City fights to keep open the doors .sx BRISTOL has a wealth of museums .sx In its centre is the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery , almost 170 years old and occupying a listed Edwardian building ( Our Arts Correspondent writes) .sx There are eight branches , ranging from the Industrial museum to St Nicholas's , a former parish church whose collections trace the medieval development of the city .sx Attendances have been steadily rising to a respectable 700,000 last year when the city museum had two very successful exhibitions , on Georges Braque and Great Sea Dragons , about locally discovered fossils .sx Admission to all the branches is free but the main museum's shop is a source of revenue , taking pounds156,000 last year .sx All the museums are under some degree of threat with charge capping leading to a jobs freeze .sx The council has to cut pounds5 million from its budget and its museums are a discretionary area of funding .sx Fred Pidgeon , vice-chairman of the leisure services committee , said :sx " The freeze affects the security warders and without them the museums can't open .sx St Nicholas's isn't open some days - and sometimes for weeks - because we can't find the staff , and there may have to be fulltime closure .sx " .sx Last year the city put pounds2 .sx 3 million into its museums , compared with pounds2 million the year before .sx Then , when the authority was charge-capped , pounds30,000 had to be lopped off and this year no allocation has so far been made while an appeal against a second year's capping is pending .sx Mr Pidgeon said that keeping open the main museum was the priority " and we'll charge admission over my dead " .sx .sx Judge acquits teacher of murdering his parents .sx By Paul Wilkinson .sx AN UNEMPLOYED teacher accused of murdering his parents for their money was acquitted yesterday after a Home Office forensic scientist said he could not have committed the crime .sx Jeffery Dunkley was accused of killing his mother Miriam , aged 59 , and his father Fred , aged 63 , by battering them with a hammer and dumping their bodies in their garage before setting it ablaze .sx But yesterday at the Central Criminal Court , Dr. Clive Candy , an expert in fire investigation , said Mr. Dunkley would not have time to carry out the acts at the house in Wembley , north London , before he visited his mother-in-law 15 minutes drive away .sx She timed his arrival as 5.45pm , right in the middle of her favourite soap , Neighbours , but the scientist , giving evidence for the prosecution on the third day of the trial , said it was impossible for the fire to have been started before 5.50pm. David Paget , for the prosecution , then said that he would not offer further evidence and the jury was directed by Mr Justice Blofeld to return not-guilty verdicts .sx Outside court detectives said they had no plans to reopen the case .sx The prosecution had contended that Mr Dunkley , aged 36 , carried out the killings in the 25 Minutes between his parents coming home at 5.20 and his arrival at his in-laws .sx His alleged motive was preventing them leaving their pounds250,000 estate to his eight-year-old son instead of him .sx Initially detectives investigating the deaths on January 23 , 1989 were baffled as to motive .sx Nothing was stolen from their home .sx Police attention eventually focused on the son , who earlier had told police he had called at his parents' home the evening they died , but got no reply .sx In March last year he was charged with murder , but the following month Brent magistrates dismissed the case .sx Three months later the prosecuting authorities successfully sought a voluntary bill from a High Court judge to send the case direct to jury trial .sx Directing the jury to acquit Mr Dunkley , of Watford , Hertfordshire , Mr Justice Blofeld said the only evidence was circumstantial and the timing did not support the Crown's case .sx Hail mars play at Lord's .sx AN UMPIRE at the MCC vs Middlesex cricket match at Lord's donned gloves and scarves yesterday to protect himself from biting winds as the April weather turned again .sx Spectators accustomed to the odd April shower had to suffer hail as the match started ( Alice Thomson writes) .sx Winds reached 35 knots and the temperature in London dropped to 5deg F. The London Weather Centre forecast strong breezes and rain today , freezing temperatures at night and ground frost over the weekend .sx A spokesman said that by Friday it would be cold and windy with wintry showers .sx Marriage rate falls but number of divorces stabilises .sx By Jill Sherman , social services correspondent .sx FEWER single people are getting married and those who have tried it once are increasingly reluctant to repeat the experience , according to the latest official statistics .sx As four in ten marriages , 37 per cent , now end in divorce , couples are instead opting to live with each other without going through the marriage ceremony .sx The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys reports that marriage rates fell from 56 to 45 per thousand unmarried men and from 45 to 38 per thousand unmarried women between 1981 and 1989 .sx Although the number of marriages has changed little since 1981 the number of men and women eligible to marry has increased considerably .sx The remarriage rate for divorced men and women has fallen even more dramatically during the same period , from 130 to 77 per thousand divorced men and from 91 to 60 per thousand divorced women .sx In spite of that trend , one in six marriages is between couples where one partner has been divorced and one in 12 is between two divorcees .sx In 1989 there were 347,000 marriages in England and Wales , 2000 fewer than the previous year .sx Divorce rates have stayed fairly constant with 151,000 divorces in 1989 , 1 per cent fewer than in 1988 , but up on 1987 .sx The report also shows that couples are waiting until they are older before committing themselves to marriage .sx The median age of grooms is now at 27.7 years , while for brides it is 25.6 years .sx Couples are most a risk of a marital break-up during their mid to late 20s .sx Thirty-one in every thousand husbands in this age group divorced , against 29 in every thousand wives .sx The report shows that three-quarters of couples who divorced in 1989 had married as a bachelor and spinster .sx In a further 16 per cent , one partner was divorcing again and in 8 per cent both partners were divorcing again .sx The report predicts that one in four children would experience divorce in their family before reaching 16 .sx However , the actual numbers involved fell by 1 per cent between 1988 and 1989 to 148,000 children under 16 .sx Fifty-four per cent of divorces granted to wives were awarded on husbands' unreasonable behaviour and about one-quarter on husbands' adultery .sx In one in six cases ( 17 per cent ) the divorce was awarded after two years' separation .sx table :sx marriages and divorces 1979-89 North Sea deal over dismissal of strikers .sx By Kerry Gill .sx NORTH Sea oil and gas companies are expecting a summer of industrial peace after agreement was reached yesterday between unions and the Offshore Contractors' Council over the dismissal last year of workers who took part in unofficial strikes .sx A panel of council representatives and union officials is to examine outstanding grievances of men dismissed and who want to return to work offshore .sx Those who were dismissed will have 14 days to lodge grievances after the first meeting of the panel .sx The agreement excludes workers who have cases outstanding at industrial tribunals , have received redundancy payments or who have been re-engaged on contracts .sx Last year's series of unofficial 24-hour strikes involved thousands of men employed by contractors on offshore work .sx The dispute was an attempt to improve working conditions and safety .sx Many workers were dismissed after holding sit-ins on platforms but a truce was called to let the official unions hold talks with the employers .sx Professors defend training of teachers .sx By John O'Leary .sx higher education correspondent .sx THE heads of university teacher training departments yesterday launched a counterattack on critics who accuse them of frustrating the government's attempts to raise standards in schools .sx At a press conference in London to announce increased demand for training places , the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers issued a statement saying that many of critics were ill-informed and politically motivated .sx The professors emphasised that the content of their courses , including the balance between theory and practice , had to be approved by the education secretary .sx " The criticisms that too much time is spent on psychology and on sociology are patently false .sx " .sx Professor Tony Becher , of Sussex university , said :sx " The Tory party is dominated by raving right-wing think tanks .sx " Some publications that it had issued had contained falsehood couched in terms calculated to attract publicity , he said .sx Sharp increase in railway suicides .sx By Michael Dynes , transport correspondent .sx THE number of suicides on London Underground has increased by 40 per cent since the 1960s , similar to the rise on mainline railways , an international conference on railway suicide was told yesterday .sx Figures show that 3,240 people committed suicide on London Underground between 1940 and 1990 .sx There are now on average 100 incidents on the network each year , about 60 of which end in death .sx Most incidents involve young males , many of whom are receiving psychiatric help and have no fixed home .sx The research shows that a disproportionate number of suicide attempts are at stations near psychiatric hospitals .sx The findings are the interim results of a three-year project commissioned by London Underground to identify why people jump under trains , the effects of such incidents on staff , the disruption caused , and how suicide attempts can be discouraged .sx The research is being conducted by Richard Farmer and a team from the public health and epidemiology department of Charing Cross and Westminster medical school .sx Train drivers have a one in 35 chance of being involved with a suicide attempt every year .sx That increases to one in 20 on the Northern Line because of the high number of psychiatric hospitals on the route .sx Researchers found that a " one under " club had developed among drivers who encountered suicide attempts .sx Those drivers often have post-traumatic stress disorders and depression , including flashbacks , feelings of guilt , sleepless nights and difficulty in driving trains .sx Stresses may lead to alcoholism , marital problems , and phobias , highlighting a need for better counselling .sx Henry Fitzhugh , marketing director of London Underground , said :sx " When someone throws themselves under a train at Victoria station in the middle of the rush hour , it locks up the system for about an hour , and that has a time value of pounds50 .sx 000 to pounds70 .sx 000. " .sx People attempting suicide tended to opt for something they thought would work , Dr. Fitzhugh said .sx However , 46 per cent of people who attempted suicide by throwing themselves under a train survived , often severely maimed , he said .sx London Underground is hoping to reduce the number of suicide attempts by examining station layouts , reducing the risk of death with more pits under the tracks along platforms , and liaising with psychiatric hospitals to identify vulnerable patients .sx Court finds against social fund appeals .sx By Jill Sherman .sx social services correspondent .sx THREE men who were refused payments from the government's social fund failed in their challenge in the High Court yesterday .sx Lord Justice Mann ruled that the government was entitled to exclude some claims from the fund , which he described as " the last public resort to which impoverished members of society can turn " .sx John Healey , aged 48 , had appealed against a refusal to give him pounds150 for clothing after being discharged from a psychiatric home .sx Fund officers had denied the money because he was in residential care , a category which can be excluded from eligibility for social fund payments .sx The judge said that this interpretation of the rules was correct .sx Harry Smith , who lives in a caravan in a layby at Dilwyn , Hereford and Worcester , with his wife and daughter , wanted pounds1,000 to replace his caravan which was small and damp .sx However , the judge said the claim was to cover costs excluded from the fund .sx The court also upheld directives which excluded Sam Stitt , of Wallsend , Tyne and Wear , from receiving pounds85 to help to pay for assistance in looking after his six children while he was on an employment training scheme .sx