AN off-duty officer who was stabbed by a youth attempting to steal his car was lucky not to have been killed in the attack, a senior police officer said today. Pc Robert Aynsley, 33, was attacked with a knife or screwdriver while trying to arrest a teenager
PAUL Collingwood's outstanding form helped Durham defy the first signs of an injury crisis on Saturday. But they could be seriously weakened for today's clash with Yorkshire. Coach Martyn Moxon, desperate for a victory on his old stamping ground at Headingley
YORKSHIRE'S five-wicket Roses triumph at Liverpool yesterday revived their flagging hopes of making it through to the quarter-finals and at the same time ended Lancashire's involvement in the competition. Now Yorkshire must win their last group match
THE catalogue of incompetence surrounding the question of a new national stadium to replace Wembley's twin towers has already damaged the reputation of a country with ambitions to stage the World Cup and the Olympic Games. The wrangling over who should
NEWLY-knighted rowing hero Sir Steve Redgrave made a splash in the North-East yesterday. Backed by one of his Olympic coxless four crewmates, Tim Foster, the five-times gold medallist launched a prestigious new event, The Supersprints Rowing Challenge
Darlington Director of Football Luke Raine last night insisted that Gary Bennett will remain as manager of the club. Bennett came under fire from the fans as Quakers slipped to their sixth successive defeat - their worst sequence this season - and during
A CAMPAIGN to preserve a theatre was launched at the weekend, with the backing of The Northern Echo. The drive to raise £1m to carry out extensive restoration work on the Georgian Theatre, in Richmond, North Yorkshire, was put into gear with the help
IF anyone was thinking Chris Turner's achievement of taking Hartlepool United to the play-offs was a straight-forward affair, think again. Getting there once is an achievement, making it twice in a row is worthy of an award - the proof is how the other
POLICE have declared their largest operation to prevent soccer hooliganism a success after making only two arrests. Despite predicted trouble at Hartlepool United's match with Cardiff City, at Victoria Park, Hartlepool, on Saturday, fans were generally
ROOKIE trainer Alan Swinbank missed the biggest win of his short career when Court Express lifted Saturday's Thirsk Hunt Cup under a terrific ride from Jason Weaver. Alan, based at Melsonby near Richmond, took over the reins from Bill Haigh last February
A DARLINGTON student is celebrating success in hammer throwing. Sarah Morgan, 16, took first place in a regional competition in the discipline, when she threw a personal best. The teenager, from Stockton, Teesside, also won the under-18s medal for the
A TEENAGER left critically injured in an incident outside a football clubhouse was probably an innocent bystander as trouble flared, police have revealed. Seventeen-year-old Alex Harker continues to fight for his life tonight following surgery at Newcastle
FREQUENT roadworks on a busy Darlington road are causing a trader to fear for his shop's future. Work began again at the end of April in Whessoe Road, where Rise Carr Fish Bar owner Simon Coe says his trade is being affected. Mr Coe says he has already
A SCHOOL is helping to bring the world of books alive for children with the launch of a new library. Teachers, parents and friends of Vane Road Primary School, Newton Aycliffe, have been working hard to prepare Storysacks ahead of this week's launch.
TWO brave women took the plunge this weekend in a bid to raise cash for charity. Elizabeth Glover and Charlotte Lacey, from York, faced up to their fears and took part in a tandem skydive to raise money for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Nurses. The brave
THE funeral of a van driver killed last week in a head-on crash with a lorry will take place on Thursday. Raymond Stones, 49, of Rowley Drive, Ushaw Moor, near Durham, died in the accident on the A167 at Aycliffe Village. The funeral takes place at St
A public transport network, giving people access to some of the region's most scenic countryside, has been reopened. The Moorsbus service has returned to the North York Moors National Park, after services were cancelled last month, because of the foot-and-mouth
RESIDENTS in York can contact their local MP by logging on to the Internet. City of York MP Hugh Bayley has launched his own website to give his constituents an alternative way of finding out about his work, and even how to contact him if they have a
HOSPITALS in the region will claim their share of a major cash injection to buy new equipment. Health Secretary Alan Milburn will announce today an allocation of £105m nationally for hospitals offering emergency treatment. The North's share of the extra
BRIDE Alix Crowson could not believe her eyes when she saw the surprise her husband arranged for their wedding day. After getting married at Northallerton register office, in North Yorkshire, on Saturday, she and husband Martin in o headed off for an
A n expectant hush descended on the hotel foyer as the precious items were carefully unloaded in time for the auction. With only a matter of hours to go before the big event, staff at Harrogate's Majestic Hotel joined organisers to frantically fumble
A WIDOWER has slammed thieves who stole a birdbath which held treasured memories of his wife who died before Christmas. Ken Moses, of Pilkington Way, Auckland Park, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, said he was sickened by the theft. The 56-year-old
CONSERVATIONISTS believe last year's floods could have had a devastating effect on North Yorkshire's barn owl population. The Hawk and Owl Society said the wet weather left much of the birds' natural hunting ground under water, resulting in them suffering
DURHAM Town Hall is to host an evening of Christian music, dance and commentary. The production, Creation II, will take place on Saturday, May 19, at 7.30pm as part of Emmanuel Church's week-long community outreach programme. The show seeks to answer
HAIRDRESSERS in Darlington have been shedding pounds to raise pounds for charity. Staff at the Morrissey salon, in Orchard Road, have been taking part in a sponsored slim. Shop owner Pat Morrissey, and staff members Sam White and Sarah Little, set a target
IN-FORM Republic of Ireland winger Kevin Kilbane admitted on Saturday night that his Sunderland teammates will be kicking themselves if they fail at the last hurdle to fulfil their dream of playing in Europe next season. Kilbane put the Wearsiders on
Thieves smashed a 19th Century church window during a late-night rampage through five buildings - but took only a few packets of marshmallow sweets. The thieves targeted four churches and a youth club within a small area of Billingham, Teesside, between
A NORTH-EAST group for people with a rare condition has lined up a talk by a benefits expert. The event will be staged by the Peterlee and Area Fibromyalgia Support Group on Wednesday, May 16, at Peterlee New Town FC, Eden Lane, Peterlee, County Durham
DURHAM University will rec-ognise the work of one of its scientists at an honorary degree awards next month. Physicist Professor Sir Arnold Wolfendale, the former Astronomer Royal, is to be conferred with an honorary doctorate of science during the summer
A DEPUTATION is to meet Trade and Industry Minister Alan Johnson in Westminster tomorrow over the loss of 700 jobs at a North coach builders. Plaxtons, the Scarborough luxury coach builders, announced its closure last week. The meeting has been arranged
POWER station staff have been learning vital safety tips for their trade - from a group of schoolchildren. Workers at Teesside power station and gas processing plant are now fully aware of how to avoid accidents, thanks to year seven pupils from Eston
OWNERS of a centuries-old housing complex are celebrating its vintage. A concert is being held to mark the 325th anniversary of the completion of Sir William Turner's Hospital almshouses at Kirkleatham, near Redcar. Teesside soprano Suzannah Clarke will
People are being urged to help shape the development a community facility. Lingfield Farm, Middlesbrough, is being developed as a venue for meeting, learning skills, and learning more about the countryside. It is hoped people will use it for children's
A council is doing its bit to encourage a new generation of art collectors. Eleven regional artists have been commissioned to produce 20 multiples of pieces of their work, for a take-away exhibition which is to be held on Teesside. Each piece will be
Work being carried out in Hartlepool's schools is being highlighted by the government in its drive to raise standards. All the town's secondary schools are taking part in the flagship education programme Excellence in Cities (EiC), which is ploughing
WHEN Newcastle boss Bobby Robson and his backroom staff begin the task this summer of attempting to turn their squad into one that can challenge in the higher reaches of the Premiership, their priorities may not lie solely in the transfer market. A creative
A COUNCIL is offering people the opportunity to voice their concerns. People in Murton, Seaham, South Hetton, Dalton-le-Dale and Seaton will be able to have their say when Easington District Council holds its North area forum in Murton on Wednesday, May
PUPILS at a primary school recently feted for its sporting tuition, are to receive a visit from a Paralympic double medallist on Thursday. Stephen Miller, who won gold and bronze at the Sydney Paralympics, will be presenting the Activemark gold award
A BLUEPRINT for life in Chester-le-Street during the next 30 years is making significant progress, according to a report published this week. The town's Local Agenda 21 plan, a long-term strategy for economic development, environmental protection and
TRADERS are threatening to leave Darlington's Covered Market after the decision to make a rival market a permanent fixture in the town. The Darlington Retail Market Stallholders' Association has been concerned about the effect the farmers' market will
YOUNG members of a village community are helping to create a small green haven on what was a strip of derelict land. Members of New Brancepeth Youth Group have turned the site, near the centre of the County Durham village, into an attractive "pocket park
YOUNG musicians and dancers from across the North-East will showcase their talents at a folk concert on Wednesday. Future Folk will include traditional dancers the Addison Junior Clog team, which is based at Ryton, as well as the band Ola. Ola, recent
BANK Holiday chaos descended on a stretch of coastline at the weekend, resulting in 14 calls to the Coastguard in one day. Saturday's work began at 7am for the Humber Coastguard, with a call from a yacht which had run aground. Reports of incidents continued
HOSPITAL bosses are hoping an alternative transport scheme will ease congestion in a traffic-clogged area. A lack of parking at the James Cook University Hospital, formerly South Cleveland Hospital, in Middlesbrough, causes problems for staff, visitors
The torture lasted right up to the final whistle for Darlington. Promotion favourites back in August, this was their sixth successive defeat as they finished a non-achieving season five places off the bottom of the table. There has been hardly anything
THERE is little they can do to stop trucks which roll in and out of the site - but every day Jean White and husband Ronnie are there. The carcasses keep coming and the mass grave keeps filling, but the couple continue with their vigil - determined to
PEOPLE are being urged to get behind proposals for a new play area - or lose the chance of £80,000 for their community. A lack of facilities in the Kirkleatham area, of Redcar, prompted the Top Lakes Residents' Association and the Kirkleatham Community
Foot-and-Mouth The pony, she stood beneath the tree In the pasture that was her home For years she'd shared it with cattle and sheep But now she was sad and alone. All had been fine 'till a sheep became ill And the farmer had called in the vet From then
AN orchestra wants to meet youngsters who like to blow their own trumpet . . . clarinet, oboe, violin or cello. Young Sinfonia, the associated youth orchestra of Northern Sinfonia wants to fill places left open by musicians who have gone to music colleges
FANS of organ music have pulled out all the stops to help keep a charity on the road. The 80 members of the Langbaurgh Theatre Organ Society succeeded in inviting international organist, "Queen of the Keyboard", Frieda Hall, to give a fundraising recital
A SUPPORT group to keep youngsters on the right side of the law has been given an important funding boost. ADDvance in Hartlepool helps young people with attention disorder, a condition which in some cases can lead to unruly and anti-social behaviour.
TEESSIDE library users will help to decide the winner of a major literary prize. From next Tuesday to the end of June, visitors to Middlesbrough's libraries will be able to vote for their choice of the best new novel by a woman, from six contenders for
THE next meeting of the Wear and Tees group of the University of the Third Age, for people over 50, takes place on May 15, when Linda Conlon, chief executive of Life Interactive World, in Newcastle, will give a talk. The meeting, at the Eden Theatre,
LAWYERS will be instructed tomorrow on behalf of 20 ice hockey players who are waiting for three months' wages from the region's top club. The Ice Hockey Players' Association (IHPA), which is acting on behalf of the Newcastle Jesters stars, said it had
TODAY is the final day of art exhibition being held in North Yorkshire. More than 150 paintings are on display at Richmond Town Hall. Organiser Roy Cross said: "It's been frantic organising the whole event but well worth all the work." All the paintings
POLICE are continuing their appeal for witnesses to a fatal road accident near Harrogate on Friday afternoon. The head-on collision on the A658 south Harrogate bypass, at its junction with Haggs Road, near Follyfoot, left one man dead and another needing
HARTLEPOOL United will decide tomorrow whether to beam back Sunday's play-off clash at Blackpool to Victoria Park. Pool have yet to finalise ticketing arrangements for the Bloomfield Road first-leg clash, but with two sides of the ground closed, Pool's
FREED hostage Tim Selby fulfilled a pledge yesterday to "our man in Bangladesh" back on home soil in the North-East. The civil engineer paid his debt of honour and bought a pint for diplomatic service official Jon Geddes - the man who worked tirelessly
A RARE bird of prey has been found dead after swallowing a fatal dose of poison, the fourth of its kind to suffer from the same fate in Yorkshire in the past 12 months. The red kite was one of 19 reintroduced to the wild as part of the Yorkshire Red Kite
ALUN ARMSTRONG can do his former Middlesbrough teammates a big favour tonight by condemning Manchester City to an immediate return to the First Division. If Ipswich striker Armstrong applies the decisive finishing touch which destroyed Boro at the Riverside
IT was meant to be his last adventure as pensioner Harold Bradbury set sail around the coast of Britain to visit his daughter. Undaunted by the fact that he had no sailing experience and was facing a week-long journey to the Isle of Arran, the would-be
A BITTER rival of MP Peter Mandelson is to use the settlement from a libel case to fight his seat at the General Election. In yet another twist to the hotly-contested race for the Hartlepool seat, freelance journalist John Booth, 54, is the latest to
A SCHEME has been launched for unemployed young people to study for a sports coaching award. Tees Valley Training and Enterprise Council has awarded Darlington's Eastbourne Sports Complex £9,000 to develop its volunteer investment programme. This will
A CAMPAIGN to preserve a theatre was launched at the weekend, with the backing of The Northern Echo. The drive to raise £1m to carry out extensive restoration work on the Georgian Theatre, in Richmond, North Yorkshire, was put into gear with the help
A DECISION on whether to force a mobile telephone mast operator to monitor emissions has been deferred for a second time. Sedgefield Borough Council approved a planning application for a 22.5m mast on land off Green Lane, Spennymoor, last August. But
A DUSTY old jug crammed into a box of household junk has turned into a pot of gold for a charity shop. Staff at the Help the Aged shop, in Barnard Castle, were stunned when manager Vera Henderson recognised it as a piece of valuable Art Deco pottery.
YOUNGSTERS at Crook Primary School have been involved in the naming of a housing development for older people. The partnership development at South End Villas is a joint venture between Durham County Council and B and N Housing. It incorporates wheelchair
A TEENAGER left critically injured in an incident outside a football clubhouse was probably an innocent bystander as trouble flared, police have revealed. Seventeen-year-old Alex Harker continues to fight for his life tonight following surgery at Newcastle
MINERS' leader Arthur Scargill was the guest speaker at a trade union rally on Saturday. Members of several Teesside unions, including those representing newly-redundant steel and shipyard workers, gathered at the Cleveland Trade Union and Unemployed
Yorkshire-born Hollywood film maker Ken Annakin is back in the North-East tonight. CALIFORNIA has been film-maker Ken Annakin's home for the past 22 years, but he's never stopped being a Yorkshireman. The Beverley-born writer and director, who'll be 87
TERRY VENABLES admitted on Saturday night that two days would seem like two weeks as Middlesbrough wait to learn their Premiership fate. Only an improbable victory by relegation rivals Manchester City at fifth-placed Ipswich tonight can prolong Boro's
A COUNCIL hit by a rash of foot-and-mouth cases is stepping up its bid for recognition. Richmond District Council's chief executive, Harry Tabiner, has written to Environment Minister Michael Meacher to say that the area has been hit as hard as Cumbria
A public transport network, giving people access to some of the region's most scenic countryside, has been reopened. The Moorsbus service has returned to the North York Moors National Park, after services were cancelled last month, because of the foot-and-mouth
AN off-duty officer who was stabbed by a youth attempting to steal his car was lucky not to have been killed in the attack, a senior police officer said today. Pc Robert Aynsley, 33, was attacked with a knife or screwdriver while trying to arrest a teenager
THIS year's fundraising National Trust spring plant fairs take place this weekend. The Inner City Project will have plants for sale at Holy Jesus Hospital, in Newcastle, on Saturday, from 11am to 4pm. On Sunday, it will be held at Souter Lighthouse, on
AN Army band is aiming to hit the right note with two groups of pupils when they hold a series of workshops later this month. The Band and Bugles of the Light Division will join the 1st Battalion the Light Infantry, at the Imphal Barracks, in York, during
TWO arts students are preparing to perform in a musical later in the summer. Sarah Warbey, 13, and Alex Robinson, eight, will spend three weeks in Surrey preparing for a three-night run of a musical version of Jane Eyre at the Epsom Playhouse in August
COUNTY Durham's mental health service has won a national award for the way it looks after its buildings. The County Durham and Darlington Priority Services Trust was highly commended in the NHS Building Better Health Care Awards for the way it manages
AN investigation has been launched into a suspected arson attack on a church. Half of the roof at the South Bank Mission, at Normanby Road, South Bank, in Middlesbrough, was destroyed in the blaze on Saturday afternoon. Fire officers spent almost three
CYCLISTS and pedestrians are to get a better deal in a plan to spend more than £3m on road improvements at Scarborough. A sum of £470,000 is to be spent on cycleways over the next five years, with £230,000 on pedestrian walkways, according to North Yorkshire
SUNDERLAND brought down the curtain at the Stadium of Light with a rousing last home game of the season - a thrilling game of attacking football which hung in the balance until the final whistle. It might not have been a game for the purists - especially
CLUB cricketers in the North-East are helping to spread word about the game in eastern Europe. Durham City are helping haulier Bill Troup to make an instructional video about the rudiments of cricket to show to enthusiasts in Romania. Mr Troup, from Trimdon
UNCERTAINTY surrounds the future of more than 2,700 elderly care home residents caught up in a funding row. Private home owners are in dispute with Durham County Council over the fees they are paid to look after elderly people. They have rejected the
A WORLD champion canoeist made a splash with youngsters at coaching sessions, on Saturday. Stephen Train, the world canoe 2 champion, passed on some tips at the new Castlegate Quay Watersports Centre, in Stockton. The event was organised by Stockton Borough
NORTH Yorkshire has benefited from major investment from the European Union which has created a total of about 21,500 new jobs in Yorkshire. The Government Office for Yorkshire and Humber said that, in addition, 68,253 businesses have been helped. "Over
A NORTH Yorkshire community is to play a key role in deciding how a cash injection of £400,000 will be spent over the next four years. Residents of Whitby are to be involved in drawing up an action plan alongside officers from Scarborough Borough Council
MINERS' leader Arthur Scargill was the guest speaker at a trade union rally on Saturday. Members of several Teesside unions, including those representing newly-redundant steel and shipyard workers, gathered at the Cleveland Trade Union and Unemployed
CONNOR Carr saved his mother's life twice in less than a year - and he is only three years old. The youngster, from Highfield, Rowlands Gill, near Gateshead, won a Daily Mirror Pride of Britain award earlier this year after he dialled 999 when his mother
THE RACE DEBATE I HAVE an addition to make to Ian Lamming's considerations on the pedigree of the British race (Echo, May 1). According to Professor Sykes of the University of Oxford in his latest DNA tests, everyone whose maternal grandmothers were born
