North Wales Police refused to allow an outside force to investigate allegations of child abuse against some of their own serving

North Wales Police refused to allow an outside force to investigate allegations of child abuse against some of their own serving and retired officers, the unpublished report into the Clwyd child abuse scandal reveals. The block of 1,200 apartments facing the river at Chelsea includes a swimming-pool, restaurant and leisure centre."The four boreholes supply our needs," said general manager Tony Crawford."We treat the water for drinking purposes, and this is measured by environmental health officials, and I'm delighted to report that we have no trouble achieving a clean bill of health. The wells save us money, and mean we are never under threat of running short."It is estimated that it can cost up to pounds 20,000 to bore and equip a well deep enough to draw off the water accumulating beneath the city. "It was refurbished in 1981 and the then chief executive, Clive Thornton, thought that after the piping and pumps had been replaced, it might be a good idea to market the water from our own wells."The water was sold for charity but before long the scheme was abandoned, and ever since bottles of Abbey water have become collector's items."One of the biggest users of London's secret water supply is the exclusive Dolphin Square flats complex, until recently the home of the Princess Royal. Its supply is at its HQ, which encompasses the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes at 221b Baker Street."The boreholes were drilled when the building was constructed in the early 1930s," said Abbey National spokesman Tony Wells. They include Lloyds Bank in Lombard Street, the private bank C Hoare and Co, of Fleet Street and, most enterprisingly, the Abbey National, which once successfully bottled its own water. "We now take our drinking water from a separate feed from Thames Water."However, the bank plans to continue drawing its licensed 36,368 cubic metres of water a year because it believes it is being public-spirited in helping to keep down the water table beneath London, which is rising.A range of other financial institutions are in the same happy position.

After licence fees are met, the water from its own wells costs just 0.5p a cubic metre.The Bank of England is another institution with cause to celebrate: the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street is also sitting on countless liquid assets. Officials at the bank calculate that they save 20 per cent of their total water bill by using their own supply."We used the water pumped from our own wells for all purposes until about five years ago, when an EC directive indicated that there were too many minerals in it," said the bank's Carol Elliot. "We draw all our water needs from our own supply," said Peter Willis, a spokesman for the store. "Last year we took 230,000 cubic metres."The water is constantly monitored and treated to ensure that it is safe for human consumption. We considered bottling it at one stage, but it was deemed not to be economically viable."If Harrods was contracted to Thames Water for its supply, it would have to pay 93.97p a cubic metre for its water.

Its needs are met by three boreholes that reach 150 metres below Brompton Road and can deliver up to 1,091 cubic metres of water a day.This system saves Harrods an estimated pounds 200,000 a year in water bills. While most of Britain reluctantly confronts the prospect of another drought this summer, a small group of central London's most prestigious properties will remain immune from any water shortage, whatever the weather. They are the privileged band of just over 50 exclusive addresses that enjoy their own private water supply, and they range from stores such as Harrods and Simpson's of Piccadilly to clubs including the Army and Navy and the Hurlingham, and a group of financial institutions headed by the Bank of England. These are properties that have their own boreholes or artesian wells, in some cases very old, sunk through the London clay into the chalk beneath, which is one of Britain's richest aquifers (water-bearing layers of rock, containing many millions of gallons of water).Underneath the riches on display at Harrods, the chic Knightsbridge store has another treasure - an abundant source of cheap water in its basement. The womanhood of Britain may swoon again this autumn, watching Conrad's tale, and may dream; alas, it may all be in vain.. The cast were frequently to be found at the local noisy nightspot Mr Barbilla's, where Colin Firth, fresh from his success in Pride and Prejudice, and his widely reported affair with his co-star as Eliza Bennett, Jennifer Ehle, fell in love once again with Mr Ghia's personal assistant, Livia Giuggioli, a student from Rome.Last month at the Bafta awards, Ms Giuggioli was to be seen on Mr Firth's arm, and on Ms Giuggioli's finger was a large ring. Sir Robert Bolt gave me the idea a long time ago and now we have it. There were many rows, but there were also light moments."Indeed.

Within 14 hours of filming ending, however, the set had been dismantled by local people."It just disappeared," said Wearing "They wanted the wood They hated the town council These were people who had no running water or electricity But it was a shame. Somebody could have done something with that businesswise."Fernando Ghia referred to the difficulties as "tropical variations". He employed 15, 000 locals in crowd scenes during the shoot and had to deal with constant mutiny among the Italian crew; he is convinced that they have achieved the impossible."The Americans would have spent $75m (pounds 50m) on making Nostromo and then would have only been able to make a small segment of it, probably shooting in Spain for security reasons," he said."With television we can do it justice This has been my dream My passion. The landmark was also to be shown to Fidel Castro, star guest at a Third World conference to be held in the city. Taking four months and pounds 100,000 worth of wood to erect, the masterpiece was to remain intact as a monument to the film and a tourist attraction.

The piece de resistance for the 60-strong crew and local craftsmen - some 400 were employed - was the construction of a 100- metre jetty and custom houses overlooking the ocean, complete with a working wooden steam engine, wagons and track. Temperatures hovered around 100F and the humidity became unbearable. Bugs assailed Ms Scott Thomas causing her to suffer from nausea and presenting huge make-up problems Rainstorms washed away part of the sets. Equipment went missing.Then, just two weeks before filming was scheduled to finish, the director Alastair Reid, who made Traffik, collapsed through exhaustion, and was "rested" for five days.Wearing took over. The removal of a telegraph pole for filming led to a cull of trees in the local botanical garden by an over-enthusiastic sub-contractor. ("I never really got to the bottom of that one," says a grinning Wearing) A boat lent by the Colombian navy ran aground. For weeks, cans of film sat in a storeroom, failing to make it back to the laboratories in Rome, because of a dispute over cargo rights between the Colombian and Venezuelan airlines.