08/09/2011 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

Welcome to Look North. Coming up: My son, the hero - a father's pride

in the Marine caught in one of the fiercest firefights of the

Afghanistan conflict. From this to this - Nissan

celebrates 25 years of car making in the North East.

Why today is such a special day for this little boy.

And get your TV recorders ready - you could help track down these

people, snapped 30 years ago. In sport, Newcastle boss Alan

Pardew talks about the club's failure to sign a new striker.

And we're going wild about the new team from Aycliife, who're about to

enter big-time basketball. It's been described as one of the

most ferocious battles of the war in Afghanistan. 14 Commandos

trapped and surrounded from all directions by Taliban fighters. But

incredibly, after a three-hour gun fight. The Commandos fought their

way out alive. Today the father of one of those soldiers, Lance

Corporal Steven Hughes from Darlington, hailed them all heroes.

Stuart Whincup reports. It's been dubbed the Battle of

Compound 62. Surrounded from all sides, the Commandos were down to

their last few rounds of ammunition. Lance Corporal Steven Hughes was

one of those caught up in the gunfight. His father said the

footage of his son's company under attack was horrifying. I was

absolutely mortified, and hearing my son's name being shouted, then

hearing his voice responding just, obviously - well, words can't

explain what I felt, to comprehend thinking that he could have been

killed at any second. Move in! Marines from Lima Company 42

Commando had been on an operation clearing Nad-e-Ali of insurgents

when they were attacked. Forced inside a tiny compound - more than

30 grenades were hurled at them. They finally fought there way out

when an Apache helicopter provided covering fire. They're an invisible

enemy because when there is a firefight and things like that they

just throw the weapons, and they blend into the background, and they

appear and disappear. It's very rare that you actually see them,

but I do know from the phone call that I had that there were actually

eye-to-eye contact with these people this time. The footage from

the front line will for many serve as a reminder of the difficult and

dangerous jobs our soldiers do on a daily basis.

It's 25 years since this bit of artistic endeavour signalled the

birth of car making on Wearside. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

officially opened Nissan's plant on Wearside. For many, it was life

changing. Today that modest operation on the site of the

Sunderland airfield has grown into one of our most important jobs

providers. Well our business correspondent Ian Reeve is outside

the Sunderland plant now. Ian. Yes, it was called a Doruma Doll

that Mrs Thatcher was painting that second I on. The cars that will

come off the line today, like this, the Leaf, are very different than

the ones 25 years ago. Back then we were paying �2 for a gallon of

petrol. The average house was costing us about �40,000. Joanne

Carter now looks back 25 years. For the region's ship-building

industry, 1986 was its horrible year. Smiths Docks in Middlesbrough

waved goodbye to its last vessel bringing an 80 year history to a

close. It was a similar story for yards all over Tyneside and

Wearside. In all some 2,000 people were out of work. And it wasn't

much better in the pits. Hordon and Peterlee were shut, closely

followed by Bates and Blyth. Only nine collieries were left.

Finding a job was hard. No wonder Jarrow marched to London,

recreating the famous jobs crusade of fifty years ago. But it wasn't

all doom and gloom. The sun shone as the Tall Ships race sailed away

from the Tyne. The pitch at St James Park was invaded as 38,000

Queen fans watched the band kick off their European tour. And men

all over the North cursed John Hall as the Metro Centre became a mecca

for women who wanted to shop until they drop. In sport it was a big

year for Steve Cram who won gold in the 1500 metres at the European

Championships. Cumbrian-based jockey John Jo O'neil won the

Cheltenham Gold Cup on Dawn Run. The Boro survived being thrown out

of the Football League. And there was a hero's welcome at Newcastle

airport for Peter Beardsley who'd helped England to the quarter

finals of the world cup before they were knocked out by Argentina and

Maradona's now infamous hand of God. So September the 8th, 1986 and

Nissan officially launched its Sunderland plant. These were coming

off the line, but compared to the plant today, it was a much more

modest affair. When Mrs Thatcher gave the plant the seal of approval,

they had no idea the importance the company would come to have in the

regional economy. In the first year of production, just 5,000 cars came

off the blind, Bluebirds made in Japan and merely assembled in

Sunderland. What a difference 25 years makes. Today the plant's

achievements are long and impressive. More than 6 million

cars have come out of the plant. It employs about 5,000 workers,

supports a long supply chain and has seen investments of nearly �3.5

billion. To celebrate that all and the plant's 25th birthday, a time

capsule was planted today, a ceremony that was held when the

company first started. The first car we produced in September 25

years ago was a tremendous memory for me. More recently, I think, the

allocation of the Nissan Leaf, the new electric vehicle. 130 workers

from that first day still work at the plant. Bob Sanderson filled in

the very first application form. has certainly been an experience

I'll never forget over 25 years. We have seen some highs and lows, but

one thing that has been continuous is the push to make sure that we

make good, quality cars. Over those 25 years, Nissan has embedded

itself in the regional economy, and only with the odd blip some

redundancies. A bookie in 1992 criticising the working culture

here. And the Cane Gang had a Dart That apart, Nissan has only

attracted growing accolade, but as a story of staggering success, how

could it have done anything else? word about the time capsules. Back

in 1984, one of the thing that is buried was a Sunderland football

club shirt and a bottle of whiskey. Today they put that shirt in but a

manifesto from the Chamber of Commerce and Gateshead's annual

review. I think the people that find it in the future, I think

they're in for a less-than-riveting read. Depends who they are. Thank

you very much. The inquest into the death of the

gunman Raoul Moat has been told this afternoon that he asked a

police marksman to shoot him. Moat was found in Rothbury in

Northumberland after murdering one man, shooting and injuring his

former girlfriend and shooting and blinding a policeman. Our chief

reporter Chris Stuart has been listening to the evidence. The

firearms officer has been allowed to give evidence anonymously?

so will the other officers. You'll remember they drafted in help from

all around the country. And this evidence giving evidence in court,

only referred to as "Officer E-15" is actually from the West Yorkshire

force. These pictures were filmed shortly after the standoff began.

One of the officers here - we don't know which one - is E-15. He said

when he spotted Raoul Moat and approached from behind, the

fugitive put his sawn-off shotgun to his head, turned around and said,

"Shoot me". The coroner asked what he would have done if he turned the

gun towards him. He rePlaid, "I'd have shot him, sir." As for the

negotiations, they seemed to be going no-where, and Moat gave no

indication he had anything to live for. Look North viewer Peter

Aveston filmed those pictures, which were shown to the jury today.

His house overlooks the river bank. The jury were told he had gone on

to BBC Radio to tell what was happening. There has been a

shooting? Yes, from what I can see, he laid down and shot himself.

you see this? Yes, I am looking at it now. The paramedics look as

though they're leaning over the man, and the cordon of police around and

that's about as much as I can see. They've lit up the whole of the

area very bright. He told the inquest today that from what he saw,

the police behaved thoroughly professionally.

What's also worth mentioning is today we heard a tape recording of

parts of the negotiation process, and we heard how Moat was

repeatedly told he should stay alive for the sake of his children.

But at one point, he says, "It's too late."

Chris, thank you. Proposals to move Cumbria's fire

and rescue control centre to Warrington in Lancashire are back

on the table. The original plan to relocate from Cockermouth to

Warrington were dropped. The 12 emergency call handlers who work in

Cockermouth were told not to speak to the press by the council, but

Look North is told they're a deeply concerned their detailed knowledge

of the area would be lost, but it said a new centre would bring

technological benefits. technology that'll be provided with

this system will be state of the art and clearly allow us to

identify where calls have been made from. It shouldn't be underplayed

the skill of the fire control operators plays a big part in

understanding the best way to get to those incidents and the type of

resources required. The woman who fell into the sea from an overnight

ferry from North Shields to Amsterdam has been speaking about

her amazing escape. Jeni Anderson, who's 23 and a graduate of

Northumbria University, survived in the North Sea for almost half an

hour before she was rescued. Jeni Anderson is winched to rescue after

being ferried in. She had been with friends when she plunged overboard

60 feet. I remember feeling like I was going to die. That was a bit of

a shock, but I just kept thinking that wasn't the way I wanted to go,

just fighting for my life, doing everything I could to Ensure if

they were look for me, they could find me. I remember trying to swim

after the boat which obviously I knew wasn't really a realistic

thing that was going to happen, but just at least that was something

for me to follow and just shouting and screaming so they could hear me.

But how did she fall into the sea? I just remember being up on deck

with two of my friends. I don't remember exactly what happened. I

just remember the feeling of going over the side. Apparently, I held

on for a bit. My friend saw me hold on to the railings, and then

obviously I couldn't hold on for much longer, and then obviously

fell into the sea. How lucky does she feel she was? The captain said

that in 20 years of experience of him being a captain of a ferry,

he's never known anybody to be found having gone overboard. I am

very lucky. A lot of people have said I should put a lottery ticket

on this weekend. I might do that. That's one lucky girl.

Coming up: have your TV recorders ready. You could be one of these

people snapped 30 years ago a photographer wants to track down.

It looks decent tomorrow before things turn blustery for the

weekend. I'll have all the details shortly.

When Robbie Jones was a year old he was struck down by meningitis and

lost both legs. He was given just a 5% chance of survival. Well, he's

beaten the odds - and he's making the most of it. Robbie, who's now

four, has learned to use prosthetic legs, raised thousands of pounds

for his future and walked his mum down the aisle on her wedding day.

Today, he reached another major milestone as Stephanie Lloyd

reports. Excited for your big day? You'll see all your friends again.

A child's first day at school is a moving day for any parent, but you

just have to look at Robbie Jones's mum's face to see how significant

today is for the family. Yeah, I am really emotional. It's more proud

than anything because we're over the moon. He's going just like any

normal kid, you know? He's look forward to it, aren't you? Yeah,

looking forward to seeing all his friends again. I've just got a big

lump here. I have got the tissues ready. Are you excited, nervous or

what? Excited. Despite losing both legs to meningitis, Robbie is doing

his best to lead a normal life. He walked his mum down the aisle at

his parents' wedding two years ago. So now for the next challenge -

with news proat the timeic legs and hair spiked by dad, Robbie takes

his first steps into the classroom. You're looking very smart. Robbie

is delightful in school. He's really captured all the hearts of

all the staff. He really is determined to take part with all

the other children. To help him out, a new toilet and cloakrooms are

being built at this end of the school to make everything more

accessible for Robbie, changes that'll hopefully make a big

difference to his school life and make it as positive an experience

as possible for a little boy who just wants to be treated like any

other four-year-old. He pushes himself and really wants

to try and do thing, which is encouraging for us because you

don't want him to be sitting in the background out of the way of it.

You want him to get amongst everything, like every other kid.

Robbie's family have raised over �160,000 so far for his future, all

for a boy whose courage is in a class of its own.

I bet he's tired now. We've already taken a trip back to 1986 tonight.

But can you think back to 1981 - the year the Yorkshire Ripper was

captured - Lady Di and Prince Charles got married - What were you

up to back then? Perhaps you're of the hundred people who were snapped

by a Tyneside photographer who's now trying get back in touch. He

wants to find out what's happened since and recreate the images 30

years on. If you can record this next item, do it now, because we'll

be showing a quick montage of the originals for you to look at in

your own time. As Chris Jackson explains, this is one man, on a

mission that he's determined won't prove impossible Adrian Pitches

reports: In Newcastle's West End, Chris is

retracing his footsteps of three decades ago when he worked on a

community project. He's trying to put names to faces

and is asking anyone who he thinks can help.

I know his face. I think he's still around. Guess a name. I'm not sure.

I don't know if it's a John, but I know he's fierce. That can be

really helpful because somebody else can say John makes sense. It's

hard to imagine how people might look with another 30 years of life

etched into their faces, but Chris is determined to find as many as he

see how it's gone for them. I know from that end people who are very

sparky individuals, and I wonder what some of those kids ended up

doing. # Oh, what happened to you?

# Whatever happened to me? # The pictures are self-portraits. He

set up a photo booth in the park and asked any lads and lasses to go

in. We had, to my eternal regret, a nasty little chair, but we had a

chair here. We kept people out of the way so there was privacy. I

would say, here's a rubber bulb. When you squeeze that, that camera

will take a picture. # Oh, what happened to you?

# Whatever happened to me? # No names were ever taken, but the

images have been put on a website for everyone to see, and Chris is

enlisting everyone he can to help spread the word. She looks so much

like her. That's interesting. Dave, so I wonder if I can give you some

posters and you can get them around? Will he find his 100

people? Make it's you who holds the I can just about remember 1981, if

only. Jeff, you have been sidetracked a bit recently by news,

so today was the first time you got to meet Allen Pardew. Yes, very

interesting, it was, yes. Just over a week it was since the close of

the transfer window, and the Newcastle manager has been facing

the media today. He had said he was hoping to bring in a top-line

striker. That didn't happen, and it's not just the fans who are

disappointed. The Magpies did bring in seven players over the summer,

but the Managing Director said there would be no knee-jerk

decisions at the last minute. The fact is the club banked �35 million

from the sale of front-man Andy Carroll back in January.

criticism that's going to come from not getting a striker over has some

validation to it because it's a long time, but you know, I know

that I can only say from my point of view we put the targets in front

of the board, and then it comes down to a financial decision. It's

obvious that our fans and me, the manager and the players would like

to see another striker here. We're going to the unknown to a certain

degree because a lot of the goals created last year are no longer in

the team. One of those is Joey Barton, of course. Instead, he'll

be lining up against them in Queens park. At least they'll have a

quieter life without him. It's never a quiet football club,

especially Newcastle, but I enjoyed it. I enjoyed my time with Joey.

He's a challenging personality, but you know, he's engaging and

entertaining as well as he is difficult, so we miss him in some

ways. I am sure they do. Now you may remember us telling you that

there's a new kid on the block in the top flight of British

basketball. L the county council- backed Durham Wildcats - mostly

made up of university students, post-graduates and young American

imports - can't wait to get started. # Wild thing

# You make my heart sing # Meet the young players from the

BBL's newest franchise. The Wildcats will play their home match

at Newton Learnier Centre. Obviously, I worked for a long time

in the north-east with the Sunderland and Newcastle team, then

I had a spell working with the London Leopards. I thought when I

finished with them in 2000 I would probably retire from the sport for

good. I hadn't put my feet up six months when my two boys persuaded

me to help with a little club they started. Out of that has come what

we have today. We have a pretty strong core of English players who

have been with me - some of them - for five or six years, and

obviously, with the university, with the scholarship opportunity

we've got, we have been able to recruit players to the university

who have strengthened the team, and also, we bring in three Americans

who I have high hopes for. One of these is a 23-year-old from the

North-Western Wildcats, a university team in America. Coming

here, it's a bit cooler, a little bit rainier, but I kind of like the

climate here. I am getting used to it. I actually got caught in my

first English rainstorm yesterday. I was a bit soaked when I got back

to my apartment. But it's nice. Experience comes in the form of 35-

year-old Ralph Butchy, a New Yorker who returned to the Mohawks last

year after a spell with Greece. He's looking forward to his start

next month. It's going to give us a good evaluation of where we're at

because we're pretty much going against the best team for the first

Finally, two Red Car-based sports stars have been making the head

lines. Teenage mountain biker Danny Hart is the new downhill race world

champion. One of our most successful athletes, dame Tanni

Grey has been speaking from Trafalgar Square, asking people to

buy tickets for the event. We talk about London all the time, but

every region will be sending in a massive stack ofate let's. In the

north-east we have a proud athletics tradition. We have

amazing athletes in the area who are going to do well, and after the

games, they'll be visiting schools, putting something back, and we want

to get that support. So get your tickets now. We won't have another

chance in our lifetime to see anything like it. You have been

told. It's time for the weather. I am going to exaggerate what Paul

just told me. Summer is here tomorrow. Funnilys enough, we'll

see temperatures we struggled to see during the summer, but it's not

Tomorrow most are in for a decent day, into the 20s, and many of us

will see a bit of sunshine, but it's so changeable at the minute,

even now, we have lots of changeable weather to get out of

the way. The cloud begins to thicken up from the south-west. We

lose the dry weather most of us have got just now. We have seen

some light rain becoming more widespread through the early hours

of the morning. It won't be a cold night with all of that cloud and

rain. In the southerly breeze, we'll see temperatures staying in

double figures, 12C, your overnight low. That's 54 Fahrenheit. Tomorrow

doesn't look that promising. If you're out and about, you'll see

remnants of the overnight rain, but it should clear quickly. By about

9.00am, most places will be dry, and things will start to brighten.

Eastern areas see sunny spells develop. There always tends to be

more cloud across Cumbria. With the south-westerly wind, parts of

Cumbria, 16C. White haven, 61 Fahrenheit, 16C. In the east coast,

20-21C. That's the low 70s Fahrenheit. That's the picture for

tomorrow. We're in this warmation, but the cold front changes things

again towards the weekend. Lots of lines on the chart, a blustery old

weekend. I think most of us will see some showers on Saturday and

Sunday, so gusty winds through the weekend. Temperatures still

reasonable, still making it into the low 20s in one or two spots.

It's not all bad news. Most of us will see some rain, but there will

be bright spells as well. That's not too bad. Thank you.

Now the headlines: A public inquiry says an innocent

Iraqi civilian, Baha Mousa, died as a result of violence by British

soldiers. And a Darlington soldier who