CONSISTENT Sunderland Harriers are set to claim their 18th senior men's team title in 23 years in the final Durham Pine North Eastern Harrier League meeting at Prudhoe this afternoon. The defending champions had hoped to complete a grand slam of victories
Leaders Stokesley SC hope to take another step towards a league and cup double today by beating Wolviston in the semi-final of the Sunderland Shipowners' Cup. Secretary Peter Grainge has warned though that his side will find it difficult at Metcalf Park
MORE lives will be saved in the region after kind-hearted North-East residents raised more than £800,000 to fund a new air ambulance. Crowds gathered at the Baltic centre, on Gateshead Quays, yesterday, to celebrate the official arrival of a second air
AROUND eleven hours after Onyx - "first class boy/girl duo" - had left the stage at St Patrick's Men's Social Club in Thornaby, Fr Michael Keogh took to it to celebrate Mass. Had it been Riverdance up there, had it been pensioners' bingo night (Thursdays
THE ink on Peter Reid's eight-game contract had barely dried when one worried Leeds United fan outside Elland Road yesterday spoke of his greatest fear. "He might relegate two teams in the same season," the fan said, as Reid was talking about his pride
This time last year relegation to the Conference was all but assured for Matt Clarke. The gangly defender was then part of a Halifax side which had seemingly consigned itself to life outside the Football League almost as soon as the very first ball had
MAKE sure Adiemus (3.40) is on your short-list for the first big handicap of the Flat season, the Freephone Stanley Lincoln. It might not be very original tipping up the well-backed 9-2 ante-post favourite for the £100,000 mile contest, but reality kicks
AT the beginning of the week we were fighting the flab, thanks to BBC1's Diet Trials, by Thursday the battle of the bulge was a sideshow. I'm finding it difficult to be my usual flippant self concerning what's happening in Iraq, mainly because my daughter's
THERE are so many millions of new words being churned out day after day about war that there are hardly any left that are worth deploying in the battle to catch a reader's eye. Fortunately, many others have fought over the same ground before, and some
A TEENAGE girl has been left traumatised after being raped in an alleyway. The incident happened as she was walking home after spending an evening with friends, at about 8.45pm, on Tuesday, March 4. She was walking in an alleyway between Princess Road
NEWCASTLE UNITED were last night on the verge of bolstering their Premiership title challenge by signing Ipswich Town midfielder Darren Ambrose for £2.5m. Ambrose, 19, was expected to complete his move to Newcastle over the weekend after travelling to
HUNDREDS of private residential and nursing homes in the North-East are facing a double blow which could drive many out of business. Care homes have warned that a rise in the national minimum wage combined with a squeeze on local authority grants is about
SURRENDER talks were taking place between Iraqi officials and allied commanders early today as one of history's most ferocious aerial bombardments rained down on Baghdad. While the promised "shock and awe" onslaught through the night, speculation was
An Oscar winning performance may bring an actor 15 minutes of fame, but how many have then slipped into obscurity? Film Writer Steve Pratt scans the credits for the best nobodies. AS winners hold the gold-plated Oscars triumphantly aloft at the 75th Academy
BUSINESS leaders from across the Tees Valley threw their weight behind the Newcastle-Gateshead European Capital of Culture bid yesterday. The Tees Valley Partnership met at Samsung, near Hartlepool, to officially sign its support for the North-East neighbours
FOUR teenagers have appeared in court charged with assaulting a police officer. Detective Superintendent David Jones, of Durham Police, suffered facial and leg injuries following an incident near his home in Woodham, Newton Aycliffe, on March 13. Lee
An Oscar nomination for Frida is the icing on the cake for the actress who began acting in her native Mexico in the primetime soap Teresa. Steve Pratt reports. EVEN if Salma Hayek doesn't win the Oscar for best actress, she can console herself with the
FIVE men have been arrested in connection with violent disorder at a York City football match last year. Working with the Cumbria Constabulary, officers from North Yorkshire made the arrests at addresses in Carlisle yesterday morning. The operation followed
FRIENDS and family will gather next week to mourn the North-East woman killed in a car crash in Australia. Former model Nina Smith, from Blyth, Northumberland, died instantly when the Nissan Pajero she was travelling in crashed on the remote Barkly Highway
THE parents of human shield Antoinette McCormack told of their devastation last night as their daughter remained in Baghdad as bombs blew apart the Iraqi capital Mairi and John McCormack remained watching their television sets throughout the evening,
DAVID "DANDY" NICHOLLS has made his name as a trainer manufacturing top-class sprinters and the production line shows no sign of stopping with the emergence of another lightning fast speed star, Funfair Wane. Having won the Ayr Gold Cup on his final start
AN Old Bailey jury in the case of accused double killer Kyu Soo Kim retired briefly to consider its verdicts yesterday. But just minutes after being sent out by the judge, they were told to go home after a juror complained of feeling unwell. South Korean
MICK McCARTHY last night revealed he wants Sunderland's players to laugh and joke their way out of trouble - but stressed: "They're not walking round doing Tommy Cooper impressions." While Cooper made a successful career out of his flawed attempts at
A THEATRE has suffered another setback with the departure of its catering manager, less than a month after the re-launch of its failing restaurant. The restaurant, at Durham's Gala Theatre, was re-opened as The Studio last month after closing for refurbishment
Spennymoor start their push for an automatic promotion place at home to Chorley today, writes Ray Simpson. Moors' midweek win over Lincoln United put them into third place in the table, and now they want to swap a play-off spot for an automatic spot.
WAR AGAINST IRAQ: IN any war, it is the children who are affected first, and in the worst possible ways. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, knows from working in conflict situations around the world that children's survival, health, emotional
STOCKTON has beaten competition from Newcastle and Sunderland to host a national centre for street artists. As the existing host of the Stockton International Riverside Festival and the Billingham Folk Festival, the town was seen as the ideal venue for
Schools Standards Minister David Miliband praised the North East's "languages hit squad" on a visit to the region yesterday. Mr Miliband was at a regional event staged by the Regional Language Network North-East, at Sunderland's Stadium of Light, to hear
A NEW black comedy which is being shot in the North-East, is set to have its premier at a national film festival. Killer Cure stars a cast of disabled actors and actresses and is being filmed at Middlesbrough General Hospital. It is due to be screened
HUNDREDS of anti-war demonstrators are planning to take their protest to the heart of Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency today. Moving at the pace of a funeral cortege, hundreds of cars will travel in a bumper to bumper cavalcade across Teesside into
BLAYDON, desperate to stop the rot which has plunged them into the National Three North relegation mire, are counting on derby passion to help them beat Tynedale today. Originally frozen off on December 21, the match at Crow Trees is the first of two
ELECTRONICS firm Filtronic has been boosted by confident stockmarket trading predictions. The company, which employs more than 250 people in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, has recently seen its share price rise and was yesterday trading at 105p per share
ACTIVITIES have been revealed for this year's Spring Thing folk festival in the region. The 18th annual five-day music and dance festival will once again be hosted by Darlington Folk Club and Darlington Arts Centre. It will take place from Wednesday to
Q My state pension is £76.30 a week, my works pension is £23 a week and I have £14,000 in the building society. Can I get help with my council tax of £590 a year now and pensioner credit in October? A Yes and Yes. £4.73 a week council tax benefit now
SUNDERLAND'S Springwell Dene School, a £2m special educational needs facility serving 65 pupils aged 13 to 16, is among the finalists in the small buildings category of the Department of Trade and Industry National Quality in Construction Awards, to be
Following Howard Wilkinson's sudden and surprise departure from the Stadium of Light, Sunderland players have been gripped buy a reality check. Despite relegation being a near-certainty, Chief Sports Writer Steven Baker finds goalkeeper Thomas Sorenson
A SEX attacker who pounced after offering to give a woman a lift home late at night has been jailed. Instead of driving the 28-year-old home, Mark Mills, 34, drove to a secluded spot in New Kyo, near Stanley, County Durham, and subjected her to a 15-minute
BOSSES at an engineering firm which is shutting down its North-East operation rejected an offer to save jobs, it emerged last night. The Torrington plant, on Yarm Road industrial estate, in Darlington, will be phased out over the next 12 months with the
SIR BOBBY ROBSON last night urged Craig Bellamy not to panic after the striker admitted his frustration at failing to hit the goal trail. Bellamy, 23, was critical of his own finishing on Wednesday night after he did not convert any of his ten chances
THE family of the North-East schoolgirl found stabbed to death in her bedroom gathered to pay their last respects at her funeral yesterday. Twelve-year-old Natalie Ruddick was found in the family home in Frosterley Place, New Mills, Newcastle, on March
TWO of the region's most popular heritage attractions will feature in a TV programme on the nation's favourite ancient monuments. Hadrian's Wall, in Northumberland, and Castle Howard, a stately home in North Yorkshire, will battle it out with 22 other
THE grief-stricken family of an Iranian asylum seeker who was stabbed to death during a race hate attack have appealed to the people of Sunderland not to make the same mistakes again. Peiman Bahmani died on August 28 last year after racial tensions between
Crook Town face their most important match of the season when they face fellow strugglers Norton at Millfield this afternoon. Both clubs are facing relegation, with fourth-bottom Crook, one of the league's longest-serving members, two points ahead of
A teenager pleaded not guilty yesterday to the samurai sword murder of a man. Jason Benjamin Kelly, 19, was accused at Teesside Crown Court of killing scaffolder Robert Dunne, 31, who left a nine-month-old child, outside a post office in West Lane, Middlesbrough
Last night's bombing of Baghdad represented the beginning of the US "shock and awe" policy - designed to intimidate not just the Iraqis but the whole world. News editor Nigel Burton examines the policy and looks at its notorious origins... SHOCK and awe
AN intensive ground and air search has been launched for a missing mother-of-one. Julia Graham, 40, went missing from her home at Kipling Avenue, Blackhall Colliery, near Peterlee, east Durham, on Thursday. Due to freezing overnight temperatures, police
A TEENAGER has denied a series of charges relating to the taking of a Jaguar car which lost control and crashed into the living room of a house. Brett Crawford, 19, is accused of taking the green S-type vehicle after breaking into the owner's house and
An Oscar nomination for Frida is the icing on the cake for the actress who began acting in her native Mexico in the primetime soap Teresa. Steve Pratt reports. EVEN if Salma Hayek doesn't win the Oscar for best actress, she can console herself with the
HAS Saddam been killed or at least badly injured? Is the Iraqi regime on the point of surrender under one of history's most ferocious bombing campaigns? How long will it all last? These are all questions which remained unanswered last night, although
AN Iraqi-run pizza restaurant has been the target of a petrol bomb attack. A round-the-clock police guard was ordered after a petrol bomb was thrown through the front window of Luisiano Pizzeria, in Redcar, Cleveland. The incendiary device was thrown
The boss of union Amicus, Derek Simpson, is to open an employees' learning centre at television manufacturer LG Philips Displays on Monday. The learning centre, based at LG Philips' base on the Belmont Industrial Estate, Durham, is a joint venture between
TWO supermarket workers endured months of anxiety after a drug addicted shoplifter cut them with a hypodermic syringe, a court was told yesterday. Heroin addict John Cooke, 25, was caught stealing eight air fresheners but escaped from a storeroom in Kwik
A BUSINESSWOMAN has extended her lingerie business in County Durham. Sadie Ayton, known as Sadie the Bra Lady, is just finishing her first week of trading from a shop in High Northgate, Darlington. She decided to open a shop in the town when she realised
THE finishing post is within touching distance for Hartlepool United - and the sooner they reach it the better. Pool go to Bristol Rovers seeking one of the two more wins required for promotion and one of the four more which would probably be enough for
IN-FORM Jonathan Greening was last night tipped to force his way into the England squad by his Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren. National team coach Sven-Goran Eriksson announces his latest 23-man pool tomorrow night for two vital European Championship
A TEENAGE prostitute who burgled a brothel where she was working was locked up for 12 months yesterday. Heroin addict Stacey Chapman, 19, climbed through a broken window after the owner left and stole £150, said Elizabeth Farnsworth, prosecuting at Teesside
A gang of masked men failed in their bid to ram-raid an off-licence. The men, wearing ski masks and balaclavas, drove a white car into the back wall and door of Bargain Booze, in Yarm Road, Darlington, at 10.20pm on Wednesday. A small amount of damage
THE British National Party is planning to launch its biggest ever campaign for seats in the North-East. Kevin Scott, regional organiser for the party, said last night it would have a record number of candidates bidding for seats across the region in the
Rail operator Arriva Trains Northern has launched a campaign to encourage racegoers to travel by train. The company is offering discounts for people travelling to race meetings at a number of courses in the region, including Hexham, Newcastle, Redcar,
CRAFTSMAN Charles Jones is keeping a steady hand to carve a name in history - but not his own. The stonemason made the latest addition to the marble tablet listing all bishops, priors and deans of Durham Cathedral, dating back to the late 10th Century
DURHAM have finalised their deal with World Cup finalist Javagal Srinath, who will be joining them on April 20, three days before their season starts at Taunton. The 33-year-old Indian paceman will deputise for the first month for Martin Love, who is
IS this the worst Sunderland team of all time? It's a question that has been debated across Wearside in recent months as Sunderland have lurched from one inept performance to the next. Certainly, the club will not plunge the depths next season that Sunderland
THE statue of the Third Marquis of Londonderry, dressed in full battle regalia astride his horse, looked out impassively over a sea of war protestors. Underneath him, anti-war banners had been hung, while sitting comfortably alongside, shoppers and workers
LAURENT ROBERT is keen to commit his long-term future to Newcastle United and sign a new contract to help the club become one of Europe's superpowers. Robert, 27, has more than three years still to run on the deal he signed when he joined Newcastle from
AT the beginning of the week we were fighting the flab, thanks to BBC1's Diet Trials, by Thursday the battle of the bulge was a sideshow. I'm finding it difficult to be my usual flippant self concerning what's happening in Iraq, mainly because my daughter's
A WOMAN and her nephew have appeared in court charged with the murder of her husband who was found dying in a country lane. Christina Button, 31, and Simon Tannahill, 20, are accused of killing 53-year-old George Button, on March 3. Mr Button died in
A UNIVERSITY has refuted claims that it is among a select group calling for tuition fees of up to £4,000. Durham University responded to media coverage of Education Secretary Charles Clarke's remark to the Commons Education Select Committee that the Russell
AMBULANCE staff will leave the region today to return to Africa and share their life-saving skills. Three members of staff from the Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service will be among a team visiting Malawi to teach Basic Trauma Life Support
A MEDIA centre in the region has been awarded beacon status for excellence in journalist training. The School of Journalism, Media and the Arts at Darlington College of Technology, has been given the award for its close links with the media industry.
Watching the footage on television, Chris Lloyd gives his views on the multi-media spectacle of war. WHEN it came, it was indeed shocking and - rather than awesome - quite awful. Half-a-world away, viewers were thrown back into their seats when the television
IT promises to be one of the most intriguing relegation battles in years. While it only seems a matter of time before runaway leaders Hartlepool seal their place in Division Two, along with high-flying Rushden, it's the situation at the other end of the
