05/03/2014 Look East - East

Hello and welcome to Look E`st. appearance are to blame.

Hello and welcome to Look E`st. In the programme tonight: One of the

worst winters ever for our fishermen. Flooded rivers mdan the

sea isn't salty enough for the fish. Clearing up three months after the

tidal surge. We've been back to Lowestoft.

How to get girls into engindering jobs. This college is starthng with

14`year`olds. When we say what we want to do, you have to show the

boys that the girls can do ht too. The trainers love it and thd horses

love it. How good racing return here?

First tonight, three months after the tidal surge battered thd east

coast, we look at the long`term impact of the wettest winter in our

history. In a moment we will be live at Hemsby in Norfolk, where the

campaign to build extra sea defences is being stepped up. In Suffolk

we've been to Lowestoft, whdre businesses are still counting the

cost of a wave of water that crashed into the town centre. But wd start

in Essex ` in Southend ` whdre many fishermen say this has been the

worst winter in living memory. Among the problems, a sea which h`s become

less salty. The details frol our Environment reporter Richard Daniel.

This man has never known a winter like it. For weeks on end, he has

had no fish to sell. For three months, storm after storm prevented

his family and his friends from taking the boats out to sea. It has

been awful. One of our youngsters has gone to the doctor becatse he

has been unwell. It has been because of stress. If we don't get to go to

see they don't get paid. Yot can't magic money out of nowhere. Here,

the bad weather has also had another bad impact. The sheer volumd of

fresh water has actually diverted the water here. `` diluted. That has

made it more difficult to c`tch fish. People in laboratories date

has been possible that it h`s affected the fish and their

behaviour. We wouldn't have expected it to have a massive effect but it

could potentially have an effect on the things that they are eating

That's because the fish to go farther offshore. Up and down the

coast, though our other stories of financial struggle. There h`s been

an emergency relief fund set up This man says it has been the worst

18 months in memory. What wd have found around the coast is that

fishermen are struggling to pay bills. Even council tax. Thdy are

struggling to get food to e`t in some cases. We have set up this fund

and we have had certain don`tions which have enabled us to distribute

money to fishermen who are hn financial difficulties. Boats once

again are going to say but fishermen say an industry which was already in

crisis will never be able to make up the business lost this wintdr.

On now to Lowestoft where sdveral streets close to the seafront were

badly flooded on the night of the 5th of December. The water came and

went very quickly. But the trail of destruction is taking longer to sort

out. Alex Dunlop has this rdport. The flooding receded with hours but

exactly three months on bushnesses in this street are still coling up

for air. This was our meeting place... This drop`in cafe for

recovering drink and drugs `ddicts now resembles an archaeologhcal dig.

This was the kitchen. In pl`ces the water was two feet high. Thdre's a

sadness. You've lost somethhng. There was something special to this

place. At the moment, it's been displaced. Nobody's come and had a

big brainstorming session about if it does happen again... Two doors

down, David sells mobility scooters. He lost ?20,000 to the tidal surge `

as the waters rose he resorted to desperate measures. We went down to

the beach to fill sandbags tp. Somebody reported it to the police.

They came after us. In the dnd, the water breached them anyway. Unlike

some local firms, Steve's c`rpet company is insured but his premium

has doubled. We've got as mtch as we can up high... The customers' stuff.

Then we couldn't do any mord. We were here from 8:30 till ond in the

morning. It came straight through. I haven't seen anybody from the

council. I think they could do more. The high tides... This area gets it

all the time. The local council says a whole raft of financial hdlp is

available, including business support, council tax exempthon and

flood relief grants. But look around and some shops are still shtt up.

The hope is that they will one day re`open and not move out for good.

Let's go to Hemsby in Norfolk now, and one of the lasting imagds of the

tidal surge. The sea took a massive chunk out of the cliff and houses

tumbled into the sea. Peopld who live there are determined to stop

further erosion. They have started work on their own defences. The Save

Hemsby Coastline campaign is run by Lorna Bevan Thompson. She's at the

Lacon Arms in Hemsby now. How much money do you need to raise? In total

we need ?138,000. We have h`d ?25,000 in the last year. Alazing.

You have started work beford the sub scheme? `` surge came? We dhd. We

started not not tell October. 1 8 130,000 posters not sound lhke that

much? It is a short`term me`sure. We will hopefully get a much bhgger

scheme and action if we can get some of the government to take action and

protect our coastline. Do you think it is right you should have to raise

the money to do it? Absolutdly not. Coastal protection should bd a

national concern and the government should take concern of Olivdr

coastline. All around the country. We have seen the terrible phctures.

How do you think the communhty is recovering? It has been amazing

Breathtaking. So many peopld have come forward and taken part to

protect people and save thehr belongings. We want to get lore

fundraising going and more schemes in action. If you don't... How

concerned are you? Very concerned. We lost five homes in the whnter.

The weather conditions... There is another ten houses which cotld be

affected. We have got a big and if it floods through the up into the

valley then you are into another system. The Norfolk Broads would be

at risk. I wish that the cotncil and the government would step up and

listen to us. The whole of Norfolk could be affected. Thank yot.

A 28`year`old woman has been found guilty of causing death by careless

driving. Ipswich Crown Court heard that Samantha Pitcher hit D`vid

Wright, who was 74, on a ro`d in Lowestoft last February. Shd had

denied the charge. This wom`n walks with a stick because of the injury

she suffered when she and hdr husband were hit by a car. Lr Wright

was killed. Today, some anthropological was convictdd. ``

Samantha Pilcher. Any statelent it was said that this incident cost the

life of the respected architect and eight great father. It has been a

horrible incident for the whole family. His wife was in hospital for

three months as well. She h`d to endure multiple operations to save

her legs. She will never get her old life back. The couple were hit last

February as they cross the road after a family meal at this pub The

prosecution said that the motorist had her attention diverted because

she was looking at her mobile phone. The road was dark and the lhghts

were truly wet. Suffolk polhce said the jury reached the correct

verdict. We want to make it clear that driving and using your phone is

unacceptable. You cannot do it. She will be sentenced later this month.

The family say they are rebtilding their lives but the loss will always

remain. A church minister from Suffolk has

been arrested on suspicion of fraud. Canon Ian Finn has been suspended as

rector of Haverhill and Withersfield pending the outcome of the

investigation. The enquiry hs reported to involve the fees for

weddings and funerals. He h`s been released on bail until next month.

The programme for the Norfolk and Norwich Festival this year has been

unveiled today. It will start on the 9th of May and will run for 17 days.

It will include a mix of music, dance and theatre. The star names

include Ray Davies from the Kinks, South African jazz musician Hugh

Masekela and singer Madeleine Peyroux. There will also be a

Russian theatre company and the violinist Tasmin Little.

Police combing an area of woodland in Suffolk where a human bone has

been found are to bring in specialist search dogs. The

discovery of the bone in thd village of Ufford is being linked to the

hunt for missing teenager Ltke Durbin. He disappeared nearly eight

years ago after a night out in Ipswich. The police search team has

been in the wood at Ufford because Luke Durbin had friends who lived on

the estate nearby. Officers found a fragment of human bone two weeks ago

but haven't found any more bone since. In the next day or two,

search dogs from the Metropolitan Police will be used to see what they

can find. Luke disappeared hn 2 06 after a night out in Ipswich. He was

seen in the early hours on CCTV His mother Nicki is being kept hnformed

of developments. I want to try to resolve this as quickly as possible

so we can give the family some answers. This is a challenghng and

difficult time for all of the family as you would imagine. The sooner I

can get some answers, the bdtter. But when it comes to forenshc

science, the answers don't `lways come back quickly. The bone fragment

` which is about this size ` will go away for analysis in the next day or

two. But it may be several weeks before police get results. The

police are also asking for help from the public in identifying a variety

of items found in the wood. John Brocklebank wants anyone who might

have dumped or buried items here to come forward so they can be

eliminated from the enquiry. Still to come tonight: what next for

the venue which hopes to become the region's newest racecourse which are

marked plus the art of the chocolatey.

Here's a worrying statistic. Despite the fact that we need to recruit a

million more engineers in this country over the next five xears,

the industry is still struggling to convince women to get involved. The

figures are stark. Last year, 2 ,000 boys applied to university to study

engineering. The figure for girls ` just 4,000. And the industrx doesn't

mince its words about the rdasons. They don't blame the young women.

They blame their parents. In a moment we'll speak to one of the

country's top engineers, but first this report from Jo Taylor, who s

spent the day at the University of Northampton, at an engineerhng event

aimed at 14`year`olds. Engineering has been male`dominated for years.

It's hoped experiments like this will ignite a passion for science in

women. Queen of bikers Mari` Costello is trying to inspire young

women to overcome their fears. It was difficult for my family to

understand that their daughter was going to race motorcycles around the

Isle of Man. It took them a long time to understand... When H carried

on... Even after breaking bones .. I wanted to do it. I think whdn I got

my MBE they realised I hadn't just been wasting my time. We're being

warned that girls' enthusiasm for science is getting worse, p`rtly

because parents aren't being encouraging enough. I'm really

worried, despite all this, that parents and grandparents ardn't

changing their perception. The girls aren't getting told about the

different careers they could be doing ` robotics... Design

engineering, aeronautical engineering. It's all clean

engineering. Today is about making girls believe that they can achieve

in science. And they are. Btt recent research shows that up to 92% of

girls who got A and A* in double science at GCSE still walked away.

It's changed my view on things. I thought only men could ride

motorbikes. Now I know women can do stuff that men can. You feel

overpowered sometimes. I go to air cadets. It's mainly boys. You've got

to show them that girls can do it too. It's important girls change

their mind about science. The UK needs another one million engineers

in the next five years. It's hoped events like the one today whll lead

to an explosion in female engineers ` lending a whole new theorx to the

Big Bang theory! Professor Dame Ann Dowling is the head of the

Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Shd's about

to become the first female president of the Royal Academy of Enghneering.

These events are fun but ard they going to be enough to persu`de girls

to become engineers? Events were girls get introduced to carders in

science and engineering are really important. At the engineering

department in Cambridge we run a number of events. Even for children

as young as seven or eight. It really helps to bring the p`rents

and as well. They get involved in doing all sorts of things. Things

that help show just how cre`tive and innovative engineering is. We show

off the opportunities. This whole idea about the parents coming in is

interesting but surely you can't get away from the fact that there are

differences between men and women and their brains? Women makd its not

be as attracted to that kind of job? `` might not be. I agree thdre are

differences. But actually, engineering is so creative `nd in

many ways it really suits women They do so well. They have to make

the first step to find out what it is about. People often think that

engineering is dirty and DC but actually the jobs that engineering

means these days are things like manufacturing medicines or, if I

think about the staff on my own department, we have women t`lking

about magnetic fields. Others are working on concrete that will absorb

carbon dioxide. It is reallx exciting things. They make ` huge

difference. Sometimes I think people think only in terms of car lechanics

when they talk about enginedring. There is a whole wealth of

interesting and well`paid c`reers. You are passionate about it, but

what was your personal journey? My father was an engineer. That is one

of the things that we often find, when there has been a familx member

involved in science then wolen learn about it more and go into it. I have

always been interested in the world around me and how things work. I

then got interested in other things. I got a summer job and I wanted to

reduce the noise of aircraft. That is where my professional career

began. Thank you. Fans of the Great Leighs racecourse

in Essex say they are becomhng increasingly confident that horse

racing will return ` and return soon! We've heard that a few times

over the years. The course has had a chequered past to say the ldast But

today it got a vote of confhdence from one of Newmarket's top

trainers, with her eye on a million dollar prize. In the stables at

Great Leighs today, eight`ydar`old Mull of Killough ` preparing to run

in the Godolphin Mile in Dubai at the end of the month. This

all`weather surface hasn't seen official racing for five ye`rs, but

today trainer Jane Chapple`Hyam watched as Mull rode out at a

gallop, with another of her horses in training ` Jungle Bay. Hd's eight

years old. Sometimes you've got to wake them up and take them somewhere

different. They can get complacent. We just thought that an hour down

the road... It would be a nhce wake up call for the horse, having had

three months off in Newmarkdt. I'll speak for a lot of Newmarket

trainers. They'll be itching for this to open up. It's only `n hour

away from headquarters. It's ideal to get down here. The track is

perfect, the bends are sweeping and the straights are fair. It's got to

happen. The dream of creating Britain's first new racecourse in 80

years collapsed when the banks pulled the plug after less than a

year. It's now in the hands of new owners, led by the betting company

BetFred. Barry Root is founder of a club which offers its members a

share in horse ownership. Wd set the club up here in 2008 and had about

100 members at that time. M`ny have left, simply because the cotrse

isn't here. It's a fantastic track ` so close to Newmarket, wherd our

horses are. We want to come back. Below are the foundations for a

permanent grandstand. Plannhng permission has been obtained.

There's talk of further improvements in the pipeline, and vastly

increased prize money of up to ?50,000 a meeting. Personally, I'm

optimistic about the long`tdrm future. The facilities are second to

none. The course is fantasthc. It's got an amazing catchment arda and I

think it'll be a great asset to British racing. The key datd now is

April, when a board meeting of the British Horse Racing Authorhty will

decide whether to allocate fixtures here. A green light could trigger a

new round of investment and the first of a new series of races from

early next year. Mull of Killough gets his chance of million dollar

glory on March the 29th in Dubai. Soon after, the authorities here

will hope the renamed Chelmsford City Racecourse will win an even

bigger prize. It's the kind of lesson manx of us

would have enjoyed at school or even now. A master class in chocolate.

The students were from Northampton College. The teacher was a laster

chocolatier. But it's not as easy as it looks... As Louise Hubball

reports. Originally offered to the gods by the Aztecs, cocoa bdans

evolved into chocolate to bdcome a much loved treat. But for these

18`year`old catering students at Northampton College, chocol`te is a

challenge. When you make thdse flowers... A master chocolatier has

come to give them tips on how to get the temperature, crystal structure

and cooling just right. First task ` making flowers. Hold the paper this

side... Go up... Pull it back.. You get that little line. It was OK Not

as easy as I thought but it was fine. It was really difficult. You

have to be so perfect with ht. You have to keep your hands ste`dy. But

the end result is quite spectacular. Mark Tilling has been ranked seventh

in the world in chocolate chrcles. His creations are a feast for the

eyes. And now he wants to share his secrets. I love coming to colleges.

I love teaching the kids. It's such a great ingredient. It's a versatile

ingredient to do things with. I love eating it as well! Not too luch The

young people here have been inspired. It's been incredible. You

don't realise how much you can do with chocolate until it's explained

to you. It's been broken down by one of the best in the country. I want

to be a pastry chef and I'vd got a competition coming up. I'm doing a

chocolate cup so this is perfect timing. Have you picked up `ny

secret tips? Definitely, he just showed me a few little tweaks. Who

knows if a future master chocolatier has been crafted here today?

Fantastic. It would be a sh`me to eat it. I would say that for a long

time. `` save it. Time now for the weather. Dtring the

winter, we had hardly any frost But this morning temperatures dropped

very sharply and in some pl`ces it was minus four. Look out thd

temperatures shot up during the day, however. We can expect more of the

same over the next few days. Looking at the satellite picture, you can

see across the south`east is were we got most of the sunshine. There was

a little bit of cloud in thd afternoon but that has meltdd away.

We are looking at the night with some long and clear spells. It will

probably not get as cold. It should stay above freezing. There will be a

little bit of cloud around later on and that helped to keep the

temperatures up. Once the cloud breaks it may get down to two or

three Celsius. For most it should be around four or five degrees. The

winds are coming from the south westerly direction. Tomorrow, the

pressure will extend across the British Isles and that will mean

some more fine conditions. Particularly through the morning. It

should stay dry tomorrow. For the afternoon it looks as though the

cloud may increase but cert`inly a fine day expected. Temperattres will

once more claim to around 12 or 13 Celsius. `` climb. The winds will

also freshen. Moderate breeze. This is a sign of things to come for

Friday. We have got a week weather front coming and that will bring

some rain. This is the pressure pattern for Friday. It is a cold

front and it marks the boundary between the mild air and cold it up

to the North. The skies are generally going to be quite cloudy

through much of Friday and could be the odd spot of rain. Temperatures

claiming to around 12 Celsits. At the weekend, high pressure will be

firmly in place and it will be here to stay. Temperatures may wdll

should top two around 14. 14 Celsius is also possible. Keep a lookout for

the ground frost, however. That looks lovely. We will see you

tomorrow. Goodbye.