Browse content similar to 14/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good evening. Welcome to North West Tonight, with Annabel Tiffin. And | :00:03. | :00:06. | |
Roger Johnson. Our top story: Jailed - the man who left his | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
father's dead body in the living room for months and carried on | :00:09. | :00:12. | |
claiming his benefits. We'll be live outside the house where it | :00:12. | :00:15. | |
happened in Preston. Also tonight: | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
The couple planning for a wedding, thanks to breakthrough medication | :00:18. | :00:24. | |
developed in the North West. wanted to get out of bed, but I | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
wasn't allowed. But now my body is coming back to normal. I am feeling | :00:29. | :00:39. | |
:00:39. | :00:40. | ||
stronger again. On the day that Bolton and Stockport missed out in | :00:40. | :00:50. | |
:00:50. | :00:51. | ||
the race to become cities, I have come to Preston, which became a | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
city ten years ago, to find out if it has made any difference. | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
A tale of Viking passion and knowledge - the Merseyside | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
scientist being knighted by Norway. And setting the benchmark - Grange- | :01:00. | :01:02. | |
over-Sands decides it is time to slow down the spread of | :01:02. | :01:09. | |
commemorative seating. For almost five months, Christopher | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
Blackburn lived with a ghastly secret. He was sharing his | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
Lancashire home with the body of his dead father. He carried on | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
claiming the dead man's benefits and told family and friends his dad | :01:19. | :01:24. | |
was fine. He even told his 10-year- old daughter that her grandad was | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
just sleeping. Tonight, Blackburn is beginning a three year jail term | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
for concealing a death and benefit fraud. Our chief reporter Dave | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
Guest is at the house where it all happened. Looks like a pretty | :01:35. | :01:45. | |
:01:45. | :01:48. | ||
ordinary street? That's right, as you say, it is a quiet suburb of | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
Preston. The house behind me is an unremarkable terraced house. If you | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
go through the door today, there is nothing there to suggest what | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
happened, because now there are new residents there who have nothing to | :02:00. | :02:06. | |
do with the case. In November 2010, Christopher Blackburn lived in the | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
house with his father. In November, Mr Blackburn senior died of natural | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
causes, but Christopher did not tell anyone, but carried on living | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
in the house upstairs while the body lay downstairs for up to five | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
months. He also carried on claiming his late father's benefits from the | :02:22. | :02:32. | |
local post office. Did anyone suspect anything? Well, one of the | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
people who raised the alarm initially was Christopher | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
Blackburn's ten-year-old daughter. He was estranged from the girl's | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
mother, but she was not allowed access visits, and he took her into | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
the house on a number of occasions. He said to a number of people, | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
grandad's dead. Christopher past that off by saying, grandad is just | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
a slip. Eventually, neighbours noticed the stench, called the | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
police and then the truth unfolded. The case has touched everyone | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
involved, be it police officers or neighbours. We had not seen him for | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
a while. I had seen his son, Christopher. Every time I asked, he | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
said he was fine. He is a very bizarre individual, and the | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
circumstances of this investigation have been unusual. You called the | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
police. Why? Because my girlfriend smelled something, and I was just | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
talking with her, and then I alerted the police immediately. It | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
just went from there. I'm sickened. I would hate to think that my son | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
was living at home and left me dead, and you're still living in the | :03:30. | :03:38. | |
house. The house was extremely smelly. It is a scene that I don't | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
think many officers would want to face throughout their service. | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
yet he allowed his young daughter to go several times into that | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
house? He did allow his daughter to go in. It's quite likely that his | :03:51. | :03:57. | |
daughter has seen her grandfather. I wouldn't know what to say to him, | :03:57. | :04:06. | |
like slap him or what. I'm so angry, like everyone else round here. | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
So three years in jail for Christopher Blackburn. What did the | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
judge say to him? He said his crimes were abhorrent and callous. | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
He said Blackburn had shown no shred of remorse for what he had | :04:18. | :04:19. | |
done. Just two weeks ago, Charlie Jones, | :04:20. | :04:28. | |
who has skin cancer, was given hours to live. He'd just had | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
emergency surgery on tumours that had spread to his kidneys. But | :04:31. | :04:33. | |
doctors at The Christie in Manchester decided to treat him | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
with a revolutionary new drug tested there and now, Charlie's | :04:36. | :04:43. | |
been told he could live for months longer. | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
Feeling stronger by the day, and able to plan optimistically for the | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
future. 24-year-old Charlie is terminally ill with advanced | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
melanoma, but a new treatment has given him an unexpected new lease | :04:55. | :05:02. | |
of life. I was ill on the Thursday night, but by Sunday, I wanted to | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
get out of bed, but I was not allowed. But I felt like my body | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
had come back to normal. That came just days after Charlie was on the | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
brink of death following surgery, his lowest point since originally | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
being diagnosed two years ago. the Friday, she told me, you only | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
have a few hours to live. How did you feel? I was shocked. I had | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
thought I would be fine. This treatment now offers some hope to | :05:29. | :05:39. | |
:05:39. | :05:42. | ||
the dozens of melanoma patients across the north-west. Zelboraf | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
targets a gene mutation found in 50% of sufferers like Charlie, and | :05:45. | :05:55. | |
can extend life expectancy by two years. | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
Figures suggest 1235 people are diagnosed with malignant melanoma | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
every year across the north-west. Rates have almost trebled in the | :06:03. | :06:09. | |
past 20 years, and it is the most common cancer in 15-34-year-olds. | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
It is the second big step forward in the treatment of advanced | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
melanoma in the last year. Prior to that, we had gone 20 years without | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
any development. Next up for Charlie is a return to running and | :06:21. | :06:27. | |
playing golf. And of course, organising a wedding. A couple of | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
weeks ago, I could have lost him and we would never have been able | :06:30. | :06:40. | |
:06:40. | :06:40. | ||
to do it. So now, you just have to do the right thing, don't you? | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
We wish them the best. That is great news. | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
The North West has seen the biggest increase in unemployment in the UK | :06:46. | :06:53. | |
over the last three months. Figures from the Office for National | :06:53. | :06:55. | |
Statistics show the unemployment rate rose by 16,000 between | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
November and January. It takes the total out of work in the region to | :06:59. | :07:01. | |
317,000. The health trust that runs Furness | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
General Hospital has been ordered to apologise to the father of | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
Joshua Titcombe over an email sent about his case. The baby boy died | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
at just nine days old in 2008. The health ombudsman found the | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
offensive email by midwives at Barrow's maternity unit caused | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
unnecessary and unjustifiable distress. A police investigation | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
into the deaths of a number of babies and mothers at the hospital | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
is continuing. Lancashire Police has been fined | :07:27. | :07:29. | |
�70,000 after papers containing sensitive information about a 15- | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
year-old girl were found on a street in Blackpool. It's the first | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
time the Information Commissioner's Office has served a penalty on a | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
police force. Lancashire Police says it will learn lessons from the | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
event. A serving soldier has been charged | :07:46. | :07:53. | |
with the murder of his girlfriend. Leanne McNuff was found by police | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
at her home in Droylsden on Sunday night with multiple stab wounds and | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
died a short time later. Ian Lowe, who is 25, and from the First | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
Battallion of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, is due to | :08:02. | :08:04. | |
appear before magistrates tomorrow. They've been fighting for justice | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
for half a century. But war veterans involved in British | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s lost their bid to claim for damages | :08:12. | :08:20. | |
today. They claim exposure to radiation has led to the | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
development of cancers. In a moment, we'll be talking to Arthur Hart, | :08:23. | :08:29. | |
one of the region's veterans, but first this report. | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
Atomic testing in the Pacific during the 1950s exposed thousands | :08:32. | :08:38. | |
of servicemen to radiation. It was only later that veterans began to | :08:38. | :08:40. | |
link the radiation fallout with illnesses including cancer, | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
disability and eventual death. Their claim for compensation has | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
been fought by the Ministry of Defence, which has denied putting | :08:47. | :08:53. | |
servicemen at risk. Today in the Supreme Court, Britain's highest, | :08:53. | :08:55. | |
judges ruled the majority of the 1,000 claims couldn't proceed | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
because the veterans lacked evidence. They also said many of | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
the claims had been made too late. It is a tragedy that this | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
Government continues to expend resources on fighting the veterans, | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
rather than co-operating with them, testing them, establishing the | :09:10. | :09:18. | |
truth and compensating them. MOD said it recognises the debt of | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
gratitude to the servicemen, but said the court had ruled the claims | :09:21. | :09:30. | |
were barred because of the time gap in bringing them. It said today | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
ends the false hope for the veterans that the claims had a | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
chance of success. We're joined now by Arthur Hart, | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
who was an 18-year-old sailor during the tests. He suffered | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
several tumours, which he claims are linked to his experience. What | :09:47. | :09:57. | |
:09:57. | :09:57. | ||
exactly did you do during the tests in the 1950s? It was National | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
Service, and I was in the Royal Navy. I was in the engineering | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
department. My function during the atomic tests was to stay on the | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
upper deck to screen people who were going into the boiler room in | :10:12. | :10:21. | |
case there was any contamination of radioactive fall-out. I was very | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
junior, just an 18-year-old boy. But nevertheless, I was on the ship | :10:26. | :10:32. | |
for two tests, and sailed through I amazing -- ionising radiation. | :10:32. | :10:39. | |
you have any idea that it might be dangerous? At 18, being a northern | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
lad, it was the high tough excitement to go to Australia. The | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
excitement of that was with you. We were not told by anybody about any | :10:48. | :10:57. | |
danger. In fact, it was done in a cavalier fashion. Yes, there will | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
be washing down of the deck by the ocean. It was done in a very | :11:02. | :11:09. | |
relaxed, lackadaisical way. We were not aware of any specific dangers. | :11:09. | :11:16. | |
It was only later, and perhaps I am jumping the gun here, that I began | :11:16. | :11:26. | |
:11:26. | :11:27. | ||
to develop this horrible condition. As 75, it has not made much | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
difference, but if I was to show my forearm, my whole body is riddled. | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
Abdomen, legs, thighs for us but how has it made day-to-day life for | :11:36. | :11:44. | |
you? I used to wear shirts all the time and keep my sleeves rolled | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
down because of people's feelings. At 75, it has not made much | :11:47. | :11:53. | |
difference. But it was always in your mind that this might be the | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
causation. You have lost this right to claim, but other countries have | :11:57. | :12:04. | |
paid out to their veterans. Do you feel betrayed about that? Totally. | :12:04. | :12:10. | |
The Governments, to use the plural, and the MoD, have been cavalier. An | :12:10. | :12:18. | |
enormous wrong has been done. We were not volunteers. We were taken | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
out of the army and the RAF, and used it totally as guinea-pigs | :12:22. | :12:29. | |
without any sort of voluntary aspect. To treat them in this | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
offhand fashion, I think is scurrilous. It goes with the | :12:35. | :12:43. | |
territory when you think of the First World War home fit for heroes | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
argument. I hear that the lads in Helmand Province have to buy a kit | :12:48. | :12:53. | |
to keep themselves fit. It is shameful. | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
Bolton and Stockport have heard today they've failed in their bids | :12:56. | :12:59. | |
to gain city status.They were competing against more than 20 | :12:59. | :13:05. | |
towns across the country. But is it really such a blow? Ten years ago, | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
Preston became a city amid high hopes of new investment and major | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
redevelopment. Stuart Flinders has been finding out if the change of | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
status has made any difference. "We're a city", proclaimed the | :13:15. | :13:25. | |
:13:25. | :13:25. | ||
local paper. It seemed to promise a new start. Preston had plenty to | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
build on - a mention in the Domesday Book, a big role in the | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
industrial revolution and fine buildings that speak of a proud | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
past. But winning city status was meant to push Preston on to a | :13:38. | :13:47. | |
confident future. 500 homes, a cinema... Had the �700 million | :13:47. | :13:49. | |
Tithebarn shopping scheme gone ahead, it would have been easier to | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
claim city status had been a real advantage. But the scheme collapsed | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
last autumn, leaving city leaders searching for a less ambitious | :13:55. | :14:01. | |
alternative. Has being a city really made a difference to | :14:01. | :14:07. | |
Preston? I believe it has, because as far as the world of business is | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
concerned, it is important that they are located in a city. We are | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
not on the scale of Manchester and Liverpool, obviously, but we are a | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
European city that is open for business. It's hard to avoid signs | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
of a lack of investment, but then Preston's not alone in feeling the | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
pinch. And it has a real success story. The university's doubled its | :14:26. | :14:33. | |
student intake in the past decade. When people choose a university, | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
they also choose an environment. So the fact that Preston got city | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
status has definitely helped us. But do they care if it is a city or | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
a town, when you get the same environment? I think the term city | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
has a meaning, certainly if you are coming from outside the UK. | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
university's public relations students are divided about the | :14:51. | :14:57. | |
value of city status. City just sound more exciting. You think | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
there will be more going on, more shops available, more things to do. | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
I did not choose this university based on it being a city. I have | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
been to towns that are not cities and I did not notice any difference. | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
The council hopes to make a major announcement about investment in | :15:13. | :15:19. | |
the city later this year. Still to come on North West | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
Tonight: Stevie wonder - Gerrard's hat-trick | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
wins the derby for Liverpool, to spoil David Moyes' ten-year Everton | :15:24. | :15:34. | |
:15:34. | :15:35. | ||
anniversary. And our young school reporters are | :15:35. | :15:37. | |
getting to the bottom of a new sport. | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
Handball is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK. We'll | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
find out why and if Team GB has a chance of winning a medal at the | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
2012 Olympics. At New Year and on the Queen's | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
official birthday, we often bring you news of people from the north | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
west who've been awarded an honour, a knighthood or being made a Dame, | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
an OBE or MBE. Tonight, though, we have news of a different kind of | :16:00. | :16:09. | |
award. A scientist from Merseyside has been made a Knight of Norway by | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
King Harald V. And it's all to do with a grand passion for Vikings | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
which began at a very early age. Imagine the Wirral coast in the | :16:16. | :16:21. | |
year 902. A bunch of Vikings get kicked out of Ireland. The English | :16:21. | :16:31. | |
:16:31. | :16:31. | ||
Queen says they can settle here. 1000 years later, a small boy hears | :16:31. | :16:38. | |
that his local football team has a Viking name. Not many people knew | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
about this. It was a heritage that we in the North West did not really | :16:42. | :16:48. | |
know. The Viking place names, like Tranmere, provoked a lifelong | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
fascination for Stephen Harding. When he grew up to be a scientist, | :16:52. | :16:59. | |
I used DNA techniques to prove that Viking genes live on in our old | :16:59. | :17:02. | |
will families to a much greater extent than anybody had previously | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
thought. Today an ancestor of those Norwegian Vikings came to | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
Liverpool's Nordic Church to honour Stephen Harding's work. The King of | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
Norway's made him a Knight of the Norwegian Order of Merit for making | :17:13. | :17:20. | |
the area's Viking heritage much more widely known. I feel a bit | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
embarrassed, because it represents the work of a large number of | :17:23. | :17:33. | |
people. It is fairly unusual. It is an excuse of award in that sense. | :17:33. | :17:39. | |
It goes to foreign nationals that have done a great service. Part of | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
the ceremony was a church service in Norwegian, the knighthood the | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
highest honour the Norwegians can give someone who's not a head of | :17:45. | :17:55. | |
:17:55. | :18:00. | ||
state. Sport now. Another Stephen. I bet | :18:00. | :18:07. | |
David Moyes' milk on his cornflakes tasted a bit sour today. Yes, what | :18:07. | :18:09. | |
a difference a record breaking hat- trick makes. Steven Gerrard wrote | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
his name all over last night's Mersey derby with Liverpool's 3-0 | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
win over Everton, ending their three-match losing run in the | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
league. Both sides had one eye on their big FA Cup matches this | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
weekend, but after 90 minutes, Stevie G only had eyes on the match | :18:21. | :18:28. | |
ball. From Steven Gerrard, it was another | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
mother of all performances. He had his second win of the year. Imagine | :18:31. | :18:37. | |
if he had been fit all season. Captain Marvel's superhuman feats | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
last night are already the stuff of legend. He hit the first Derby hat- | :18:41. | :18:45. | |
trick in three years. It was the first Derby hat-trick at Anfield in | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
more than 77 years. Most importantly, it was Liverpool's | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
first three points since January. We had been a bit inconsistent. It | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
was a chance to find that winning streak. There is nothing new you | :18:59. | :19:05. | |
can say about him. He has been fantastic when we needed him. | :19:05. | :19:12. | |
Nothing new? Let's give it a go. is a one-man team. He is there all | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
the way for can be in. For him to be out for so long and comeback | :19:17. | :19:24. | |
proves how good a player he is. Different Class. Best in the world, | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
apart from Messi. At the final whistle, David Moyes was less | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
impressed. I think the goals were our own fold tonight. We have been | :19:33. | :19:43. | |
:19:43. | :19:44. | ||
good defensively recently, but the goals tonight were down to bad play. | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
Gerard will be flying for his last tie against oak. He must have | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
thought or his mother days -- mother stays had been rolled into | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
one. Carlos Tevez could play in Manchester City's next Premier | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
League game. Tevez trained with the City squad this morning. He hasn't | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
played since last September after his dispute with the club. Although | :20:01. | :20:03. | |
the Argentinian striker isn't eligible for tomorrow's Europa | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
League second leg tie against Sporting Lisbon, both his manager | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
and teammates hope he could play a part in next Wednesday's home game | :20:09. | :20:19. | |
:20:19. | :20:22. | ||
against Chelsea. We will see in the next week. It depends on his | :20:22. | :20:32. | |
:20:32. | :20:32. | ||
problem and a lot of things. He is always an asset for every team. | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
The pressure is already growing on Preston's new manager after North | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
End lost 2-1 at Tranmere last night, despite taking the lead after 12 | :20:39. | :20:45. | |
minutes. A header put Preston ahead, but Rovers levelled three minutes | :20:45. | :20:53. | |
later. Andy Robinson hit Tranmere's winner. Since Graham Westley became | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
boss, Preston have won and once in 10 games. | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
Now, it's one of the fastest growing team sports in the UK - but | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
how much do you know about handball? The UK Handball | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
headquarters are in Warrington, and there are more clubs in the North | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
West than anywhere in the UK. It is, of course, School Report week here | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
on the BBC, when we hand over the reins to the journalists of the | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
future - so pupils at Cardinal Heenan school in Liverpool decided | :21:16. | :21:26. | |
:21:26. | :21:29. | ||
to find out more. Hello, I am Jamie. And I am Sam. | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
Handball is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK. We will | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
find out why and if Team GB has a chance of winning a medal at the | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
London 2012 Olympics. This is John Jacobson, captain of England | :21:41. | :21:48. | |
handball team. He played in the Olympic Games. He came to our | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
school for a training session. John told us that although handball was | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
becoming more popular in the UK, we were still some way behind other | :21:56. | :22:05. | |
European countries, where some players are full-time professionals. | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
Our team have done extraordinarily well with limited funding to get to | :22:08. | :22:13. | |
a high performance level. Our women's team are fantastic. I hope | :22:13. | :22:19. | |
for high performances from them. Handball is also one of the fastest | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
growing sports in Asia and Africa. We do not have handball goals in | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
our school, so we simple -- improvised with yellow tape on the | :22:28. | :22:35. | |
walls. Here rather rules. No. 1, no barging. Number two, you can't take | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
more than four steps. Too many steps. Number three, no double | :22:41. | :22:47. | |
dribbling. You can't pass the ball, stop, and bounce it again. Although | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
a lot of people have never played handball before, they soon got into | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
the swing of things. It is a bit like football, but you can use your | :22:57. | :23:06. | |
hands. I found it good fun. I was in defence. Did not really do well. | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
The north-west has more handball teams than any other region in the | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
country, and John said Liverpool was where it all began in the UK. | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
When Team GB lines up at the Olympics this summer, plenty of | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
players will represent the North West at all levels, including the | :23:21. | :23:27. | |
men's captain. Somehow, I do not think they will be calling up our | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
goalkeeper any time soon. This is salmon Jamie for BBC News School | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
Report. -- Sam and Jamie. Finally from me, a quick reminder | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
to sign up for the Sport Relief mile. It's a week on Sunday. All | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
the details are at sportrelief.com. You might think it's the perfect | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
way to remember a loved one - a memorial bench in their favourite | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
place. But you might have to think again if that favourite place is | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
the Cumbrian resort of Grange Over Sands. It seems it's full to | :23:55. | :24:02. | |
bursting with commemorative benches. So the town council wants people to | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
think of other ways to remember the dear departed. | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
In life, you can be certain of death, taxes, and never being far | :24:08. | :24:18. | |
:24:18. | :24:23. | ||
from a bench in Grange Over Sands. To a certain degree, they have | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
popped up like daisies. You are right. The trend for memorial | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
benches, it seems, has taken off. The council accepts it's a suitable | :24:30. | :24:37. | |
way to remember a loved one, but the trend needs to be checked. | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
the past four years, the number has doubled, and there are no places to | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
put them. There are half a dozen within 20 walking paces. We want to | :24:47. | :24:49. | |
find more innovative ways that people can remember their loved | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
ones. They are not so jesting anything so dramatic as a cult. It | :24:54. | :24:59. | |
is more a gentle suggestion. A polite request that people consider | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
alternatives. You could buy a memorial shrub, they suggest, or | :25:02. | :25:10. | |
plant a tree instead. But you can't sit on a tree, can you? No! We | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
appreciate why people like the seats, and we will do all we can to | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
help them find somewhere to put a seat. So has the council got a | :25:18. | :25:25. | |
point - or are they one leg short of a sensible seat? The benches are | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
fine. Visitors and residents love them. You go to a lot of places | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
where there are not many chairs. I can't see any problem here. There | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
are more important things to worry about than how many benches we have | :25:37. | :25:47. | |
:25:47. | :25:49. | ||
got! The council just wants other options considered. | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
A surprise confession now. I am a bit of a bench watch it! I love | :25:53. | :26:02. | |
Anyway, now the weather if. You saw the pictures there from Grange- | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
over-Sands. The skies were overcast. This quiet spell will eventually | :26:07. | :26:12. | |
come to an end as we head through the tail-end of Friday. A week | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
weatherfront will come through this weekend. There will be wet weather | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
at times. But things will not change over the next 24 hours. It | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
is more of the same. Huge amount of cloud cover again. If you have been | :26:26. | :26:31. | |
stuck under that, you temperatures will have been eight or nine | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
degrees. The cloud did try to break this afternoon, but not | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
successfully everywhere. If you have a break now, you might keep it | :26:39. | :26:47. | |
overnight. Temperatures could be as low as two overnight tonight. But | :26:47. | :26:51. | |
under the cloud, you are talking about six or seven degrees. This | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
thing tomorrow morning, it will continue to be grey and overcast | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
and again quite chilly first thing. But we are optimistic that through | :27:00. | :27:07. | |
the day, although there may be some drizzle, it should be largely dry. | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
As the day goes on, brighter skies will try and work their way through. | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
I am not promising sunshine tomorrow, so if it does not come | :27:17. | :27:24. | |
off tomorrow, don't be disappointed. It is a mix. | :27:24. | :27:30. |