05/04/2017 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

Hello, and welcome to Wednesday's Look North.

An inquest hears how a woman raised concerns with staff at a troubled

care home about the treatment of her elderly husband.

Residents claim they're counting the cost after homes for vulnerable

Lifeboat Launch - after months of fundraising volunteers welcome

And this is one of just ten sites that are going to be taking part

in a unique exhibition along the full length of Hadrian's Wall.

In football - more misery for David Moyes.

It's now six games without a win or a goal for Sunderland.

And after a traumatic winter for Durham County Cricket Club,

they're hoping the fightback is about to begin.

An inquest into the deaths of three men at a care home

in North Yorkshire has heard that one of those who died was emaciated

Albert Pooley died last year at Sowerby House -

a care home in Thirsk that's been at the centre of recent controversy.

At today's inquest, his wife said prior to his death she'd raised

Phil Connell's been at today's inquest and joins us now

The inquest heard today from Albert Pooley's wife Kathleen who said that

she had raised concerns with staff at Abbey house about the levels of

care that he'd been receiving. -- at sour the house. Mrs Pooley was seen

here arriving in the dark jacket saying she feared that he wasn't

being fed properly or being given enough to drink. She also had

concerns about him being bathed and showered. The inquest has also heard

evidence from Christina Parsons, a nurse who did one shift here at the

home in April of last year. She described how residents have been

left that in your ring and how one man was left to have his breakfast

with hundreds of ants covering the table. -- left sat in you're in. She

spoke to me outside the court. I was horrified. I was trying to

address the problem so that others could deal with it. I spoke to the

nurse that I was working alongside. I spent to the manager, but nothing

was getting done about these incidents during this has been a

troubled care home? That's right. The home has been the

focus of controversial headlines in recent years. In 2015 the death of

one resident here sparked a major investigation, while last year the

quality of care was strongly criticised in a report by the Care

Quality Commission. That led to the home being downgraded to

residential. Just this week, one member of its nursing staff faced a

misconduct proceedings after falling asleep while she was on duty. Has

the home had anything to say, Phil? The owners of the home have said

that mistakes have been corrected and that a new management team has

now been put in place. We did here today from Joe Rankin, the former

manager here at the home. She admitted that there were

deficiencies in record keeping, because she said staff at the time

just didn't recognise its importance. She was asked by the

coroner, did you have proper control? Two that she replied, I

think I tried my very best. The inquest continues tomorrow. Thank

you. A man's been jailed after pointing

a fake gun at a young family in a road rage incident

on the A1 in Gateshead. 38-year-old Craig Mafhan was driving

on the Western Bypass last He pulled alongside the other

driver, whose two children were in the car, and pointed

what looked like a handgun at him. He was jailed for 27 months

after pleading guilty to possession of an imitation firearm

with intent to cause fear. An investigation is under way

after claims a workman was seen with a can of beer at a demolition

site hours after a major incident. He was in the site office

of the Odeon demolition on Pilgrim Street in Newcastle

on Tuesday morning. Part of the building

and scaffolding collapsed They complain that their worst fears

have been realised - crime has increased and their

repeated complaints ignored. That's what some people living

near two care homes for vulnerable They say the police have been

called 200 times in nine months. Stockton Council opened the homes

so children didn't have to be sent and it says the majority of police

calls have nothing to do with crime. In packed public meetings,

some claimed the homes would bring crime, vandalism and anti-social

behaviour to their quiet villages. Now, those same people say

they've been proved right. They say the police have recived

119 calls about this care home We are hearing about general

vandalism, assaults in the home. How can you be sure

the vandalism and We just generally

approached the police. You just don't get that police

activity if there is no issues. Before the home was opened,

we had one community police officer, That was how much criminal

activity there was in People living near the care homes

in Hartburn and Stillington say between last May and this

January, Cleveland Police received 200 calls about

incidents at the two homes. The figures from a Freedom

of Information request showed the majority involved

children going missing. But there were 19 incidents

of violence against a person, and 23 reported incidents

of criminal damage We are very anxious that the

residents have a quiet life, really. The new manager starts in the home

next week and we want to work alongside him and the existing staff

at Red Plains to achieve the best The homes were set up so vulnerable

children would no longer have to be moved to other parts of the country

away from family and friends. The aim was to give them

a better start in life. Nobody from Stockton Council

would talk camera today. But in a statement it said

the homes were well-run It said it's not uncommon

for the police to be called to children's homes because staff

have to follow strict guidelines. They must call the police every time

a child or young person does And that's the reason, it says,

for the vast majority The council says these

are not "bad children" What they really need now, it says,

is support from local people. "Like exchanging an old

Cortina for a Ferrari" - that's the view of one member

of the Workington Lifeboat team after taking delivery of a new,

?2.1 million rescue vessel. The Shannon-class boat,

called the Dorothy May after the woman who left

?1 million to the RNLI in her will, is quicker and more manoeuvrable

than her predecessor. Mark McAlindon joined

the fanfare for her arrival. Flat out at 25 knots,

the Dorothy May White is a speedier successor to the John Fisher she's

come to a place in Workington. And at a cost of ?2.1 million

is a substantial investment. It's a bit like going from a Ford

Cortina to a nice new Ferrari. You're getting to look inside,

everything is fly-by wires, It's got jets instead of propellors,

and she's capable of doing 25 knots, where is our current lifeboat

does 16, 17 knots. But this is a tough business,

saving lives at sea. The crew here say that this

is a light sea, but there It just shows you how brave these

guys are that when they do head out to sea at times of crisis,

this environment can In dreadful seas, a pair

of distressed and seasick sailors are towed 30 miles over seven hours

to safety by this team. The new boat will mean getting two

incidents much quicker. This boat and its capabilities,

the old boat was great, This is the edge of

cutting technology. This boat's capability at sea,

it's a wonderful baked and it will service everything for many

years to come. But there was no statutory support

for these brave and selfless crews. The late Dorothy May left

?1 million to the RNLI, while the trust stumped up ?500,000

for this new vessel. We've had some very generous

bequests, and I have to say that the support from the local

community to our appeal We've been really, really grateful

for everybody's help and it looks as though we will be very nearly

that very shortly. So I'm very, very happy

indeed about that. The John Fisher will now go

into some form of retirement while the Dorothy May White will be

keeping the shores they Great shot there, I hope your

stomachs are settled lobbed! When the Tees Valley Mayor takes

office they'll be given new powers It's certain to be a key

issue in the election - so what could those

new powers achieve? David Macmillan's been finding out,

in the latest of our series looking at the election

through five objects. When you ask people what tasks

should be on the Tees Valley Mayor's to do list, improving the transport

system is usually the top answer. So our next object

is a humble ticket. Where trying to link

people better to jobs, particularly in the city centre

of Middlesbrough, with a public transport system that

helps facilitate that. If you can't get good people

easily and effectively from one place to another,

it does put constraints on the attractiveness

of the Northern economy The mayor won't have the money

or power to embark on big transport But they can commission

detailed plans and designs - something the region's combined

authority has already done with proposals to transform

Darlington's main railway station. We want people to be able to turn up

to their local railway station, anywhere from Saltburn

through to North Yorkshire, County Durham, right

across the Tees Valley, and be able to get on a train

and connect into Darlington, and then connects seamlessly

onto high-speed rail Our ticket, though, is a bus ticket

- a service many people in places Very important, because there's

a lot of elderly people that live here, and they're stuck

if there's bus service. On the whole, I think the bus

service is pretty all right The mayor may get direct powers

over the region's buses. New powers will give us the option

to do that through different partnership arrangements

with the bus operators, or potentially also

for franchising those services. So buses, trains and railway

stations, not to mention calls for a new road bridge over the Tees,

and to secure the future of Durham Tees Valley Airport -

transport could well be the defining issue for the first

Tees Valley Mayor. Rare Roman artefacts are being put

on display at museums along the 130-mile length

of Hadrian's Wall, as part of an exhibition which launches

at the end of the week. It's all part of a celebration

of the role of the Roman Cavalry. Museums from Maryport

to South Shields are taking part. They include Vindolanda,

where our reporter, It looks fantastic. It really has

been a beautiful spring evening here. That sunlight has been showing

off the best that this historic site had to offer. It's one of ten over

the stretch of Hadrian's Wall, which will be part of this exhibition

which has seen artefacts imported from all over the UK and Europe to

celebrate the role of the Roman cavalry. More on what will be going

on here in a moment, but first we have been taking a look at

preparations at the Great North Museum in Newcastle.

The unveiling of a very special and eerie visitor.

This rare Ribchester-style helmet would have been won

It's owned by the British Museum, but for the next five months

it'll be on display at Newcastle's Great North Museum.

It's part of an ambitious exhibition spanning ten venues

along Hadrian's Wall, from Maryport to South Shields.

People, when they think of Hadrian's Wall, imagine a lonely

soldier stood on the top of it peering out to the north.

Actually, there were thousands and thousands of men here,

So we want to put on an exhibition that really explored

what it was like being a cavalrymen on Hadrian's Wall, but also

in the Roman Empire as a whole, because it a much overlooked topic.

Roman cavalrymen were the bling of the Roman army.

These guys had all the shiny kit, from these incredible parade helmets

with their beautiful facemask and really ornate pieces of art,

Through to gorgeous saddle plates for horses.

and helmets were used simply for show, or to

Another artefact returning to the region is the helmet

discovered in Crosby Garrett in Cumbria, which will be shown

It's been incredible watching all of these amazing things come in.

We've got loads from the British Museum,

the National Museum of Scotland, from museums on the continent

We really have assembled, for me, the a list of Roman

The highlight in every museum, there is a piece that is just

outstanding, gorgeous, no other word for it,

I'm joined now by Barbara, the creator here at Vindolanda. Tell me

a little bit about what people coming here can expect as part of

the exhibition? We have some national and international loans.

Worst of all we have a cavalry helmet coming down from Scotland, as

well as a headpiece, which is a horse's ceremonial headpiece, which

has come from France. Did they take as much pride in their horses as

they did in themselves? Yes, they did. We even have, from the

collection here at Vindolanda, a leather headpiece found in previous

excavations him of the site. Exhibit of a living exhibition. Tell

me what else will be going on over the summer. We have ongoing

excavations over the site which means we could be working on areas

where we have more cavalry equipment out. Does that mean we could find

the next Roman helmet here at Vindolanda? Them that be nice! Very

possibly we could. Thanks, Barbara. This is one of ten sites people are

being told to take their time to visit over the next month. There

will also be a very special Roman soil Trooping of the Colour taking

part in Carlisle at the beginning of July. -- Roman style Trooping of the

Colour. Sounds brilliant. A new play set in the world

of semi-professional football opens Following its critically acclaimed

run at the National Theatre, The Red Lion has been specially

adapted for the North East and stars DCI Banks actor Stephen Tompkinson,

The Bill's John Bowler and up-and-coming

local talent Dean Bone. Our Arts Reporter,

Sharuna Sagar, reports. Some big bully kicks you. If you go

down, you show you are hurt because you are.

The Red Lion is a dressing room drama set in a northern non-league

soccer club, and the action is all off the pitch.

Throw in, foul, offside, corner. Any decision on the rack has got to

make, make him think for us. It is a three header and prime-time

actor and Boro fan Stephen Tompkinson please the manager.

I don't cheat. He's got ambitions to get to the premiership by hook or by

crook. As they borrowed time, you are used to... Heartache! An

emotional roller-coaster. This season has been no exception. You

put a lot of yourself into your club and they somehow reflect you.

Passion is transferred into this role stopped well I noticed your

Teesside accent is very strong in the play. Absolutely, yes. It all

comes flooding back. It's great, it's home. It's coming home.

Guidance. You may recognise another familiar

face from TV - John Bowler. He grew up in Newcastle and is making his

debut at live theatre as the kick man -- kit man.

He is very old school and doesn't like the business side of it. Having

a knowledge of being a Newcastle United fan, you get all aspects of

that also I'm just trying be tactful! How much time do you spend

mass lodging your co-star? He's a lucky lad, isn't he? Lucky old Dean.

That is Dean Bone, a fellow Magpie supporter and rising star from

Gateshead. When I was asked what I wanted to do

when I was younger it was playful. Weitzel you can relate to your

character? Definitely. At least he gets to be a footballer

now. The play runs until the 6th of May.

Its football! It's how the poor survive.

Which leads us on to me, this fully professional.

Now, whether you're a Sunderland fan whose glass is half-full

or half-empty, the game is almost up for the Premier League's

Manager David Moyes saw his miserable and controversial week

continue last night with yet another defeat - 2-0 at the

The Black Cats are eight points adrift at the bottom with just

The evening started as well as it could for David Moyes,

with Sunderland publicly standing by its under-fire manager -

despite condemning as "wholly unacceptable" off-camera remarks

he made to a female BBC reporter, prompting front

Moyes hopes to have drawn a line under the matter.

He'll wish he could do the same to the current

In fairness to a Sunderland side the 53-year-old Scot has

frequently said lacks quality, they gave a decent account

of themselves for an hour, keeping a rejuventated Leicester

But the home side's caretaker boss Craig Shakespeare had the advantage

of a substitutes bench that could change the game.

And two of them, Albrighton and Slimani, combined to present

the latter with a straightforward chance to break Wearside hearts.

If this deflected effort from the returning Anichebe,

badly missed since his injury, had gone in, well - who knows?

But just over 90 seconds later a Leicester counter-attack,

with Albrighton again at the fore, granted Jamie Vardy the chance

to remind us how the Foxes won the league last season.

With former club Man United visiting Wearside on Sunday,

Moyes knows the relegation trapdoor is opening ever wider.

It's just that we didn't do a couple of really simple things right

We created one or two opportunities, not many.

But it was always going to be that way for us.

So the two-month wait for a win and a goal goes on.

The Black Cats are fast running out of lives.

This is how the table looks ahead of Middlesbrough's bottom

of the table clash at head coach Steve Agnew's former club,

Boro have lost four of their last six games.

That's one fewer than Sunderland - but they're

They'll be without defender Fabio after he suffered concussion

Midfielder Gaston Ramirez is also a doubt for a must-win game,

where the emphasis will be on trying to end the club's goal drought.

We can go on, and on, and on about tactics and

The bottom line is we have to take risks in the top end of the field.

And there the messages that we've been sending through to the players.

We are determined to keep Middlesbrough football club

in the Premier League and we will be doing everything we possibly can

Newcastle were knocked off the top of the Championship table

last night by Brighton, who were 3-1 winners

But victory over Burton Albion at St James's Park tonight would,

once again, put the Magpies out in front.

A 50,000 crowd for their first visit to Tyneside could well

lift the visitors - whose home gates are

But it's something Newcastle have had to cope with this season.

When you are in a top side in this division,

the fans are expecting and you have to score, you have

to attack and you have to make a lot of chances.

When you are attacking, sometimes you are unfortunate when you have

If you concede an early goal, it's like this.

We have to go up and stay up until the end.

Back to last night's action, and York City had lost just one

in seven before their surprise 2-0 home defeat by Bromley

It leaves the Minstermen in the National League relegation zone,

The new cricket season is just around the corner.

Yorkshire open their campaign in Division One of the County

Championship on Friday, taking on Hampshire at Headingley.

Durham, despite finishing fourth last season,

were relegated to Division Two - the punishment dished out

by the English Cricket Board for the county's financial problems.

It feels like the club is having to start all over again.

April, 1992 and Durham, with new signing Ian Botham,

are about to embark on their first season as a first-class club.

Fast forward a quarter of a century, and Durham, with Sir

Ian Botham their new chairman, are about to embark on a season

which, thanks to the ECB, sees them newly-relegated

and already 48 points behind the rest of the field.

There's still that sense of injustice and that sort

But I wouldn't say that we're completely over it, but it's

Can you actually to your advantage to maybe galvanise

If the season started in November, then that might have

It's quite a while to hold onto that sort of anger for six months,

So we've kind of put it down now and the last three or four months

basically just preparing in the normal way, and not dwelling

too much on the points and the relegation.

Because it's nothing we can really control.

We just now need to crack on and play good cricket.

South African Test star Stephen Cook will arrive in time

for the Good Friday opener at home to Nottingham.

And despite fears he might join batsman Mark Stoneman

and all-rounder Scott Borthwick in leaving the club,

last summer's top scorer, Keaton Jennings, is back

at the Riverside - hoping this year will be

It was the year dreams are made of, really.

Just from starting the season off with 200 against Somerset and ending

with a Test cap at 100, which was absolutely incredible.

Just a real memory that I think I will cherish.

And hopefully a good story that I'll be able

And by the time Keaton's grandkids are watching, the skipper,

a sprightly 41 next month, might just have hung up the boots.

I want to be part of a team that does something special in getting

Hopefully it will be this year, but if it's not then I may have

to stay on for another year next year!

He's a survivor. A great lad. Tomorrow we look ahead to

Yorkshire's season. I'm nervous now! It normally brings the frost and the

snow. No sign of that, thankfully, for the time being.

We start off tonight with a couple of April weather pictures. Starting

on the Northumberland coast, a lovely April morning. Daffodils in

full bloom. Further west, a lovely, peaceful end to the day on the

Solway Firth. A couple of fishermen and their admiring the view.

Tomorrow most places will have another dry day. Like today there

will be a fair amount of cloud around on the whole, but like today

it will break in places. There will be some sunny intervals. A fair

amount of cloud around tonight. Cumbria stays cloudy for the bulk of

the night, but mostly dry. Further east, a few breaks will appear from

time to time with clearer spells. But there should be enough cloud and

enough breeze to keep just about everywhere frost free. Temperature

is no lower than is Evans eggs Celsius. -- seven Celsius. Tomorrow

is another dry day for many of us. There will be a few gaps in the

cloud. Eastern areas most likely to see those. But they tend to fill in

at times through the day. I don't think anywhere will have unbroken

sunshine tomorrow. Western parts tend to have fairly cloudy skies for

the bulk of the day. Temperatures peaking around 13 Celsius. The wind

giving a hint of changing from a north-westerly direction to more of

a westerly for many of us tomorrow. That change in wind direction will

continue as we head through the next few days. The centre of high

pressure starts to shift away eastwards and we start to see a

change from that westerly direction to a south-westerly. Eventually

through the weekend, more of a southerly. That will do a couple of

things to the weather. It should first of all start to break up the

cloud. Still fairly cloudy skies on Friday. Temperatures again in the

low teens at best. A westerly breeze. As the wind direction begins

to change, it should become more broken. Saturday, a south-westerly

breeze. We should be loose guys are many places. Temperatures beginning

to climb towards the mid-teens for Sunday. They sell for south-westerly

breeze. We should see temperatures of 18 Celsius. It wouldn't surprise

me if somewhere on Sunday hit 20 Celsius. That's I was looking for

the next few days and you can keep up to date on the BBC Whether App.

You are the voice of reason. That's it from us tonight. Bye-bye.

CHILD: This is a major scientific breakthrough.