06/12/2013 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

the oppression of one by another. The sun shall never

On the big clean`up, people across the North deal with the damage and

destruction caused by the storm. Everything you have worked for taken

away in a matter of seconds. Tributes from across the North after

the death of Nelson Mandela. We think this is a celebration of the

big man. He has done everything for our country. An extraordinary hoard

of vintage clothing ` uncovered after the death of the owner ` is up

for sale. In sport ` awards for Newcastle United's manager AND their

goalkeeper But there was FA Cup disappointment for the team which

had been the region's last non`League survivor The big clear`up

has been underway all day. Yesterday's storm and tidal surge

brought misery for hundreds of households across the North.

cold light of Friday morning saw cold light of Friday morning saw

many begin the task of mopping up the mess and assessing the damage.

Tonight, we've reports: From Teesside, where hundreds of homes

were evacuated and people were forced to spend the night in a local

sports centre. From Whitby in North Yorkshire, where there's a major

clean up in progress following one of the worst floods in the town's

history. And from Tyneside where houses and businesses were inundated

when the River Tyne rose above its banks. First, we're live at the home

of one couple in North Shields whose home was wrecked when flood water

surged in. Peter Harris is there for us now. This was obviously a lovely

house. It is ruined. At its height yesterday, they reach the about two

feet in height. To give you an idea of the location, we are overlooking

the River Tyne, lovely views out to the sea, but obviously in these very

unusual conditions, the water came in. Follow me through from the

kitchen and we will go through to the lounge. We will meet the couple

who live here. Unfortunately, they have a very forlorn Christmas tree.

Tell me what it was like. It was devastating. I got a phone call at

work to tell me to get back straightaway. I could see the

floor, within 20 minutes we were two feet underwater, scrambling to get

the precious items, photo albums, wedding albums, save what we could.

Small mercies. You were telling me earlier you have had a recurrent

dream of a flood and it happened. That's it. Since we moved in, dream

home, we worked very hard for, it was absolutely pristine and

everything we could have wished for and I had these nightmares time and

time again that it would flood. It seems they have come true. I hope

they stop now. You must feel like crying. I have cried a lot. I'm just

glad our dog was not here because she would have been traumatised and

we have very good neighbours who helped us out with everything. They

put us up last night, offered us a bed for the next two nights, they

have been saviours. They have been amazing. They came in and they were

putting things up high. We are very grateful to them. We wish you all

the best. The bad news is they will probably be out of this house for

around six months and they need to find alternative accommodation for

Christmas and beyond. That is very sad. Very unusual weather conditions

yesterday and this is the damage that has been done. Your heart goes

out to them. In Middlesborough, 10,000 properties were left without

electricity. And the town centre was hit by a black`out after a

substation was flooded. Three hundred people in nearby Port

Clarence were forced to leave their homes after the River Tees burst its

banks. That meant many people had to spend the night in a local sports

centre. Stuart Whincup has this report. It was an unforgettable

night. Middlesbrough's town centre plunged into darkness. Thousands

walking home in rush hour, as street lights, traffic lights shops and

business are all out. Hundreds forced to spend the night in a

sports centre, after their homes are flooded. This morning trudging

through the water ` Billy came back for the first time ` to see what

state his home had been left in. It was horrendous, coming over the bank

on the far side, you could see it coming, and it was like a wall

coming through the gaps. You could see it in golfing the car that was

part down the side, there was no stopping it. Up the road ` many had

been forced to leave offices and abandon cars. This morning they went

back to check the damage. They are clearing the water, a second pump is

being brought in. The plight leading into the river where the water is

being taken. Looking down now, car stranded under the bridge, just one

of the number of vehicles that were flooded. A number of businesses have

also been flooded. With work still containing all around, by

mid`morning people were allowed back into their homes. It was actually

quite remarkable that they are able to do so so quickly when we are now

in a position where people are moving back Billy had just moved

into his house. And while his neighbours begin the clear`up and

meet with insurance assessors. He had to go off to work. Some

remarkable this is a van driver who near the waves are pushing the fan

around. The unidentified driver made it back to dry land unharmed but no

doubt shaken. To Whitby now ` where there's been a major clean up

following one of the town's worst ever floods. More than 100 homes and

commercial properties were hit by the deluge. Businesses were under

water and power was lost to many areas. And earlier today there were

fears of a fresh flood this evening, but the warning has since been

downgraded by the Environment Agency. Phil Connell has sent us

this report. It was the biggest tidal surge in 150 years and in

Whitby the this pub today the owner was beginning to count the cost.

Obviously devastating we expect because it has been the first time

in living memory that this was flooded. It is not one that with one

hour to go before high tide, if you could just see what was going it

around 200 homes and some were left under several feet of water. The

high tide was the biggest that people her cottage in a number of

seconds. My son was here when it was starting, he was upstairs and

somebody knocked on the door. The water came in and it was ankle`deep.

Within 20 seconds it was up to his knees. This morning, many in Whitby

were without power. The substation was inundated with sea water and

stopped working at around five o'clock last night. The simple fact

is we cannot tidy up the back of the premises because there is no light.

As the sun goes down we have no light. For people here, the clean`up

operation could take days if not weeks. Insurance claims from this

tone alone are expected to run into millions of pounds. `` town. In part

of Northumberland and Tyneside, businesses were flooded and people

were put on high alert leaving a big clean`up. In north Blyth in

Northumberland about 150 people were put on alert as the sea rose around

them. It was up to a foot deep in parts and homes were sandbagged

precaution. This morning, council staff cleaned up the aftermath. The

Environment Agency says the surge was the biggest coastal event of the

last sixty years ` and in some places sea levels were higher than

in 1953, when thousands of lives were lost. But for some people

living on the east coast of England the threat of high tides is still

not over, with more expected today and tomorrow. We will monitor the

situation of the next few high tides. We will continue to work with

people in terms of helping them stay safe and informed. We will also be

working with our partners and communities affected to help them

recover. We will try to understand what has happened so we can be

better prepared. Staff will be working throughout the weekend to

pump out water and assess damage at Gateshead Millennium Bridge, while

on Newcastle's Quayside there's been a remarkable transformation in the

landscape. The mopping up is continuing in businesses that were

inundated, when the river Tyne rose above its banks and flooded the

surrounding area, closing roads and footpaths. It was a rare event and

led to the evacuation of the law courts, but as quickly as the waters

rose, they fell again. Today the traffic is all moving as normal once

more and there's virtually no evidence of the floods at all ` at a

quick glance it looks like it never happened.

People across the North have been paying tribute to Nelson Mandela

It includes a man who was imprisoned North Yorkshire.

It includes a man who was imprisoned with the former South African

president. The former South African President was given the freedom of

Newcastle in 1986. And one of the city's MPs has described the memory

of his life as a continuous strength. Our Political

Correspondent Mark Denten has this report. President of a country

thousands of miles away who millions saw their TVs. Italy have an impact

here? Yes, because some in our region knew him. This man was

imprisoned with Nelson Mandela in the 1950s . You could tell you were

speaking to a leader, and man of the people, and Nelson Mandela is what I

call a leader that does not lead at the back, he is with the front

line. This former Sunderland MP met Nelson Mandela, in countering a

statesman but one of humour and a soft not for the Queen. Got on very

well with the Queen. He once rang up directly, he was put through. Today,

Richard is a County Durham businessmen, but in 1985 he was a

student and an activist. The apartheid police arrived in what

were then yellow vans, and bundled about a dozen of us into cages. They

took it to the security police headquarters in Durban, where we

were held and questioned for 12 hours. Many white South Africans

considered him to be a terrorist and were supportive of the races

legislation, but he won them over. As a politician, I tried to do what

is best for my constituents, but I don't think I succeed in making them

better people, whereas Nelson Mandela clearly looked for the good

in people, he reached out to the good in people and he found it. I

found myself standing up and singing the South African national anthem,

singing a song that was sung a lot, about the brave young men detecting

their motherland, and for Nelson Mandela, he protected his motherland

with forgiveness, love, care, and not allowing himself to treat his

oppressors in the way they treated him. An international figure, yes,

president of a far`away land, yes, but someone people in our region

felt they knew. And you can see that interview with the former Sunderland

MP and Africa Minister Chris Mullin ` as well as more reaction to Nelson

Mandela's death ` on Sunday Politics. That's on Sunday morning

at eleven on BBC One. You're watching Friday's Look North. Coming

up ` the weekend's sports news from Jeff. Plus: Do you want to buy a

piece of fashion history? The hoard of clothing worth at least ?100,000

that's to go on sale to the public tomorrow. Another weather warning

full `` in the forecast. The inquest into the death of

Christopher Brown has heard prison records and police records relating

to the man who shot him didn't match. Mr Brown was killed by the

gunman Raoul Moat in 2010. The inquest was told that before Moat

was released from prison, he'd made threats against his former

girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart. But when a prison probation officer rang

Northumbria Police to warn of the danger, the police had Miss Stobbart

listed only as an associate of Moat's ` and the records they DID

have, hadn't been updated to show she had changed address. It was at

that address at Birtley in Gateshead that Moat began his spree, shooting

her new boyfriend, Mr Brown, at close range and shooting and

seriously injuring Miss Stobbart. Cleveland Police say they're

becoming increasingly concerned for a missing 81`year`old man. Sydney

Presgrave had taken a taxi on Wednesday from his home in Stockton

to the Middleton One Row area of Darlington. He was last seen near

the Devonport Hotel, walking in the direction of the River Tees. The

police say Mr Presgrave is in need of medication. A new survey on

hospital death rates shows mixed results for our region. A year ago,

a report from the medical researchers, Dr Foster, found the

North Cumbria Trust, which runs the hospitals in Whitehaven and

Carlisle, to be one of a dozen trusts with "worryingly" high

numbers of people dying on the wards. Twelve months on, it's off

the critical list, but the County Durham and Darlington Trust is on

it. The operators of Newcastle Racecourse say they want to develop

an all`weather track that would incorporate the only floodlit

straight mile in the world. The ten million pound development would

include other improvements to facilities at the course, at

Newcastle's Gosforth Park. The racecourse will launch a public

consultation in the new year to seek local reaction ` before submitting a

planning application to Newcastle City Council.

A hoard of vintage clothing uncovered after the death of their

elderly owner is to go on sale tomorrow. The surprise discovery

thought to be worth at least 100 thousand pounds was made by Vervia

Todd's best friend after she passed away last year. The public will be

given the chance to buy a piece of fashion history at a special event

at the County Durham home she lived in. Our arts reporter Sharuna Sagar

has been to take a closer look. Vervia Todd sure loved shopping. But

it wasn't until she died at the age of 92, her best friend found out

just how much. It was astounding. I don't think I closed my most

properly for weeks. I think these dresses sum up everything we found

in the house. This is her mother's wedding dress. It took a year to

sort out a lifetime of clothing and accessories covering three floors of

Vervia's Houghton le Spring home. It's just incredible. You go from

one room to another and you see all these things but they were packed

away in boxes and did cases, trunks, draws, and it was just like opening

Aladdin Scaife. She would come back and put suitcases of clothes in the

attic. Some pieces have only been worn a couple of times, some have

probably never been worn. To give you an idea of how much of hoarders

she was, look at all these stockings still in their original packages and

unopened. She used to get these sent to her from Gibraltar. She was well

connected. The daughter of a dental surgeon, she served in the Army.

After the war she became a civil servant until her retirement. But

she never married. Her fiance was killed in the Second World War. I

don't think anybody else measured up. Was she a Miss Faversham

character? Absolutely not. You would not find a more gregarious person.

But she had a private life, and her private life was the fact that she

adored shopping and pretty things. Towards the end of her life, Vervia

became virtually blind and deaf. But she still went on shopping

expeditions every week. She must have enjoyed being surrounded by

those beautiful things. My idea of having.

In the Premier League, Sunderland's head coach, Gus Poyet, comes up

against another of his former teams tomorrow when the Black Cats take on

Spurs at the Stadium of Light. While Manager of the Month Alan Pardew

will have to make history if Newcastle are to beat Manchester

United at Old Trafford. Four straight wins in November including

victories over Chelsea and Spurs took Newcastle up to fifth in the

Premier League and earned Alan Pardew the second Manager of the

Month award of his career. And the goalkeeping heroics of Tim Krul saw

him pick up the Player of the Month award. But their winning run came to

an end in Swansea on Wednesday and they'll have to up their game if

they're to beat Man Utd even without the injured Robin Van Persie and

suspended Wayne Rooney ` they've never won at Old Trafford in the

Premier League. There is pressure on them and we need to capitalise on

that and make it difficult for them. If we can do that in the last period

of the game, we could reverse statistic that is not very good. Gus

Poyet has his second managerial test against one of his former clubs in

Spurs at the Stadium of Light tomorrow. The Black Cats may be

rooted to the bottom of the Premier League but if they do go down

they'll go down fighting ` three goals against Chelsea midweek still

wasn't enough to claim a point ` and it's frustrating the new boss. We

need to improve. We are in December. We have a great chance. It

is a dangerous situation. Flags were flying at half mast at the club's

academy and there'll be a minutes applause at all Premier League

grounds to remember Nelson Mandela but with Sunderland's partnership

with the Nelson Mandela Foundation the death of the former South

African president is particularly poignant. He was `` for us, it was a

must, a special occasion, and I think he deserves it because he was

one of the greatest. It's FA Cup weekend, with our Premier League

teams ` and Middlesbrough, who're away at Birmingham tomorrow ` in

Sunday's third round draw. Carlisle and Hartlepool hope to be there as

well ` but, sadly, last night saw the end of the Cup trail for unlucky

Gateshead. Having let slip a two`goal lead down at Oxford, the

worry was the Tynesiders might have missed their best chance. But they

took the game to the League Two leaders, and must be wondering how

their Cup campaign is over for another year. Gateshead had more

shots, more of the possession ` and looked the more comfortable side. If

there were any neutrals in a crowd of just over 2,000, they wouldn't

have guessed which team was a full two divisions behind the other.

Goalless after 90 minutes, the first round replay went into extra`time `

and just when the Conference side thought they'd finally made the

breakthrough, an offside call cut short Colin Larkin's moment of

glory. James Marwood then cracked a shot against the post ` and the tie

seemed destined to go to penalties. But the crucial spot kick was

awarded with just five minutes left ` James Curtis ruled to have fouled

Ryan Williams. Dean Smalley's confident finish means it's Oxford

who'll go to Wrexham in Round Two. Financially ` and purely in football

terms ` a huge disappointment for Gateshead. Tomorrow it's the turn of

Carlisle, who are at home to Brentford. And with a handful of

loan players unavailable, manager Graham Kavanagh could give a first

start to Courtney Meppen`Walter, the ex`Manchester City youngster who's

just finished a prison term following a road crash in which two

people died. We have options. We have Courtney, Danny Livesey, loads

of things I could do in terms of changing the shape and style. I have

ideas. Elsewhere, Hartlepool's home tie with Coventry City will bring

back happy memories for ex`Pools striker AND manager, Keith Houchen,

who scored when the Sky Blues won the Cup, back in 1987. There's a

local derby in the BBL this weekend, when Durham Wildcats take on

Newcastle Eagles at Newton Aycliffe. Despite losing to the Eagles on the

first day of the season the Wildcats pushed Fab Flournoy's side all the

way and have since won five of their eleven games to take them to the

seventh in the league. And in his first season as a top flight coach,

Lee Davie is aiming high. As long as we win the games we are supposed to

win, take some of these top teams into the last two minutes of games,

there is no reason why we couldn't be on for a chance of fifth place.

This Sunday is all about making sure we perform for 40 minutes. If we do

that there is no reason we cannot come away with a victory. Cricket

finally. Not much to cheer about, if you're an England fan ` we're taking

a bit of a beating from the Aussies. But a landmark today for Durham

all`rounder Ben Stokes. Born in New Zealand ` but raised in Cumbria `

Stokes marked his Test match debut by taking the wicket of Australian

captain Michael Clarke ` unfortunately, Clarke already had

148 runs to his name! There was a second wicket for the 22`year`old,

who had Peter Siddle caught behind. He finished with figures of two for

70. Meanwhile, back at Chester`le`Street, it's been

announced that while Geoff Cook will stay on as Durham's Director of

Cricket, he'll go back to concentrating on youth development.

Jon Lewis has been given the full`time role of first team coach,

having stepped in and helped steer Durham to the county Championship

title, when Cook suffered a heart attack last summer. What weather we

have had this week. We are in for a bit of cold stuff. It is ice that we

are warning for. Yellow warning. Overnight and until 10am. Beverages

did not rise above two Celsius across the north`east. As

temperatures. Everywhere will be chilly. This is a beautiful picture.

The headline for the weekend, it gets milder but thicker cloud.

Overnight tonight, showers and the West. These showers will meet the

cold air that we had today and could easily freeze on untreated surfaces.

Some showers will be windy. The low temperatures will be just below

freezing in towns and cities and possibly even colder in the

countryside. Frosty, icy start to Saturday, showers in the West but a

beautiful day developing for much of the north`east. Lots of sunshine

here but it will be feeling a little bit chilly. It gets milder by

Sunday. Not quite as cold as it was today. Let's take a tour through

Saturday afternoon. Top temperature of six or seven Celsius for much of

Yorkshire. Bright spells and crucially lighter wind. It will feel

more pleasant than it has done full North words, it will be dry and

fine. In the West that will be more showery but not as cold. Very

different compare to today. More chance of a shower over Lakeland and

the Cambrian Coast. This is the big picture over the weekend, I pressure

to the south, some weak weather systems to the north. What will this

mean? Probably increasing cloud as we head into Sunday and some showers

in Cumbria in particular. Things look quite settled in the

north`east. High pressure is building towards the start of next

week and it will be much more settled. Let's take a look at the

detail across the towns and cities and villages. We are looking at a

gloomy day for much of the county. Spells of rain but notice the

temperatures, much higher than they were today and most places will dry

out. Thanks, Hannah. Now for a last look at tonight's headlines.

Millions of people around the world are mourning the death of Nelson

Mandela. And the big clear up. People whose homes and businesses

were damaged in yesterday's storm and tidal surge are mopping up ` and

counting the cost. Millions of people around the world

are mourning Goodbye.