FAMOUSLY, Nye Bevan, architect of the NHS in Labour's immediate postwar Government, secured the agreement of hospital consultants to this most beneficial of institutions by, in his own strong phrase, "stuffing their mouths with gold". On top of generous
LOCKING up at night isn't in the job description for one new caretaker - who has been given responsibility for looking after moorland settlements. Simon Taylor has been taken as a community caretaker for Castleton, Commondale and Westerdale on the North
DETECTIVES were last night questioning two men arrested in connection with the death of a man found with serious head injuries in a city centre street. Kevin Forman, 32, a shop fitter, who was well known around Newcastle city centre, was found injured
THE headteacher at Chester-le-Street's Park View Community School said his sixth formers once again excelled in their examination achievements. Alan Thompson said those sitting A-levels maintained the school's three-year average points score of 19, the
POLICE chiefs are being forced to look as far afield as South Africa to provide enough officers to go on the beat in County Durham. Half the applicants seeking to join Durham Constabulary are from outside the county area, with interest even coming from
DARLINGTON Building Society has paid out a handsome dividend from its Pool Supporter Account to Hartlepool United Football Club. Since the account was launched 18-months ago, almost 600 fans have opened accounts with Darlington Building Society. The account
SAFETY fears over a new GPs' surgery are to be tackled in proposals for a new crossing. A nine-year campaign to build a replacement surgery at Colburn is finally coming to fruition after North Yorkshire Health Authority agreed to fund the project. But
A FARMER has won his plea to build a grain silo after agreeing to reduce its height by 20ft to lessen its impact on the countryside. The 40ft silo was given the go- ahead following a site visit by members of the Ripon area planning committee of Harrogate
GOOD fortune smiled on Camelot when its bid for the National Lottery beat all-comers in 1994. But while the first six years have seen the competition raise more than £8bn for good causes, it has not been without a run of bad luck. Even before it was launched
FIVE hundred jobs are under threat at a North-East factory because the European Union wants to ban high tar cigarettes. Darlington's Rothmans plant faces extinction under plans to limit the amount of tar in each cigarette to ten milligrams. The decision
NO ONE should underestimate the enterprise and skill of Camelot in putting together from scratch the National Lottery, and turning it into the most efficient venture of its kind anywhere in the world. But for all that, the rejection of its bid to continue
EVERY village has a facility which acts as a focal point for the community. It can often be the church or the village pub, but in the case of Hurworth, near Darlington, it is undoubtedly The Grange Community Centre. The building, which was built in 1875
A five-year-old boy who "died" for ten minutes after being left blind and dumb by meningitis has stunned medics by making a full recovery. James Defries' astonishing fightback only began when despairing doctors allowed him to go home for a weekend with
NEW boys Carl Cort and Daniel Cordone upstaged skipper Alan Shearer with a goal apiece in front of the first 50,000-plus crowd at St. James' Park for over 24 years. It was a bitter-sweet experience for Cort, who grabbed his first competitive Newcastle
RECORD buy Paulo Wanchope repaid a huge slice of his £3.65m transfer from West Ham with a superb hat-trick which gave Manchester City their first Premiership victory of the season at Maine Road. It looked as though Sunderland might have salvaged a point
FINAL plans for new electoral boundaries in County Durham have been submitted to Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister, John Prescott. The recommendations from the Local Government Commission for England, mark the end of a year-long review in
NORTH-East actor James Gaddas is leaving his Coronation Street role as builder Vinny Sorrell. The actor, who plays the partner of Rovers Return landlady Natalie Barnes, will make an "explosive"' exit from the ITV soap in October. He decided to leave the
NATIONAL loose food retailer The Food Weighouse has introduced Internet shopping to compliment its chain of outlets. Consumers can log on to the website at www.thefoodweighouse.co.uk and browse around the virtual store. A wide range of goods is available
CHILDREN took part in a special workshop yesterday to grow their own heads. The workshop was one of a series of four, with model-making themes for earth, air, fire and water, which are being organised at Kirkleatham Old Hall Museum, near Redcar, in conjunction
THE search for a North-East diver missing off the west coast of Scotland was called off yesterday. Dorothy Morris, 49, of Lavernock Close, Redcar, Teesside, went missing with fellow diver Stuart Haldine, 43, from Droitwich, Worcestershire, on Monday.
WALLY Amos, who unfortunately seems only to be a cousin 5,000 miles removed, is a gentleman who clearly knows how the cookie crumbles. Wally, it says on the side of this box, was in the entertainment business in America, baked biscuits with which to sweet-talk
FINAL plans for new electoral boundaries in County Durham have been submitted to Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister John Prescott. The recommendations from the Local Government Commission for England mark the end of a year-long review in the
FILTRATION systems group domnick hunter has unveiled record sales for the first half of the year. The company said sales of its products rose by 37 per cent to £50.4m in the six months to June 30, up from £36.9m at the same stage last year. Chairman Brian
PROMPT action has been promised to improve properties on a Newton Aycliffe estate to prove the council's long-term commitment to the area. People living in Aycliffe's West Ward fear that Sedgefield Borough Council is planning wholesale demolition of houses
FORMER colleagues have paid tribute to Rod Griffith, the one-time face of Tyne Tees Television, who has died aged 74. The housewives' favourite was a television newsreader for 21 years before his retirement in 1985 and his face was known to hundreds of
After eight years of operation, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which celebrates its 175th anniversary next month, fully embraced steam power. The 17th part of our history overcomes the obstacles to tell how THE time had come for steam power to triumph
PENSIONERS from an Eston senior citizen's centre have been supplied with attack alarms. Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has provided 50 alarms for the group, at the Birkdale Drive Community Centre. Centre treasurer, Ray Johnston, 75, said: "I hope
AN intrepid group of teenage girls has set sail on an adventure that would shiver the timbers of any landlubber. Eight girls, who are cared for by Durham County Council social services, set off in the 72ft sailing ship, the Hartlepool Renaissance, at
DARLINGTON has been given the highest praise by a Polish exchange student. Tomasz Szynalski won a two-week scholarship to take part in Darlington College of Technology's English language summer school. The summer school attracted people from ten countries
EAST Durham residents have been invited to help put one of the area's favourite beauty spots firmly on the map. English Nature is calling on people familiar with Castle Eden Dene Nature Reserve to take part in creating a network of names to help visitors
VILLAGERS in Marton-le-Moor and Dishforth have expressed fears about light pollution from six lighting columns at the RAF Station in Dishforth, near Ripon. Harrogate Borough Council planners raised no objection to the plans by the Ministry of Defence
BOBBY ROBSON last night admitted it could take two years before Newcastle United have the team to grace their "Rolls-Royce'' stadium. The Magpies step out for the first time at a new-look 52,000-capacity St. James' Park tonight against Jim Smith's Derby
BOYS will be boys. And sometimes that's the trouble. Girls are overtaking boys in exam results. For the first time ever, they have outperformed the lads in A-levels and rumour has it that tomorrow's GCSE results will show an even bigger gender gap. Government
FOUNDER members of a mental health charity in Darlington have been rewarded for their 21 years of service. Volunteers Ken Parsons and Joan Butler helped to set up the Darlington branch of Mind in 1979. To mark the occasion, a birdbath with a plaque dedicated
A COUNCIL is celebrating a National Lottery cash boost for restoration works to its town hall. South Tyneside Borough Council obtained the money for the works to South Shields Town Hall, a Grade II listed building, constructed in 1910. The work, costing
DETECTIVES are questioning two youths in connection with the death of a 32-year-old man who died after being attacked and robbed of two bottles of cider. David Paul Bruce, of Pecket Close, Newsham, Blyth, died in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary (
COUNTY Durham's probation service is searching for local people to play a part in developing criminal justice in the region. As part of a major modernisation process, the service is looking for representatives from a range of backgrounds, who have a particular
A MAN may have been lying dead for at least a week at the home where he lived alone, an inquest was told. Neighbour Raymond Bottle found the body of Paul Kerr, 41, on an upstairs bed at the house in Moorside, near Consett, County Durham, on Monday last
SMOKING YOUR article on smoke-free areas in pubs (Echo, Aug 17) covered FOREST's latest research but failed to highlight that it is funded by the tobacco industry to the tune of 96 per cent. This may explain why its survey addressed a policy that no one
WHISTLE-blowing former spy David Shayler will be listening for the referee's whistle this weekend. The man who claims the British Security Intelligence Services were behind a plot to assassinate Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi, is realising an ambition
Sir Richard Branson was on the brink of realising his dream of running the National Lottery last night after current operator Camelot was left on the sidelines in the race to win the new licence. In a bombshell announcement, the National Lottery Commission
IT'S the news generations of children have been waiting for - chocolate is good for your teeth. Researchers have discovered that antibacterial agents in cocoa beans offset the high sugar content of chocolate and reduce the chances of having tooth decay
AN animal trust has come up with a novel way of dealing with a surplus of iguanas in the North-East. The Reptile Trust says so many of the animals are being abandoned by people in the region that it has not got room to house them. So it is now "personalising
SUNSHINE seeker Rudi's Pet will be well suited by fast underfoot conditions for today's Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes as the curtain comes down on yet another fabulous Ebor Meeting at York. Although effective on an easy surface, Rudi's Pet (3.45) is in a different
YORK sixth formers were again celebrating some of the best A-level results in the country. Students at the city's four secondary schools achieved results well above the national average. Among the success stories were Joseph Rowntree school and York College
EVEN at the terrible moment when Margaret and Richard Petch were confronted with the death of their daughter, they could not believe they would never be able to talk to her again. And they could not accept that 20-year-old Leslie Anne's death in her flat
YOUNGSTERS are getting on their bikes in a bid to keep themselves off the streets. BMX riders and skateboarders at Topcliffe, near Thirsk, aim to buy a ramp for the village recreation area, to give them somewhere to practice their skills. The ramp, which
WEEKLY classes in creative hand stitching and machine embroidery begin at Chester-le-Street's Park View Community Association next month. Victoria MacLeod, a former chairman of Durham Embroiderers' Guild, will provide tuition for either beginners or for
Darlington owner George Reynolds is determined to finish the job he started at Feethams - and after axing the 'vampires' has vowed to prove the sceptics wrong. And an emotional Reynolds believes the club is back on the right footing after a tempestuous
RESIDENTS who live in the Northumbria Police area have been urged to have their say in the way their area is policed. As part of the region's largest public consultation exercise, they will also be asked which crimes they think should be given a high
A DARLINGTON mother is running a half marathon in aid of the charity which helped her seriously ill son. Vicki Waldie's seven-year-old son, Jamie, had a life-saving bone marrow transplant last year. The operation took place after the Anthony Nolan Bone
DURHAM Johnston School renewed its claim to be one of the country's best performing state schools with a string of sparkling results. The Durham City comprehensive's 153 A-level candidates - most sitting three or four exams - scored a pass rate of 96.7
SUPERMARKET group Sainsbury is considering selling its Homebase home improvement business. The retailer said it was in the early stages of looking at a number of "strategic alternatives" for Homebase. Sainsbury's added that it had been in discussions
