South Northumberland's stunning victory over Chester-le-Street last weekend has thrown the race for the championship wide open and with just four games to play Benwell Hill's lead is now a precarious three points. Only a week ago the Hill were firm favourites
Two goals in the last minute from Fulham, spoilt Middlesbrough's record buy as Maffimo Maccarone's home bow at the Riverside this afternoon. Maccarone, an 8.15 million pound buy from Italian side Empoli, struck two fine goals but they proved not enough
NEVER have Durham profited so handsomely from left-handers as they did on a rain-interrupted third day against Essex at Colchester. The Pratt brothers and Ashley Thorpe all scored half-centuries to build a second innings total of 323 for eight, giving
LOW fares airline bmibaby plans to establish a third UK regional base in 2003. And the North-East's two airports, Teesside and Newcastle have not ruled themselves out of the running. Bmibaby has only been operational since the early part of this year,
THE case for dualling the A66 was graphically illustrated yesterday when five people were injured on what has become known as Britain's most dangerous road. The incident came only 24 hours after the Government confirmed it was to invest more than £140m
FOUR years after a dream holiday in South Africa, Margaret Hoyle Fox still bears the scars. On a visit to the Cango Wildlife Ranch, in Oudtshoorn, she was encouraged to stroke a cheetah by a tour guide who compared the animal to a domestic cat. But just
RESIDENTS whose lives are made a misery by unruly youths may soon have some peace if plans for a barrier are given the go-ahead. For the past two years, people living in Marion Avenue, Eaglescliffe, Teesside, have put up with youngsters hurling abuse,
NURSES' ideas on improving patients' experiences in hospital are being promoted in a good practice guide. More than 50 ideas from senior nurses at the University Hospital of North Durham, ranging from simple information leaflets to nurses taking on extra
THE family of jailed deaf charity worker Ian Stillman reacted with hope yesterday that the Indian President could be about to set him free. In an interview in London on Thursday, the Indian Dep-uty Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, said the President
DESPITE the problems faced by fashion chain The Designer Room, the Hartlepool store has a positive future, experts said yesterday. The chain, which has 46 outlets nationwide, went into administration in June with 18 of its stores having to close. However
MOBILE phone company Orange has launched its new photo messaging service which it hopes will herald a new era in the industry. The new technology allows people to take digital photographs with a camera clipped on to their handset and send it to other
WORKERS have stumbled on the first medieval pottery site to be found in the Yorkshire Dales. A team from Yorkshire Water, working on a £1.8m water pipeline, made their discovery at Healey, near Masham, North Yorkshire. Small fragments of pottery were
A SKIVING doctor given compassionate leave after claiming his sister died in the September 11 terror attack on New York, was yesterday suspended by the General Medical Council (GMC). Dr Sidharth Sahni, a senior house officer in plastic surgery, was suspended
NORTH-East pop hopeful Aaron Bayley is looking forward to playing his second outdoor concert in the region tomorrow night. The Geordie singer, who found fame as the cheeky train driver searching for stardom on ITV's Pop Idol, will be among a host of acts
A YOUNG goalkeeper whose death led to landmark allegations of rough play during a game, is lying in an unmarked grave in a North-East cemetery. Sunderland keeper Jimmy Thorpe died at the age of 22 following a home game against Chelsea, in 1936, described
HE STOOD with eyes closed and watched by millions of people - yet in a world of his own as he remembered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. For Manchester United football star David Beckham, the minute's silence at last night's match with Chelsea had special
ROAD building schemes in the countryside will always draw criticism from environmental campaigners. Debate over the merits of such schemes reflect the delicate balance which has to be struck between the needs of the economy and the environment. We fully
BUILDING contractors are planning to use a helicopter as a giant dryer, in a gamble to get workers back on a North-East site. Britain's poor summer has taken its toll on the development of a 230-acre business park, with standing water causing construction
THE introduction of breast screening has led to a drop in mastectomy rates, not an increase, as some scientists have suggested, according to a new study. Researchers, who studied almost 60,000 women, found the rates of breast removal surgery fell by almost
COMEBACK kings Paul Smith and Tommy Widdrington have been tipped to give Hartlepool United the boost they need for their weekend double header. The pair are back in contention for starting roles at Torquay this afternoon and Pool goalkeeper Anthony Williams
SIR MICHAEL STOUTE has a well-known passion for cricket, but with so many fancied runners up and down the country he'll have trouble keeping tabs on the score in the Test match at Headingly as well as shouting his own horses home. Stoute lifted the lid
SIR BOBBY ROBSON has saluted Kevin Keegan for "rousing the sleeping giant'' at Newcastle United. Robson's Magpies face one-time boss Keegan when Premiership football returns to Manchester City today. The clash is also one of eight that both men must undertake
AFTER all the hysteria that has surrounded Kevin Keegan and Manchester City's return to the Premiership, it is time for Mighty Mouse to start flexing his muscles. A 3-0 opening-day defeat at Leeds United hardly constitutes a crisis; neither would a loss
THE business world has welcomed news of the A66 upgrade - but warned it should be completed as quickly as possible. Work to build a dual carriageway along its entire length is expected to speed up access between key arterial routes the A1 and M6 and bring
It may look like any other common young pigeon, but the bird known as GB 02 V 02922 has left even the Queen in her wake. As part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations pigeon fanciers from all over the country had birds racing in the Royal Pigeon Racing One
Q I am a 59 year old full time carer to my wife aged 57 who has dementia. We each get Incapacity Benefit (IB) of £70.95 a week and she has maximum Disability Living Allowance. Our council tax is reduced but is there any way of improving our benefit situation
THE advertising department will like this bit. Improbable among the steak houses and show houses in our TV and entertainments section 7Days - the other week - was a simply worded ad for something called a "continuing" Anglican church. It worked - a 33
Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly treated England's pace attack with contempt in a fearsome onslaught which left the shell-shocked hosts with no place to hide in the Headingley gloom last night. Tendulkar (185 not out) reached his 30th Test century
A TINY North-East snail will next week take centre stage at the most important environmental gathering the world has seen in ten years. The only English site for the round-mouthed whorl snail, which is only half a millimetre across, is on damp hillsides
Darlington today go into their toughest challenge of the season so far, but boss Tommy Taylor insists it's not time for the alarm bells to start ringing yet. A reverse at Rochdale would leave Taylor with just four points from a possible 12 and Quakers
DRIVING back from the Lake District yesterday morning, the A66 was its usual wonderful self. There were wide open spaces on the dual carriageways over the summit of Stainmore - one of the most spectacular stretches of major road in Britain - where cars
Prime Minister Tony Blair has led the tributes to the Bishop of Durham, who has announced his retirement. The Right Reverend Michael Turnbull, a lifelong cricket fan, revealed his decision during a test match at Headingley, Leeds, on Saturday. The 66-
THE family of a nine-year-old girl killed in one of Britain's most notorious child murder cases have broken their silence to call for the reintroduction of the death penalty for child sex killers. Speaking 16 years after Nicola Fellows and her friend
A RED-FACED navigation expert was left high and dry when he sailed his yacht too close to the shore and ran aground on a mudbank. Captain Peter Mitchell, a former lecturer in marine navigation, was stranded for seven hours and had to be rescued by lifeboat
Manchester City 1 - 0 Newcastle Utd: Former Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan was celebrating today after his stylish Mancunian outfit proved just too good for Sir Bobby Robson's Magpies. In a battle of the former England bosses Keegan won the tactical confrontation
THE reward on offer for information leading to the identity of a driver who left a cyclist dying in the road in North Yorkshire a year ago yesterday increased to £6,000. The family of Stefan Forge have put up a £5,000 reward for information that will
EXPERTS believe at least four chicks have been bred by a rare pair of birds nesting in the region, exceeding all expectations. The pair of bee-eaters are the first to successfully raise a family in Britain for almost 50 years. The fledgling chicks are
A TEENAGER who raped a paralysed woman while he was high on cocaine was ordered yesterday to be detained for seven years. Adrian Thwaites, 17, had smashed his way into the 43-year-old stroke victim's home at 2am and raped her. Police found the woman,
THE region's airports look set to be extremely busy over the bank holiday weekend, with many people taking advantage of an extra day off work. Every aircraft flying out of Teesside Airport is full, with destinations including Arrecife, Faro, Ibiza, Mahon
ANIMAL-loving TV presenter Claire Montgomery found herself making news instead of reporting it yesterday. Montgomery, who has been a news presenter with Tyne Tees TV for five years, opened the new People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) shop at Yoden
A report from the TUC claims workers in the region receive the lowest amount of holidays in Western Europe. It says 38,000 people in the North-East are losing out on holidays due to a loophole in the Working Time directive, while a further 21,000 are
Such overwhelming images of public grief have not been seen since the death of Princess Diana five yers ago. Linsay Jennings looks at the public response to the death of two little girls. THERE have not been scenes like it in Britain since the death of
ENVIRONMENTALISTS have condemned the Government's decision to invest millions of pounds in a new dual carriageway across the Pennines, claiming an upgraded A66 could herald a new surge of road-building across the UK. Transport Minister John Spellar confirmed
A MAN has appeared before magistrates in Newcastle accused of trying to abduct a four-year-old boy in the city's Exhibition Park, on Wednesday afternoon. Kevin McMullen, 49, of Derwentwater Road, Gateshead, was charged with detaining a child under 16,
A VILLAGE social club will travel back in time tonight to celebrate its humble beginnings. Waldridge Fell Workingmen's Club, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, started life in August 1902 in a hut next to the drift mine where most of its members worked
A SCHOOLBOY who groped girl classmates during lessons was last night placed on the sex offenders' register after being found guilty of ten charges of indecent assault. The 15-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, showed no emotion as magistrates
A TEAM of bobbies will put their best feet forward when they take part in a 24-hour charity relay event. Twelve officers of all ranks from Whickham police station, Gateshead, have signed up for Cancer Research UK's Relay for Life, at the Monkton Stadium
A North-East youngster is about to make his television debut. Jed Riddell, of Spennymoor, County Durham, beat hundreds of children to win a role in an advertisement for Nestle All Stars sweets. The talented 12-year-old and five other youngsters will be
A BUMPER grant is a step in the right direction for a dance group. Northern Arts has given performing arts organisation Tees Dance Initiative (TDI) £60,000 to deliver a dance programme targeted on Middlesbrough. The Arts Council of England received 300
POLICE last night stepped up their presence in a North-East town centre amid what they described as "heightened tension" between rival gangs. Riot vans and uniformed police patrolled the streets of Darlington in a high-profile visibility exercise to alleviate
Guisborough, who experienced their worst couple of days for a long time when they were beaten by leaders Saltburn and by Barnt Green in the semi-final of the ECB National Knockout Cup last weekend, have a fight on their hands to retain the championship
YOUNG Mike was spending his birthday at school when his teacher wheeled a TV set into the classroom. The news channel was reporting on a piece of history that he felt his pupils should witness. They saw the twin towers of the World Trade Centre collapse
Just like last week darlington missed several chances in front of goal which cost them points at Rochdale today. Darlington drew 1 - 1 but were by far the better side and the draw meant it was two points lost. Quakers had got off to a slow start with
GLOBAL warming has plenty to answer for these days. Just ask the executive at Redcar, forced to abandon their two-day weekend fixture earlier this month thanks to some of the worst summer flooding witnessed this century. Fortunately the weather has been
Darlington this evening pulled off one of the biggest shocks in North-East football history by announcing the imminent signing of Colombian international Faustino Asprilla. Asprilla could become a Darlington player by as early as Tuesday if he obtains
Thousands of people turned out for the first two days of the Orange Darlington Festival over the weekend for a feast of music and street entertainment. And thousands more are expected for the closing night of the event this evening, headlined by tribute
Christmas is set to arrive four months earlier for a town's vandal plagued traders. Shop keepers at Eston, near Middlesbrough, have endured vandalism, arson attacks and break-ins over many months. Now a massive town centre redevelopment is set to go ahead
Kevin Phillips had a penalty save as Sunderland slipped to a 1 - 0 defeat at home to Everton. Phillips was denied from the spot after 70 minutes by Richard Wright, who had conceded the spot kick when he barged over over Niall Quinn. The only goal of the
The group behind a vital training scheme for youngsters in North Yorkshire has pledged to continue with its work should it lose support from the county council. The authority is currently considering whether it should withdraw from providing apprenticeship
PETER Reid admitted last night that his frustrating Search for a Striker has sent him "bonkers". The Sunderland manager let slip his exasperation over his inability to tempt a forward to the Stadium of Light with the transfer deadline just a week away
Hylton are now odds-on favourites to win the championship after their long drawn-out saga of the cancelled game with Houghton took yet another twist this week. Initially, the League decreed that the result should be a draw. Hylton protested and were awarded
A CAREER in showbusiness beckons for Big Brother's Jonny Regan, who has landed a role in pantomime. The 29-year-old, from Trimdon Station, County Durham, is returning to the jokey ways that made him so popular on the Channel 4 show. A firefighter in Peterlee
A television ghost hunting team claim they have found the identity of the spirit haunting a North-East lighthouse - and she has a very famous aunt. In 1838, Grace Darling earned her reputation as the country's most celebrated maritime heroine when she
Darlington chairman George Reynolds will look to thrash out a deal to bring Colombian striker Faustino Asprilla back to English football over the next 24 hours. The 32-year-old former Newcastle star was back in the North East today for talks with Reynolds
MIDDLESBROUGH manager Steve McClaren last night insisted that Alen Boksic is part of his long-term plans. The Croatia striker, whose two years on Teesside have been blighted by niggling injuries, is said to be a target for European champions Real Madrid
