06/12/2013 Look North (Yorkshire)

The sun shall never set on so The sun shall never set on so

Welcome to a special edition of Look North, celebrating the life of

Nelson Mandela. We're live in Chapeltown, Leeds, where tributes

are being paid to the former South African President. We'll be

remembering Mandela's visit to the city in 2001 and looking at his

legacy here in Yorkshire. It is a celebration of the life that has

given us hope and a sense of justice and shown us what a true human being

can be like. Also tonight: Dramatic pictures from

last night's storm as North Yorkshire deals with the worst tidal

surge in 60 years. And knocked to the ground in high

winds. Yet another apparent victim of the "wind tunnel" effect next to

Leeds' tallest building. Lance sent this picture. The risk of

a little coastal flooding this evening, but thankfully, the

weakened's weather looks more settled.

Good evening and welcome to a special programme of Look North.

We'll bring you the latest on the clean`up following the worst tidal

surge for 60 years and gusts of over 80 mph. But first, Harry is live at

the Mandela Centre in Chapeltown in Leeds, where we're paying tribute to

and celebrating the life of Nelson Mandela.

In Sheffield in Leeds, flags flew at half`mast. Cynthia met him not long

after his release from prison. We have lost a good man, a man of

principle and they manned that bore no bitterness either to what had

happened to him in prison. Nelson Mandela had strong links to Leeds.

In 2001, huge crowds turned out to see him being granted the freedom of

the city. It was a historic day. Firstly,

the city. It was a historic day. pensioner! And thirdly, I have a

criminal record! He really had an aura and different to other famous

statesman. Few people carry the same authority and gentleness and this

aura. This community Centre in Chapeltown Bears Nelson Mandela's

name and has been a focal point for an outpouring of grief today. Many

members have come to sign a book of condolence. Representatives of

Chapeltown's community wanted to write down their feelings. Mr

Mandela is my inspiration. He has set the foundation for us, not just

black, but the world. We call him the icon. But we haven't got a name

for him. He will be missed. Very sad day for Leeds and the rest of the

world but it makes you want to reflect on the great man's life and

today is also about reflecting on his enormous achievements in world

politics, and particularly against the brute arm `` brutal apartheid

system. The meat, as a young person, Mandela has been instrumental. If it

hadn't been for his struggle, I don't think my struggle would have

felt as easy as it has been. The Archbishop of York met Nelson

Mandela on two occasions in South Africa. Today he spoke fondly of

him. Should we feel sad today? No. If we are concerned about Mandela,

the things he stood for, we should now redouble our efforts and make

sure we do them. He was never interested in legacy himself, so if

we really loved that I am touched by what he did, we should redouble our

efforts for justice, peace, love and harmony. We should say, what can I

do so that Mandela lives on? Harry, a momentous day. Yours is a

very special role. It was. I was Lady mayoress on the day and part of

the official party that welcomed him to Leeds. What will your impressions

of him? I was in awe of this man who is a giant but who was also very

humble and made everybody feel really comfortable. He had an aura

of being different about him. Yes, because of all the things we know

about his struggle and what he has done across the world, but he was

also just a genuinely nice and humble person per everybody at ease,

despite his stature. You are involved with the Carnival. Your

memories of Nelson Mandela, please. Amazing. I was at the Civic Hall

when he walked in, and we believe that one day, he would be out of

prison. For him to come and visit Leeds, which was quite rare,

prison. For him to come and visit That this over year is still

remembered, isn't it? Yes. When he walked in that hall and saw the man

himself, it was just amazing. You must be very close. We had a couple

of conversations. He spoke to me about Leeds, about it being such a

fantastic city. He spoke to me about me being there as well and what that

meant. He said he was proud of me, which is a bit overwhelming! That

has meant a lot to me and I stayed with me ever since. You probably got

an idea there of what it meant to meet Nelson Mandela. One person who

I spoke to today in South Africa has a very special memory of him. One

man who knew Nelson Mandela very well was the former Leeds United

captain, Lucas Radebe, and South African. He talks very

affectionately about the time he met Nelson Mandela. He was such a

tremendous player Phil Leeds united as well. It was that recognition

which led to one of the great things: The World Cup in 2010. I

will be reflecting more on this remarkable man's life later on.

The other big story of the day is the clean`up operation which has

been continuing in earnest following the worst tidal surge in 60 years

and heavy gusts of wind of over 80 mph. We'll report from Doncaster,

where hundreds of pupils are lucky to be alive after a roof blew off

the school building. We'll hear from the family of a pedestrian who was

blown over outside Bridgewater Place in Leeds by high winds and is now

being treated in hospital. But first, we report from Scarborugh and

Whitby, where heavy storms battered the costal towns. We have pictures

of a dramatic rescue in Scarborough late last night. This video was

taken by David Platt, who was walking along North Bay at about

5:30pm yesterday. He spotted a van driver who had got into trouble near

the Sands Complex. As you can see, the waves are pushing the van

around. Luckily, the unidentified driver made it back to dry land,

unharmed. Well, those were the scenes late last night. Our

reporter, Jamie Coulson, has spent the day on the North Yorkshire

coast, following the clean`up. After the storm comes the clean`up.

As homes and businesses take stock of the flood damage. Water had to be

pumped out of the pub after waves swamped the bar and seller. I had

panic attack at 6:30am. But I am all right now. I feel better now, now

that things have started to move and my carpet has got to come up and I

am still waiting on my seller getting emptied. Yesterday, strong

winds and high tides and a storm surge caused disruption and flooding

across the East Coast. But what is concerning is that this morning's

high tides will bring more problems. At first light and wit me

`` at Whitby, wholesale and started to count the cost of the storm. We

have another warehouse where we have not even looked in it yet. But the

mountain rescue teams who had been on alert throughout the night, there

was relief that the morning's high tide had not made things worse. We

are advised the tide was higher than last night, but it was not as bad.

People were relieved at the situation. Back in Scarborough,

tonnes of sand was removed from the seafront, but the true scale of

wider problems is yet to become apparent. 200 properties have

probably been affected. We have actually got people out in the

recovery stage, talking to individuals and gathering

information. At the moment, we think it is up to 200. Yesterday the storm

brought misery for many, but at least today, there was fun to be

had. Next tonight, it's emerged that the

ferocious winds that battered Bridgewater Place in Leeds yesterday

have claimed another casualty. Janet Heaton is in hospital with a

fractured skull after being swept off her feet at the bottom of the

tower. The council closed the roads around Yorkshire's tallest building

but allowed pedestrians to use the area. Janet Heaton's family got in

touch with Look North to express their concern.

Recovering at Leeds General infirmary, Janet still has no memory

of what happened on her lunch break yesterday. Her injuries are the

result of pedestrians walking past Bridgewater Place on one of the

windiest day of the year. Arriving at a hospital, her partner couldn't

believe the winter done so much damage. When I saw her, I thought

she had been attacked. She was virtually unconscious. But

apparently, she was simply swept off her feet by the wind. Look North

West should wince breeds of 42 mph and Janet was not the only person

injured. Security guards told as they spent most of the day helping

people get back on their feet. Having safely walked into her

workplace over there, at lunchtime, Janet decided to pop out. She came

across this pedestrian crossing and when she got to the foot, was lifted

into the air. It dropped down and she knocked ahead of the kerbstone.

Almost immediately, security staff came out and started to attend to

her. Roads in the area was closed to all traffic yesterday after a doctor

was killed by a lorry that was blown on to him as he walked past the

tower in 2011. But Rhodes won't close to pedestrians, despite the

coroner at his inquest is suggesting they should be. Leeds city council

is still considering whether to do that on windy days. To say that it

is unsafe cars but safer pedestrians, I don't know what is

going on. The council... Somebody else will get killed. Janet could've

been killed. That would've been entirely different. Janet is

expected to make a full recovery but she has become another victim of

what happens when strong winds rushed down the air Valley and into

the side of Yorkshire 's tallest building.

Over 1,000 students escaped without injury yesterday when the strong

winds lifted the roof off an academy school near Doncaster. Luckily, the

potentially catastrophic incident took place minutes after the lunch

break so all the pupils were inside. Reliving yesterday's drama, Maria

Rock, headteacher. I walked upstairs. That is when I heard the

most almighty thud and I could see the section of roof flying over the

school, landing on this area. A huge stretch of broken roof, torn away

and thrown to the ground. 1200 students passed through this area.

Luckily, the wind took hold just at the end of lunch break. The vast

majority of children were inside. Miraculously, not one injury. The

roof was ripped from the building. Shocked teachers, not entirely sure

what was happening, moved pupils to the far side of the school. Some of

my mates were scared. There was a load of broken glass. 50 pieces of

wood in the corridor, I mean the courtyard. Then, we went outside

after we had been in the sports hall for an hour and everyone was crying.

When you normally evacuate students, you couldn't. You had to

work out safe routes through the building. 24 classrooms have been

left exposed. The school will remain closed until it is safe and

practical for students to return. The structural damage seems a

trivial concern, the overriding feeling being relieved.

A 37`year`old man has been remanded in custody, charged with the

attempted murders of two police officers who were allegedly shot at

in Leeds on Wednesday. James Leslie was arrested several hours after PC

Suzanne Hudson and PC Richard Whiteley attended an incident in the

early hours at a house in the Headingley district. PC Hudson

suffered several shotgun wounds and is described as being in a "poorly

but stable" condition in hospital. PC Whiteley was not injured. Leslie

will appear at Leeds Crown Court later this month.

The body of a woman has been found in the River Aire. It was recovered

from the water near to Leeds train station yesterday evening. The

police are working to confirm her identity and a postmortem

examination will be carried out later.

Plans for a new sports centre and swimming pool in the High Green area

of sheffield have been unveiled today. The council say this is part

of their plan to renew and replace ageing sports facilities in the

city. It comes after the closure of Stocksbridge Leisure Centre and the

decision to demolish the Don Valley Stadium. The new ?7 million centre

will be paid for partly by Olympic Legacy money and the council will

contribute around ?2 million. But it'll also mean the closure of

Chapeltown Baths. In football, we can at least rule

one candidate OUT of the running for the vacant post of Sheffield

Wednesday manager: Neil Warnock. We told you earlier this week on Look

North that Warnock's name was on the short list to replace Dave Jones at

Hillsborough. But Warnock has himself pulled out of the race

today. He is a Sheffield United fan and accepts that it would be too

"divisive" to have him in charge of Wednesday. And in case you are

wondering, he has not applied for the Barnsley job.

The next few days are not looking too bad. Still difficult conditions

along the coast, though, and we are about to have all the high tides.

Let's take a quick look at a couple of pictures you have sent through.

This is from Carl. These are the effects from Scarborough.

The second picture has come from Freddie. Again, this is in

Scarborough, and the high tide crashing up.

It is going to improve. We get into a more settled period of whether

thanks to high pressure. The rest of tonight, it will be a cold night and

we are looking at patches of rain and possibly sleet and snow which

will cause icy stretches the tomorrow morning. This is all thanks

to hype pressure building up from the near continent, so over the

weekend, much, indeed. Today, we have had cloud generally increasing

from the West. Some good spells of sunshine along the coast. We will

have outbreaks of rain, drizzle, sleet and possibly snow. Once that

plays through, the risk of icy stretches. A frost in place.

Temperatures down to freezing or below. Tomorrow morning, the sun

will rise at 8:09am. The next high tide in Scarborough is 7am. Watch

out for icy stretches if you are heading out and about. On the whole,

temperatures are on the rise. A lot of us will be dry but showers

feeding through. Temperatures rising, so as we go to tomorrow

afternoon, temperatures will reach six degrees along the coast, but

inland, seven or eight degrees. Sunday, those temperatures will rise

to 11. A quick shout out to Harry Hill will host the festive

spectacular at Scarborough spa. Let's go back to Chapeltown in

Leeds, where they've gathered to celebrate Nelson Mandela's life.

Harry is at the Mandela Centre, where Nelson Mandela came in 2001

when he visited Leeds. The Mandela Centre was opened in

1984, but memories go back to 2001. There were thousands there. The

interviews Yaz as well. But it was the warmth of the reception I know

Nelson Mandela remembered and remembered vividly. He was also

revered because of his fight against apartheid and there is a Yorkshire

connection with that. He was imprisoned more than 8000

miles away, but Nelson Mandela inspired support and protest here in

Yorkshire for more than 40 years. The first signs of it bubbled up

around cricket and South Africa's tour in 1965. Only white athletes

could play, and by 1970, thoughts of another talk prompted protest

petitions in Leeds. But at that time, it was a merely black protest.

By the 1980s, anti`apartheid demonstrations were much more

multicultural affairs. Among those queueing for a campaign bus to

Westminster was Michael McGowan. He subsequently met Nelson Mandela is a

revered figure three times, but when he first started the Yorkshire

campaign, attitudes were very different. It was the political and

business elite and media who were not supportive. It was the people in

South Africa that brought about the changes and those in exile, but a

lot of solidarity from this part of the world. Against that opinion,

England cricketers who played in South Africa on the so`called rebel

tour were controversial figures. Geoff Boycott was vice captain and

widely criticised his involvement. By 1985, a trait tour to South

Africa prompted a rooftop protest, so toxic has South Africa's

reputation become. But there was still a way to five years before

celebrations could begin. A long fight was over in the first

cricket team allowed back into a rehabilitated South Africa was

Yorkshire, captained by Martyn Moxon. It opened everybody's buys. A

lot of us didn't really know what a party meant and what it involved, so

too are going to the townships and see it first hand was a real

eye`opener. Nelson Mandela was an unbelievable man. When Mr Mandela

visited Leeds, he had crowned the Yorkshire connection forged over

many years. We have spoken on Look North quite a

few times to Claude, who is director of Chapeltown Young Peoples Club.

People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be

taught to love. That was from Nelson Mandela. At the end of the day, love

must conquer hate. No matter what happens, you come out to your

family, so love can conquer and take you through. Give me an idea of the

kind of thing you can do with Nelson Mandela in mind here. You can

convince young people that no matter what adversity or pressure you car

`` can make it through. This is a testimony to him. We will not let

Mandela die in this community. Mandela will last for ever and we

will be telling our children and great grandchildren him. We will

leave you with somebody who knew Nelson Mandela very well. Doctor

Salim Essop was in prison with Mr Mandela on Robben Island for four

years. We'll leave you with his very personal recollections of the man he

served time with 36 years ago. He was like a father. He was a great

talk about also a great listener. He would argue with you, debate with

you, and we would talk about all kinds of issues, not only to do with

prison life, but most importantly, about politics.

He was also very athletic. He did exercises every morning. He had an

athlete's body. He was a boxer at one point. He always encouraged us

to keep fit, and we all did. Mandela came across to me as a very

charismatic person, somebody you could not ignore, somebody who was

very accessible and warm.