WHEN Walt Disney selected Lloyd the Dalmatian for a role in the sequel to 101 Dalmatians his owner was thrilled. The movie studio had launched a nationwide hunt for pups to make up the numbers for 102 Dalmatians, which was filmed in Britain. There was
AT 29, Colin Lynch thought his best days on the pitch were behind him. But winning a Sunderland FC competition means he will soon be dashing around the Black Cats' training pitch like a starstruck schoolboy. Yesterday, manager Peter Reid welcomed his
THREE people were banned for life yesterday from keeping any animal in what magistrates called the worst case of neglect they had ever seen. Two dogs were abandoned in the yard of an empty house in Thornaby, Teesside, when the two women and a man moved
HAMBLETON'S newest councillor is back down to earth after a victory over the Tories which earned him the personal thanks of the Prime Minister. Tony Blair was among the first to congratulate Jack Dobson on clinching the Northallerton West seat on Hambleton
A WOMAN was warned over her future behaviour after escaping a prison sentence in connection with a glass attack in a night club "cat fight". Angela Mulcahy admitted causing grievous bodily harm to another woman in the incident at Crocodillo's, in Chester-le-Street
THE Darlington branch of the human rights campaign group Amnesty International is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month. Over the past 25 years, the group has worked on behalf of prisoners of conscience around the world and against injustice and
A COUNCIL chief has come up with a novel nautical idea to raise money for her chosen charity. Chairman of the District of Easington Audrey Laing is organising a boat trip to raise funds for the Chin Up group. The public are invited to join her aboard
MORE details about the jobs below are available from the Employment Service Direct on (0845) 606 0234. Joiner, Thirsk. £6 to £7ph, 40hrs pw, temporary, must be 25-plus. Clean driving licence essential. Experience in other aspects of building work an advantage
A NEW ballet gets its world premiere in the North-East tomorrow. Debbie McGee's dance company, Ballet Imaginaire, will be performing her work Phantom - the Ballet, at the Civic Theatre, in Darlington. Although Debbie will not be taking to the stage herself
MORE details about the jobs below are available from the Employment Service Direct on (0845) 606 0234. Assistant conference/banqueting, Crathorne. £13,000-£15,500pa, live-in, full-time, 5 days over 7. Required for staff training, conference and banqueting
INCREASED car parking charges for council workers could be introduced to encourage employees to leave their cars at home. The charges could form part of Darlington Borough Council's employee travel plan to improve the environment and encourage other businesses
MORE details about the jobs below are available from the Employment Service Direct on (0845) 606 0234. Conference and banqueting staff, Seaham. £4.10ph, part-time. Experience in similar role essential. Bar experience an advantage. Ref: SHE 4549. Driver
Welcome back, and to a catch up column embracing everything from cricket to crab racing. Firstly to cricket and news that the Racecourse at Durham - the University base - is on a shortlist of six to find England's most attractive ground. Others include
FOOTBALLERS from Peterlee will prove they are on the ball when they kick off a match with an Army cup-winning side today. A team from the East Durham College accepted a challenge from the 1st Battalion The Light Infantry, who won the Army's Infantry Cup
A SCRAP company ignored repeated warnings about waste dumped at an unlicensed site it operated, a court was told. Environment Agency inspectors "bent over backwards" to persuade Cornforth Metals to improve the site at West Cornforth, in County Durham.
A CHEMICAL time bomb could lie ticking beside some of the region's rivers, an academic has warned. Farmers and environmental campaigners have joined a university team studying the pollution effects of last autumn's floods in North Yorkshire in calling
A FARMER who diversified into the hotel industry is reaping the rewards with a harvest of accolades. David and Heather Armstrong decided to turn their farm at Croft-on-Tees, near Darlington, into a hotel in 1988 starting out with just two guest rooms.
MUSICIANS from America start a week of entertainment around Darlington today, with three performances in the town's Market Square. Clean Slate, a contemporary Christian group from Vermont, will play at 11.30am, 12.30pm and 1.30pm, before moving on to
NOT only Cinders, but thousands will be going to the ball at a North-East theatre. Ticket sales for the pantomime Cinderella, being produced at the Billingham Forum, Teesside, this Christmas, are up 40 per cent on this time last year. Manager Derek Cooper
WEAR Valley District Council has given planning permission to the following projects: An illuminated sign at Barclays Bank, Wolsingham; stone sculpture at The Green, Hunwick Lane, for Sunnybrow Residents' Association; two-storey extension and conservatory
OLD school friends are promised a night of nostalgia at a Battle of Britain celebration on Thursday. John Kirkpatrick is hoping former classmates at the Alderman Wraith Grammar School, in Spennymoor, will join other revellers at a fundraising dance at
DISCUSSIONS take place today on setting up a disinfection point on the A66 corridor, to stop the disease advancing into County Durham. Dales farmers are nervously watching the spread of the disease in the Kirkby Stephen area of Cumbria - ever nearer to
A COUNTY council has been criticised by government inspectors for the low standard of its information and communications technology (ICT) service. An independent report gave Durham County Council's use and provision of ICT services one star, saying it
A TEENAGER was punched in the face and the head by a trio of youths who stole his baseball cap in a daylight robbery attack in Darlington town centre. The 14-year-old boy was left with bruising and a lump on the back of his head after the attack on Sunday
THREE environmentally-aware youngsters from North Yorkshire have devised an information pack to help Darlington's 100,000 residents to think green. Eighteen-year-olds Zoe Davies and Angela Hutchinson, from Great Smeaton, and Natalie Wagstaff, from Northallerton
A GROUP of cowboys and cowgirls are heading for Darlington to raise money for a local hospice. The Beck House Drama Group are staging a country and western show at the Gateway Club, in Salters Lane, Darlington, to raise money for St Teresa's Hospice.
AN elderly couple have been forced from their home after an alleged arson attack in a condemned street yesterday. The fire started at a derelict house in Chapel Row, Ferryhill Station, which has been scheduled for demolition. It quickly spread to the
THE case against a teacher who faced court for a second time charged with sex offences has been halted by a judge. Robert Michael Pendlington, who was head of geography at a Teesside school, had been accused of six offences of indecency against children
A CAMPAIGN to rejuvenate Britain's oldest Georgian theatre will be given a fitting backdrop later this month. Volunteers will dress in period costume when they attend one of the region's biggest antiques fairs, between Thursday, and Tuesday, September
ANNOYED manager Steve McClaren last night firmly denied that he was about to walk away from his England coaching role to focus completely on improving Middlesbrough's dreadful Premiership position. McClaren, who will be hoping his side win their first
CHILDREN as young as 12 are being treated for sexually transmitted diseases, it was revealed last night. Dr Sarup Tayal, head of Hartlepool General Hospital's genito-urinary medicine (GUM) department, said growing numbers of children were needing treatment
LOGISTICS group Hays attempted to brush aside concerns about economic slowdown after revealing that its personnel arm had an exceptional year. The firm warned in June that economic slowdown in a range of sectors meant full-year profits would be significantly
A farmer may face hefty fines after breaching pig movement regulations. Alan Clement was yesterday convicted in his absence of seven counts of failing to keep records last year of the movement of pigs from his farm in Roddymoor, near Crook, County Durham
AN engineering firm has been convicted for breaches of safety regulations after a woman's thumb was amputated by an unguarded machine. Vehicle gasket maker Elring Klingor (Great Britain) Ltd, of Troisdorf Way, Kirk-leatham Business Park, Redcar, east
JUDGES of this year's Northumbria in Bloom competition have hailed the region's colourful towns and cities for producing the highest ever standard of entries. More than 30 awards were handed out at The Stadium of Light, Sunderland, in the competition
CORUS, the former British Steel, which has axed more than 10,000 jobs, including 1,000 in the North-East this year, has seen its pre-tax losses for the first six months mount to £230m. The steelmaker, which has been hit by the strong pound and harsh competition
MILLIONS of pensioners, homeowners and small investors were holding their breath last night in the face of a £36.6bn stock market meltdown. Despite staging a late rally yesterday, analysts warned of further bad news to come as fears of a world recession
ONE of the region's oldest residents celebrated her 106th birthday on Saturday. Marion Blacklock was born in Edinburgh and has lived at The Terrace nursing home, in Richmond, North Yorkshire, since 1993. She worked at a Tyneside munitions factory during
IT WAS third time lucky for brave bully victim Joanne Geldart who wrote three letters pleading for a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair before she got her wish. The schoolgirl finally met the Premier in his Sedgefield constituency, in
ZURBURAN I WOULD like to ask the people of Bishop Auckland, would you really lose any sleep if those 13 pictures in Auckland Castle were flogged off abroad? I mean, aren't the local intelligentsia going right over the top with this talk about them being
I'M SPENDING Saturday night on the tiles but I have vowed to dine out healthily, so I plump for a starter of tomato soup and a basket of bread followed by sea bass in garlic sauce and couscous, vegetables and a small heap of potatoes in sauce. Things
MORE details about the jobs below are available from the Employment Service Direct on (0845) 606 0234. Spray operator, Durham/ Teesside, £5ph, 7.30am to 5pm Mon-Fri, experience of commercial weed control sprayer or NPTC/PAY/6/2 preferred, clean driving
A web browser with potential in health service and industry applications, has been launched nationally by a North Yorkshire company. Medical information Support and Advisory Network (Misanet), developed by Neotouch in York, is already in use at Grampian
THREE people were banned for life yesterday from keeping any animal in what magistrates called the worst case of neglect they had ever seen. Two dogs were abandoned in the yard of an empty house in Thornaby, Teesside, when the two women and a man moved
OLYMPIC 1500m gold medallist Noah Ngeny, who ended middle distance legend Hicham El Guerrouj's four-year unbeaten run, will star in Tyneside's BUPA Great North Run Mile on Saturday. The 22-year-old Kenyan, who won the 1500m in the Goodwill Games in Australia
A SENIOR detective yesterday spoke of his alarm at the "sport" of random violence that led to the death of a North-East teenager. Paul Smith, 18, died from a head injury after he was punched in an apparently unprovoked attack involving two youths on Saturday
A PROJECT which breathed new life into redundant stables on a North Yorkshire estate has scooped an award. The conversion at Aske Hall, near Richmond, was named as the winner of the Yorkshire Award by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors at a
KNOWN as the Squire of all England, George Osbaldeston was unruffled when he was accidentally shot in the eye on a hunting trip by one of his companions. "I knew you would hit something eventually," he said. A noted gambler, his last wager - when he was
A HOMESICK Scotsman who butchered a lone vagrant in a frenzied knife attack after his girlfriend rejected him is facing life behind bars. Gary Findlay, 35, was found lying in a pool of blood near a taxi office in Byker, Newcastle, in the early hours of
A FLOWER festival which defied last year's petrol crisis by attracting more than 30,000 people is set for another bumper attendance. Advance ticket sales for Harrogate's Autumn Flower Show, which runs from Friday until Sunday, are up by 22 per cent. Show
THE team behind the £10m regeneration of a Sunderland estate has moved into new headquarters. A former branch of Barclays Bank in St Luke's Terrace is the new home for officials working on the seven-year revamp of Ford and Pallion. The scheme, funded
A LAWYER has been cleared of charges of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. Jane Scott, a solicitor based at Hartlepool, walked free from Teesside Crown Court yesterday, after a judge decided the case against her should not go ahead. Solicitor
A FURTHER blow has been dealt to student teachers who had hoped to qualify for the Government's lauded £6,000 training salary. The incentive is aimed at plugging the teacher shortages crisis, described as being at its worst point for 36 years. Those who
RESIDENTS have joined forces in a bid to halt plans for a controversial lap dancing club to extend its opening hours. Angels, in Dovecot Street, Stockton, opens from 5pm to 11pm, Thursday to Saturday, but owner Christopher Neil would like to extend the
AN elderly couple have been forced from their home after an alleged arson attack in a condemned street yesterday. The fire started at a derelict house in Chapel Row, Ferryhill Station, which has been scheduled for demolition. It quickly spread to the
WORK has begun on the restoration of a 100-year-old municipal park. Northern Water Environmental Trust (Nwet) board member Tim Hibbert mounted a digger to signal the start of work in Richardson Dees Park, in Wallsend. The project is being carried out
A TELEPHONE sex pest believed to be responsible for hundreds of perverted calls to teenagers, mostly in the Darlington area, has resurfaced after more than two years. The man is thought to have been responsible for around 50 calls in 1998 alone, but his
DURHAM members have voted wicketkeeper Andrew Pratt as the club's Player of the Year in his first full season of first team cricket. Martin Speight was preferred for the opening game of the season against Durham University, but when he was injured Pratt
A GROUP of young people walked away with a range of prizes after proving winners in a talent show. Up to 20 people took part in the contest at the Washington shopping centre, with three winning acts chosen by independent judges. The winner was Lynsey
FARMERS will urge Richmond's shoppers to "fall in love with local food" at the weekend in an effort to limit the impact of the foot-and-mouth crisis. After months of careful debate, the town's first farmers' market has been given the go-ahead to be held
A HOLIDAY company are investigating after a woman claimed her daughter's life was put in danger by a dirty hotel room. Jean Bailey of Lowson Street, Darlington went on holiday earlier this year to the Isle of Wight with her seven-year-old daughter Fay
A PLANNING blueprint for a North Yorkshire village has been hailed as a golden opportunity to influence future restoration and development. Following two years' work, a village design statement for Kirkby Malzeard, near Ripon, has just been completed.
A HARD-working consumer watchdog has received a national award. Redcar and Cleveland Trading Standards department dealt with more than 1,800 consumer complaints last year, more than 3,000 general inquiries and helped win financial redress totalling more
A GROUP of cowboys and cowgirls are heading for Darlington to raise money for a local hospice. The Beck House Drama Group are staging a country and western show at the Gateway Club, in Salters Lane, Darlington, to raise money for St Teresa's Hospice.
THERE is still time for budding poets to support World Sight Day. Darlington Lions have joined forces with The Northern Echo to launch a poetry competition to mark World Sight Day on Thursday, October 11. The day aims to raise awareness of preventable
A £1m events and conference centre which aims to boost the region's tourism industry has been opened at a County Durham hotel. Redworth Hall Hotel's new owner, Paramount, has spend more than £2m on improvements since it took over the business two years
TWO airliners smashed into the World Trade Centre in New York within minutes of each other today, causing thousands of deaths and catastrophic desctruction. Eyewitnesses said the aircraft appeared to have been deliberately flown into the landmark
CHILDREN as young as 12 are being treated for sexually transmitted diseases, it was revealed last night. Dr Sarup Tayal, head of Hartlepool General Hospital's genito-urinary medicine (GUM) department, said growing numbers of children were needing treatment
FIREFIGHTERS were last night fighting a massive fire which broke out at a scrapyard, producing a column of acrid smoke visible up to 20 miles away. Fire chiefs said the blaze, which broke out at about 2.15pm at Robinson's yard, in Factory Road, on the
HOLD on to your hat. This column is going to get rather rough today. Every year in September, the most eminent scientists get together under the banner of the British Association and read lectures to one another about... well, science. Now we all know
Darlington PR Director Luke Raine has called on the club's fans to continue backing the Quakers as the team builds a promotion bid. Attendances at Feethams have steadily increased this season with Saturday's game at home to Carlisle drawing exactly 1,000
AN alcoholic teenager stole a young boy's specially designed and built mountain bike, worth £600, Teesside Crown Court was told yesterday. Mark O'Neil, 18, of Winlatter Place, Newton Aycliffe, admitted a charge of robbery. Peter Johnson, prosecuting,
A POET is teaming up with a Danish popstar and a samba band to help take the mystery out of poetry. Singer-songwriter Louise Dal and Sunderland's SunSamba drum band will join Durham County Council's poet-in residence, Kevin Cadwallender, for a roadshow
A MAN is still fighting for his life in hospital after a collision with a car in a public park, say police. Paul Rumney, 42, of Shiney Row, near Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside, suffered head injuries and a collapsed lung, in the crash at fields near Biddick
A WOMAN getting her teeth into a campaign to end exploitation of plantation workers in the Third World, has been giving businesses and residents of one Teesside town food for thought. Joanne Smithson, of Sadberge, near Darlington won her a £2,000 Millennium
A VANDAL is increasing the heartache of a murder victim's grieving mother. The unseen wrecker is targeting five-year-old sex victim Margaret Lowther's grave in a cemetery at Stockton, Teesside. The attacks started the day after what would have been her
FOUR more houses in Newton Aycliffe are to be added to a demolition programme. Sedgefield Borough Council has already scheduled 66 properties and 66 garages for demolition in the next year. Most of them are in the west end of Newton Aycliffe, although
THE case against a teacher who faced court for a second time charged with sex offences has been halted by a judge. Robert Michael Pendlington, who was head of geography at a Teesside school, had been accused of six offences of indecency against children
TEN years of reflecting on First World War battlefields will go on show in County Durham at the weekend. Landscape artist and peace campaigner Robert Perry has produced an exhibition, called Echoes of War 1914-18, which opens at the Durham Light Infantry
THE owners of a Jaguar car repair centre have applied for planning permission to turn it into a scrapyard. Eurojag repairs cars at Sovereign House, Hurworth Moor, near Darlington. The company has applied to Darlington Borough Council to be allowed to
THE new Richmond Post Office opened its doors to the public for the first time yesterday. The counter service relocated at the weekend from Queen's Road to the former Tabwell Tools store, in Finkle Street. Management are satisfied the new base nearer
A CHARITY has literally been left counting the cost of a theft. Burglars have stolen a computer holding details of the accounts and finances of the Stockton Multiple Sclerosis Group. The Hewlett Packard computer was bought with National Lottery money
POLICE are advising drivers of potential traffic and parking problems during the Darlington dog show. The championship show, which is being staged at the town's South Park on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, has attracted thousands of people in previous years
FINAL preparations are being made for an art exhibition geared to challenge all five senses. The show, Expanding the Edges, aims to banish the idea that art in a gallery is purely a visual experience. Five artists showcasing their work at the Cleveland
A MILK float, a horse-drawn carriage and even a purple pizza delivery van are among the modes of transport used to carry a message from the Queen around Yorkshire this week. Contained in a capsule the size of a Thermos flask, the note from Buckingham
POLICE accident investigators were last night still waiting to speak to a driver who was injured on a notorious cross-country road. The 47-year-old Glaswegian and his seven-year-old passenger were lucky to escape with their lives when their car ran off
THE charity Aid to Poland has announced its plans following the death of founder Colin Appleyard. The Teesside charity, which delivered medical aid, equipment, clothing, toys, furniture and soft furnishings to orphanages throughout Poland, ceased operating
A HEROIN addict who broke into a house while a young man was baby-sitting was jailed for more than two years yesterday. John Browning, 19, of Glamis Walk, Hartlepool, admitted five charges including burglary at Teesside Crown Court. Richard Parcell, prosecuting
FRANKIE DETTORI enjoyed a weekend never to forget with a brace of Group 1 victories aboard the Godolphin stars Fantastic Light and Slickly. And the bubbly Italian was back amongst the winners at Newcastle yesterday booting home a double including the
MUSICIANS from America start a week of entertainment around Darlington today, with three performances in the town's Market Square. Clean Slate, a contemporary Christian group from Vermont, will play at 11.30am, 12.30pm and 1.30pm, before moving on to
POLICE are advising drivers of potential traffic and parking problems during the Darlington dog show. The championship show, which is being staged at the town's South Park on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, has attracted thousands of people in previous years
IT was the speech of barrister Nick Cartmel's life. Taking his feet, he addressed a hushed court in grave tones with the words: "The jury will be unaware of the very sad news we have had within the last hour." There were gasps from around the court as
THE owners of a Jaguar car repair centre have applied for planning permission to turn it into a scrapyard. Eurojag repairs cars at Sovereign House, Hurworth Moor, near Darlington. The company has applied to Darlington Borough Council to be allowed to
A farmer may face hefty fines after breaching pig movement regulations. Alan Clement was yesterday convicted in his absence of seven counts of failing to keep records last year of the movement of pigs from his farm in Roddymoor, near Crook, County Durham
SUNDERLAND manager Peter Reid will give youth its fling in tomorrow night's Worthington Cup second round away tie against Sheffield Wednesday. The Wearside boss has been delighted with the way 20-year-old central defender George McCartney has grabbed
THE first car plant to be built in the UK for eight years was opened by Honda president Hiroyuki Yoshino yesterday. The £130m factory at South Marston, near Swindon, Wiltshire, will create about 1,000 jobs and will produce an extra 100,000 vehicles a
A LABOUR MP involved in a curry house brawl in which a diner was left with a shattered jaw claimed yesterday the incident was a case of "handbags at five paces". Ronnie Campbell, the Labour MP for Blyth Valley, Northumberland, has denied allegations that
MORE details about the jobs below are available from the Employment Service Direct on (0845) 606 0234. Spray operator, Durham/Teesside, £5ph, 7.30am to 5pm Mon-Fri, experience of commercial weed control sprayer or NPTC/PAY/6/2 preferred, clean driving
Anyone looking for love need look no further than the TV screen. Forget lonely hearts columns and dating agencies in a bid to find your soulmate. It's a fact of life that TV has taken over as a prime method of locating Mr and Ms Right - a view reinforced
SCIENTISTS in the region have made an important breakthrough in the treatment of diabetes. Research carried out at Newcastle University has confirmed that a new drug seems to stop the disease in its tracks. If it is borne out by a larger trial, the drug
MORE than 100 jobs are in the pipeline as North-East companies take advantage of regional selective assistance (RSA) grants totalling £500,000. About 50 jobs will be created at food firm International Cuisine in Consett, which is expanding its 65,000sq
North-East housebuilder Haslam Homes has launched a new image as it celebrates one of its most successful years. Designed in-house at the company's head office in Doncaster, the branding encompasses everything from stationery and signs to the decor of
AS the bell rings to signal the start of lunchtime and the chairs scrape back as the pupils start to clear away their books, the teacher clears her throat for the obligatory end-of-lesson announcement. "This chemistry lesson has been brought to you by
BELEAGUERED retailer Marks and Spencer is aiming to boost customer numbers by opening four cut-price Outlet stores. The Outlet shops, which sell end-of-season clothes and toiletries at prices up to 30 per cent below regular M&S store prices, will
TODAY is a big day for Tony Blair. The big aim of his second term of Government is delivery in terms of improving public services. The big problem is that decades of under-investment have left everything, from our schools to our hospitals to our railways
TRAINEES from Stockton Borough Council have carved out a piece of the town with a bench commemorating the area's history. The Stockton themed oak bench features carvings representing Stockton Castle, an anchor for the town's nautical past and a sturgeon
PETER Barratt's Garden Centres has appointed a new manager for its Stockton branch. He is STEVE HARDY, from Hartlepool, who brings 20 years of retail experience with him from supermarket chain Safeway. In his new role he will be responsible for the day-to-day
THE family of a Darlington man, who witnessed the planes crashing into the World Trade Centre in New York, have described their fears for his safety. James Winter, 30, whose family lives in Parkside in Darlington, has an apartment near the famous building
DARLINGTON'S mayor has become the 200th member of a real ale organisation, to mark the start of the town's Rhythm and Brews Festival. Councillor Isobel Hartley became a member of Darlington's branch of Camra (the Campaign for Real Ale) and launched the
