TIME is running out for exhibitors wanting to take part in this year's Northumberland County Show. Schedules for the show, on Bank Holiday Monday, May 30, are available, and exhibitors need to send in their applications by the end of this month to guarantee
Charles and Camilla are not alone in remarrying late in life - in fact, it seems more and more of us are finding new romance in retirement. WELL in the end, it all went very well really, didn't it? No bonfires, street parties or state coaches, but Camilla
A COUPLE are looking forward to living the high life after they won the chance to be called Lord and Lady of Teesside. The lofty title was bestowed on Ronald and Elaine Gray, of Acklam, after they picked up the prize in a competition in a shopping centre
A GALA event held to celebrate the tenth anniversary of a cinema being re-opened has raised £200 for charity. The hit film Calendar Girls was screened at the Ritz, in Thirsk, on March 4, ten years after the cinema re-opened. The film tells the true story
WOULD-BE entrepreneurs are to be given expert advice on starting up their own businesses. Staff at Business Link County Durham believe many people want to start their own ventures, but are put off by negative myths about running a business. A series of
THE family who took celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's advice to change their unhealthy eating habits are to open a fish and chip shop. But, to show they haven't forgotten all Jamie's advice, the Measors intend to make sure their chippy has plenty of healthy
COUNCIL leaders last night agreed to bid for millions of pounds of Government money to transform a school. Hummersknott School and Language College, in Darlington, will get a £15m revamp if the application to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES
THREE men have admitted their part in the supply of cocaine and ecstasy, following a police undercover surveillance operation. Plain clothes officers carried out a number of test purchases of the class A drugs in and around the Durham area, after an officer
A BOY who took up martial arts when he was five has qualified as one of Britain's youngest black belts. Harvey Saunders, now seven, had to demonstrate his Taekwondo skills before a panel of six senior examiners in Doncaster to achieve the award at the
Charles and Camilla are not alone in remarrying late in life - in fact, it seems more and more of us are finding new romance in retirement. WELL in the end, it all went very well really, didn't it? No bonfires, street parties or state coaches, but Camilla
A thief went into the back yard of a house looking for something to steal and found the body of the owner that had lay undiscovered for days. James Morrison, 31, had been searching yards in the area of Rainton Street, Sunderland, in the hope he would
FIFTY of the youngest pupils at Bishop Auckland primary school received a visit from firefighters yesterday. The reception classes at St Andrew's, in Henknowle, sat in the fire engine and tried out hoses with a crew from Blue Watch, based at Bishop Auckland
CAMPAIGNERS yesterday blockaded Caterpillar's North-East plant to protest at what they claimed was the company's support of Israel's destruction of Palestinian communities. About 20 protestors put a chain round the company's gates on the NW Industrial
DURHAM are hoping the Boon times will return under their new captain, Mike Hussey, and he sees no reason why they shouldn't. It was under David Boon that Durham enjoyed their best period in first-class cricket, earning a place in the inaugural Division
FAMILIES across County Durham are being encouraged to saddle up for spring at a series of bike surgeries. Seven separate Dr Bike surgeries will be held on Saturday, giving cyclists a chance to have their bike checked over and adjusted by an expert. There
PLANS to convert a pig farm into five industrial units have provoked widespread opposition from neighbours. Joseph E Swiers Limited wants to develop West End Farm at Dishforth, near Thirsk, into the units, which would be used for light industry or storage
ALAN Shearer last night urged his Newcastle team-mates to render the club's Intertoto Cup entry irrelevant as they prepare for the two games in four days that will make or break their season. United officials yesterday confirmed that the club have entered
SPIRITUAL VALUES: IN his praise of the late Pope, Peter Mullen (Echo, Apr 8) again makes a series of absurd claims in his attack on those without religious convictions. He suggests that Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao Tse Tung committed their atrocities
All New Cosmetic Surgery Live (five): EXPERIENCE taught me not to believe presenter Vanessa Feltz's promise of "mind-boggling, jaw-dropping surgery" because programmes are always making promises they don't keep. I should have believed her this time. Fortunately
TEACHERS took a ten-day trip to gain an insight into education in China. Five members of staff from King James I Community College, in Bishop Auckland, joined a tour of a school in Shanghai. Led by Caroline Earlam, arts advisor for Durham County Council
MODULAR construction specialist Yorkon has reached a milestone in its partnership with supermarket chain Tesco. The York company has won its 50th contract to build a Tesco Express convenience store. It will provide Britain's biggest supermarket retailer
BUDDING novelists are invited to a free two-part workshop to help them develop their ideas. Dr Charles Fernyhough, a part-time lecturer in psychology at Durham University, will host the workshop at Bishop Auckland Town Hall. The sessions will offer advice
PATRICK Kluivert is hoping to make his latest comeback from injury against Sporting Lisbon but, with the clock already ticking on his Newcastle career, the Dutch international has already turned his attentions to Sunday's FA Cup showdown with Manchester
PRIVATE landlords have joined forces with the police to launch an initiative to improve communities by clamping down on problem tenants. Members of Sedgefield and Newton Aycliffe Landlords Association meet regularly with Shildon police to swap information
Amid all the books and films on the first World War, there was one story which has previously been untold: that of the boy soldiers. But now, using archive material and interviews with the ever-dwindling number of survivors, that is being put right. Nick
COUNCIL leaders last night agreed to bid for millions of pounds of Government money to transform a school. Hummersknott School and Language College, in Darlington, will get a £15m revamp if the application to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES
THE canny consultant brought into the Monday lunchtime planning meeting the programme for this year's Swaledale Festival, including on June 4, the Morris Festival Day. He was beside himself with indifference. Though it sounds simply wonderful from down
DAVID HODGSON believes now is the time to put behind Darlington's inconsistent ways and finally realise their play-off dream. With four games remaining - Mansfield (a), Rushden (h), Lincoln (a) and Cheltenham (h) - seventh-placed Quakers occupy the final
A YOUNG thief with a criminal record of more than 60 offences thanked a judge after being locked up yesterday. Sean Doherty's barrister had told Judge Peter Armstrong that a spell behind bars might do the former heroin addict some good. Judge Armstrong
TWO of the Tyne's offshore fabrication yards are being sold, The Northern Echo has learned. The future of McNulty Offshore was thought to be secure following the resolution of a pay dispute with a major customer. But the company has other debts and administrators
Spennymoor owner Benny Mottram is adamant his club won't play another game unless the league relents about signing a keeper. Moors are in deep trouble with the league after failing to fulfil their home game with Prescot Cables last night. The situation
A PLANNING consultant says proposals for a new business park at Durham Tees Valley Airport are unacceptable. Middleton St George Parish Council has called on Dr John England, of chartered town planners England and Lyle, as it debates proposals for a £56m
A PLANNING consultant says proposals for a new business park at Durham Tees Valley Airport are unacceptable. Middleton St George Parish Council has called on Dr John England, of chartered town planners England and Lyle, as it debates proposals for a £56m
TRUST, as we have said several times of late, is at the heart of the forthcoming General Election. For many voters it is in very short supply and in urgent need of rebuilding. The utter stupidity of Conservative candidate Ed Matts, therefore, is hard
JEFF Whitley, in the words of the Republica song adopted by Sunderland, is Ready to Go. Whitley was recently left out of Sunderland's squad for the trip to Wigan. His absence fuelled rumours he had fallen foul of boss Mick McCarthy. The tough tackling
TEACHERS took a ten-day trip to gain an insight into education in China. Five members of staff from King James I Community College, in Bishop Auckland, joined a tour of a school in Shanghai. Led by Caroline Earlam, arts advisor for Durham County Council
THE number of North Durham smokers helped to stub out the habit has risen by 25 per cent, health chiefs say. Between last April and December, 645 people quit smoking, thanks to the help of the Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust's Stop Smoking
THE country's first federation of schools -pioneered in the North-East -is to come to an end a year ahead of schedule, it emerged last night. The groundbreaking union between the Hurworth and Eastbourne comprehensive schools, in Darlington, was established
ALAN SHEARER was left seeing double when he met his film stand-in at St James's Park. Shearer burst out laughing when he bumped into former rugby union pin-up Martin Shaw, who plays Shearer in a £16m film out in August. A former Newcastle Falcons player
ALAN SHEARER was left seeing double when he met his film stand-in at St James's Park. Shearer burst out laughing when he bumped into former rugby union pin-up Martin Shaw, who plays Shearer in a £16m film out in August. A former Newcastle Falcons player
A NORTH-EAST motorist has made legal history after escaping a speeding fine by saying he could not remember who was driving his car when it was caught on camera. The Crown Prosecution Service said last night it marked the first time a driver had successfully
A RECORDING studio that has helped thousands of children and aspiring musicians is closing because it cannot get funding. Northern Recording, a co-operative based in an former miners' hall at Delves Lane, near Consett, County Dur-ham, has also been used
MOTORISTS have been urged to keep their car keys safe in an attempt to cut crime. The call from police, council officers and a victim of crime comes despite figures showing a fall in vehicle crime in the Harrogate district. Last year, there were 761 reported
A WOMAN died of an allergic reaction to anaesthetic after slipping into a six-month coma because of an NHS administrative blunder. Doctors were unaware that 36-year-old June Fairbairn had severe allergies to a range of anaesthetic drugs because the notes
A MAN underwent painful surgery to a broken jaw following an unprovoked attack. The victim, in his 20s, spent several days in hospital after his attacker ran up to him in the street and punched him. The assault happened at about 10pm on Sunday, March
THE canny consultant brought into the Monday lunchtime planning meeting the programme for this year's Swaledale Festival, including on June 4, the Morris Festival Day. He was beside himself with indifference. Though it sounds simply wonderful from down
IF Durham's new skipper Mike Hussey wins the toss at Grace Road today and is tempted to put Leicestershire in, he might quickly be dissuaded by Jon Lewis. If there was one decision last season which contributed most to halting Lewis's four-year reign
A BUS company accused by residents of making drastic cuts to many of its services has promised that the network will not suffer, despite axing some of its routes. Stagecoach in Teesside will stop running a number of its buses from Sunday, April 24, leading
Police and security guards were brought in to maintain order at a council meeting amid fears of crowd trouble. The last two meetings of Richmondshire District Council's resources committee have been abandoned in chaos after hundreds of angry protesters
MIDDLESBROUGH are keen to join the race to land Sporting Lisbon youngster Joao Moutinho. The 18-year-old has been one of the stars of the Portuguese side's progress to the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, and was particularly impressive in their comfortable two-leg
Olympic bid rivals London and Paris are also going head to head for the right to host the 2007 Champions League final. The Football Association are bidding to stage the final at the new Wembley stadium at the end of its first full season in operation,
STEELMAKER Corus today announced an investment of £4.4m in part of its North-East operations. Corus' beam mill at Lackenby, Teesside, which makes beams and columns to be used in buildings, will be modernised as part of the steel giant's Restoring Success
FIVE staff at a Darlington opticians have passed the first part of an intensive training course. Lyndsay Wright, Joanne Leith, Abigail Elwell, Yvonne Pattinson and Nicola Hall, who work at Specsavers Opticians, in Darlington, are taking a 12-month dispensing
A Driver has been warned he faces jail for causing a crash in which two teenage sisters were badly hurt. David Andrew Mitchell, 20, will be sentenced at Teesside Crown Court next month after he admitted a charge of dangerous driving. The former RAF serviceman
PRAYERS have been said for the future of traders. Marjorie Warner led the prayer at Dallowgill Parish Church, in Ripon, after it was announced Abbott's furnishing store had an uncertain future. She said: "We pray for traders in Ripon whose future is uncertain
WELL in the end, it all went very well really, didn't it? No bonfires, street parties or state coaches, but Camilla looked very elegant, Charles look very relieved, there was some glorious music, no-one dropped the rings and their assorted children and
It began on the very night of Tony Blair's "landslide" general election victory in 1997 - New Labour's ruthless manipulation of its image. The scenes in Downing Street, which I and, I am sure, most other people took as mirroring the general feeling of
A RECORDING studio that has helped thousands of children and aspiring musicians is closing because it cannot get funding. Northern Recording, a co-operative based in an former miners' hall at Delves Lane, near Consett, County Dur-ham, has also been used
A FORMER terrorist is battling for the return of thousands of pounds-worth of belongings he says were taken from his home by a council while he was in jail. Roy Richmond, 45, was released from prison in Stockton earlier this year after serving six months
A thief went into the back yard of a house looking for something to steal and found the body of the owner that had lay undiscovered for days. James Morrison, 31, had been searching yards in the area of Rainton Street, Sunderland, in the hope he would
THERE will be plenty of cause for alarm when firefighters target shoppers in Teesside this weekend. Firefighters from Thornaby will visit Castlegate Shopping Centre, in Stockton, on Saturday, to talk to people about keeping their homes safe. It is part
A TEN-YEAR plan has been issued to tackle problems in a rural area and give its 24,000 residents a better chance to succeed in life. The blueprint aims to improve job prospects, housing, health, social care, teaching and leisure facilities in the Barnard
NEARLY £200,000 of public money pumped into a doomed carpet manufacturer may never be recovered, it emerged last night. Regional development agency One NorthEast announced a £245,000 Selected Finance for Investment (SFI) grant for Hugh Mackay, in Durham
A FOOTBALL club mascot who was suspended after being charged with possessing drugs has been told he will not be reinstated. Lee Kelly, who used to dress as Darlington Football Club's mascot Mr Q, was told that he could not return to his voluntary position
JONNY Wilkinson will put his heart and soul into proving he is worthy of a place in the British Lions squad. The Newcastle fly-half was left out of Sir Clive Woodward's 44-man party for the forthcoming tour of New Zealand when it was named on Monday.
Yorkshire are as well prepared physically and mentally as they have ever been for the challenges which lie ahead - but whether they have the all-round strength to make up for last year's disasters remains to be seen. Morale and discipline within the camp
UNIONS will meet North-East shipyard bosses this week in a bid to end a dispute over the use of foreign labour. The GMB is in dispute with managers at A&P Tyne after it emerged the company had employed 12 Polish pipe fitters. Its sister yard in Middlesbrough
A RAPE suspect is now believed to be in Israel and police say they have enough evidence to extradite him. Eric Coates, from Huby, near Easingwold, North Yorkshire, disappeared in November 2002. Police had turned up at his home to arrest him but he was
SHOPPERS and residents have expressed their anger at the closure of town centre toilets. The men's and women's toilets in Richmond Market Place were shut at the beginning of the month by Richmondshire District Council. The conveniences at Earl's Orchard
IMPROVEMENT is essential for Durham this season, otherwise heads will surely roll under the chairmanship of Clive Leach. It was too late for the former television executive to effect significant change when he took over halfway through last season. But
A CONFRONTATION in a car park between two feuding men left one with two of his car windows smashed, a court heard yesterday. Darlington Magistrates' Court heard how a bottle was thrown at Jonathan Learoyd's car, smashing passenger windows on each side
A TAKEAWAY shop found in shocking conditions has been fined more than £3,000. Abrakebabra, in Hummershill Lane, Marske, was inspected by food safety officers who found a filthy workplace and dirty equipment. Food at risk of contamination and a lack of
HOUSE prices in the region have fallen for the first time in more than four years, with a further slowdown predicted. The Halifax regional price index found that the typical cost of a North-East home fell by 0.6 per cent in the first three months of the
RICHARD FAHEY'S faith in Golden Legacy (2.55) could well be vindicated in the feature race at Newmarket, the £50,000 Shadwell Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes. The shrewd Malton-based handler has described his three-year-old "as the best filly I've ever trained"
HOUSE prices in the region have fallen for the first time in more than four years, with a further slowdown predicted. The Halifax regional price index found that the typical cost of a North-East home fell by 0.6 per cent in the first three months of the
POLICE are launching a crackdown on anti-social behaviour, drug dealing and low-level crime in a County Durham village next week. A number of agencies have been brought together in a Streetsafe initiative in a bid to improve the quality of life for residents
All New Cosmetic Surgery Live (five) EXPERIENCE taught me not to believe presenter Vanessa Feltz's promise of "mind-boggling, jaw-dropping surgery" because programmes are always making promises they don't keep. I should have believed her this time. Fortunately
AN after-school club for children in Derwentside has been launched, offering a range of exciting extra-curricular activities. Young people can play computer games and snooker at Villa Real Special School in Stanley, as well as taking part in outdoor activities
An arson gang torched a house - and then switched off the water supply as firefighters battled the blaze. Two crews were forced to flee for their lives as their water suddenly dried up with the flames raging around them. The teenage gang had broken in
THE Mayor of Middlesbrough was caught in a tight spot when he found his Smart car clamped following an official function. A wheel clamper had spotted the distinctive two-seater car illegally parked when Mr Mallon was opening Great Expectations nursery
A FITNESS instructor who crashed his car into a ditch and wall on his way to an early morning card game had left the scene when police arrived, a court was told. Magistrates heard how Nicholas Lowe, 24, had played football for local side Harlow Hill FC
