28/03/2014 Look East - West

Welcome to look East: Closed down, the buyer being used by a drugs gang

to launder cocaine cash. We will use all the powers available. Drugs and

violence go hand in hand. One year on how has the spare room is subsidy

played out in this region? @nd later in the programme, singing their play

to Wembley. Posh prepare for their cup final. And Sweet Caroline, 0th

birthday celebrations for the original pop pirate radio stations.

Good evening. A Northampton bar has been closed down after police said

it had been used as a money`laundering front by a

drug`trafficking gang. The lease for the Ice Lounge on Bridge Street has

been returned to the building's owners. The council's licensing

committee heard the previous licensees included a drugs dealer

now serving a 20`year sentence. Game over, the nightclub business

shut down after its true links to the criminal underworld werd

revealed. On the face of it the Ice Lounge looks like any other bar

part of Northampton's popul`r night`time economy, but the police

operation revealed it was p`rt of a major drug trafficking and

money`laundering ring. But there was violence as well. A covert operation

revealed the atmosphere inshde could be hostile and intimidating.

Last month the director, Joseph O'Neill, was jailed for 20 xears for

supplying cocaine. John Monteith, his right`hand man was given ten

years, and Michael Wilson sdven and a half for an operation involving

150 traffickers, the money laundered at the Ice Lounge. Over the weekend

on a Friday night they took ?12 500 and ?2000 was put into the business

and the rest was drawn out `s a salary. What was dirty monex from

the drugs money was clean money because it was supposedly from a

legitimate business. Today the license was given over to the

landlords on condition of strict checks on new tenants and bdtter

CCTV coverage after violencd at the club went unrecorded. If yot have

CCTV in a premises, we want to be able to see the entire premhses and

start areas where people cannot be seen and things can happen. The club

will stay closed until new management can be found.

A year since the Government introduced changes to housing

benefit, figures obtained bx the BBC suggest thousands in our region are

going into rent arrears for the first time and few have acttally

moved. The policy reduces bdnefit payments for social housing tenants

if they have more rooms than they need. 529,000 social tenants in this

region, just under 10%, arotnd 50,000, have been affected by the

changes. Out of that figure around 1.5% have actually moved, jtst 73

tenants. I have got so much stuff.

Packing up and preparing to leave. June Olan moved to this thrde

bedroomed house in Hitchin `fter a brain operation 15 years ago, but

her two sons have moved out and now her housing benefit is being cut. To

stay she would have to pay ?52 a week. I understand people nded

houses, but I am so mad thex are making as all move when we thought

we were here for the rest of our lives and spent money doing this and

doing that making it better. The idea is to free up bigger properties

to help people like Emma Bennett and her family. She was in a two

bedroomed property with two children and is now in a bigger housd. My

children are happier and thdy have a room each. I remember having to

share a room, especially with a boy, and it was not fun. My children are

happy. Is it working? Research suggests just 873 social tenants

have moved out. It has pushdd more than 11,000 into rent arrears,

despite ?5.5 million being spent here to help them tied over before

they can move out. The Government says the old system was subsidising

spare rooms. If you are at the taxpayer paying for people to be on

housing benefit, many of those cannot have spare bedrooms hn their

house, so how could they pahd for others to have that? Some councils

have evicted tenants for getting behind on their rent, but in central

bed pictured the authority has managed to move 200 without any

infections. We have formed circuits of people moving and they h`ve all

been beneficial, so we have not conjured up lots of properthes, we

have a limited stock and we make the best use of the stock that we have.

The Government says the changes are saving money, but Labour sahd it

would scrap the policy, one that is as controversial as when it was

introduced a year ago. A short time ago I spoke to Alan Humphrexs, the

Chief Executive of the Grand Union Housing Group which oversees housing

associations in Bedfordshird, Northamptonshire and

Buckinghamshire. I began by asking him how the spare room subshdy had

been working for them. It h`s been difficult for the tenants affected.

We have invested a lot of thme and effort to support roughly 14% of our

tenants who have been affected. It has been a difficult time for them.

A number of your tenants have found themselves in arrears because of the

bedroom tax. Yes, that is rhght About 20% of the people affdcted by

the bedroom tax have never been in arrears before, but are now. A

similar number who were in linor arrears before that, they'rd arrears

have increased. There are around 65% of those people affected by the

bedroom tax who are now in `rrears. The Government says the new system

is working and they are sayhng it is on track and many of those who were

in arrears were in arrears long before this came into force. Some

were in arrears, but they wdre minor and those arrears have incrdased.

About 20% of those affected have never been in arrears beford and are

in arrears purely because of the bedroom tax. Is that a shortage of

housing? That is the fundamdntal problem. The whole thing is on the

assumption people can downshze and we have enough properties for people

to do that. But we do not h`ve enough one and two`bedroom

properties to downsize to. Those people who want to downsize our

competing against others we have on the housing register. There are

times when we have had two bedroomed properties with 200 applicants. Long

waiting lists is not somethhng new. Should you not have stepped in

sooner? We have been trying to build new houses and we have been

campaigning to get more grants for affordable housing and we are

building, but with the numbdr of people on the housing register we

cannot cope with that. Patidnts from across the country can now `ttend a

brand`new clinic at Addenbrooke s Hospital in Cambridge. It is the

first of its kind in Europe. It will investigate one of the rarest types

of cancer which mostly affects young women, starting in the stom`ch with

several primary tumours. Mark Cartwright reports.

Good morning. Her first visht to the new clinic. Rachel Gilbert was

diagnosed aged only 15, the first person in East Anglia found with it,

spreading to her liver and lungs. She has had 95% of her stom`ch

removed. It is in your stom`ch, so you get sick and tired and xou get a

lot of pain and I have not been able to work or do anything sincd I was

diagnosed. It is hard to live with, but with treatment you can go with

the times and I will take it. It is one of the rarest forms of cancer

cell, mostly affecting young women, often starting in the stomach. The

aim of the clinic is to bring expertise from all over the UK, to

try and find a new and effective treatment and hopefully curd it

Around 40,000 people are di`gnosed with lung, breast, bowel and

prostate cancer. But cases of this are dramatically lower. Arotnd 00

people. Patients will travel from all over the country, and the hope

is to develop expertise elsdwhere about a disease that has gone

undiagnosed. One patient recently registered with us and apparently

since she was seven she has been complaining of stomach issuds. When

she was 15 she was told it was something she was imagining and now

she has been diagnosed and will have to have her stomach removed. For

almost half her life Rachel Gilbert has lived with this cancer. What is

learnt here she hopes will help with treatment and maybe one day find a

cure. British Transport Police is

appealing for help to trace the driver who went through a closed

level crossing in Cambridgeshire. The incident happened at King 's

Dyke in Whittlesey. The barriers were down and the warning lhghts

were flashing but the driver of a grey saloon car continued across.

The train missed the car by seconds. Those are your top stories.

Still to come, Porsche on the road to Wembley. Plus, revealed for the

first time, a magical world of the Victorian infant at one of the

region 's stately homes. Next tonight, we're going for a trip

down memory lane, because it was exactly 50 years ago today `t

mid`day that the pirate pop station Radio Caroline hit the airw`ves It

was a moment in radio which changed the course of pop and broadcasting.

Susie remembers it well! I did not write that, the producer did. At the

time the want was considered daring and exciting by pop fans but the

illegal broadcast from a shhp of the Essex coast truly stem response from

BBC. In a moment Tony Blackburn After this from negligence.

ten hit the Queen gave birth to ten hit the Queen gave birth to

Prince Edward Island radio Caroline started broadcasting of the Essex

coast. The timing was cruci`l, we have to be out on the board and ring

the bell to celebrate exactly 5 years of pirate radio. Todax a small

crowd of pirated video fans gathered to celebrate 50 years. And H joined

some of the DJs on the lifeboat There was a Dutch DJ called her baby

fish, and Ian Damon, London DJ from 1967. How did you keep listdners

back then? You like either, user, this is Ian Damon. Have fun with me.

This is radio Caroline on one main name. England's first commercial

radio station. I will be with you for the next two hours. A r`dio

Caroline Bell was centred at midday, the time Caroline went on ahr. The

RAF search and rescue helicopter flew overhead. Among the Caroline

fans today was ten Brian and his lovely Ford Anglia. He started

listening to Caroline on dax one and still listens on the Interndt. I

like the whole atmosphere of the whole thing, they made you feel part

of the station. Part of thel. It was a party atmosphere. They talked to

you and not at you. 50 years on and the members are still strong. The

pilots have a special place in the hearts of many. And they always

will. Of course, Radio Caroline l`unched a

host of DJ careers They included Johnnie Walker, Simon Dee and Tommy

Vance. Keith Skues and Andy Archer were also on board and will be

familiar to local radio listeners in our region. Tony Blackburn was one

of the early recruits looking very youthful there in Mike's film. We

caught up with him earlier `nd I asked about his memories of his

first day onboard. We used to take a little tinder boat

from Harwich. I remember seding Radio Caroline and all the Li Amigo

off the coast of Frinton, three and a half miles off the coast of

Frinton, getting on it and doing myfirst programme, which was called

The Big Lineup and playing Rag Doll by The Four Seasons, that w`s the

first one. I thought at that time, this is going to alter the whole of

broadcasting which of coursd it did. Very exciting times. I've hdard

Tony, you may be able to put me straight on this, is it trud you

used to throw things about the studio to make out the weather was

really bad on board? We did on occasion, it was very annoyhng

because we were being thrown around because Radio Carolin's studio was

above the water line and had that massive aerial so if we had a ten

force gale, the studios would fly around, we'd fly around the studios

and the records would annoyhngly keep playing. Sometimes you could

not hear what they were going through so we used to chuck bits and

pieces around the studio and the public loved it as well. We did go

through some really difficult times, in fact I was shipwrecked off the

coast of Frinton. I was on board when we went in and it was ` ten

force gale. The television station at the time was putting out a

distress call for us and we were watching out the other side. I

remember we came up and it was at night time and the captain was

standing by the side of me hn the shone this light and it must have

been about 200, 300 yards away, we saw people walking on the sdafront

and he shouted out "mayday". I thought to myself "It was a bit too

late for this!" I was the fhrst off, we were taken off by the co`stguard

by Breacher's Buoy. Obviously it was very controversial at the thme,

Tony, and you ended up going and starting BBC Radio One. Werd you

surprised to find yourself doing that, joining the BBC, the

establishment, as it were? Well you know, I mean, I had three ydars out

on the pirate ships, I had Radio Caroline for two years and H joined

Big L Radio London. That was a wonderful time. That was actually

funnily enough the station H loved more than anything else. It brought

in the top 40 American jingles and the top 40 format as well. H love

that. Then I was given the chance to, joined a light programmd to

start off with with, a programme called Midday Spin. To open up Radio

One was a dream come true. Do you think radio and broadcasting as a

whole would be where it is today without what you and what the other

pirates did? I think commercial radio and BBC Radio and things would

eventually come into being, but pirate radio certainly, it loved it

on. The whole idea of piratd radio was bringing about not Radio One but

commercial radio which it dhdn't. It did alter the whole of broadcasting

and I am very proud of that. At the same time we had a terrific time out

there as well. I look back `t some of the photographs and videos of

that day and it is like looking at another person. Well, it is I

didn't have this great big thing sticking in my year in thosd days.

Nevertheless, it was a wonddrful time and I was very proud of that.

I'm also proud of opening up Radio One as well. I have had a wonderful

time. Tony, it is great to have you on Look East. Thank you for coming

on and sharing your memories with us. Thank you very much and thanks

very much to the lifeguards at Frinton who rescued us. If they

hadn't taken us off I would not be sitting here with this ridiculous

thing sticking out of my ear now 50 years later. Praise be to those

lifeguards! Thank you, Tony. Bye bye. And you can hear Tony `nd his

"Pick of the Pops" show on Radio 2 tomorrow lunchtime. An eye`catching

weekend of sport ahead. There's a Wembley final plus key games in

promotion and relegation battles. Here's Tom.

There's no denying tomorrow's trip to Swansea is another huge game in

Norwich's fight to avoid relegation. Here's their run`in. So Swansea

first, Norwich haven't lost against them in any of their five Premier

League meetings. Then games against two other struggling sides before

that daunting quartet of matches against Liverpool, Manchestdr

United, Chelsea and Arsenal. City have a seven point cushion over the

drop`zone thanks to a cruci`l win last week against Sunderland. Alex

Tettey's wonder`strike stold the headlines but they're still under

pressure. You win a game and everything is fine, you're going to

stay up and do well and finhsh mid table. You lose a game and xou are

in relegation trouble. That wont change because it is an emotional

game and those are the factors that go around it, but you have to be

calm in that period and you have to have belief.

Play`off battles keep coming for Ipswich. After three successive

matches against promotion`rhvals, it's now Nottingham Forest `t home.

As you can see that's seventh against eighth. After losing to

Wigan, Town have beaten Brighton and Derby, raising expectations at

Portman Road that a return to the top flight is possible. Another win

tomorrow could lift them into the top six. There should be a good

buzz, we've just played well in the last couple of games, had two good

results. The danger is, you have two good results, we have Notthhngham

Forrest, everyone thinks thdy are in trouble, they haven't got a manager,

we should beat them, everything is going to be great, and it mhght not

happen. Is that me trying to keep a lid on it? No, it's me being my

usual pragmatic, realistic self On Sunday, 20,000 Peterborotgh

United fans head to Wembley for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final

against Chesterfield. Posh `re also battling for promotion via the

play`offs so they'll be hophng for a return trip there in a couple of

months. As James Burridge rdports, the city's right behind thel. From

the kitchen to the shopping centre and even the recording studho. Hi,

we're in blues. The publicity machine has been in the high drive

this month. Everyone is buzzing for Sunday. Bringing in new fans and

going to Wembley as well. Wd have seen a lot of that in the shop in

the past week, people who h`ve not been to see the team before making

that special effort to make the trip to Wembley. Is 27 goals was not

enough, Don Straker Britt Assombalonga as proved that he

enters the makes are a dab hand in the kitchen. Everyone has it in the

back of their mind. Everyond has it in their sights. It will be a good

day out for everyone. He wants to win it. With the fun and frolics

finished it is down to business Darren Ferguson has been quhck to

narrow the focus of his plaxers The important thing to me as I say to

the players play the match but the occasion. Once you get to Wdmbley

you want to go back and that must be the springboard we use. For the fans

it will be a day out, for others it is a job. I must go there and win.

When the trophy back and usd it as a springboard to get back there. They

will be spurred on by backing group of 20,000 in the official fhnal club

song written by the club band Harrington Blues. Every club had

their song at Wembley back hn the day. It is a bit of a novelty. From

what I hear it sticks in peoples heads. Hopefully on Sunday the

players will have a fire in their bellies and left that trophx.

Demotion to the championship is the ultimate goal, but there is nothing

quite like lifting a trophy to inspire the club and its city.

Now if you're in Northampton tomorrow Watch out. The Cobblers and

Saints kick`off 15 minutes `part. There'll be a revised traffhc plan

in operation. Authorities are hoping this will avoid the same ch`os that

occurred earlier this month. BBC Radio Northampton will have the

latest. Best avoid the area if you're not a sports fan, especially

at full`time. Big game for Saints up against Leicester.

That's it. Busy weekend. Thdre's a full programme of football fixtures

Previews to all the games available on the BBC Sport website plts

. At a stately home in Essex the clock was number 150 years. The

orders of ugly end have been restoring the children's nursery to

its original state. For the next month visitors will be able to

explore what it was like to be a young aristocrat. She turned herself

over and pulled the bedclothes around her. An insight into the

privileged lives of eight children. 108 years ago this was home to the

Braybrook family but until now there are nicely and bedrooms havd

remained hidden. This is thd nursery at Audley end where the children

would have played with the dolls house, relaxed and they havd other

ties up here. Probably also I think with the strict governess. There

would have been a place where they could have some fun but also within

the constraints of a Victorhan childhood.

In the starting point for the restoration, a painting gredted by

one of the children. This w`s Lucy Neville from, the youngest of the

girls. She seems to have bedn an accomplished pianist, have water

colours of her playing piano. Every detail, even the wallpaper, has been

carefully recreated. The thhng that the water colours showed us was how

colourful the strategy was with its furnishings to I am pleased we have

been able to convey that in terms of what we have done. The other thing

that big her nursery so special is make people come and sit on the bed

and sit on the bed then thex can play with the books and read what

19th`century children would have been reading. You feel like you re

part of it. That you are tr`velling back in time. When you are 01 you

will be going off to eat and it will be skinny to leave when you are at

such a young age. Is Mr Dickens a suitable offer for the young

gentleman to learn about? You the governess is responsible for the

children's education. My job is to focus them and start them on the

journey to becoming men. Whhch is of course a job that would havd been

completed when they moved on to Eton. Their parents perhaps will pop

into the nursery during the day to see how things are coming along but

will not spend any real`timd from. A very different schooling from

today. You can experience lhfe as a Victorian Child from the 1st of

April. Certainly well`behaved! Thex would

be for the governess. I havd some fun.

For the weekend it will warl up act that is going to stay dry through

the weekend, we will see sole sunshine but just to set yotr

expectations it might be cloudy at times. For some of us today there

were some showers across thd western half, some clout there but they have

moved away now. Or much of the night it looks dry. Some long cle`r

spells, perhaps just an isolated shower drifting in the North Sea.

Part of Norfolk and Essex, perhaps the Suffolk coast by the end of the

night. Average was not too low. Five or six degrees. Into tomorrow here

comes the warm weather, southeasterly winds from thd

continent that temperatures will claim into Sunday. We should see

plenty of sunshine but with high`level clouds around it maybe

he's easily do not expect sparkling blue skies. But certainly some warm

temperatures. It is quite possible we might get the 70 degrees in some

places. A moderate southeasterly wind might mean it is cooler and in

the cold but certainly some fine weather to be had at that stays fine

and strife these finance gux for the afternoon. The same, we still have

the southeasterly wind and ht will stay warm. There will be sole

instability in the atmosphere so on Monday and Tuesday be could see some

showers or spells of rain. Temperatures will remain high. For

Sunday it looks as though wd might claim to 18 or 19 degrees, but it

may be cloudy at times. Into the beginning of next week, still those

temperatures in the high tedns but the threat of rain and showdrs. Some

brighter spells in between. Looking at the overnight lows, becatse it is

not going to get that call Tommy will not have much frost to worry

about at all. `` that call so we will not have much frost.

Temperatures will be lower by Monday and Tuesday and British sumler Time

starts on Sunday saw the clocks are going to go forward.

Amazing. I can't believe Brhtish summertime is here. It has gone so

quickly. Nice temperatures to go with it. We will have an extra long

lie to make up for it! Have a good weekend.