Exclusive web interview

Aerial rescue - the Gloucestershire Air Ambulance

Go behind the scenes with Vicki Brown

Air Ambulance

Inside Out follows two paramedics as they go through the gruelling selection process to become air ambulance crew members.

Vicki Brown and Julian Spiers hope to join the elite group of 'trauma paramedics' who work for an emergency helicopter service which covers the Midlands region.

With 20 applications for every vacancy, will they make it through the tough physical, clinical and team-building challenges to become air paramedics?

Ian Clayton, Operations Manager for Air Ambulance, said:

"It's very mentally draining and it's physically draining because of the sort of incidents that we do.

"Patients have to be moved. We do have access problems… often there's only two of you to do it - and they have to be able to do it."

The Air Ambulance Service in the West Midlands has three helicopters that cover over seven million people.

The Air Ambulance service cost up £1.2 million a year to run and relies on charity donations to run.

Links relating to this story:

• Gloucestershire Ambulance

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Pedigree dog trade

Tracking down stolen breeds - the ISPCA

Thousands of dogs are stolen in the West Midlands each year.

Some are taken for breeding, some for fighting, and others are swiped by opportunist thieves looking to make a quick buck.

With more people wanting so-called "designer dogs", there is great demand for breeds such as Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and the financial rewards for thieves can be high.

This year alone, it is predicted that 4,000 dogs will be taken from homes across the Midlands.

Dog Tracking

The problem has become so bad that a number of organisations have been formed to help owners trace their dogs.

These include DogLost.co.uk.

The charity, set up by Jayne Hayes, has had considerable success, helping six out of 10 people find their dogs.

But the number of calls it receives has tripled over the last year.

And what happens to these dogs after they are stolen?

In the course of its investigation, Inside Out learns that some end up in illegal breeding farms in Northern Ireland.

Ashley Blake goes on the trail of the dog thieves.

He meets some of the victims, as well as the people trying to track down stolen pets - and asks whether more can be done to combat this growing crime.

Links relating to this story:

• BBC Inside Out - North East puppy trade
• Dog Lost
• RSPCA
• Dogs Trust
• USPCA
• ISPCA
  
• Kennel Club

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites

Bhangra music

Musical phenomena - Bhangra is big in the Midlands

Adil Ray explores the phenomenon of an Asian music genre which developed in Birmingham and has gone on to become a mainstay of British pop music.

Bhangra, a style of music which originated in the Punjab region of Northern India and North Eastern Pakistan, was originally performed by farmers to celebrate the harvest.

But with large Asian communities settling in and around Birmingham over the last 50 years, the city has become the UK's centre for the Bhangra scene.

Find out more about Bhangra

This summer 2006 Birmingham acknowledged the popularity of Bhangra music, by hosting a concert to mark the opening of the annual arts festival.

Ninder Johal, who runs one of the main Bhangra labels, said:

"Birmingham is now recognised as the centre of the industry.

"Most the recording studios and the record companies are here. And I would say that 80 per cent of the artistes are from the West Midlands region."

Links relating to this story:

• BBC Asian Network A-Z of Bhangra
• Wikipedia - Bhangra
• UK Bhangra

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites