Meridian Berkshire

It's been revealed that on the day of the Camber drownings tragedy last August a member of the RNLI was on the beach to assess whether lifeguards were needed.

An inquest heard he'd been asked to carry out a survey by the local council following the deaths of two men, the month before.

Rother council met with the RNLI after the two deaths - but before the drowning of the five friends later. It asked the RNLI if it could provide a lifeguard service at Camber. But the RNLI said it didn't have the resources to do so.

That inquest into the deaths of the five friends has now heard from some of the people who tried to save the men.

Derek Johnson reports

It attracts 30,000 people in peak season, but an inquest heard today Camber Sands has hidden dangers.

Five friends - two of them brothers - died there last August after getting into difficulties in the water.

They had travelled to the beach, near Rye, for a day out. They WERE good swimmers. The month before, two other people had died - one trying to rescue the other.

Today, at the start of the inquests, the brother of one of the victims said having lifeguards at Camber Sands COULD have saved lives. He spoke out as he arrived in Hastings.

The 65,000 tonne, three billion pound aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is leaving Rosyth shipyard in Scotland where she's been built.

She'll head out into the North Sea for 11 weeks of sea trials before heading to her new home base Portsmouth later in the year.

Two tower blocks in Oxford have cladding that has failed fire safety tests.

Now the City council says it will replace the rain-screen cladding on the two buildings - with non-combustible material.

The City Council will replace the rain-screen cladding on Evenlode and Windrush Towers with improved non-combustible material in line with the requirements of the new central government guidance.

Samples taken from the Windrush tower block - and also Evenlode - were sent to the Government for testing last week. Oxford City Council has now been told the cladding is "a risk".

All councils were asked to send in samples after the Grenfell Tower tragedy in London, which has so far claimed 79 lives.

The results have come back and identify that the cladding is a risk. As a precautionary measure, the City Council will therefore be replacing this cladding on the two blocks with improved non-combustible material. Plans for the replacement of the cladding are already underway and time frames are being reviewed with contractors.

Refugees at schools in Reading have been given extra help to get their education back on track thanks to older students at the local university.

Hundreds of undergraduates - many of whom are overseas students - are giving up their time to go into local schools and help help pupils who don't speak English.

Imagine being able to look down on your town and having the power to move buildings around. Well, that's what architects in Berkshire have done, by constructing a large-scale physical model of Reading town centre They say it will be an invaluable aid when it comes to planning for the future.