minutes past three. Thank you.