A MAN who set up a support group for people with the heart condition cardiomyopathy is hoping to spread information to newly diagnosed sufferers. John Waterson, from Havelock Street, Darlington, suffers from dilated cardiomyopathy, one of four forms of
THE summer holidays will end early for a group of bright Chester-le-Street youngsters next week. While their friends continue to enjoy the holiday, 33 children, some from feeder primary schools, will take part in the latest of a series of summer schools
CRITICISMS of a £2m plan to improve Yarm's flood defences have been brushed aside as councillors prepare to decide on the future of the scheme. The improvements are aimed at avoiding emergencies, like rising tides which sparked fears the High Street would
INDEPENDENT "tenants' friends" will be appointed as part of a consultation process on sweeping plans for Stockton borough council homes. The council is working with residents' groups to explain the background to a range of options for securing investment
TRANSPORT chiefs have come to the rescue of frogs whose pond was threatened by vandals. Nexus, which oversees buses and trains in Tyne and Wear, has built a habitat for the amphibians next to the Metro extension at Fulwell, Sunderland. Residents created
THE long arm of the law offered an international hand of friendship when police officers reassured arts performers they were no threat. Dancers from Slovakia were alarmed at the presence of uniformed police at the Billingham International Folklore Festival
MEMBERS of County Durham's largest scout group fear their new £180,000 hut will be targeted by vandals after years of attacks. Leaders of the Barnard Castle Scout Group are so worried about youngsters in the town attacking their hut that they are outlining
HUNDREDS of children are enjoying a summer treat, thanks to a North-East company. Walkers Snack Foods has donated £3,000 for two fun buses to ferry children to Peterlee Leisure Centre, in east Durham. More than 400 children a week have been taken to the
A BOOST to fundraising by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution has been received with the opening of a new £350,000 extension to its main depot at Thirsk Industrial Park. The depot, which has been extended from its original 13,000 sq ft to 19,200 sq
A NORTH-EAST footballer is determined to press ahead with legal action after he broke his ankle during an incident with another player. Glen Downey, of Unibond Northern Premier League team Bishop Auckland, had to be stretchered off and taken to hospital
LOOKING after test tube twins Josh and Luke is hard work, but Jackie Brown can't think of anything she would rather do. The 35-year-old went through the hell of three years of test tube treatments - seven cycles of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) - before
A MISSIONARY is leaving his home in the Durham Dales in an attempt to break the scourge of voodoo hanging over a Caribbean island - armed only with a 20ft crate of French Bibles. Care worker Bill Worley is one of seven Britons - five men and two women
POLICE forensic scientists were still sifting yesterday through the remains of a fire in which a 30-year-old woman died. A police spokesman said the cause of the fire in the ground floor flat in Coquet Gardens, South Stanley, County Durham, had yet to
It's An Ill Wind My husband came back home and said: "In future we're OK 'Cos from now on there'll be no chance You'll get in the family way." He'd been to have his tonsils out But too late they had found That someone accidentally Had turned the trolley
MEMBERS of Cleveland Model Railway Club are working up a head of steam in preparation for their annual exhibition. Visitors will be treated to a display of working model railways as well as static displays and demonstrations. Trade stalls will be open
CONSTRUCTION group Carillion is to slash around 900 jobs in the UK as it restructures its Crown House Engineering (CHE) business. The company, created by the demerger from Tarmac last year, said it would be cutting about a third of its 2,700 UK staff
PRIME Minister Tony Blair has met the grieving family of a North-East student who died of carbon monoxide poisoning and offered his personal backing to the campaign to stop the silent killer. In a meeting set up by The Northern Echo, Mr Blair talked to
YOUNG audiences were introduced to the best international performers with their own junior festival club. The children's club at the Billingham International Folklore Festival proved a great success on its first day yesterday. Youngsters packed the theatre
A NUISANCE drunk is back behind bars after being at liberty only hours. John Newman, 35, made history when he was served with the first anti-social behaviour order in County Durham, in June, due to persistent misconduct which has seen him arrested 212
Cricketers everywhere will appreciate that even when 65 years old, much scarred and finally about to call "Over", a batsman takes unkindly to being given LBW for one run by an umpire known as Sicknote whilst a good stride down the wicket. Thus Norman
BUILDERS are about to start work on a £1.8m police station near Spennymoor town centre. The two-storey slate-fronted development next to Spennymoor Leisure Centre, will replace the town's red-brick Edwardian station in Dundas Street. Divisional commander
A MOTORBIKE group has helped to buy toys for children with physical and mental disabilities. Steve Hicks, of Darlington Motorcycle Action Group, organised the rally in the town on Saturday to provide toys for Harewood Lodge, a child development centre
Darlington manager Gary Bennett is ready to give former Sunderland and Hartlepool striker Paul Beavers an outing for the reserves at Grimsby today. Beavers, who played for Pool in the first leg of last season's play-off semi-final against Quakers, is
MICK EASTERBY'S ploy of popping a pair of blinkers on Sandbaggedagain (3.00) is fancied to have the desired effect at Beverley this afternoon. Easterby is an extremely canny operator and it will not have escaped his attention that Sandbaggedagain possibly
DURHAM are to give Jimmy Daley the chance to prove he has a future with the county in the match against Somerset starting at Taunton today. Either that or, with four games left,they are putting him back in the shop window on the ground where he made 88
BUILDING contractor John Mowlem & Company has begun work on a £1.9m project to construct four acommodation blocks as part of the redevelopment of South Tees Acute Hospital Single Site Development. Two residences, both containing 12 flats complete
Darlington manager Gary Bennett blasted the performance of referee Mike Cooper as "diabolical" as Quakers were forced to settle for a point at Spotland. Up to Saturday, Bennett had been fairly relaxed in his new job, but he took a leaf out of David Hodgson's
A DRUNKEN thug wreaked havoc on a British Airways flight after claiming he was a terrorist and running riot in the aisles. John McMurray, 29, went berserk on the BA flight from Gatwick only hours after he appeared in court after running amok in the same
A WOMAN is facing jail after falsely obtaining £7,500 compensation for a rape that never happened. Natalie Nighting was 16 in 1996 when she claimed an elderly tramp attacked and raped her. Three years later she received her pay-out from the Criminal Injuries
BRAVE leukaemia sufferer Joelene Kimbley has revealed when she plans to marry the man who has helped her through the most traumatic time of her life. Darren Armstrong proposed to Joelene, 22, on New Year's Eve, only months before she had a life-saving
POLICE are concerned for the safety of a missing Durham City pensioner who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. George Alexander Harding, 83, was last seen in the garden of his home in Geoffrey Avenue, Nevilles Cross, at 3pm on Saturday. Today it was believed
Police have arrested a two more people in connection with the murder of 22-year-old Mark Marshall in Beaconhill, Cramlington, Northumberland, on Friday. The arrest of the man and woman this morning brings to four the number of people detained in connection
TODDLERS in Ferryhill and Chilton have scooped a £2.5m grant to give them a head start before they begin school. The Government grant will cover the first three years of the first Sure Start programme in County Durham. That is good news for about 750
SEAHAM-based Pride Valley foods marked its 10th anniversary with the opening of a 25,000 sq ft extension and two days of celebration during weekend. The UK's leading manufacturer of authentic ethnic breads has built the major factory extension to provide
A TEACHER accused of indecently assaulting a pupil at school told a court yesterday he had never been left alone with the girl. Michael Pendlington told Teesside Crown Court: "I have been teaching for 30 years, and ever since day one people have told
WHEN it comes to helping unwanted dogs, animal lover Amanda Pearson has eyes for only one breed of pooch. For the dog fanatic has set up a rehoming scheme specifically for Yorkshire terriers, which she runs from her home near Osmotherley, in North Yorkshire
A COUNTY Durham pensioner who claimed he had found a rare orchid growing in his garden has seen his hopes dashed by a top botanist. Thomas Cooke, 68, of Chilton, contacted The Northern Echo to tell of his find after reading a report of the rare bird's-nest
FOOTBALLING greats from the North-East's top five clubs are lining up to help the family of a tragic ex-player who met a violent death last month. League rivalries will be set aside for the night when veteran stars turn out for a game which is officially
A 60-year-old man was attacked after protecting customers from robbers. The man's walking stick was kicked away and his wallet stolen from his jacket pocket on Stockton High Street, last Saturday, at about 7pm. He had first alerted and escorted a woman
SPECIALIST nurses are being taken on to help tackle Sunderland's poor record on heart disease. Three coronary heart disease nurses, who will begin work next month, will work directly with local GPs and health centres to help rehabilitate patients with
DARLINGTON came under the scrutiny of a pair of gardening judges yesterday. The town was put under the spotlight by two of the people who will ultimately decide the destination of prizes in this year's Britain in Bloom contest. The day of judgement came
A MAN who claimed he had a bomb in his luggage at an airport was arrested by police, it was revealed last night. The man, a publican from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, made the claim at Teesside Airport, near Darlington, on Sunday. The publican, who
POLICE are concerned for the safety of a missing Durham City pensioner who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. George Alexander Harding, 83, was last seen in the garden of his home in Geoffrey Avenue, Nevilles Cross, at 3pm on Saturday. Yesterday, it was
WORK on a community facility in Middleham has been completed. Richmondshire District Council has finished cleaning up a three-quarter acre plot of land next to the town's St Akelda's Church. The authority bought the land earlier this year and has erected
AN ENVIRONMENTAL partnership project to regenerate a Guisborough beck is £500 richer thanks to the local town council. The Chapel Beck Partnership Project is the brainchild of Bill Peacock, of the local Rotary Club, and aims to make huge environmental
RSPCA volunteers are appealing to animal lovers to provide a home for a family of cats found abandoned by the side of a road. The cats were discovered by a member of the public who noticed a black bag by the side of a road, between the villages of Leeming
AN ENTERPRISING couple have started a business after transforming a doll into a Miss Whiplash. Frank and Suzanne Pitt, from Gateshead, are selling their Dungeon Dolls on a website and are doing a roaring trade. The couple hand-make their figures, which
WHETHER it's true what they say about early to bed early to rise, it has long been the column's preferred lifestyle. For years, in truth, the practice was to fall asleep in front of News at Ten, to be woken - truculently - at 10.35 and to be tucked up
A TEENAGER from the North-East has been given her life back after becoming the first child in Britain to receive a new drug using a nebuliser powered by a car cigarette lighter. Emma Evans, a 14-year-old from Hartlepool, was virtually housebound because
MORE than 2,000 people have lent their support to The Northern Echo's Justice for the Miners campaign within days of a petition being launched. They have signed a petition coordinated by miner's daughter Pat Daglish, whose father Thomas died as a result
JOHN Prescott is being told to talk proper. I am sorry about this. When he talks improper he is very entertaining - and entertainment is the only possible purpose of political speeches. I once heard Mr Prescott say on the wireless: "I have had the whole
GREAT Britain international Brian Rushworth, whose athletics career was in jeopardy earlier this year, proved himself to be still the North-East's King of the Road with a seventh consecutive victory in yesterday's Darlington 10K. The 37-year-old Sunderland
Hartlepool Boxer Alan Temple's hopes of winning the IBF inter-continental title bit the dust when he was stopped by lightweight champion Steve Murray at Wembley Conference Centre. Temple went to London full of confidence that he could halt the unbeaten
Actor Michael Douglas's dream of holding fiancee Catherine Zeta Jones's hand during the birth of their son came true. But the couple did not share the intimate moment alone. The practice of inviting others to share in your childbirth joy is becoming increasingly
A 60-YEAR-OLD man was mugged after protecting bank customers from robbers. The man's walking stick was kicked away and his wallet stolen from his jacket pocket in Stockton High Street, on Saturday, at about 7.10pm. He had alerted and escorted a woman
STADIUM Plastics anticipates that the launch of the new Mini in 2001 will boost the sales of its plastics division. The Hartlepool-based engineering group, which specialises in plastics and electronics, has already signed contracts to manufacture parts
WOLVERHAMPTON & Dudley, a predator in the brewery sector last year, has become the prey, with private equity group Botts lining up a takeover bid. Wolves, which employs around 180 staff at the famous Camerons Lion Brewery in Hartlepool, spent more
POLICE are investigating the cause of a house fire in which a 30-year-old woman died at the weekend. Neighbours described how the woman's boyfriend managed to flee the blaze in their ground-floor flat, but was beaten back by smoke when he went back to
TIME was running out last night for 116 men trapped in a nuclear submarine as the Russians refused British offers of expert help. Efforts to save the crew of the Kursk, lying 300ft below the surface of the Barents Sea, were hampered for most of yesterday
EVERTON were last night losing patience with Duncan Ferguson over the Newcastle United striker's proposed £4m return to Goodison Park. United yesterday cleared the way for Ferguson's departure by firing a pre-emptive parting shot at the injury-plagued
SUNDERLAND manager Peter Reid has decided against signing French trialist Cedric Bardon after running the rule over the 23-year-old Rennes striker during last week's three-match pre-season tour of Holland. Bardon, who has been likened to French star Eric
THOUSANDS of elderly men in the region could be waiting until Christmas to get their first winter fuel payments - a year late, The Northern Echo can reveal. Last December, a ruling in the European Court of Justice forced the Government to start making
The future of supersonic passenger flight was in doubt last night after British Airways suspended its Concorde services. The decision came after the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) revealed investigators now believed that a single burst tyre caused
THREE years ago, Tony Blair promised that his Government was beginning its "year of delivery". Today 110,000 former miners and thousands more elderly men are still waiting for money promised to them over a year ago. Men aged between 60 and 65 were promised
AN eight-year-old boy who calmly called an ambulance after his mother collapsed has won the admiration of nurses who staff an emergency help-line. Daniel Shepherd was at home in Cragwellside, Haughton-le-Skerne, Darlington, when his mother began to double
A PATIENT recovering from having wisdom teeth extracted was shocked to find the doctor had also removed a mole from her forehead, the General Medical Council heard yesterday. Dr Robert Nigel Clark told Jacqueline Hodgson that he could take off the brown
A FOUR-year-old girl saved her family by raising the alarm when fire broke out in her home. Tifany Irwin started to shout and scream when she saw the fire, and bought her sleeping family valuable time. The chip pan fire destroyed the kitchen of the house
A CONTROVERSIAL restaurant and pub complex has begun recruiting staff even though it has yet to win all the licences it needs. Former sausage maker Richard Lazenby is putting £3m into converting the Old Police Station, Durham City, into a restaurant,
MEMORIES I WONDER if any of your readers can help. I have just completed my personal memories of growing up in Darlington between 1940 and 1955 and I wondered if anyone has any photographs taken during that period. Snapshot or events in the town would
FANS of Sunderland Football Club top the national soccer league of shame. Newly released figures show the club notched up the highest number of arrests for soccer hooligan offences in the country last season. A record 223 yobs were arrested at Sunderland
HOMES for asylum seekers from the Czech Republic and Afghanistan are being prepared by a North-East council. Newcastle City Council is to provide 660 properties for asylum seekers during the next year as part of a contract with the Home Office. Council
MURDER squad detectives hunting the killer of student Sara Cameron have released details of a vehicle, or possibly two, they would like to trace. Finnish-born Sara's naked body was discovered in a field yards from her home in the North Tyneside village
A GOVERNMENT inspector has ruled that the development of a caravan park in a secluded valley near Catterick should be allowed to proceed. The approval of builder George Armstrong's plan to create a 74-pitch caravan site at Thieves Gill, Tunstall, has
RAGS to riches is an overused clich, but when the subject is Bruce Oldfield no other phrase will do. From learning his craft by making dresses from rags for his sisters' dolls in a two-up two-down house in County Durham, he became the couturier who dressed
THE North-East's top biker bobby left the rest of the force trailing at an international competition in Scotland. Andy Huddleston, a constable at Bishop Auckland, County Durham, was the best-placed police rider in the Scottish Six Day Trial, held at Fort
