this is bbc news. the headlines: wildfires burning out of control in california have killed at least five people. the deaths occurred in butte county, where a massive blaze has devastated the town of paradise. the bodies of the dead were found in burnt—out cars. tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes. at least 20 people have been killed in a series of explosions in the somali capital, mogadishu. eyewitnesses say car bombs blew up at a busyjunction close to the police headquarters. the islamist militant group, al—shabaab, said it carried out the attacks. a0 people were injured. britain's prime minister theresa may and the french president, emmanuel macron, have laid a wreath at the thiepval memorial in france, as part of ceremonies marking 100 years since the end of the first world war. now on bbc news — 100 years on, chris jackson looks back on tyneside‘s vital role in wwi and the impact on families on the home front in

dispatches from tyneside: world war i at home. this remembrance sunday, at war memorials across the country we'll be paying tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice. tonight, we have a remarkable insight into the impact that the great war had, not just on foreign fields, but right here on the home front on tyneside. what we're trying to do is to give some life to these people. they‘ re not just faceless names on headstones. we're not telling the history of the war, we're telling the story of the men. we hear how anxious families were kept in the dark, about how their young men came to pay the price of war. they got the famous telegram at home saying that private hunter had died of wounds. what they didn't say was that those wounds were inflicted by the british, not by the germans. and the battle of the somme, as you've never seen it before.

we follow a community project in north shields and it maps the devastating impact it had on the town. it's impossible to ignore that there's been fatalities. there's an impact of one man dying abroad, but this is showing the story of the wife and the six kids. you know the mums, the dads, the brothers, the sisters. all having to carry this burden. i'm chris jackson and exactly 100 years since the armistice, inside out is revisiting the programme i made in conjunction with the imperial war museum to document world war i at home. 0n the western front, soldiers faced the full horror of the great war. but the consequences will be felt on home soil, too. this is tyneside‘s story, where a massive war effort would also make it a prime target

and leave an indelible mark on the local landscape and its people. many made the ultimate sacrifice and, for some, it would not be on foreign soil, but on their own doorstep. although hundreds of miles from the trenches, the tyne found itself on the front line. in the early hours of december 31st 1916, an eventjust off the mouth of the river would destroy any thoughts of celebrating the new year. what happened within sight of the peers would rock a tight—knit community. yet the rest of the british public would not be told of the event until the war was over. the fog on the tyne is no match for today's pilots. guiding ships safely into the river has always been hazardous, but 100 years ago, pilots really were exposed to the elements,

and the enemy. the protector was a pilot cutter that was used 100 years ago by the tyne pilots, they stayed onboard this larger vessel at sea and they went out from smaller vessels, whereas nowadays we just go onboard the likes of this launch. so, where are we off to? we're off to a position three cables, on the old leading lights, outside the pier entrance. that is where the protector is, or was, hit by the mine. all 19 crew perished, when the ship was blown clean out of the water. some families lost several generations. my great—grandfather, and his grandson, ralph, were lost on the protector, when she was blown up. in my case, it was grandfather that was lost on the protector. and unfortunately, he shouldn't have been aboard the cutter that day. he was standing in for someone else. the pilot cutter had its lights on all the time, and had to be on station 2a hours a day. and were the pilots happy about that? they raised it with the pilotted union, who complained

to the admiralty and the government and said there were no risks to the piloted service being out with its lights on. some people say it was torpedoed. some people say it was mined. but, you know, no submarine commander would waste a torpedo on a vessel of that size. except for a few light switches, nothing was ever found of the wreckage. there'd also be no trace of the incident in the newspapers. censorship meant their deaths went unreported, as were the pilots‘ warnings to the admiralty that they feared for their safety. one member of the phillips family had not been on board the protector that day. three months later, he'd make a shocking discovery. by some common chance of fate, my grandfather found the body of his father, robert phillips, floating in the water off king edward's bay. he survived. but he lost his father and his son.

that must have been devastating. yes, indeed. my grandmother was so upset, that the photograph of the protector was taken down and it was put behind an organ that they had, a pedal organ that they had in the lounge, and it was hidden from view. she used to sit at the living room window from morning till night, waiting for ralph to come home. because she was convinced because there was no body, that he would come home, that the germans had taken him prisoner. sadly, it was never to be. the tragedy would be hard enough to bear in one household. but the river pilots community live cheek by jowl. robert phillips lived in this street, at number 53. a few doors down, a fellow pilot, charles byrne, at number a1. next door to him, an assistant at number 43, and another crew member lived at 24. in the next street,

there were another six homes where the men would not return on new year's eve. the single body that was recovered was given an official commonwealth war grave. a 70—year—old robert was in service when he was killed by enemy action. it's in tynemouth's main cemetery and is one of many on home soil. something that got a local resident wondering and led to a remarkable community project. for many years, i used to walk my daughter's dog around this cemetery. and i became increasingly aware of a number of commonwealth war graves headstones. i went to the local library and found a shock, really, a list of 1,700 men whose deaths were attributed to the great war. what we're trying to do is to give some life to these people. they‘ re not just faceless names on headstones. these were people who had families, who were involved in the local community in numbers of interesting ways, which we're uncovered. we're not telling the history of the war, we're telling the stories of the men.

the tynemouth project is one of the biggest community groups of its kind. and the public have been dropping by to add their own family knowledge. in many instances, it is the case of the faded photograph, which has been lying in the back of a drawerfor 50 or 60 years. 70 volunteers are gathering the life stories of all those from tynemouth who fell, whether abroad or at home. and by pinpointing where they lived, they're building up a unique map of how the war played out in the borough. it just shows you the depth and how much devastation was brought to bear on individual streets. and how much pain and suffering was there in the community, and shared amongst everybody. i'll be discovering more about the project, and that map, later. this was a war like no other. it was fought on an industrial scale. the army and navy had an insatiable appetite for weapons. tyneside, and its workers, perfectly geared up to meet the challenge. we're at smith's dock,

right at the heart of what was one of the largest areas of industrial production in the world, during the first world war. about 20,000 men are working on the tyne, in the shipyards. within a couple of years, that's doubled to more than 40,000. so this really was part of the war machine? it was. many of the men left to join up. others had to fill their place, to keep production on the tyne going. the average age of the workforce would change. and children would be found outside the yard gates, ready to hand the adults their lunch. further up river, factories were making vast numbers of guns and munitions. it was a traditional tyneside industry, that the military knew it would depend on to secure victory.

they've been making armaments here on the banks of the tyne in newcastle ever since the mid 19th century. but when the war broke out, companies like armstrong whitworth, as it was then known, went into overdrive, making anything from machine guns like this, to aircraft. what they needed was manpower. but there weren't enough men to fight on the front and make the weapons. the answer? women, who took to the production lines. in what would have been astounding images for the time, men lost their exclusive grip on heavy, industrial work. at armstrong whitworth, women had a hand in all areas from munitions to heavy guns. women were getting dirty. they were getting hot and bothered and engaged in areas where they wouldn't have seen before, i don't think. and doing these jobs as well as men and realising that there are no essential differences between the sexes. quite a profound change of attitude, i think. and that's why the struggle

for women's emancipation, for the right to vote, goes on... it's very bloody and unpleasant, conflict before the war. but by the war‘s end, 1918, they have the vote. with women part of the workforce, production soared. so proud were they, armstrongs‘ documented their success in vast photographic catalogues. yet some of the work they undertook was kept under wraps. could planes be launched from a ship? this was the trial, on the banks of the tyne. the plane was just a dummy. what the newcastle engineers needed to know was — could they generate enough speed? a rather brave test pilot tried it for real. at the tynemouth commemoration project hq in north shields, they've uncovered an unusual story. a soldier who died in controversial circumstances, here at home. but he was given an official war grave, because he was in uniform at the time. chris, there's quite an interesting one here. it was about a colour coat soldier having a very sad end.

he came home on leave, had a few extra days and was arrested. and he ended up in court at whitley bay. he was given 18 months hard labour. they really threw the book at him. they did. he ended up writing a letter home to his wife, saying that he was going to end it. she decided to meet him at the station, before he was transported to york from whitley bay and try and talk him out of it. but he was found by an officer, hanging by his belt. you do hear some stories which, when i'm inputting onto the database, do bring tears to your eyes. it is very emotional sometimes. there could be moments of light relief, even on the front line, if the war was going your way. northumberland fusiliers relished the chance to try on the enemy's helmets for size. but not everyone who joined up was posted abroad.

soldiers needed to be ready to defend home soil, too. the tyne was a class a port. in fact, it was classed as the same as portsmouth and southampton, as being important enough to defend to a higher level. there were two six—inch guns and a 9.2 inch gun here at tynemouth. there were the same guns at frenchman's bay in south shields. a further two six—inch guns on spanish bank, below us. there were also submarine mines in the river mouth, which could be exploded, to destroy a ship coming in. when the guns were fired on full charge, the concussion from them had a problem. it broke all the windows on the seafront at tynemouth. so they had to be careful that they fired them on half charge, unless, of course, we were attacked. beneath the guns, the weapon store, and for the soldiers here, this was very dangerous work. the cartridges are highly explosive, volatile, so they had to wear special clothes that didn't create friction — canvas slippers. and the doors are lined with copper, because when they closed, if there was just one spark, the whole place would go up.

the military were in charge. and the civilians watched, as the signs of the war scarred their landscape. tynemouth was no longer the picture postcard seaside resort. things were restricted. they dug a great many trenches along the coast, along the sea front in tynemouth, right through to whitley bay. these trenches had barbed wire around them, so again, the restrictions would have been in place on going down to the beach. all these things would have given you the great impression that there was a war on, and it was affecting you at home. it's best seen from above — this intelligence photo shows how intricate the trenches were. the germans were wary of approaching the tyne by sea, but they had another means of attack — zeppelins. 0ne raid killed 17 men at the palmer shipyard and was celebrated in enemy propaganda. but the real fear was an invasion force. blythe, just up the northumbrian coast was a real weak spot. i've got here a classified document

that was prepared less than a year before the outbreak of war. and it warns that the germans could invade here and march on the armaments factory on the tyne, all within a day. tyneside‘s achilles heel would have to be covered. a lot of people that come down here think it's a water tank. right, but it's not? no, anything but. goodness. this is a little gem, isn't it? yes. this is the battery observation post. i can see this used to rotate. yes, the whole top of this would have rotated and the sides, here, would have been small, like gear wheels, and a winding mechanism to rotate the whole top. and from that door and that door was a barr and stroud split—image rangefinder. a prism at each end, you'd turn a dial in the middle and you could calculate the range out to the ship. so, a fancy pair of binoculars? a big pair of binoculars, with a rangefinder in.

the only surviving example of this type of rangefinder tower, in the whole of the world. the blythe battery wasn't complete until 1916, well after the first zeppelin attack. yet it seems military engineers didn't have the vision to see them as a threat. so, chris, this is the searchlight we have. wow. it's typical of the type that would have been in here. and it would have pointed out to sea. right. the windows we have have all been blocked in from its use as a beach chalet. i think i spotted a design flaw! because it was showing this way, wasn't it? yes. it could only shine out to sea. it had no credibility of shining up in the air. it had no capability of shining up in the air. the home defenses were so stretched, anyone in uniform would do. whitley bay's boy scouts brigades were commandeered as makeshift coast guards, keeping watch for enemy ships or spies. answering the call to fight the hun was, for many,

a patriotic duty. as the new recruits marched off tojoin the front line, there was a lot of bravado from the men, when the cameras were rolling. but wives or mothers would fear the worst, as they walked alongside. almost hidden from view, she grabs his hand, for what may be the last time. yet some men would go to extraordinary lengths to join up. well, joseph foster was my grandfather. he shouldn't have been in the first world war. he was too old. he was 42 years of age and the cut—off age, apparently, was 39. martha, his eldest child, he said to her, "martha, there's my birth certificate, make me look ten years younger", which she did. she altered it for him. he went to france in 1915 and he was killed in 1916. and my aunt never forgave herself for having done it. you know, she said, "i signed my father's death warrant by altering that birth certificate". no, she neverforgive herself. and this was taken... a couple of years, then, before she..? just before she actually forged the birth certificate. and that's your mum?

that's my mother. and my grandmother was left with six children between the ages of three and 13. so, martha not only would she have the guilt, she'd see the consequences. yes, she was old enough to understand, i think, at that age. this is something, which is very precious to me. a small piece of french silk, which has been hand—painted. "ne m'oubliez pas". "don't forget me". how did they ever imagine they will be forgotten while they were away? in fact, many people would rememberjoseph. as a younger man, he was a very keen amateur footballer. he played for newcastle united a. and look at this, they were cup winners. he was a bit of a celebrity? yes. yes, must have been. i suppose, when you know you have a famous magpie footballer in the family, but you actually know the fact that he broke all the rules to serve, i don't suppose you know which you're supposed to be more proud of.

well, that's difficult, yes. people were quick to accuse anyone who didn't volunteer of cowardice. 20—year—old river pilot ralph phillips was instructed to remain on tyneside. there is a tragic irony that if he hadn't been forced to stay on board the protector, he may yet have survived the war as a serving soldier. he wanted to serve. i thinkjust going backwards and forwards to the pilot cutter didn't seem much... to do with the war effort. and maybe he felt no glory attached. he wrote to the pilotage committee and asked to join the army andthey sent this letter, which says that they applauded his patriotic fervor, but he was doing a vitaljob. he was, in his way, serving his king and country, by being a pilot. so he was issued with one of these,

which is a certificate of exemption. all right — so this is your kind of get—out—of—war card. yes. when young ladies would come up to you and give you a white feather, you could show them that, to say that you weren't a shirker. tyneside played a part in whipping up patriotism. right at the heart of it, what is nowjust another fashionable address in newcastle's grey street. andrew read and company. andrew reid and company. the print works produced many posters for the war 0ffice, many aimed at bolstering recruitment. 0thers urging people to raise funds to provide more tanks and weapons for the troops on the front line. parading soldiers and civic dignitaries all rallied the city's population to the cause. willian hunter had just turned 20

when he faced a court martial for desertion but he did not tell his mother. we haven't heard from you, why haven't you written? we are collecting woodbines were you, a neighbour has sent you a scarf... i don't think they have the telegram at home saying that private hunter had died of wounds, what they did not say it was that those were inflicted by the british, not by the germans. as the war dragged on, casualties mounted. the military needed beds for the wounded and on tyneside, any large building was requisitioned. students would have to find somewhere new to attend lectures. professors, blackboards and desks would be replaced by patients, matrons and beds.

the college we now know as newcastle university was turned into the first northern general hospital. lessons were still being learnt here. new surgical techniques to treat war wounds would ultimately benefit the whole population. but growing losses on the continent would cast a terrible shadow over the streets back home in tynemouth. the community project has pulled together addresses and dates to reveal the impact of one of the war‘s bloodiest campaigns. when things really got bad, was the first day of the battle of the somme and the period thereafter. here you saw the impact on our small town here. and it's impossible to ignore that there's been fatalities. goodness. i don't know how you begin to deal with this. maybe there's some collective mourning helps, assists, in some way. clearly there's a lot of pain here. to me, this is the first time i've really seen the impact of the war actually. so strongly displayed, it's amazing. there's an impact of one man dying abroad, but this is showing

the story of the wife and the six kids, the wife and the three children. the mums, the dads, the brothers, the sisters, all having to carry this burden. 0n the first day of the somme, majorjames knox wrote a letter to his parents on tyneside. his brother had already been killed in action. he wrote: "momentous events are looming up and i have a premonition — i may not return to you". his dead brother, basil, had appeared to him in a dream, which he took to be a warning. and he was right. he was killed in action, that very same day. in his letter, james instructs his parents to destroy his medals. in fact, he tells them to get rid of anything that would remind them of "their boys", which is what makes one of the windows here all the more remarkable. this is the church of st james and st basil in fenham in the middle of newcastle. it's named after two sons,

who died in the first world war. but it's notjust the window. the whole building is based around these two huge aisles, and each of them are of equal size and we have two alters. everything we have, we have two of. because of the two sons. sirjames knott was a north—east businessman. industrialist shipowner. and he built the business up with his sons and on the death of his sons, he was totally distraught and he went against the wishes expressed in the son's letter. and went on to sell the business and give all the money away. his sons are immortalized in the knot‘s flats in north shields, a pioneering monument of social housing. and 100 years on, youngsters enjoy music at a youth centre because of grants the trust is still handing out, to this day. when the armistice was declared, any celebrations would soon be tempered, as the number of war dead kept on rising.

they were dying of their wounds, they were dying of complications associated with gas. we can't find one safe place to live. on this map. i think people look at any one of those streets and think what would happen if that was my street? you know that would be threeof my pals, the next door neighbour, who went to school together, played football we've got a group together. we all knew each other. they could see the faces. the principal object or exercise was to give life to these men. a biography of people who passed away now 100 years ago. we're telling a story which if it isn't told now could be lost in 20 or 30 years time. many of the relatives coming to us are very elderly themselves. if it is not recorded now, it will probably never be recorded. those who lived and worked along the river tyne played a huge part in the great war. the conflict left its mark overseas. but emotional and physical scars were also etched into the landscape back home.

the first world war could claim a life in foreign fields, out at sea or on your own doorstep. and each death equally deeply felt here on the home front. echoes of that past can be found in all our family trees. you only have to look back a generation or two. and when mere names become stories, a century old great war doesn't seem that long ago. if you would like to learn more about world war i, then there's lots of information and more programs at bbc.co.uk/ww1. there are lots of remembrance events

taking place through the course of the weekend, the weather is looking a little bit mixed. we did have some heavy rain through the day on friday, this was a picture taken by one of our weather watchers in warwickshire. the main bulk of the rain will clear away towards the east but through the rest of the weekend we are left with that mix of some sunny weekend we are left with that mix of some sunny spells but also blustery showers which at times will give the risk of some hail and thunderstorms mixed in. the reason things are so u nsettled mixed in. the reason things are so unsettled is we have a big area of low pressure which is anchored to the north—west of the uk, now rotating around that low pressure we will see plenty of showers feeding in from the south—west. to start a saturday morning the rain is pushing across the northern isles but it will be clearing from the east coast and mainland britain and will be followed by some sunshine, but also some showers beating in. the areas most prone to showers are along the south coast and these irish sea

coast areas, by the afternoon some showers will be pushing across southern and eastern scotland and much of england and wales. northern ireland and western scotland getting away with a dry weather. it is mild on saturday with those south—westerly winds, some of the showers ease for a time overnight but the next batch arrives in time for remembrance sunday morning. we will see 20 of those showers feeding in around the channel coast and the irish sea coast as well. a frost free start to the day on sunday, at remembrance sunday will bring a few more showers around, not everywhere and fewer compare to what we see on saturday. through the course of remembrance sunday sunny spells, likely to see showers across western scotland, north—west england and wales, southern england as well but most will tend to ease through the afternoon. top temperatures from 10— 14 are still on the mild silent for this time of year. —— mild side. that south—westerly flow is continues into monday, another day

of sunshine and showers and again through parts of these irish sea coast that you will see it, northern ireland, western scotland, against some heavy and potentialfor some thunderstorms and hail mixed in. best of the sunshine by monday will be towards the east with highs around 11— 14, the outlook for tuesday into wednesday, things settle down a little bit but it will stay mild until the middle of the week. hello and welcome to bbc news. wildfires burning out of control in the us state of california have killed at least five people and forced tens of thousands to leave their homes. in the last hour, president trump declared an emergency in california and ordered federal assistance to help local emergency crews deal with the situation. 0ur correspondent james cook is in northern california. heavenly father, please help us.

please help us to be safe. it was a desperate dash for survival, pursued by a wild fire devouring the equivalent of 80 football pitches a minute.