North west news update 5 Oct 2023: Lancashire sailor's DIY boat sinks off Canada

Assistant editor Iain Lynn with today's top north west news headlines and weather

Transcript

00:00 Hello and welcome. These are the top headlines making the news today from our newsrooms across

00:03 the North West. Alanka Shadadah, who attempted to sail from Canada to Cornwall in a tiny boat,

00:08 has hinted he will try and break the record again. 49-year-old Andrew Bedwell spent three years

00:14 building the three and a half metre vessel in his garage in Skaresbrigg, but returned to shore after

00:18 it started leaking off the coast of Canada. The vessel, named Big C, and with a top speed of just

00:23 two and a half miles an hour, then sank in the harbour, dashing his hopes of fixing the vessel

00:28 and trying again in the future. A restaurant has shut its doors just after four months after

00:34 opening in Lytham. Palm Bistro and Cocktail in Lytham Town Centre announced it was closing

00:40 permanently and with immediate effect on Tuesday. The restaurant in Dickinson Terrace, just off

00:45 Lytham Green and the seafront, did not give a specific reason for the sudden close, which

00:49 reportedly came as a shock to staff. More than 20 children were stranded six miles from school for

00:56 more than an hour because the bus driver didn't know the way. It was an inauspicious start to the

01:01 much vaunted new public transport B network for Oral St Peter's RC School in Wigan, leaving in

01:06 standish this week, and the issue was only finally resolved when an assistant head teacher mobilised

01:11 the school minibus to collect them. Even then, the rescue mission wasn't straightforward because there

01:16 were twice as many youngsters in need of a lift than the vehicle could accommodate, so two shuttle

01:21 journeys were required. An innovation which could revolutionise the sport of squash has been

01:26 shortlisted for a national award after being designed by a Lancaster University student.

01:30 21-year-old mechanical engineering graduate, Griffith Ghazali, has designed Squaser, a laser

01:37 line detection system which will help referees to determine if the ball is considered in or out of

01:42 play. Unlike tennis and cricket, which have Hawkeye and Snicko respectively, squash doesn't yet have

01:49 the technology to support referees in their judgement calls. And the husband and wife

01:54 duo have opened a new shop in their Pendle hometown. John and Sue Brown-Kenner's business,

01:59 Old Rock Home and Gift Shop, is just a short stroll from their Troodden home, a close-knit community

02:04 famed for its dedicated community who own the pub, the library, the post office and the community

02:09 centre. Sue, who is half Turkish, already has an online shop, Kargi Bay Ceramics, selling handmade

02:14 Turkish gifts, but decided to take the next step. And good luck to them. In the weather, it's set

02:21 for a cloudy day, with more showers getting windier and wetter as the day goes on, with some heavier

02:25 rain arriving later. Friday will start much the same, but should get drier throughout the day,

02:30 with some brighter skies developing. You'll be glad to hear. That's it for now, thanks for watching,

02:35 we'll see you tomorrow.

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