08/03/2012 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

Hello, welcome to Look North. In the programme tonight.

Remembering PC David Rathband. We hear from his twin brother.

coped as long as he could and he's just... He's just give in.

As tributes continue to the six soldiers killed in Afghanistan,

we're live from Catterick Garrison, where one of them was based.

What do we do now? The disabled workers facing an uncertain future

after the closure of their Remploy factories.

And toilet breaks and other matters. South Pole record-breaker Bryony

Balen's here to talk about her Antarctic adventure.

And in sport, the cost of football - how promotion transformed

Newcastle's financial fortunes. And making a splash - we hear from

another of our swimmers to qualify The twin brother of PC David

Rathband says he hopes as many people as possible will attend a

memorial service held in his honour. PC Rathband was shot and blinded by

the gunman Raoul Moat, and was found hanged at his home at Blyth

in Northumberland a week ago. Darren Rathband, a police officer

who lives in Australia - told our Chief Reporter Chris Stewart his

brother simply couldn't cope with how his life had changed.

David Rathband, on holiday with his twin in Australia. Days before his

return to the North East. Days before he would be found hanged.

And his twin has revealed that after David was shot, the pair had

discussed his funeral arrangements in case he didn't pull through.

would never, never want my brother not to say something. I would like

to think that he was comfortable enough to tell me anything. He

obviously didn't tell me something. But I appreciate that he actually

told me what his wishes were, because nobody would want to be in

this situation, nobody. I would rather he may be here telling me to

stop grabbing hold of his arm, stop telling that putting him in the car,

that is what my which would be. will you remember him? Every day I

look in the mirror. Everyone who met the family came away very

impressed at how strong or four of them were. How do people cope with

that? It is human nature, if you don't cope, you give in, and I

think that has certainly been evident with David's life. He coped

as long as he cut and he has just... He has just give in -- as long as

he could. How do you think the people of the North East will

remember him? I'm hoping fondly. I know he has met a lot of people up

in the North East, not only in the North East but across the country,

but as a family we have been certainly taken aback by all of the

messages from every single medium, the press, members of the emergency

services, Twitter, we are absolutely overwhelmed by the

messages of support. If that can be put into a memory, and then David's

death, although heartbreaking, it will have a legacy, it will remain.

People will do something good out of it. This Saturday sees a

memorial service held at St Nicholas Cathedral in Newcastle. It

starts at noon. Darren says it is a chance for people to say goodbye to

his twin. But the role will take place in PC Rathband's home town of

Stafford a week later -- the funeral. After that, Northumberland

police will hold their own service. Darren Rathband, talking about his

brother David. And PC Rathband's widow, Kath, says she will carry on

his charity work by becoming a patron of the Blue Lamp Foundation,

raising money for emergency service workers injured on duty.

As the families of the six soldiers killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday

mourn, tributes continue to pour in. Five of the soldiers were from the

Wiltshire-based 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment. Their ages

ranged from 19 to 21. The sixth - 33-year-old Sergeant Nigel Coupe -

served with the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, based

at Somme Barracks at Catterick Garrison. Catterick is of course

Europe's biggest army base, home to hundreds of army families, and our

reporter Stuart Whincup is there now.

In this crowded supermarket, at Catterick's very own military wives

and girlfriends choir have been paying their own tribute to the six

serviceman who lost their lives in Afghanistan.

Many of the 30 or so choir here have loved ones currently serving

in Afghanistan. One of those is Sarah Gillespie, whose husband is

serving in Helmand. Sarah, what is it like when a tragedy happens like

this and you have loved ones serving? Whenever you hear news

like this, it hits all of us very hard. Even as army wives, we can

only imagine that the horror of being the wife for the mother or

father of someone who is told there has been a death, so our hearts go

out to those people. And tonight, we are singing for those people who

have died recently and in particular, the sergeant who came

from this garrison. You said this is a tribute, but also part of

military life. How do you live with it? We have things like the choir,

which give us a strength and sense of community and that shows the

important part -- the importance of it, the bond we have with each

other, the uplifting effect that singing has. Tell me about the

choir, 30 or so women. How important is it joining together?

You only have to look at the faces behind me, to come along and saying,

it is really uplifting -- seeing. We really need this, especially

when you are on your own, to come out and do something together and

we are sharing this experience in a supportive way without having to

talk about how difficult you are finding things. Thank you very much.

The choir are preparing for a big concert at the end of the month in

Richmond and they have an album that has just been released, and

money from that album will go towards setting up other military

choirs in other military bases. Thank you for that report.

The mother of a Sunderland soldier killed in Afghanistan has called on

the Government to bring British forces home from Afghanistan now.

Carla Cuthbertson's eldest son, Nathan, who was 19, was killed in

2008. Now her youngest son, Connan, is preparing to go out to Helmand.

She says she wants an end to the bloodshed, and that she doesn't

want any more families to suffer The north-east has lost out on

plans for the UK's first Green Investment Bank. Sunderland was one

of the places competing to become the headquarters for the

Government-backed �3 billion bank, along with Teesside, County Durham

and Newcastle. But the Government announced today the HQ will be in

Edinburgh. Approval has been given for a new

hospital at Cockermouth and a new health care centre at Cleator Moor,

in West Cumbria. Work should start on both in the early summer. The

�11 million hospital at Cockermouth will combine GP and community

hospital services, and replaces the flood-damaged building on Isel Road.

The �4 million health centre in Cleator Moor should be completed by

the end of spring next year. "What is there for us now?" The

question disabled workers are asking after the Government said it

was closing five Remploy factories in our region. Together, they

employ around 150 people - and it's the security they've represented

for decades that the staff fear losing most.

The Government says there are better ways to get people with

disabilities back into work. Gerry Jackson reports.

They were state-owned factories created after the war to give

wounded ex-servicemen employment. Today, the state says they really

belong to another age. This one in Newcastle employs 58 people. Like

most of those around the country, it will close by the end of the

year. I would say the quality of the work

has been better than some places where they are fit. They are

disabled people but they are very conscientious, they like the job to

be perfectly right. There are a couple of people who have never

been sick and have been here for 20 years. This was my first job, this

gave me my self-esteem back. Ministers say every Remploy job is

subsidised to the tune of �25,000. They want the money diverted to

their Access to Work scheme, getting mainstream employers to

take on more disabled people. And some campaigners agree. The money

that is currently spent on the factory's affected could be better

used to support more disabled people and it is better to have

disabled people working in the same jobs as other citizens, rather than

segregated into one particular system of an old fashioned model of

support. So the Government says factories like this just don't and

they keep and that there are better ways of helping the disabled back

into work -- and their keeper. Some of the people here don't seem

reassured. After 34 years here, Andrew doesn't know who else would

want the use of his partially disabled hands. I feel sick and

horrible. In an the Government has absolutely use does. I have as

Berger syndrome, it is a learning disability. Well they'd employ me?

Bass Asperger's syndrome. Not many people in do?

One of the region's oldest furniture companies is closing

after being in business for 165 years. Chapmans - with stores in

Newcastle and Carlisle - employs nearly 50 people. It's decided to

shut because of the higher cost of new leases due on the stores.

A County Durham schoolgirl is hoping to meet the Queen when she

attends a ceremony to mark the Diamond Jubilee. Holly Cottrell and

her friends at Seaham School of Technology won a competition to

design a time capsule. They're going to Westminster Abbey to take

part in this month's Commonwealth been selected from thousands to

present a bouquet to a senior Royal. Coming up next: Bryony Balen tells

us about her record-breaking trek And the battle lines are drawn in

the row over culling geese in a Lake District beauty spot.

High pressure is set to bring us fairly quiet weather for the

weekend, mild with the best of the brightness in the east. I will have

the full forecast later. Newcastle University student Bryony

Balen has returned to Tyneside after her record-breaking trip to

the South Pole. Bryony, who celebrated her 21st birthday on the

ski across Antarctica to the Pole - a distance of 705 miles. The

journey, in temperatures down to minus 45 Celsius, took Bryony 56

days. I'll be chatting to Bryony in a moment. But first, let's have a

look at the film she shot of her journey, using a miniature camera

we gave her. It is a long way from Tyneside.

10,000 miles, in fact. Now I am back in a warm studio in Newcastle

looking at some of the highlight of what has been a fantastic adventure.

We had just landed in Antarctica. It is gusting up to 35 knots, that

is the limit of what the aircraft could do. Lots and lots of bags.

Clothing, equipment, food supplies, first aid kit. This is the gateway

to this concerned. -- Continent. Each of us will policy led weighing

60 kilograms, almost as heavy as may that Paul ace lead. After

checking kit and getting to know each other, we are off again, this

time in a twin-engine aircraft to wear the adventure really begins. -

- to wear. More than 700 miles to go, it is going to be tough and

gold and it is Baron out here, but at least we have a our refuge --

cold. It has been windy, it has calmed down now, we have the tent

up, we have had the first camp dinner, dehydrated food, which was

filling up, let's leave it at that. At the first communal cup of tea

and a good chat and heading to bed now. -- had. Antarctica is the

Earth's coldest Continent, temperatures down to minus 45

Celsius. This is the campsite, it Celsius. This is the campsite, it

is 30th November, we are 4,000 ft and it is pretty Baron. You can

just see there is nothing on the And this little green tent is very

Let's have a look at it -- that This is the height of Antartic

luxury. They shipped out all of the waste from the site. You have to

keep it separate. They fly all of this at back to Chile, where it

gets treated as normal waste. Bit more of a fat than going out with a

shovel in your hand, but good to It is a long, slow business, pole

or exploring. We have all got aches and pains, our feet are sore, but

we are on the final stretch, nearly there. It is about 3 o'clock in the

morning, it has been a long day and we are going to head in, pop the

10th up, get some dead and a hot drink and then we will go up that

pop the 10th up and get some dinner. Fantastic, makes me feel chilly

just watching it. And Bryony is with us in the warmth

of the studio now. How much of an adventure was it? The adventure of

a lifetime, it is safe to say. Where there are times when you

thought it was never end? It's every morning when I got up and had

to ski for 10 hours. I almost didn't wanted to end by the end of

it, it was so relaxing. -- want it to end. You had your timetable for

the day, didn't have to worry about anything. It did put a lot of

effort into it. You trained on Tyneside pulling heavy tyres round

the streets - did that help you pull the sled? I couldn't have done

it without the preparation. I have been thinking about that trip for

over three years. I had been training for two years, that gave

me the strength to be able to keep up with my team-mates, all of whom

were considerably older and more experienced. You don't look like a

bodybuilder but you obviously have got incredible strength. This is

the result of two months in Antarctica, losing quite a bit of

weight. I was rowing for the university, dragging tyres, I had a

personal trainer in the Midlands and it all came together in

Antarctica. Each day, you are getting stronger because you are

adapting to conditions and getting used to your kit. Adapting to

coming back must have been a problem. You had problems with your

eyes and your hands? Yes, having spent eight week in Antarctica, not

a lot of scenery to look that, very little colour, and you come home

and you are sat in Heathrow airport and there are people everywhere,

noise, colour, smells, it was a real adjustment process. I was

getting twitchy eyes and very tired eyes. What next? Who knows?

Everything! Everything and anything! Keep us informed. Thank

you for coming in. The proposed cull of Canada Geese

on Windermere is to go ahead. The authorities in the Lake District

have ruled there are too many of the birds and some will have to go.

But anti-cull campaigners haven't given up. This report from Mark

Edwardson. For almost one in five of these

birds, their goose is already cooked. The Lake District National

Park Authority and its partners are going to cull between 15 and 20% of

Windermere's Canada Geese because it's felt they're an unpleasant

nuisance and big polluters. Canada goose go to the toilet 26 times a

day, they can deposit as much as two tons of droppings. If you

multiply that by a large amount of birds, it has an impact on the

ground under be people's ability to enjoy it. -- and people.

Windermere's 1,200 Canada Geese, 200 will be shot this year. And

that might be followed by another cull. A lot of visitors will be put

off. It might be short term but it is not good for the Lake District.

This is a beautiful area, one that I am passionate about and it is

wildlife, and I can see no reason for the way they have gone about

the matter. Visitors, often blamed for encouraging larger numbers of

Canada Geese because they feed them, had mixed views. I can't say that

there is a great impact on what they are doing to the environment.

I think it is a good idea. They are very messy. Our don't agree, leave

nature to itself. As far as the National Park Authority is

concerned, the call of Canada Geese is going to start as soon as spring

arrives -- a curling. Campaigners said they will keep up their

protest, starting here on Saturday. Time for sport now, and whatever

you think of Mike Ashley, he is obviously getting something right.

I think he probably is. Newcastle United's strong

performance on the pitch this season has been matched by vastly

improved figures off it. The club's annual accounts were filed today.

They show the Magpies are now close to breaking even with a loss of

�3.9 million. The year before, the Magpies lost more than �30 million.

Turnover rose 69% to �88 million, helped mainly by extra TV revenue

after promotion to the Premier League. The gap between what the

club earns and then pays out in wages was cut. Salaries are 60% of

turnover. In 2010, they ate up nine-tenths of its income. They

made a profit of �5 million on transfers - helped by the sale of

Andy Carroll. But the figures do show Newcastle owe �140 million to

owner Mike Ashley in interest-free loans. You have to say that we have

as a club have done well and really tried to focus on the deck and

making sure that we are viable. The Fair Play League comes in shortly

and we are obviously in a favourable position for that, but

you still have to have success on the pitch and that is the most

important thing, that we have enough funds and that the board and

Mike in particular are releasing enough funds to make us competitive.

Meanwhile Newcastle midfielder Ryan Taylor has signed a new two-year

contract. Hartlepool swimmer Jemma Lowe can

look forward to swimming for Team GB in London this summer, along

with Middlesbrough's Aimee Willmott and Richmond's Jo Jackson.

Jemma came second in the 200m butterfly final at the British

Championships at the new Aquatics Centre last night to book her place

in the Olympic squad. Stockton's Jess Dickons narrowly missed out

after coming third. 15-year-old paralympic swimmer Josef Craig from

Jarrow picked up his second bronze medal of the week in the men's 100m

freestyle. But it was a big night for Jemma, who admitted it was a

nerve-wracking experience. I am so relieved, before the race I was so

nervous it has been such an emotional week. I really wanted to

get that place and before the race, I was so nervous, I had to go and

get away and just calm myself down, I was getting too excited and I

knew I had to stay relaxed to be able to do the time to make it.

Professional boxing makes an overdue return to Tyneside this

weekend. Among the fighters on the show at the Lancastrian Suite in

Dunston on Saturday night is Newcastle's Mark Clauzel. The

light-middleweight turned professional after reaching the

national amateur finals. A hand injury kept him out of the ring for

two years, but his career's now back on track - and he's hoping

this weekend's bill might inspire others to follow his example.

think that with it being the Olympic here as well, what is

coming on, all of the young ones are going to see something and they

might want to get off their backsides, get into the gym and

some of the kids I have seen in the gym look fantastic. If I do well as

an amateur, I can improve, they might think.

Thank you very much. Time for the weather now - and also time to find

out the winner of our calendar competition for February. Paul?

The weather's been pretty changeable recently, so it's very

apt that our weather picture judge this month is an artist who knows

all about extreme weather. Susan Dobson's home is Hexham, but her

heart - as Trai Anfield found out - belongs to the Himalayas.

What I am really addicted to is going to the really high mountains.

The really get a sense of perspective on life and the world -

- you really. The weather has everything to do with your

experience. It can be life and death. The really can't divorce the

landscape from the weather. The weather is the landscape, the

weather made the landscape of. Susan works in sketches,

watercolours and oils, but her favourite medium is Monotype

printing. To bring out the textured heart magnificent of her subjects.

-- harsh. It is a painstaking way of making things. I roll it on to

polycarbonate plates and I then draw into the pictures, a sort of

white line, and then I wipe away with the various brushes or rags

and that creates the image. It is not always easy to meet your

Mountain ewes. I wasn't even allowed to go to Tibet. We should

have been at the Everest north face Base Camp today, drawing, but the

Borders are closed at the moment. Luckily, we have also got a few

decent mountains in the region to keep Susan busy. And of course,

your February pictures to judge. This one, I really liked, because

it has very much of a quality of an etching. It is a very graphic

nature. It is almost like it has been etched into steel.

This encapsulates the way the knitted breast rises and falls and

And we have a high high-altitude winner. This evokes to me what

Robert McFarlane says about mountains, but mountains returned

to us the priceless capacity for wonder. And this is what this image

does for me. And hopefully for everyone who looks at it on the

calendar. Great stuff. Thanks to Susan and

congratulations to Robert. As the weekend approaches, lots of people

have been asking if they can cut the grass for the first time? Maybe

you should use the flaxseed raise a system, that is the Northumberland

Wildlife way, putting cattle out to raise the land. This is the latest

arrival to the herd. I can't help but think that his mother, having

given birth, must be mightily relieved he didn't come ready-made

with a pair of those horns. The weekend, most of us will have a dry

spell of weather, fairly mild and spell of weather, fairly mild and

there will be some brightness, the best of it in eastern areas. High

pressure building, squeezing out this weather front and then it

starts to dominate as we head to the weekend. Western areas hanging

on to more cloud. Eastern areas hanging on to the brightness. Will

you be able to see the Northern Lights tonight? Probably not, I'm

afraid. By the end of the night, the rain and drizzle will become

more widespread. Much milder than last night, a noticeable south-

westerly breeze and temperatures for most places, no lower than six

or seven Celsius, the mid-forties Fahrenheit. Cloudy and breezy start

for most of us tomorrow and western areas will hang on to a lot of

cloud tomorrow with the risk of some drizzly rain. The best of any

brakes will be to the east, but even there, the brakes and the

brighter spells will be fed the fleeting. -- fairly. Even with a

lot of cloud, we should see 11 or 12 Celsius. Further east, a few

breaks in the cloud, maybe 14 Celsius is possible for Friday

afternoon. Saturday, most places dry, likely to keep a fair amount

of cloud in the West, most likely to break in the east and when it

does, we could see temperatures on Sunday of up to 14 or 15 Celsius.

That is a high fifties Fahrenheit, not bad for the first half of March.

The search is now on for the March weather picture. If you think you

might have it, get in touch in the usual way.