19/11/2012 Inside Out North West

Hello. Welcome to Inside Out North West. We are at Crosby beach on

Merseyside where we will be finding out why these parts of the region

is at the centre of a unique archaeological discovery. Tonight:

The first ancient footprints in Formby. Now a new find that could

take Sefton to the top of archaeology's Premier League.

White Cumbria is about to take on parts of the Yorkshire National

Park. Being part of a national park might raise the profile of the area.

And the middle-aged men still going wild for Morrissey. Afterwards I

thought, Dickie, what on earth are you trying to do, getting on stage

The beaches here north of Liverpool are probably best known today for

these Antony Gormley statues, but 20 years ago, an amateur's

discovery of footprints in the mud dating back 5,000 years but this

coastline on the map as an area of real archaeological significance.

Now there has been a new discovery that could take Sefton right to the

top of the archaeological Premier League. Jacey Normand turned

You do not expect to find something as nationally significant as we

have. We discovered some flints and some timbers. Archaeologists got

quite excited. Based on the kind of evidence so far, it looks about

5,000 BC. Possibly 6,000. Here in a field in Sefton on Merseyside, an

archaeological dig is taking place which could be one of the most

significant sites of its kind in the country. It all came to light

after work started on a nature reserve.

Lunt Meadows is a stretch of unspoiled farmland close to the

River Alt near the village of Sefton. Last year the Environment

Agency, which owns the land, secured funding to restore the fund

-- site to a wetland wildlife haven. We wanted to build on the existing

population of animals we had. We are looking to attract birds as

well. However, they always knew that the area had interested

historians in the past, so they have to be vigilant in case any

unusual materials were unearthed. Sure enough, this summer while they

were digging out a pond, they heed archaeological gold. As part of the

phase earlier this year we discovered some friends and some

timbers -- some flints and timbres that archaeologists got excited

about. It was unexpected. I have been looking for this kind of site

for some time. Ron Cowell could not believe it. After searching for 30

years, he finally had evidence of a Mesolithic Settlement, the most

significant site of his career. What we are digging here is a site

that will probably date to about 5,000 BC. Thousands of years,

probably, before farming was introduced to Britain. So these

people are hunter-gatherers, which means they never stay very long in

any one place. How do you know that from what you have found? From the

style of the stone tools, because they change over time. And we also

know it from the layers of soil. never knew how much you could learn

from a metre the cross section of soil. Can you see that Blair? That

is the plan soil. This has been ploughed up over the last few

hundred years, but our site his way down here. To appreciate the

significance of the find at Lunt requires a bit of context. The

discovery of ancient footprints on nearby Formby Beach over 20 years

ago added to the Sefton region's reputation in archaeological

circles. These and other fines were clear evidence that Stone Age

hunter-gatherers used the coast as a source of food back in the

Neolithic period, around 3,000 BC. However, evidence of their presence

in the earlier, Mesolithic period, has always been more elusive.

Liverpool Museum has a number of finds from across the Merseyside

area but proof of a Mesolithic Settlement is extremely rare.

will take us in a massive step forward because it will give us the

detailed knowledge of how these people were living, perhaps what

season they were their living at Lunt. The area, hopefully, will

become one of the most important areas in the country where people

want to try to understand how these The team have already calculated

that the sea once reached here, two miles inland, and they have already

found lots of stone which mysteriously originates in

Derbyshire. Now it was my turn to connect with the past. Ron had

found a piece of flint ready to be extracted. I was going to be the

first person to hold it for over 7,000 years. I will let you take

Look at that! And that is a tool? Is that quite typical of the things

you have been finding? Absolutely. How old is that? The Radio carbon

dates will give us the exact date but based on the kind of evidence

we have so far it is looking about 5,000 BC, possibly 6,000.

digging out a section of soil at Lunt the team are better able to

understand the history and potential of the Sayda. Brilliant!

This is the youngest bit at the top. This is the oldest bit. This black

sand, you will feel it is quite gritty. It is black, really mucky

looking. That is part of the habitation layer. So that would

have been when people were around? Yes. And above that, we have got a

very dense layer of peat. This is organic, lots of plant remains in

it. It will give us a lot of information. And then at the top,

we have a clay deposit. We have flooding by the sea. It is a

fantastic environment. It is almost like a snapshot of what the area

has been like for thousands of years. Yes, it will tell us what

kind of environment people were living in at the time of the

settlement. That is 1 double because that will tell us what they

were doing. -- that is wonderful. The evidence that this is an

important archaeological site has gradually begun to emerge. This is

perhaps the most unique thing, a polished stone. You can see the

sharp edge of there that has been worked by smoothing both of those

edges to produce that point. This is their means of survival. Every

piece of technology that we have, knives, forks, axes... Anything you

want to do anything with, that you make an implement to do it, they

have to do theirs with stone. hoped that Lunt Meadows could prove

to be as significant as Goldcliff in the Severn Estuary, regarded as

the best method lithic -- Mesolithic site in the UK. What are

we looking at here? These are things extracted from the location?

Yes, these are worked flints. These are the remains of tools a mate.

And there are casts of footprints here, at the Prince of cranes,

extinct birds. -- the footprints of cranes. The footprint of a child of

about eight. And some very large bones, from extinct wild cattle.

They were hunting these things and dismembering them on the foreshore.

I knew excited about the findings after a Shao yes, I am really

anxious that people investigate coastal archaeology. The perfect

footprint or whatever is revealed by the natural processes of coastal

erosion. With archaeology, the work events. There is always something

else to find, no matter what the weather. In August, Ron Cowell sent

his findings to Florida for carbon dating, hoping that the results

would confirm that he had unearthed what he had been looking for all

his life, a site of major national significance. Much of this story

will come together after we have finished digging and looking for

patterns and getting carbon dates. That is when I hope we can say we

have got a pretty important site Two months later, the sun is

shining on Sefton and on Ron Cowell once again. The carbon-dating

results are back from America. date they have given us is 5,800 BC

for part of the settlement here. So that is about a 1000 years ago,

which is really great. So it is Mesolithic which is what you

predicted, but you have also made another discovery? We may well have

three buildings here that could all have been in use at the same time

that could represent a large Mesolithic hunter-gatherer

settlement, rather than just a little temporary camp. We might

have a site which would be very rare in this country, where several

groups of families, perhaps all living on the same site, in a much

larger group than we might imagine, or at the same time. This must be

the find of your career. I think it is, yes. I was hoping that it would

be one of the better fines because I am retiring soon. I thought, OK,

this might be one that I can go out having felt I have accomplished

something. Lunt Meadows has now been restored to the way it looked

a 1000 years ago, and has the evidence to go with it. It is also

a name that will now go down in UK Coming up, the Moz Army who

travelled the world to follow their idle poor stock parts of the

stunning coastline are protected by the National Trust and in other

areas of the north-west, a national park designation have been used to

preserve wildlife and the countryside.

Now it turns out that Cumbria could be about to take on part of the

Yorkshire Dales National Park. So how do locals feel about this

expansion of Yorkshire? Keeley Donovan has been to find out.

The Yorkshire Dales are a national treasure. They don't do sudden

changes round here. But the Dales National Park could expand out of

Yorkshire to the North West, into the area round the village of

Crosby Ravensworth. Does anyone in Skipton know anything about it?

Have you heard of Crosby Ravensworth? And no. Never heard of

it. Is that a place for darts? it in Lincolnshire? Had you feel

about someone not in Yorkshire being part of the Dales National

Park? No. Ever since the Dales National Park was established

nearly 60 years ago, Yorkshire has always been at the centre of its

identity. So where is Crosby Ravensworth? And

why is the Dales set to expand there? I'm finding out on a trip

into Cumbria. I will be seeing some beautiful countryside and finding

out whether the Yorkshire Dales The Settle to Carlisle railway

passes through the heart of the Dales and takes us to where the

newest part of the national park would be. More than eight million

visitors a year come to the Yorkshire Dales National Park - an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty bounded by the M6 on one side, and

the A1 on the other. My route takes me north to Kirkby Stephen. It's

here that there'll be the biggest proposed expansion of the Dales in

an area between Kirkby Stephen and the M6. We are talking about a

fantastic landscape and just giving it the protection and conservation

that it deserves for the future. So that our children and grandchildren

can enjoy this fantastic environment in the same way we do.

But they are not in Yorkshire, though. The Yorkshire Dales

National Park has 11% of it not in Yorkshire, it is already in Cumbria

so that is not unusual. Most national parks in the UK are not in

one county. What are the benefits of including these areas in the

park? People see opportunities for business, tourism, farming because

it will mean additional resources coming into the area. There's no

doubt this area deserves protecting. Tucked between the Lakes and the

Dales, it's slightly off the usual tourist track. So where I am

standing is Cumbria. To the right of me is the Lake District and

behind me, the North Pennines and in front of May, the Yorkshire

Dales. -- in front of me. The proposals have been drawn up by

Natural England, the agency advising the Government on

protecting the landscape, and it says the changes are aimed at

giving greater protection to this stunning countryside.

I'm in Smardale, at a nature reserve hidden beneath the Settle-

Carlisle line. Places like this are already protected, but national

park status could give them a higher public profile. You have

this amazing scenery, there is a bleak grandeur about it. Incredible

wildlife and really interesting industrial archaeology as well.

industrial archaeology as well. Lots of different things, really a.

A lot about the nature reserve in particular? It is just great. This

is a place where we have the biggest population in the UK of

certain butterflies, white clawed crayfish in the river so lots of

things that are really rare and interesting and special. It is a

fantastically rich area anyway so why it did not become a national

park in the first place, I am not sure. The is area is worth

preserving but not everyone agrees that the national park should be

the way to do it. Nearby, other smaller changes to park boundaries

are also being planned. An area south of Shap would go into the

Lake District, and land north of Kirkby Lonsdale would become part

of the Dales. Tom Lowther farms on the eastern edge of the Lake

District, as well as representing Crosby Ravensworth on the county

council. He isn't a fan of national parks, and he doesn't want a

Yorkshire takeover. I think there is a coherent case to say that we

do not need national parks any more. It already has tremendous

protection through ministerial and European law. But the changes could

bring more people into the area and help tourism. Annie Kindleysides

has a bed and breakfast., it might help raise the profile of the area.

We do not have an obvious attraction here other than the

countryside itself. Refined once we get people here, we get them back

and perhaps a label national park would help get them. -- we find

My grandfather moved here in 1930 and then my father took over from

him and I took over from my father. We have been here all this time.

John roots here run deep and he doesn't want to be dragged into

Yorkshire - not without a struggle anyway. We are in Cumbria and I

can't see any benefit from being in the Yorkshire Dales. It is not

spoilt and I can't see how giving it a different label is going to

make it any different to what it is now. The story is about identity.

This is a tight-knit community based in unspoiled countryside. But

its ties are to Cumbria, not Yorkshire. That is to be taken into

account for the expansion plans to be a success.

Before long, it looks like this area will become part of the Dales

National Park but what other happens, I hope I will come back

Just south of here, the city of Liverpool attract live Beatles fans

but down the road, Manchester fans flock to significant sites for the

band at the Smith. Morrissey have now achieved iconic status, and is

followed around the world with the kind of passion usually reserved

for boy bands. We have been meeting # Ave Maria.

The kind of fervour displayed by fans at Morrissey gigs is

approaching religious proportions. The self-proclaimed Moz Army travel

the world to watch and worship their idol. Some of the greatest

nights of my life have been going to Morrissey concerts. If I could,

I would go to every gig. I do not really go out, I just saved to see

Morrissey and as long as he is Although he now enjoys a successful

solo career, Morrissey first burst onto the nation's conscience in the

early '80s as lead singer of The Smiths, who were arguably that

decade's most influential band. Photographer Kevin Cummins has been

there since the beginning. Music was going in a very different

direction. The Smiths brought it back to a very basic level and it

was a level people could understand, plus Morrissey's lyrics were very,

Everything was about Northern culture, Northern arts, Northern

film, Northern music and I think that's why it touched people,

And 25 years after their acrimonious split, fans from all

over the world still flock to Manchester to see where it all

began. The tour, of course, includes being photographed outside

Salford Lads Club just as The Smiths were in the 1980s.

We've had people from Venezuela, Paraguay, Japan, from Brazil, Chile,

all round the globe. We get people every day, probably 30-40 a week.

It's great for the club and great for the area. They're a very, very

obsessive lot. They're a great bunch. They love the whole concept

of Manchester, all the lyrics, all the imagery, the music and they

just appreciate everything about it. It is more than music. It's

something that goes really deep in my heart, the music. And his voice,

it's so different. # I would rather not go back to the

old house. I used to live on King's Road and

then at there for a long time. The only way I could find mental

relaxation is to go out and walk. And to walk around the streets. For

me, it was perfect fuel. Because then I would go home and I would

The tour takes the fans right to Morrissey's old front door.

This is where it all started, this whole tour has been really amazing

and the dog - it's awesome. My heart, it's just pumping. It's

amazing because you listen to it but you never get to really see it

or feel it and I'm right here, right now.

It's very emotional, I am very happy. I have wanted to come, now

it's a dream come true. I think it's just a comfort when

you're feeling down. He relates to a lot of young people and that's

why a lot of people our age are really into The Smiths, even though

it's many years ago. But the ultimate experience for any

Morrissey fan is to see him live and this summer, they came from all

over the world to watch him perform in his home town. I got here at

5:30am this morning and I was the People want to be first in and the

closest so they can get close to Morrissey. It can cause friction

but we help each other out to do shows.

Dickie Felton is writing a book about his global travels with

fellow fans and wants to know the lengths they go to to attend gigs.

Have you ever had any clashes in terms of going to work? I left work

in 2009 and worked in HMV in Manchester and I left there to go

to the American shows. You left work, you had to go? Yes. People

have seen him in about five countries in the last few months.

They leave lives behind as it were to follow this 53-year-old pop-star

so it's quite unique. It cost lots of money, the hotel, the train, the

flight. But it is really nice. To drive to Italy and Germany to watch

Maurice Edu. Two weeks ago, I met him in Antwerp.

There's just this absolute magic of going to watch Morrissey. Of going

to different places and meeting different people and at the end of

the night, this incredible man coming out and singing these

# A double bed... But for many, simply watching

Morrissey perform isn't enough, they want to be up there with him.

Cos he means so much to you, you want him to be your friend, you

want him to have an association with you on a one-to-one level. I

think getting on stage gave me that chance and I didn't sleep for about

four years after that cos he was A lot of the people who are jumping

on stage are 50-year-old blokes who still want to hug him and it's not

a sexual thing. It transcends that, almost. I got on the stage at Great

Yarmouth. In 2009, I got on the stage at

Great Yarmouth and afterwards I thought, "Dickie, what on earth are

you doing? You're nearly 40 and you're getting on stage with a

popstar"! We're all looking for that same

thing. A shake of the hand, an item of clothing. I think we're all

looking for that cos you want him to know you exist.

It was about three quarters of the way in, about 9:50pm, and he was

singing a song called Let Me Kiss You and there's a line that says,

"and my heart is open to you". At that point, he took the shirt off

and he just threw it, and it was coming my way so I decided to jump

50 foot in the air and I caught it. I was surprised I caught the whole

thing cos usually you come away with just a button but I caught it

and I remember landing in a ball and shoving it up my shirt and it

went down my trousers in the end! I just remember thinking, "I need to

get it home safe"! And prior to a concert in America. He did stop and

turn round and I said, would you mind signing my arm? The next time,

Morrissey is signing my arm and his signing my arm. That is basically

it. I marched the nearest tap to Parlour which was about four blocks

away. The wife was not very happy! Have you got a tattoo with her

name? No, no, maybe one day! Pure copying a hairstyle, that is one

thing but to get Morrissey to sign your arm and to get it made into a

tattoo, that is a real devotion and that will be with you forever. That

is what the fans are saying. That is a part of Morrissey they have

got with him forever. In by an feeling low or down about something,

I can look and remember the times that we have shared at venues and

showers. Star son scratch my name on your

arm... -- # Scratch my name on your That is at our song and it is the

So the quiffs may be thinning and the rumours of Morrissey's

retirement abound, but for the Moz Army, it's not something they'll

grow out of it's a way of life. You're not allowed to have heroes

any more. In this day and age. We are meant to be mature adults and

never to let yourself go or go crazy. Or dance the night away.

When I see Morrissey it give you a chance to go a bit crazy. Music is

flat and lazy and Morrissey makes Top man, Morrissey. He wrote this

charming man about me which is a little-known fact. That is all from