31/12/2013 North West Tonight

on the BBC News Channel. I'm back with the News at Ten. Now it's time

for the latest where you Good evening. The police in Cumbria

have named a man who died in a house fire in Ambleside as Richard Durkin.

He was 58. The blaze broke out in a terraced house in the centre of the

town early today. Fire crews were called to the house

on Bridge Street at 7:30am. There was a severe fire in the kitchen

which spread to other parts of the property. You can see fire damage to

the window at the rear of the house. Fire officers recovered the

man from the fire but despite receiving medical attention, he

died. His partner escaped unharmed. Fire crews from across the South

Lakes help. Crews from the area were mobilised. They got here quickly.

The Ambleside crew were just over the road. They started tackling the

fire using breathing apparatus and hose reel jets. They had to remove a

casualty, unfortunately, a fatality from the premises. The fire was in a

house just if you yards from the centre of Ambleside. Thousands of

visitors are preparing for New Year holidays. We understand his partner

was asleep upstairs when the fire alarm went off. She tried to get him

out of the property but was unable to do so. Neighbours say he had

lived here for about seven years. They described him as kind and even

tempered. Many are clearly extremely shocked at what has happened. This

afternoon, men were carrying out repairs at the house. Cumbria Fire

Service say a full investigation into the cause of the blaze is now

underway but they say it was accidental and not malicious. The

BBC understands that a faulty heater may have been to blame.

The 60`year`old Labour MP was running with his son yesterday when

he was taken ill. He was taken to Salford Royal was little by anglers.

His family has released a statement and have asked for prayers and

privacy. He is a fighter. With the skills of the surgeons, at one of

the best hospitals in the country, he will pull through. My thoughts

are with his wife and his family. Hopefully we will get some good news

in the next few days. A stand`off between armed police and

a man, who it's alleged was holding a woman against her will in Burnley,

has ended. Officers were called to the property in Escott Gardens at

4.30 yesterday afternoon. Within the last hour police say the woman was

released unharmed. A 20`year`old man and a 15`year`old boy have been

arrested on suspicion of false imprisonment and are currently in

police custody. A minute's silence is to be held in

memory of Adam pick`up whose body was found yesterday after he went

missing on a night out in Manchester. The organisers of the

city's New Year celebrations will ask revellers to remember the

17`year`old from Stockport. A large sinkhole's appeared in part

of the Peak District in Derbyshire. The hole, on farmland near the

village of Foolow, is over 150 feet wide. It's thought the earth

movement could be connected to underground caverns and mining

activity in the area in the past. The broadcaster Geoffrey Wheeler has

died in Cheshire aged 80. He was best known for presenting BBC shows

including songs of praise. He died yesterday after a long illness.

Now, humbled, ecstatic and close to tears. The reactions of a host of

names from the North West who've been recognised in the New Year's

been recognised in the New Year s honours list. Among them is the

chief executive of Salford Royal Hospital, who's the only person in

the region to receive a Knighthood and a couple from Oldham who have

fostered more than 150 children. For 30 years, fostering children has

been a career and a pleasure for Glenys and Harold Cockroft from

Oldham. They've even spent weeks living in hospital to care for sick

children. They're to be rewarded with an MBE. It is nice. It is a

shock. We are very proud, aren't we? We don't do it for no reward, just

for the children. The reward is seeing those children happy. Just

happy. Also collecting an MBE will be the founder of the Kinder

Children's Choir of the High Peak, Joyce Ellis from Derbyshire. The

choir takes children of all abilities, regardless of cost. I am

conscious that children are typecast in many way if they cannot sing by

the time they are eight, then they don't sing at all. We don't

audition. I think that is really important. Auditioning is not

appropriate all the time. Staying with music, the Liverpool born world

famous conductor Sir Simon Rattle is awarded an Order of Merit. And Sir

Peter Maxwell`Davies, the Queen s Peter Maxwell`Davies, the Queen's

official composer who was born in Salford, will be made a Companion of

Honour. Restaurant owners, sisters Lisa and Helen Tse from Oldham, will

collect an MBE. Becoming a knight is David Dalton, the Chief Executive of

Salford Royal Hospital, which was recently named the north of

England's Trust of the Year. While in Lancashire, Blackpool nightclub

entrepreneur Basil Newby gains an MBE. For him, and all the others on

the honour's list, it's a New Year to celebrate.

Manchester's big wheel has returned to the city. Piccadilly Gardens will

be the new home for the wheel which offers rides in 42 boards. It will

host tonight 's fire display and `` firework display and will remain

there until 2015. Good evening. We started New Year's

Eve with a huge band of rain and we have two flood warnings from the

Environment Agency in force. But if you are out and about in the next

few hours, you can expect to see some hefty showers. The work `` they

are working their way in from the West. The wind is also picking up,

near gale force by Dawn. Fewer showers and temperatures will be

down to two or three Celsius by Dawn. For the first day of 2014 I'm

Dawn. For the first day of 2014, I'm afraid we are going to started with

a yellow weather warning from The Met office. We do start off fairly

dry and fairly cloudy. That rain begins to work in from the

south`west. Some heavy pulses of rain through the afternoon and the

winds will continue to pick up, particularly around the Isle of Man,

where we could see winds close to gale force. By late afternoon, we

are left with heavy showers. Temperatures close to nine or 10

Temperatures close to nine or 1 Celsius. On Thursday, it is drier,

hopefully sunnier of the first week of the New Year will bring lots of

rain and strong winds. BBC Radio Cumbria, Lancashire, Manchester and

Merseyside will keep you regularly updated. That's our last programme

for 2013. We are back at one o'clock tomorrow. Happy New

Good evening. It looks like mother nature may provide her own

pyrotechnics in the run-up to bid night tonight. We have some heavy

showers in western parts, starting to ease a bit across Scotland and

Northern Ireland. But the showers further south are heavier, with some

flashes of lightning as they move eastwards. They do get a bit more

hit and miss as we head towards midnight, but a greater chance of

getting wet in the south as we move into 2014. Cardiff and London could

see heavy downpours. Further north, you could be greeting the New Year

on a dry note. A touch of