forecasters last night warned the North-East to brace itself for further atrocious weather as emergency services struggled to hold back rising flood waters. And with many fields already water-logged and rivers running dangerously high, experts warned
DISCOUNT retailer Matalan has shown there is still good money to be made from cheap clothes, as improved margins helped the store group increase its profits by 72 per cent in the past six months. Matalan said pre-tax profits had risen to £35m in the 26
A MASTER plan is to be drawn up to turn around the fortunes of St Helen Auckland and tackle the anti-social problems on the area's troubled estates. Wear Valley District Council is working with local people to produce a strategy which can be used as a
A YOUNGSTER from North Yorkshire is proving he is a force to be reckoned with in the tennis world. Eight-year-old Gareth Webb is a budding Tim Henman who has just won free coaching sessions in a competition to find the region's biggest hope. And he is
The England and Wales Cricket Board yesterday called on the sport's new anti-corruption chief to get to the bottom of the latest series of damaging allegations to hit the game. England's Alec Stewart and eight other former Test captains have been named
A COUNCIL is clamping down on rubbish dumping residents. Eleven households in the Bensham area have been successfully prosecuted by Gateshead Council for dumping bags of rubbish in their back lane instead of their wheeled bin. The authority decided to
AS A nation of animal lovers, we are well catered for online with a host of websites dedicated to our best friends and constant companions. If you are looking for some help and advice then try out www.animalforum.com where animal lovers can take part
A PUB is in mourning for one of its regulars, whose death is being investigated by police. A body recovered on the north bank of the River Tees, near Haverton Hill, was identified yesterday as that of loner John Puckrin. A post mortem examination by Home
TRICK OR TREAT I THINK the phrase "trick or treat" should be classified as a criminal utterance and the users of it should be prosecuted to the woefully inadequate extent of British law. It is Sunday afternoon. A couple of hours or so ago I answered a
BEACONS of light and a series of themed trials could be on the way to help regenerate Hartlepool's Headland. The ideas, drawn up after public consultations, are part of a public arts and environmental improvement plan to capture the spirit and history
TWO community stalwarts have been appointed non-executive directors of South Durham Health Care NHS Trust. Phil Graham, of New Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, and Agnes Armstrong, of Spennymoor, take up their posts today. Mr Graham, who works for Royal
A DENTIST accused of conning the NHS out of thousands of pounds by claiming for work he had never done was cleared yesterday. David Ratliff, 54, was charged with claiming for gold fillings and expensive crowns, when he used standard materials. As part
A LAWYER is considering villagers' pleas to designate playing fields as a village green in an attempt to save them from development. About 350 people at Ushaw Moor have signed a petition against proposals to build up to 200 homes on the land near High
A CLUB-GOER who bit off the tip of another man's nose has failed in an Appeal Court bid to clear his name. James Isaac Madine, 25, attacked Michael Brayson, after Mr Brayson intervened in an argument at Masters Bar In Newcastle. The tip of Mr Brayson's
THE North-East's work hard, play hard culture has helped leisure group Whitbread to forge ahead in the region. Results from the recently opened TGI Fridays on Teesside and Tyneside, the opening of the first Swallow Hotel to be converted to the Marriot
RESIDENTS will be able to gauge the effects of proposed redevelopments thanks to the creation of a scale model of their area. Buildings and streets of South Bank, in Middlesbrough, have been recreated in miniature in a model commissioned by its Community
A NORTH-EAST mother is appealing for her missing daughter to call home so she knows she is safe. Lisa-Marie Perry, 17, of Lanchester, County Durham, has been missing since Friday, October 17. Police have issued an appeal for anyone who knows anything
A project to refurbish one of the region's "hidden gems" is to be used as a national demonstration project. The 17th Century Sir William Turner's Hospital at Kirkleatham, near Redcar, is having a £1m-plus makeover. The almshouses provide sheltered accommodation
BLIND and partially-sighted children are losing out both at school and at play through a lack of support, according to new research. Surveys carried out for the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) reveal that young people are denied equal access
THE wife of a convicted stalker has vented her anger after he walked free because of a court blunder. Karen Ogden says that she is petrified of what Mark Liddle will do next, after a legal technicality gave him back his freedom. She and her daughter,
MORE than 250 residents packed out a public meeting to council representatives defend plans to bulldoze a town's last greenfield site. Monday night's meeting in Guisborough's Sunnyfield House was called after residents formed a protest group to save the
DEAN of Ripon Cathedral John Metheun was shown a red and a yellow card when he made his debut at a motorised soccer game. The church leader gave his holy blessing to the venture - spreading blessed waters in the penalty area at a former bus depot, at
SHOWBUSINESS charity The Royal Variety Club of Great Britain, has put 100 special school children on the road for the third time. Warwick Road Special School, Bishop Auckland, has been presented with its latest Sunshine Coach, which is already being used
THE Environment Agency has said that a final decision on whether or not to go ahead with a £1.3m flood defence scheme could still be some way off. It says there is "much environmental work to do" before a decision on the project at Pickering will be made
ELDERLY patients in Sedgefield borough are now able to leave hospital and return to the comfort of their own homes with live-in care. The new 48-hour discharge scheme is supported by Durham County Council, and has been developed in consultation with the
SPECIAL schools in Hartlepool, which could see a drop in funding as pupils move to mainstream education, are being urged to help the children make the switch. As part of Government strategy, Hartlepool Borough Council is hoping to move 100 children into
A COUNCIL leader says he is optimistic about a huge city centre redevelopment, despite claims it will not get Government funding. The 15-year Sunderland Area Regeneration Compact (Arc) aims to breathe new life into the city following the Vaux Brewery
WITH fears about petrol prices and the recent fuel crisis still fresh in people's minds, a Darlington man has found a way of cutting costs and still travelling in style. Colin Dixon found he was doing 800 miles a week and paying almost 80p a litre driving
PLANS for a multi-million pound freight terminal at Teesside Airport, which could bring up to 6,000 new jobs to the region, finally look set for take off. Deputy PM John Prescott gave the go-ahead for the £340m scheme a year ago, overturning a public
ONE of the brightest stars of the British paralympics team was enjoying home comforts last night following her return to the North-East. Tanni Grey-Thompson lived up to her reputation as the world's premier wheelchair racer to win four gold medals in
THE mother of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence is to help launch a North-East exhibition on racism. The travelling Anne Frank exhibition - based on the Dutch Jewish girl's story of persecution by the Nazis during the Second World War - opens in
ONE NorthEast will be giving residents in Teesdale the chance to air their views on the future of the region at a public meeting tonight. The regional development agency will be holding the forum to give people there a chance to find out more about the
THE crackle of firewood and the smell of gunpowder may be difficult to recreate online, but there are plenty of websites worth a visit in the run-up to November 5. Important safety information (plus a short virtual demonstration) can be found at the website
AUTUMN - season of mists and mellow fruitfulness (to quote John Keats) has arrived at Guisborough Forest. In fact, the changing colours of the leaves have given the 1,000-acre beauty spot top ratings in a national beauty chart. The Forestry Commission
PREVIOUSLY secret council cabinet meetings were opened to the press and public for the first time yesterday. Darlington Borough Council was accused of diluting democracy when it introduced a closed-door cabinet style system of local government in May.
A COUNCIL is making it easier for residents to go green by adding a new fortnightly collection to its rounds. Families living in Middlesbrough will be able to recycle old newspapers and magazines thanks to bag collections started by the borough council
THE latest batch of robot babies to invade Darlington and South-West Durham have arrived. Sophisticated baby simulators, used to dissuade youngsters from having their own children too early, are now in use throughout the region. As part of the Government-backed
A TROUPE of toddlers put their best feet forward to launch a football club's charity walk for children. The youngsters were the first to set foot on the turf at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium in the Great Boro Toddle yesterday. They were joined by
ARCHAEOLOGISTS were yesterday celebrating the discovery of a long-lost section of Hadrian's Wall - beneath the site of an old fish and chip shop. A two-metre section of the Wall was uncovered during council construction work in the Byker area of Newcastle
A young boy was in intensive care with horrific burns last night after he and two friends were caught up in an explosion on Teesside. The boys - thought to be two brothers and a friend - were playing in a shed at a house in Stockdale Avenue, Dormanstown
SCOTTISH Under-21 skipper Steve Caldwell emerged as an unlikely hero on his first senior start with the goal which booked Newcastle a fourth-round Worthington Cup clash against Birmingham. United had thrown away a 3-0 lead against battling Bradford and
A HEARTBROKEN father told last night how a Halloween game of trick-or-treat ended in tragedy when his four-year-old son was killed in a road accident. Luke Donaldson, of The Crescent, Chester-le-Street, was killed while enjoying Halloween antics with
WHERE there's a will there's a way to protect wetland birds. That is the message being put out by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Washington, at the start of Will Month. Throughout November, participating solicitors have agreed to contribute their time
Darlington manager Gary Bennett yesterday signed striker Kevin Kyle from Sunderland on a month's loan - but his search for a permanent solution to his side's lack of goals goes on. Stranraer-born Kyle, 19, has just returned from a month's loan at Huddersfield
THE Bank of England was last night urged to keep interest rates on hold following evidence that high street sales had stopped growing for the first time since January 1999. The Confederation of British Industry's (CBI) monthly distributive trades survey
THE latest candidate to join in the battle to replace Redcar MP Mo Mowlam has thrown his hat into the ring. Dave Anderson, 46, a Unison activist, hopes to be chosen as the Labour candidate. Mr Anderson lives in Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham, and worked
DELIGHTED Sunderland boss Peter Reid last night described the forthcoming Worthington Cup fourth round tie against Manchester United as "fantastic". Reid saw his £2.5m summer signing from Everton, Don Hutchison, take the Wearsiders through to a meeting
MEMBERS of ethnic groups have been training as teachers to pass on essential health messages to their communities. The teachers will run information sessions in the Stockton area covering a range of health topics. In the pilot project, funded by the Teesside
An historic agreement between the NHS and the independent sector was signed yesterday by Health Secretary Alan Milburn - who immediately came under fire from backbench Labour MPs. The so-called concordat will allow NHS patients to be treated in private
Surfing is not the only sporting interest for Internet users as more and more people keep up with their favourite sport online. And there is nothing those homesick ex-pats like more than to keep up with their former home town football team from all corners
MORE than 30 nurses in the region have been selected for a national pilot scheme which should help to improve training for accident and emergency staff. Inconsistencies in the way casualty nurses are trained up and down the country have prompted the Royal
Thousands of butchers in England are to open today without compulsory new hygiene licences and could face up to two years in jail. At least 70 per cent of England's 12,000 meat outlets have so far been issued with the licences, which come into force today
TRADERS in Redcar and Cleveland borough have been issued with a warning after an undercover survey found shops were willing to sell fireworks to underage children. The borough council has also alerted the public to the potential dangers of mixing up garden
AN ambitious bid to restore a dales village hall seems set to go ahead, after Richmondshire councillors agreed to pump more cash into the scheme. Bolton-cum-Redmire's proposals could have been in jeopardy if the district authority had refused to increase
BUTCHER Chris Manson has just proved he is a cut above the rest, by becoming the first butcher in Middlesbrough borough to be presented with a licence to trade. Under legislation introduced in the wake of the E. Coli outbreak which killed 21 people in
AN historic building is set to be transformed into a new headquarters for voluntary sector organisations. Ripon Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) is planning to convert part of the city's Sharow View into a new centre and the idea has been backed by
IF YOU are reading this before eight o'clock in the morning, do yourself a favour - go back to bed. We are apparently not getting enough sleep. According to a new survey, so many of us are groping through our days in a haze of exhaustion that it's reached
FURTHER courts in North Yorkshire could be facing the axe - despite the sweeping closures that have already taken place in recent years. A new report about magistrates' courts in the county has been published following an in-depth inspection carried out
ON THE wild weekend that 20,000 men toiled to make safe the railways, the column again found itself exploring the extraordinary Settle and Carlisle line. Ribblehead station, firstly, its benches chained down not for fear of thieves - nor yet of the Hurtle
THOUSANDS of pensioners in Darlington received free television licences yesterday as the first licences for the over-75s come into force. The yellow and black licences are on their way to 5,364 households in the town and those waiting are advised by TV
POVERTY, unemployment and abject degradation swept over a North-East town like a biblical plague. A boom town of skilled, proud, determined men was blighted by economic factors way beyond its control; a world slump, the Depression. When Palmer's Yard
A FERRYHILL school choir is preparing for a fundraising concert at the Telewest Arena, Newcastle. Dean Bank Primary School is taking part in the Young World Concert on November 14, to raise money for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, in London.
WITH threats to blockade supermarket distribution centres, the fuel protest is in danger of getting out of hand and drowning out what many believe to be perfectly legitimate arguments. Yesterday, David Hanley, the chairman of Farmers for Action and the
CHILDREN at a village nursery school donned traditional Indian costume to learn about Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Parents, staff and youngsters at Kirk Merrington Pre-school Nursery, near Bishop Auckland, also ate Indian food during the event
TAXI drivers have criticised measures by Darlington Borough Council to impose spot fines on litter louts. A team of council wardens have been given the authority to issue £25 fines to anyone they see dropping rubbish on town streets. But they only work
NO WRITTEN history of Britain in the 20th Century will fail to feature the Jarrow March. Or Crusade, if you prefer its proper title. Both fit it perfectly. March it was - a near 300-mile tramp by men who, in many instances, could not afford shoes. Indeed
A NATIONAL tour of schools' artwork and poetry opens in Sunderland today to get the anti-racism message across. The exhibition of hundreds of items of art is part of the Show Racism the Red Card campaign. Today's launch at Sunderland Civic Centre signals
WORKERS at Nissan this week implemented new working arrangements allowing the company to add a third shift to production in the event of it landing the new Micra. The manufacturing plant at Sunderland is in competition with the Renault factory at Flins
