Archive

  • Five-year vision is key to improving

    THE Northern Echo and BKR Haines Watts have teamed up to give world-class manufacturing advice to companies in the Tees Valley. Paul Bell, of BKR Haines Watts, looks at where a business should start to improve. The start point is to look at where you

  • Council blamed as furniture shop shuts

    THE owner of a Stanley furniture shop, which is about to close, has blamed the local authority for the town's slow economic death. After 40 years of trading in the ex-mining community, Conroys' business will be transferred to the company's store at the

  • Drugs gang is brought to justice

    A GANG of drug dealers was today beginning a total of 47 years behind bars following a major operation by police to smash the supply of heroin in a quiet North-East town. But while officers welcomed the lengthy sentences handed down on the gang at Durham

  • Future of Dales community centre could hinge on vote

    THE destiny of a Dales community centre could hinge on a vote in the council chamber, in Richmond, tomorrow. The Middleham Key Centre went through a difficult introduction. There was controversy first over funding for the building, and then over the construction

  • Race on to aid charity

    RUNNERS are invited to compete against some of Britain's top athletes tonight - and help cancer patients. Internationally-known runners will mingle with fun runners and wheelchair athletes at the Croft racing circuit, near Darlington. The 10km event has

  • Festival aims to lift disease gloom

    A FESTIVAL which has become a nationally-recognised event is expected to attract visitors to the region and take away some of the foot-and-mouth gloom. For the past nine years, the Friends of Killhope have organised and run a Grand Mineralogical Exhibition

  • Builders 'clutching at straws' for housing go-ahead

    VILLAGERS claim developers are "clutching at straws" in their bid to win approval for a big housing development. Wimpey Homes and Bryant Homes have lodged an appeal against Durham City Council's refusal to allow 193 homes to built on fields at West Rainton

  • Charity fundraising tribute by family

    A FUNDRAISING weekend has raised more than £1,000 in memory of a devoted family man. The family of Joe Hesp, who died aged 46 last December, launched a fundraising campaign in aid of the British Heart Foundation last weekend. His wife, Susan, said she

  • Young gun Kyle earns striking role in Holland

    EXCITING young Scottish centre-forward Kevin Kyle is rewarded for smashing home five goals in four reserve games with promotion to the Sunderland first team squad which starts a two-match tour of Holland with a game against Vitesse Arnhem tonight. Kyle

  • Time running out for nature campaigners

    TIME is fast running out for community groups wishing to enter the The Northern Echo's Making A Difference competition. The competition for environmental projects, sponsored by regional development agency One NorthEast, is in its third year. Environmentalist

  • Thief drives off in £11,500 classic car

    A CLASSIC car has been stolen from the forecourt of a North-East garage. The dark red Triumph TR6 was taken from outside Simon J Robinson Classics at Ketton Garage, Durham Road, Darlington, on Monday afternoon. The 1973 classic, registration number VHN

  • Who are the guilty parties?+

    ALMOST six months into the foot-and-mouth crisis - the first case emerged on February 21 - it has become necessary to re-state a couple of basic truths, and a vital principle. The other day, an NFU spokesman on national TV vehemently described foot-and-mouth

  • Quarry comes under scrutiny

    A CONTROVERSIAL quarry will come under scrutiny at a meeting today. Stainton Quarry, near Barnard Castle, has been at the centre of a quarrel between local villagers and Ennstone Building Products, which owns the site. Stainton villagers say the sandstone

  • Care homes to make way for wine bars

    SICK and elderly people are having to leave their homes to make way for pubs and wine bars in a suburb already crammed with nightspots. Up to 80 pensioners have been given 20 days to move out of three private nursing homes in Jesmond, Newcastle. The buildings

  • Poison pen trial jury sent home

    A jury considering the case of James Forster, accused of sending hate mail during a 12-year campaign in Manfield, near Darlington, has been sent home for the night. It will resume its deliberations tomorrow. Dr Forster denies all charges against him.

  • Trolley good show as family land jobs at new superstore

    IT will be a family affair when Tesco opens its new £20m supermarket, in Durham City, later this month. For 19-year-old Kelly Brannen will be working alongside six other members of her family. Kelly, of Sherburn Road Estate, Durham, landed a job as an

  • Villagers opposed to homes proposal

    NEIGHBOURS are opposing plans for four homes on land in a village conservation area. An application to build four three-storey houses on the site of a former county council depot in the centre of Sedgefield has been submitted to Sedgefield Borough Council

  • Bowling club is vandals' target

    A BOWLING club is struggling to carry on after four months of repeated vandalism at the site where it has played for more than 70 years. The changing rooms at Hundens Park, Darlington, were vandalised again by youths shortly after 4pm on Monday, with

  • Club's night will aid centre

    A club is holding a charity night to help a centre for people with learning difficulties. The charity and social night will be held at the Osborne Club, Chester-le-Street, next Tuesday in aid of the day centre Empower. A spokesman for County Durham Care

  • Gill's record passenger total

    GILL Airways has announced record passenger numbers last month. The Newcastle airline carried 35,678 passengers on scheduled flights in July, up from 33,601 in June, and a 30 per cent rise on the 27,370 passengers carried at the same time last year. The

  • The snaps we should keep under wraps

    OK, would you like your holiday snaps on view for all the world to see? And not the carefully posed ones where you're smiling nicely and breathing in, but those taken when you're just pottering about, eyes screwed up against the sun, hair scraped back

  • Yes to One Big Sunday

    PERMISSION has been granted for a major music event in the region, despite reservations over one of the act's fans. A special meeting of Middlesbrough Council's licensing committee was called today after councillors failed to reach a decision over Radio

  • Man jailed for attack on co-defendant

    A DEFENDANT was jailed for contempt of court yesterday after launching an attack on his co-accused before spitting into the public gallery at Newcastle Crown Court. Anthony Uche, 30, admitted his part in a credit card scam before hearing he would not

  • Bank confident as it confirms 37% rise in pre-tax profits

    THE Royal Bank of Scotland confirmed a 37 per cent rise in pre-tax profits and a confident update on trading. The Edinburgh operation, which acquired National Westminster Bank in March of last year, said all of its businesses were performing well. Profits

  • Recession will cost 29,000 by autumn, says CBI

    THOUSANDS more jobs are likely to be lost as optimism among UK manufacturers over exports fell at the quickest rate for nearly three years, new figures have suggested. The survey, by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), estimated that a further

  • Youngsters raise recycling to an art form

    IMAGINATIVE young artists showed you should never throw anything away yesterday when they turned lavatory roll cardboard tubes, plastic bottles and other materials ripe for recycling into creations to be proud of. The children were at a Get Crafty class

  • £100m buyback plan as battle for brewery hots up

    THE battle for Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries has moved up a gear after the group unveiled plans to return £100m to shareholders by the end of the year. The regional brewer, which is fighting a 513p-per-share hostile takeover bid by Hartlepool-based

  • Fund of support offered to young for young

    A charity fund has been set up to help disadvantaged youngsters. The Children's Fund, managed by the Cleveland Community Foundation, will benefit children on Teesside, with grants of £200 to £2,000 being offered to voluntary support groups. Hartlepool

  • Roman theme proposed for town centre's new image

    SHOPPERS in Bishop Auckland will be treated to a taste of its Roman past when the town centre is revamped. Millions of pounds are being invested in improving the heart of the market town to make it a more attractive and convenient place for people to

  • Roman theme proposed for town centre's new image

    SHOPPERS in Bishop Auckland will be treated to a taste of its Roman past when the town centre is revamped. Millions of pounds are being invested in improving the heart of the market town to make it a more attractive and convenient place for people to

  • Rare birds get Army protection

    TWO peregrine falcon chicks enjoyed a safe start to life when a military operation was mounted to protect them from poachers. During the past three years, chicks have been stolen from the site at Otterburn Military Training Area, in Northumberland, probably

  • Super-fit dad killed by rare heart ailment

    A SUPER-FIT company executive who ran the London Marathon, died suddenly at the age of 41 from a rare heart condition. Father-of-two Kenneth Byers died in January from cardiac arrhythmia, a condition which only affects up to 300 apparently fit people

  • Villagers opposed to homes proposal

    NEIGHBOURS are opposing plans for four homes on land in a village conservation area. An application to build four three-storey houses on the site of a former county council depot in the centre of Sedgefield has been submitted to Sedgefield Borough Council

  • Farmer questioned over sheep numbers

    A FARMER thought someone was playing a practical joke when his local council wrote to him asking how many sheep he kept in a field, and what they ate. That was until he read the sobering caution, written in bold black type, that: "It may harm your defence

  • Injured man in hospital may hold key to murder inquiry

    DETECTIVES are waiting to speak to a badly injured man who could hold the key to a murder inquiry. Police are treating the death of 41-year-old market trader Kalvant Singh as suspicious. His body was discovered in the backyard of a house in central Middlesbrough

  • College bent on helping people to stay supple

    PEOPLE in their fifties have been improving their strength and suppleness by taking part in a Tai Chi course. The 20-week course, which was organised by New College Durham and Age Concern, took place in Shakespeare Hall, Durham City. It was an extension

  • Comment from The Northern Echo - No time for brinkmanship

    PRESIDENT Clinton once likened the opposing factions in Northern Ireland politics as bar-room drunks. Every time one of them walks away from a dispute and reaches the swing doors, they turn right around and go back in for more. You would be hard-pressed

  • Running show proves snip for Jennifer

    HAIRDRESSER Jennifer Anderson has turned redundancy into a golden opportunity with the help of her family and an advanced modern apprenticeship. When the salon in which she worked closed, 22-year-old Jennifer, from Fencehouses, near Houghton-le-Spring

  • Plans unveiled for historic theatre

    THE campaign to rejuvenate an historic theatre has taken a significant step, with a new design ready for planners to inspect. The first attempt to revamp the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, North Yorkshire, failed to win universal support. The principle

  • Pub regulars provide tonic for ill teenager

    A TEENAGER with leuk-aemia can look forward to a holiday in Cornwall with his family, thanks to generous pub regulars in the village where he lives. Regulars at The Crown, in Brompton-on-Swale, arranged the holiday for 13-year-old Alan Clough, who has

  • Parents' battle against time to stop schools linking up

    PARENTS have launched a campaign to fight the possible amalgamation of two primary schools in Stockton. English Martyrs RC Primary School and St Peter and St Paul RC Primary School make provision for Roman Catholic pupils aged three to 11, mainly from

  • Cable firm battles it out for customers

    NORTH-EAST cable company ntl is poised to overtake ITV Digital in the bitter broadcasting battle for new customers. Delighted ntl bosses are pressing ahead with plans to sign up thousands more homes for their next generation cable television service.

  • Future is orange for United duo

    MARK Wilson and Jonathan Greening are expected to take their seats on the plane for Holland this morning after becoming Middlesbrough players. The 22-year-old pair were putting the finishing touches to a combined £4m move from Manchester United last night

  • Albert says it's good to squawk

    A TALKATIVE parrot has gone interactive and launched its own e-mail service for its international fans. Albert, the blue-fronted Amazon parrot, has been a resident at Walworth Castle in Darlington for 14 years and has made hundreds of friends from all

  • Is Laura Britain's brainiest child?

    LAURA Hibberd is one of Britain's brainiest children and tomorrow she gets the chance to prove it to the nation. The 12-year-old, who lives in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, is one of 24 children who have qualified for the final of a new TV show

  • In memory of a legendary hero

    JOAN Murray didn't have much truck with Douglas Bader when they first stumbled across each other in her bunker on a golf course 30-odd years ago. He had showed himself up by lobbing his ball into her sand trap but he did not look too shamefaced about

  • Doctors back violence helpline

    A TELEPHONE helpline offering support to women caught up in domestic violence has recruited doctors to help its service. East Durham Women's Aid launched the line in July last year to reinforce the wide-ranging services provided by the district's women's

  • Rocker Pete offered international deal

    NORTH-EAST rock prodigy Pete Shoulder is being offered a deal by international recording company Sony. It wants the 17-year-old guitarist, singer and songwriter, of Chester-le-Street, County Durham, to sign a six-month development contract. Sony, which

  • Theatre offers a free treat for under-16s

    BOSSES at a South Tyneside theatre are offering a treat to the under-16s during the school holidays. Three performances of the hit play Tom and Catherine, at the Customs House, South Shields, have been set aside as youngsters' days, when one child can

  • Pact aims to get tough

    AN agreement to deal with domestic violence on Wearside will be signed next month. Representatives from agencies across Sunderland will unveil the Wearside Domestic Violence Forum's Statement of Intent and Partnership Agreement on September 21. The agreement

  • Campsite sex assault claim

    FIVE North-East men are being sought in connection with an allegation of a sexual assault in the Lake District. A girl in her mid teens alleges the incident took place at about 4am yesterday, at Hawkshead Hall campsite, near Hawkshead, Ambleside. Kendal

  • Club to hold extra summer soccer schools

    SUNDERLAND AFC has added to a series of soccer schools run by its qualified coaching staff throughout the North-East during the school holiday. Courses cater for youngsters aged four to 14 with prizes for players showing the most improvement. The latest

  • School offers free courses

    A SERIES of adult education courses will be launched in Darlington next month. Haughton Community School has assembled a programme of free evening courses, including pottery, cookery, home decorating, computing and Indian head massage. Free taster sessions

  • Sneak-in thefts warning by police

    A SPATE of burglaries by sneak-in thieves have led police to issue a warning to people in Darlington. Detectives are urging people "not to advertise" when their home is insecure and unattended - even if they are only in the back garden. Acting Detective

  • Hospice calls for unwanted mobile phones

    A HOSPICE is appealing for people to donate their unwanted mobile telephones to a recycling scheme. The Butterwick Hospice at Bishop Auckland has launched the fundraising project. A spokesman said: "More and more people are changing to different networks

  • Pop star line-up revealed

    RADIO One has confirmed the line-up for one of Teesside's biggest music events. This year's One Big Sunday, taking place in Stewart Park, Middlesbrough, on Sunday, August 19, will feature Samantha Mumba, the Super Furry Animals, Artful Dodger and Mel

  • The snaps we should keep under wraps

    OK, would you like your holiday snaps on view for all the world to see? And not the carefully posed ones where you're smiling nicely and breathing in, but those taken when you're just pottering about, eyes screwed up against the sun, hair scraped back

  • Cold comfort at RAF Hesledon today

    THE twenty or so British place names beginning with "Cold" - Cold Hesledon, near Seaham, for example, or Cold Kirby, above Helmsley - must not be considered particularly perishing. The prefix generally means "abandoned" - but that these are temperate

  • "Last week of pay dispute," claims Jesters chief

    THE six-month pay dispute saga at the Newcastle Jesters ice hockey club will come to an end this week, according to the North-East side's chairman. And Paul Smith last night totally refuted claims that the team would not be playing in next season's Ice

  • 'More glory yet for Edwards'

    North-East world triple-jump champion Jonathan Edwards's competing days are far from over, his proud father said last night. Speaking after the 35-year-old scooped the World Athletics gold in Canada with a winning leap of 17.92m, the Reverend Andy Edwards

  • Community group is chosen as pilot for learning scheme

    A COMMUNITY association has been chosen for a trial learning programme. Pennywell Community Business, in Sunderland, has been selected as the only organisation in the North-East to pilot a Neighbourhood Learning Centre. The initiative was launched by

  • Songwriter Karen dreaming of Christmas no 1 with Westlife

    A NORTH-East songwriter believes she may have penned the next Christmas number one for boy band Westlife. Karen Rhodes, who runs Starbiz, a song-writing and talent agency in Stanley, County Durham, has sent the song to BMG Publishing, in London, which

  • Who are the guilty parties?

    ALMOST six months into the foot-and-mouth crisis - the first case emerged on February 21 - it has become necessary to re-state a couple of basic truths, and a vital principle. The other day, an NFU spokesman on national TV vehemently described foot-and-mouth

  • Two dead in power station explosion

    TWO people died and two others were seriously injured in a blast at a power station, emergency services said today. The explosion happened at the Enron plant in Redcar, Teesside, an ambulance spokesman said. The victims were badly burnt and have been

  • Survey exposes caravan defects

    A POLICE campaign has shown that many of the caravans and trailers being towed through the region are unroadworthy. Cleveland officers joined forces with Northumbria Police to carry out checks. In a survey on Saturday, police pulled over caravans and

  • The Echo to thank for great day of racing

    A FULL weekend of racing is on offer in the region this weekend - thanks to The Northern Echo. The Great Daily of the North and its sister paper The Clarion, the weekly free newspaper for Redcar and east Cleveland, is sponsoring a fun-filled day at Redcar

  • Hear All Sides

    Letters from The Northern Echo JUSTICE ALFRED Welch gets 14 months in comfort at our expense for killing a decent young family man for basically a laugh, (Echo, July 31). Repeat sex offenders are routinely turned loose to prey on the most vulnerable.

  • Handyman service is just the job

    A NEW handyman service is on offer to people in Redcar and Cleveland who have assessed social care needs. The scheme is a partnership between Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Age Concern Teesside and Transmore Van Hire. It aims to offer people help

  • Boyfriend can recall nothing of

    A BOYFRIEND accused of killing his partner in a high-speed crash during a jealous rage told a court how he did not learn about her death until five weeks later. Mark Lepine, 29, flipped after he saw Teresa Clark, 26, dancing with another man in Gateshead's

  • Society riding on the crest of innovation

    THE Newcastle Building Society is reaping the benefits of innovation. The UK's 14th largest society has made an excellent start to the year, recording profits after tax of £5.73m in the six months to June 30, due mainly to a range of mortgage and other

  • Apathy forces cancellation of resort's Victorian Week

    LARGE-scale celebrations of a resort's Victorian history planned to take place this summer have been cancelled because of a lack of volunteers and funding from the local authority. The Heritage celebrations at Saltburn, east Cleveland - dubbed Victorian

  • 11 snakes recovered

    ELEVEN snakes - some in a critical condition - have been seized by the RSPCA and police from a two-bedroomed terraced house in the North-East. All 11 of the 3ft-long corn snakes were being kept in a glass tank with no heat source and little food, when

  • take your partners for seaside gig

    A POP concert will be entertaining Redcar youth, thanks to a special partnership. The Clarion, The Northern Echo's weekly sister paper in Redcar, has teamed up with Redcar and Cleveland College and Redcar Town Centre Management, to organise the concert

  • Anger as burial site 'ally' is moved on

    THE departure of the North's head foot-and-mouth coordinator has left villagers fuming about the Government's lack of continuity. Residents of Tow Law, County Durham, thought they had found an ally at the Newcastle Disease Emergency Control Centre, in

  • Training grant for fire service

    A NORTH-EAST fire service is among those sharing in a £1.5m Government grant to make work better for employees. The money, from a Partnership Fund, will be used for training and other schemes aimed at improving working practices. Among the beneficiaries

  • Stables hope looks like a non-starter

    A RACEHORSE trainer's hopes of expanding his stables look likely to be dashed by council planners. David Nicholls has submitted plans to Hambleton District Council for three buildings to be constructed at the Tall Trees Stud, Sessay, near Thirsk. However

  • Camp to portray first world war horrors

    THE horror that was the First World War is being brought back to life in North Yorkshire. The award-winning Eden Camp wartime theme museum, at Old Malton, has concentrated its displays on the Second World War. However, one of the huts in the former prisoner-of-war

  • Magpies held to a draw

    Newcastle were locked in a tense Intertoto struggle with French side Troyes last night, as both sides fought it out for that all important UEFA Cup place. Bobby Robson named an unchanged side from the one that he picked which beat TSV 1860 Munich in the

  • Two more cases confirmed in North Yorks hot spot

    THE battle against foot-and-mouth suffered a setback today as more cases were confirmed - while the Government department handling the crisis faced severe criticism. Two new cases were revealed in the bio-security "fortress" area around Thirsk, North

  • Pub murder inquiry: N-E man released

    A NORTH-East man questioned in connection with a double murder in Leeds has been released without charge. The 40-year-old Middlesbrough man was arrested after David Nelson and Joseph Montgomery were shot at a pub in Seacroft, Leeds, last month. Mr Nelson

  • Teenager Scott set for debut

    GARY Scott will become Durham's youngest first-class cricketer when he makes a shock debut against Derbyshire at the Riverside today. An all-rounder from Sunderland, he was 17 on July 21, which makes him nine days younger than Steve Lugsden, who was 27

  • Conlon wins Ford's approval

    Darlington midfielder Mark Ford has given the seal of approval to Barry Conlon, and he believes the striker's physical presence will be a key weapon in Quakers' Third Division campaign. Signed in the summer from York City, it is hoped Conlon will go some

  • Court to decide on ownership of mouse

    A SAGA surrounding the ownership of a pearl-encrusted mouse will once again return to the courtroom. The tiny mouse, which is believed to be worth £90,000, has been at the centre of a criminal case, in which an antiques dealer was cleared of handling

  • Free education courses on offer at college

    PEOPLE living in Henknowle and Woodhouse Close areas of Bishop Auckland, and St Helen Auckland, are being offered free basic counselling, play-work certificate and computing courses by the community education team at Bishop Auckland College. The courses

  • Cold comfort at RAF Hesledon today

    THE twenty or so British place names beginning with "Cold" - Cold Hesledon, near Seaham, for example, or Cold Kirby, above Helmsley - must not be considered particularly perishing. The prefix generally means "abandoned" - but that these are temperate

  • Anti-crime scheme promoted

    THE High Sheriff of North Yorkshire is to pay a visit to Teesside to meet participants in an anti-crime project. David Nelson will visit the Holy Trinity Anti-Crime Project, at the Pavilion, North Ormesby, on Friday. He will experience the work of the

  • Eleven guilty of peddling misery

    ELEVEN defendants admitted at previous hearings at Durham Crown Court of being concerned in the supply of heroin in the Chester-le-Street area, between December 7, 1999, and June 8, 2000. Kevin Watson, 41, of Poplar Street, Paul Thomas Cox, 24, of Wynyard

  • What the well-fed camel is eating

    IT may sound like a new slant on taking coals to Newcastle, but a North-East businessman is teaching Arabs how to feed their camels. And business is booming for Michael Reay. Mr Reay, whose firm, Equine Products UK is on Newburn Haugh Industrial Estate

  • Mass DNA testing begins to find killer

    A MASS DNA testing programme got under way yesterday as detectives intensified their hunt for a killer. Police investigating the death of David Williamson are planning to take DNA samples from about 80 villagers in Sutton-on-the-Forest and Huby, North

  • 'No sympathy' for farms that flout epidemic rules

    THE battle against foot-and-mouth is to be intensified after it was revealed that dozens of farmers were not complying with strict regulations. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) warned that there would be little sympathy for anyone failing to ensure proper

  • Refuge holds open day

    VICTIMS of domestic violence are being invited to a garden event as a women's refuge opens its doors. The Dales Domestic Violence Forum and the Women's Refuge have organised the joint event at 9 Etherley Lane, Bishop Auckland, on August 18. Information