20/02/2012 Inside Out North East and Cumbria

In the next half an hour: An old head on young shoulders. A Tyneside

teenager reveals the painful secret she has kept for so long, and why

children like her shouldn't stay silent. My father was given about

the information for the support group for him, and my mother was

given information about the support group for her, but I wasn't given

anything. Northumbrian residents call for answers. Just what's going

on behind closed doors at the council? It is just suspicious. Why

not be open and honest and tell people what is going on? And the

monster from the deep. Does Nessie have a Cumbrian cousin? That has

Stories from the heart of the North She calls it her "little secret".

For years as she grew up on Tyneside, Imogen didn't tell anyone

she was caring for her mother. But now she wants people to hear what

happened to her family in the hope it'll help thousands of other young

carers to speak out and find support. So, this is Imogen's story,

I am imaging, I am 16, and I live with my mum and dad. I am like any

other teenager, but I've been keeping a huge secret. I couldn't

tell my friends, because I didn't understand and I didn't think they

would understand. I am her mother and I should be looking after her.

It is unfair that she has to carry this burden so early in life.

now, I'm ready to talk about it. I know it is the only way I can make

a difference. I do want to make a change and get this recognised.

Because I do not want anyone else to go through what I have gone

through. I had a happy childhood. But when I was nine years old, that

changed forever. I can remember seeing my mum lying on the floor

with nurses and stuff, keeping her down as she was being sedated. I

didn't understand what was happening but my mum had been

sectioned and spent weeks in a mental hospital. Since then, I have

been her care and I've never told anyone about it. It is like having

to walk around with an extra back pack every day, and having to hide

it. So why did I keep it a secret for so long? In all honesty, I

don't think it ever occurred to me to tell someone. I just didn't

think it was the thing to do, so I just hit it. I just dressed like

everyone else and put a smile on my face. I have got bipolar disorder.

Your mood changes from one of elation and high spirits and

Romania to one of deep depression - - mania. I think she was worried

about mentioning it in case she did not get taken seriously or if

people laughed at me. She doesn't really do much when she is

depressed because she does not feel up to it. I just do stuff like the

washing, the washing up, tidying the kitchen, trying to tidy the

house. And the bathroom is my job. My dad splits it in half with me,

instead of splitting it in three. Me and my dad have a close

relationship, and we work quite well as a team of most of the time.

This is a bit of a tall order. But The hardest part of being my

mother's carer is not doing the dishes or cleaning the bathroom, it

is the worry. I cannot sleep with my mum is still awake, because I

worry in case she does something. Or in case she feels lonely,

something like that. I just worry about her. I don't like her being

on her own. She has, before gone and bought things on eBay at about

3am. I worry about that happening. That tends to happen just in the

mania. That is when I have to worry about it. We never used to worry

about money. I had quite a successful career, actually. I had

a well-paid job as a chartered accountant. So, financially, it

made a drastic difference when I was unable to work. When I was

little they both had very well paid jobs and I was at a private school,

I was spoilt as a child. I know I was spoilt as a child. And it was

hard to go from having a lot of money to not having a lot of money

which caused me the most stress, because I wasn't used to it, but

now we haven't got that much money I have kind of got used to it and I

know we can survive without a ridiculous amount of money. When

you are in a manic mood, you tend to have very grandiose ideas and

schemes. She comes up with quite a lot of fantastic, zany ideas when

she is manic, but they never really seemed to work out that well.

bought about �10,000 worth of ball gowns with a business idea I had

got. It didn't work out so well, so they are still in storage now.

very nearly bought a JCB. Looking back on it it seems ridiculous,

which is why I keep laughing. thought it was quite a small JCB,

but it turned out to be a full size JCB. Flying pigs. Chameleon USP

sticks. Bootees for babies. Robot guinea-pigs. I spent a large amount

of money, which has left the fine - - family in financial difficulty

and I did have to declare myself bankrupt. I'm just hoping he is

going to behave today. I had to change schools because we could not

afford the fees, and now my dad was a paper round and helps pay for

Morocco, my only escape. I don't know where I would be without him,

in all honesty. I see him every single day. I kind of rely on him

to keep me calm and get through things. I can talk to Morocco about

my secret life as a care when I can't tell anyone else. I talked to

him quite a lot. I tell him about my day and how everything is going.

He probably doesn't listen. But it is someone to tell it to, to get it

off my chest. But talking to Morocco wasn't enough. A year ago I

hit rock bottom. I have had times where I literally just wanted to

crawl up in bed, fall asleep and never wake up because I didn't know

what to do and I didn't think I Then I found out about this young

carers group in North Shields. It has changed my life. For me, it is

just about coming and relaxing, and it is just being around people that

understand and are going through the same situation. You know they

are always there if you need them. The main difference it has made is

that it has made me feel a bit better about my situation. For the

first time I could talk openly about being a young carer. It is a

massive relief. I was ecstatic after I got back from the first

meeting. I was so relieved to know that there were other people. I was

literally bouncing around the house. It was like, I am not the only one.

I can be normal, to an extent, anyway! It has made such a big

difference to her, and I think if that had been there for her,

especially when she was younger it would have given her a lot more

confidence. There are around 700,000 young carers in this

country like me, many of us falling through the cracks and no one seems

to notice us. People are well aware in the mental health services of

the fact we have a daughter, but I had no information given to me at

all as to what support would be available for her. None of them

clocked on that this child had been losing weight through to illness,

this Charlies are using -- losing education through illness and this

child is losing after her -- looking after her mother. Could

these things be related? I struggled for six years without any

support. I want to stop this happening to other kids. That is

why I am telling you my story. I am off to London to meet Moyra Fraser,

who owns a carers charity. My dad was giving information about a

support group for him, and my mother was given information about

a support group for her, but I wasn't given anything. What

happened to you ease, unfortunately, really quite common and I'm sorry

to say that, we hear it all the time. And I think that is a key

point that we need to get across to the professionals involved, the

social workers, the doctors, the psychiatric nurses. Have a look at

who else is in that house. Have a look at who is supporting the

person with the mental health problem. What are you doing to make

a change for young carers? Last week when we went to Number Ten, a

young carer came with us and spoke to a number of ministers and gave a

letter to the Prime Minister about their experiences, which she

responded to. We have also been working with schools. We would like

to see every school having a member of staff who was responsible for

young carers and make sure that everyone in the school, pupils and

teachers, know that they need support. I think the meeting has

gone really well and I've learnt a lot more than I knew before. She

has invited me to come back to talk to some MPs, which I would find

amazing. A year ago I never thought I would do this and I found it hard

to talk about the past, but I think I can make a change. And if having

seen Imogen's report you'd like more information on organisations

that can help, the details are coming up at the end of the

It should be a straightforward question. Why would a council step

in and take over the running of the organisation managing 8,000 of its

former council houses in Northumberland? But even though so

many families' homes are involved no-one seems to know what's going

on. Or what the future holds. Rumours abound. Tonight I'm going

to try and piece together the real Homes for Northumberland, or HfN,

manages 8,500 houses in Alnwick and Blyth Valley. It's been running

these former council homes for two and a half years. And the tenants

we've spoken to are impressed. very happy with Homes For

Northumberland. We felt empowered because they listened to us.

the workmen have been Grade A1. imagine their shock when last

December a boardroom battle ended in Northumberland County Council

suspending the Managing Director, sacking independent board members,

and taking control. Well, I think that's appalling. If you've got no

independents, it's county councillors against tenants. I feel

as if things are being bulldozed through. You get to know nothing

until it's cut and dried. So what's been going on? Why has the council

stepped in? It's all a bit of a puzzle. With missing pieces. And

unanswered questions. A lot of people are being left in the dark.

Including the sacked independent board members, who are, it's fair

to say, stunned at what's happened. Because, up until the middle of

last year, they thought the council was as happy as the tenants.

Despite being warned by the council about speaking to Inside Out, two

independent board members wanted to have their say. There was nothing

brought to our attention. From the beginning for about two years we

seemed to be running quite smoothly. There was an initial chilling. It

developed into much more significant mud-throwing. And an

escalation of alleged concerns. council declined to appear on

Inside Out and tell us why it had taken control of Homes For

Northumberland. But in a statement it said it had become increasingly

concerned about the company's performance and management. And

despite raising these issues, appropriate action hadn't been

Homes for Northumberland is an ALMO. An Arms Length Management

Organisation. It's supposed to manage and maintain the houses with

the support of the tenants. The council has the right to step in

and take control if it thinks things are going wrong. I've been

told what it's done is virtually unprecedented in this industry. So

whatever was wrong, it had to be big. Big enough to abandon arms

length and grip the company in a bear hug. We've managed to see

confidential council briefings listing all the alleged problems.

One of the most serious was a backlog in performing gas safety

inspections and issuing certificates. If they're not done,

the owner of the houses, the council, could be fined. Apparently,

more than 100 inspections had been mislaid by HfN. And around 200 were

overdue. We clearly accept mistakes were made. We had assurances that

it was not the case and gas servicing was up to date. It turns

out mistakes were made and some properties were missed. Immediate

action was taken to put that right. So they openly admit they got that

wrong. They say they were addressing the problem. But what

about the other serious charges? Do they stack up? We understand there

are allegations of bullying within Homes For Northumberland. But when

the directors asked the council for more evidence, they said they

didn't have any and couldn't provide any. We did what we could

at the time. We checked if anyone had made a complaint of bullying

with HR. We checked our policies. Grievance procedure and so on.

Beyond that, there was nothing we could do because there was nothing

to investigate. The council said it couldn't discuss detailed

management issues like this. But the secret council papers gave us

the inside story. They say some of the bullying evidence is anecdotal

and subjective. A former grievance had been raised by one middle

manager. The council had only been told of serious incidents but by so

many resources and so frequently, we cannot simply ignore them. And

it's a similar situation with allegations of accounting problems.

The secret council papers say financial control was lax. I don't

think that's justified at all. The reality is that we were audited

annually by KPMG. A fairly major accountancy firm. There were no

significant problems identified. None of the inspection reports or

audit reports suggested any major financial issues. A pattern emerges.

The council says there's a major problem. The former directors say

it's a smaller problem and being addressed or not a problem at all.

Normally the sides would work out a strategy to resolve the problems.

Instead the whole relationship has broken down. The council has lost

confidence in Homes for Northumberland without anyone

understanding why. It's all a bit of a mystery really. But some

believe there's no mystery at all. They think Northumberland, like

many councils, wants to take over the ALMO and generate some cash.

I'm very worried about it. Because I really feel as if this is the

start of a way for the county council to sell the houses on to

housing associations. A report last year said Northumberland could save

�400,000 a year by taking HfN in- house. The council announced it was

considering this. Then the government said tenants had to be

properly consulted before a council could dissolve an ALMO. In December,

the council sacked the independent directors, who now think they know

what's going on. The council wanted to regain control of the housing. I

suspect that was the starting point and what's driven everything since.

And the tenants also smell a hidden agenda. They just seem to be doing

things their way and telling us afterwards. There's not one

councillor come forward to side with the residents. Just suspicious.

Why not be open and honest and tell people what's going on? But the

council says there's no hidden agenda. It had written to every

tenant to explain its concerns and what it was doing. Future changes

were set aside, for the time being while it strengthened homes for

northumberland, and developed an improvement plan. The council also

set up a county-wide panel to give tenants a stronger voice about

issues which affect them but what will be the situation in a few

years time? Who will own the homes of 8,500 families in

Northumberland? Who will be setting the rents? Questions that lie at

If I said to you, Lake District, you would probably think of

spectacular views and stunning walks. But this spring, visitors

may be hoping to catch a glimpse of something straight out of The X-

Files. We sent Jacey Normand to investigate our very own mystery of

the deep. Some people will have you believe

that below the waters of Lake Windermere, something is lurking.

Sightings of a creature not dissimilar to the Loch Ness Monster

have caused a stir in the normally quiet waters of the Lake District.

Tom Noblett, a local hotel owner and world record holder for fresh

water swimming, believes he isn't We got to an area here. You always

get a bad feeling across that area,. It as a mysterious environment

I felt something swim past me, which caused me to stop within a

split second. I heard something and they turned to my friend Andrew and

asked him, what was that? It felt like a mysterious submarine or

something had gone past me underneath. We didn't know. We

didn't know nothing about no monsters, or anything. This wasn't

the first strange encounter at Windermere. Linden Adams was on top

of Gummers Howe overlooking the lake when something caught his eye.

Fortunately for us, he's a professional photographer. Yes,

this is pretty much the view. are the pictures you took. What do

you think it is? I don't know. I took eight photographs in total. It

lasted for 10 minutes, the fighting. There is a dark object across the

top of the water. On a blow up, this is what you can actually see.

This dark period has been measured, four metres in length. The piece

sticking up, that has been estimated at one metre in height.

We owed it and it's something which should not be in the lake. Did you

go home and tell everyone? quite the opposite, really. It is

scary, looking at the images, thinking, am I going to release

this to the general public? It was the last thing on my mind. What did

you think they would think? Crazy, at the end of the day. You see

something like that in the lake and start questioning exactly what it

could possibly be, and start checking off a list in your mind

what it could be forced it's not uncommon for Diez to cross the lake.

Linden and Tom's stories are very convincing. I want to know what

could be in the lake. So I got onboard with to Dr Ian Winfield and

his team for a scientific study. This part is monitoring the fish

population. We have been doing this for many, many years. It's fair to

say, if there was anything out here, you would have seen it by now?

think so. We have been doing this during the daytime, since 1990. And

at night time as well. And the North and the South basins are

covered. If there was anything large, I think we would have come

across it. A number of people think they have experienced something.

What do you think it is? I don't know what it is. If it is a fish,

it could only be a length of a metre. That would be large pike or

a salmon, the largest fish we know? It's a question of judging at the

reports. -- the ripples. Judging absolutely is very difficult.

do you think it is? I think it's the size of something being

misjudged. There are lots of otters in the area as well. A couple of

them swimming around on a calm day can look very big. Windermere does

not give up its secrets easily and it only when you come out here, you

can appreciate the tricks with light and shade. So, his Bownessie

lurking down their or is it a case of mistaken identity? The person

who would know his Lisa Clarke, an expert in Marine Zoology. There's

lots of large fish in our lakes. The Atlantic Salmon can grow up to

one meeting in size. They are very ferocious species. Again, they can

grow up to one metre. Pike, they can grow up to considerable size is

in terms of freshwater fish. Up to one metre. It's quite a reclusive

fish and tends to be bottom dwelling. Further afield, it could

be coastal waters, you have the basking shark. That is a total

marine species which can grow to considerable sizes, up to 26 ft and

more. You have looked at these photographs. Tell me what you think.

In my opinion, it's an animal of some description. It could be a

sturgeon. From witness accounts, I have looked bad, and descriptions,

this could be one of the more likely fish it could be. These can

grow to considerable sizes. In excess of 16 feet in length. And

even up to 20 feet. The photographs are quite significant to you,

aren't they? They are the best evidence we have at the moment of

the sightings. They have been other photographs, but these are quite

clear. It's an animal moving through the water against the

current of the lake and appears to be quite considerable size. It

needs more investigation and a long term investigation. That will give

it the best chance of trying to discover what this animal is. I

propose to do a much more in-depth study with a team of professionals.

A multi-disciplinary team. We ought to do that over the summer. Ridley

so convinced that London's photographs are genuine, I went to

see Daetech. They are specialists in forensic visual computing. Their

analysis of video footage is used by police forces all over the world.

Could any of these pictures be anything lurking in the water?

this one here. You can see quite clearly, they are quite long in

length. You can see it looks like ahead. Possibly. We have tried

elements of analysis, trying to enhance, reduce the size. Increase

the contrast on this political -- particular selection. And what does

it look like to you after doing that? Well, it certainly an object.

Not quite sure whether it's an object or an animal. But there

certainly something in the water. Like most great mysteries, we found

something but the results are inconclusive, which is not bad news

for everybody. We asked Cumbria Tourism what they thought it was.

giant pike or a throwback to the Ice Age? It's intriguing. Is it in

your interest to keep it a mystery? They had done that well in Scotland

and if we can learn from them, and key but visitors coming back, we

will be doing well out of it. have you heard? That it exists.

sighting so far. Yes, we would love to. I came looking forward but we

have not found it yet. I think it's true. So you don't really want to

find out in case it's a big pike? Well, whatever it is, the mystery

That's it for tonight. A huge response on e-mailed to last week's