Archive

  • Wife dies a week after crash that killed husband

    THE death toll from a road traffic accident has risen to three. Margaret Murray, 53, of Castleside, near Consett, County Durham, died in Newcastle General Hospital. Her husband, Michael, also 53, and taxi driver Michael Joseph Stewart, 39, of Surrey Crescent

  • Grassroots: Yarm and Eaglescliffe

    Summer outing: The summer outing for members of Yarm Mothers' Union is on Monday, June 27. They will leave Yarm at 11am and have lunch in Bishopthorpe village before going to Bishopthorpe Palace for a conducted tour. For details and to book a place, call

  • New powers to tackle hedge-dispute neighbours

    NEIGHBOURS locked in bitter disputes over leylandii hedges could see an end to their problems from today. Legislation means councils can investigate complaints from homeowners who say the conifers block out their light or obstruct their views. People

  • Young singers aiming for chart hit with charity record

    UP-AND-COMING North-East singers are recording a single to help abused and neglected young people in the region. About 70 young voices will feature on a Band Aid-style single, More Than The Need, being made at the White Wolf Recording Studio, in Tanfield

  • Real win for some fantasy managers

    A SCHOOL has been handing out silverware to a new breed of football managers hoping to become the next Jose Mourinho or Rafa Benitez. Parkside School, in Willington, has been running a Fantasy Football League for pupils and staff. The competitors selected

  • Sewage works vandals are sought

    POLICE are hunting vandals who could have caused an environmental disaster near Darlington. The Sadberge sewage works have been vandalised several times recently, the latest ten days ago when people broke in and caused damage with what the police believe

  • Peace-keepers mediate with fair travellers

    A NEW peace-seeking group will be set up in an attempt to solve the problem of travellers who set up camp in a town on their way to and from an annual horse fair. The group will try to end disputes, which have erupted every summer in recent years over

  • Training course for DJs

    WANNABE DJs have the chance to learn the ropes on a course for beginners. Regular courses are held at the Studio, in Hartlepool, for young DJs who want to learn the trade and hone their mixing skills. Ian Heddle, from the Studio, said the latest course

  • Mum creates play area for local school

    A HEADTEACHER and a mother of three of her pupils have proved they are in a class of their own. A project by Nicola Harrison and Jean Yendell, headteacher of Kirby and Great Broughton Primary School, to redesign the school grounds has won an award from

  • Volunteers get advice to boost skills

    WILDLIFE trust volunteers are being given expert advice to help enhance their practical and conservation skills. As part of National Volunteers Week, from today until Tuesday, Durham Wildlife Trust is staging three free training days for its helpers.

  • Specials are sworn in at city ceremony

    TWENTY special constables were sworn in last night to join the ranks of North Yorkshire's crimefighters. The attestation ceremony took place at the Hilton Hotel, in York, and the officers will serve across the county. Head of the force's community safety

  • Former police chief takes on university role

    ONE of the country's most senior former police officers has been appointed chancellor of a North-East university. John Stevens, who was made Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington in the New Year's Honours List, was named the new Chancellor of Northumbria University

  • U3A caters for those over 55

    PEOPLE aged over 55 seeking friendship and new interests can join the Stokesley and District U3A. It is almost a year since the U3A started and it has more than 70 members who meet regularly and share in hobbies such as walking, reading, the theatre and

  • Injury scuppers couple's cruise after only 11 miles

    A COUPLE'S cruise to the Norwegian fjords ended in misery only 11 miles from shore when the woman slipped and suffered a shoulder injury. The unnamed couple were among the 1,250 passengers on the Thomson Celebration, the North-East's newest cruise liner

  • Ebac puts bottled water on tap

    WATER cooler maker Ebac has created jobs at its County Durham base after investing £500,000 in a new service to tap into the multi-million pound mineral water industry. Ebac Group, based in Bishop Auckland, is launching a home delivery service of bottled

  • On TV

    The Real Good Life (ITV1) Big Ideas That Changed The World (five) LIVING off the land in a life of self-sufficiency looked such a nice idea when Tom and Barbara Good did it in the BBC comedy series The Good Life. The reality is very different as the three

  • The right cause for law breakers

    Suppose a group of animal rights militants, posing as builders, had gained access to the House of Commons and stormed into the chamber, the very heart of our Parliamentary democracy. Up at court last week, where would they be today? In jail. The ever-present

  • Sharon Griffiths: How this week's curse is next week's cure

    The latest subject of a health warning is Ibuprofen but by listening to all the advice, we'll only make ourselves ill. SO now it's painkillers that are bad for you. Well, for this week, at least. Warning: Taking notice of health warnings can serious damage

  • Doctors allay fears on MRSA superbug

    SENIOR doctors moved to allay fears last night after two babies caught the MRSA superbug. One of the children who caught the bug at the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, has now gone home. A second remains in hospital, although only

  • Man nearly drowns trying to save teenagers from sea

    A HOLIDAY-MAKER told last night how he almost drowned trying to rescue two teenage girls from the sea. A rescue operation was launched after the 14-year-olds got into trouble while swimming off Sandsend beach, near Whitby, North Yorkshire, on Monday night

  • A good old cuppa for golden girls in their hundreds

    TWO of the region's "golden oldies" celebrated important milestones yesterday. Isobel Walker and Lillian Bell have a combined age of 208 - and they both celebrated with a good old cuppa. At 108, Mrs Bell is Darlington's oldest resident. To mark the occasion

  • Paul Cairns, Ryan Mason

    The North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) has launched a training department. The BIC training division is headed by newly-appointed manager PAUL CAIRNS. The 34-year-old will provide a range of programmes to help improve businesses region-wide

  • Travellers will not be prosecuted under Act

    A NORTH-EAST council affected by illegal travellers' camps is not planning to make use of tough new legislation to combat the problem, officials said last night. Darlington Borough Council has been forced to deal with travellers at unauthorised sites

  • Work to start on 1,000-acre nature reserve after handover

    PLANS to create a large nature reserve near the Tees estuary have reached a milestone with the handover of 1,000 acres of land for the project. Already a popular spot for birdwatchers, the reedbeds, reclaimed bog and rough pasture at Saltholme, near Port

  • How this week's curse is next week's cure

    The latest subject of a health warning is Ibuprofen but by listening to all the advice, we'll only make ourselves ill. SO now it's painkillers that are bad for you. Well, for this week, at least. Warning: Taking notice of health warnings can serious damage

  • Coloured judgement on sports success

    FOR a time over the bank holiday it seemed that the only content of today's column might be the wanton recollection from Elizabeth Steele in Staindrop that she once knew a caravan site on a sewage farm at Sandford, near Oxford, which was owned by a Mr

  • This time, the world must change for good

    SIR BOB GELDOF yesterday unveiled details of the biggest musical event ever to raise awareness of poverty in Africa. The man behind the Live Aid concert 20 years ago has masterminded five free concerts to take place simultaneously in London, Paris, Berlin

  • Ian Carr

    IAN CARR has been appointed as associate director of business development at the Royal Bank of Scotland's North-East division. He will work with new customers across the Tees Valley and County Durham, based in the RBOS Stockton office.

  • Mystery surrounds 'N-East' film

    PROMISES that a Hollywood blockbuster was to be filmed in the North-East were last night shrouded in mystery. The Northern Echo has discovered that the film, Addict, believed to be set in Darlington, was to have also been shot in at least another 20 locations

  • 01/06/05

    VE DAY: THE letter from EA Moralee (HAS, May 18) is true. Those who fought in the Second World War are getting fewer in number. I am the last member of a Lancaster bomber crew apart from the wireless operator, who is an Australian. Reading AE Moralee's

  • No public talks over stadium criticism

    COUNCILLORS are not expected to publicly discuss a report that condemned a series of mistakes over Darlington Football Club's new stadium, when they meet next week. Darlington Borough Council was severely criticised for its handling of the opening of

  • Why he doesn't want your f***in' money

    It raised £40m and put international development on the agenda, but 20 years after Live Aid, Africa's problems are as bad as ever. Nick Morrison looks at what has changed in the intervening two decades - and what a second concert hopes to achieve. FOR

  • Transatlantic rowers set off on record-breaking attempt

    A FOUR-MAN British rowing crew has taken to the ocean in their courageous attempt to cross the Atlantic in record time. George Rock and Nigel Morris, from Ingleby Barwick, Stockton, as well as Rob Munslow, Steven Dawson and reserve rower Garry Smith,

  • From the rat race to being ratty

    The Real Good Life (ITV1); Big Ideas That Changed The World (five): LIVING off the land in a life of self-sufficiency looked such a nice idea when Tom and Barbara Good did it in the BBC comedy series The Good Life. The reality is very different as the

  • Police hunt flasher

    A FLASHER who indecently exposed himself to a student is being hunted by police. The 20-year-old university student was walking home along the banks of the River Wear in Durham City yesterday afternoon when the incident happened. The woman was walking

  • Police use plastic bullets in standoff

    AN independent investigation was launched last night after armed police shot a man with plastic bullets in a busy city restaurant. Two of the non-lethal baton rounds were fired at the man after customers were evacuated from the premises. The drama unfolded

  • Praise for revellers after few incidents

    POLICE cracking down on drink-fuelled violence have praised the behaviour of Bank Holiday weekend revellers. Northumbria Police have launched a summer-long campaign on drunkeness, violence and disorder. The good weather attracted thousands of drinkers

  • This time, the world must change for good

    SIR BOB GELDOF yesterday unveiled details of the biggest musical event ever to raise awareness of poverty in Africa. The man behind the Live Aid concert 20 years ago has masterminded five free concerts to take place simultaneously in London, Paris, Berlin

  • Canada history experts endorse tribute

    A CAMPAIGN launched by The Northern Echo to remember a Canadian Second World War hero has been endorsed by an organisation promoting the country's history. The Historica Foundation of Canada will send its executive director, Dr Tom Axworthy, to the unveiling

  • Husband's grief as hopes fade for missing woman

    THE husband of a woman who went missing more than a year ago has finally accepted she is unlikely to be found. Anthony Coverdale said he believed his 40-year-old wife, Karen, had killed herself soon after disappearing last year. She had a history of depression

  • D1 Oils bids to wrap up deal for Asian biodiesel market

    D1 OILS chairman Karl Watkin yesterday said he hoped to sew up the $6bn Asian biodiesel market as his company announced two deals. Although the Teesside-based company announced losses of £3m in its first year of trading yesterday, Mr Watkin said this

  • New award for Internet firm

    AN Internet accommodation service has won another award to add to recent successes. Bedsearcher.com, in Darlington, has been named as the region's Internet business of the year, at the North-East Business Awards. It is the latest in a string of awards

  • Rags to riches tale for Princess

    MONEY-SPINNING mare Boppys Princess (4.30) makes plenty of appeal in Newcastle's top-of-the-bill £10,000 Prince's Trust Handicap. The story of Boppys Princess so far is a good old-fashioned rags to riches tale, just the sort would-be racehorse owners

  • Jarvis takes debt for equity route

    Embattled shareholders of engineering group Jarvis will be left with 4.75 per cent of the company following a debt-for-equity restructuring, it emerged yesterday. The proposed financial rescue plan, which is needed to tackle debts of more than £300m,

  • Collingwood in search of form after call up

    PAUL Collingwood will be looking to regain his form against one of his favourite opponents today after yesterday's confirmation of his place in England's one-day squad. The Durham vice-captain will play his last game for the county at Worcester before

  • Vicki Colling

    DARLINGTON-based accountancy Clive Owen has appointed VICKI COLLING as marketing executive. She will be responsible for marketing the practice's range of accountancy and business services to owner-managed businesses across the region. She will assist

  • School runners help hospice

    THOUSANDS of pounds have been presented to one of the region's leading hospice charities by energetic young fundraisers. An annual run at Barnard Castle School, County Durham, earlier this year, raised £5,114.41 for The Butterwick Hospice. The top ten

  • Eggleston Hall helps turn ladettes into ladies

    THE moment when ten of Britain's most notorious tomboys descended on a sleepy country village is to be aired on television tonight. Eggleston Hall, in Teesdale, County Durham, is the location for a new reality TV show which is being screened on ITV. Ladette

  • Diabetes campaign gets a boost

    A DOCTOR'S campaign to buy insulin pumps to help improve the lives of young diabetic patients has been given a cash boost. Bishop Auckland Rotary Club has donated £2,500 raised at a charity sports dinner to the Run 500 Miles Appeal, launched by paediatric

  • Secretaries put on the ritz in aid of charity

    THREE secretaries at Darlington Memorial Hospital will stage a summer ball to raise money for cancer charities. Ann Lancaster, Sharon Hayton and Baljit Hubery are organising the "glitz and glamour" ball in aid of colorectal and breast cancer. They are

  • Diabetes campaign gets welcome boost

    A DOCTOR'S campaign to buy insulin pumps to help improve the lives of young diabetic patients has been given a cash boost. Bishop Auckland Rotary Club has donated £2,500 raised at a charity sports dinner to the Run 500 Miles Appeal, launched by paediatric

  • Football auction raising money for MS sufferers

    A HOST of football collectors' items will be auctioned at a charity fun day on Saturday. The event in Darlington, to raise money for the Darlington and District Multiple Sclerosis Society, is at the Elm Ridge Methodist Church hall, in Carmel Road South

  • Pledge to provide more care for town's children

    COUNCIL bosses have said they will create more than 500 new childcare places in Darlington by next year. The town has been set a target in its SureStart plan of providing an extra 503 places in full-day care, out-of-school clubs, holiday clubs and childminder

  • 4ft book aims to help teach about castles

    AN oversized learning aid for children is being stocked at castles in the region. The 4ft-high Very Big Book of Castles has been developed by English Heritage in partnership with local teachers. The book is large enough to be viewed by a full class, and

  • North scientists gather to discuss dementia

    NEW ways of managing problems involving elderly dementia patients are to be examined in the region. Researchers from North-umbria University, Edinburgh University, the University of Ulster and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Institute have been given

  • 4ft book aims to help teach about castles

    AN oversized learning aid for children is being stocked at castles in the region. The 4ft-high Very Big Book of Castles has been developed by English Heritage in partnership with local teachers. The book is large enough to be viewed by a full class, and

  • Shares in multiplex plummet as Wembley-builder warns of loss

    SHARES in the Australian group building the Wembley football stadium plunged to a record low yesterday after it warned it would make a £45m loss on the project. Construction firm Multiplex has previously blamed the change in steel contractor - which was

  • Dogs vanish from building

    A DOG owner is appealing for information after her pets went missing following a break-in at her home. Victoria Foster has not seen her rottweiler or mixed collie since thieves broke into an outbuilding at her home in Osmotherley, North Yorkshire, at

  • Review of recycling launched

    A REVIEW has been launched into the way household waste is collected and recycled in Hambleton - and local people are being urged to get involved. They are being invited to join a steering group - made up of councillors and key stakeholders - that will

  • News in brief

    17 pupils to receive awards: SEVENTEEN children from primary schools in Redcar will this week receive certificates after completing four days of events aimed at raising their aspirations and preparing them for secondary school study. It was organised

  • We're winning war against drug suppliers, police say

    POLICE say they are winning the battle against hard drugs in a Teesside town, following a series of arrests. Officers say they have succeeded in disrupting the heroin supply chain to addicts in Redcar. The success follows a long-running undercover police

  • Woman hurt by man who stole her bag

    POLICE have re-issued their appeal for information about a robber who injured a disabled woman after knocking her to the ground. The 58-year-old woman was in Cobden Street, Thornaby, when a man in a stolen white Ford Fiesta drove by and snatched her handbag

  • Wife dies a week after crash that killen husband

    THE death toll from a road traffic accident has risen to three. Margaret Murray, 53, of Castleside, near Consett, County Durham, died in Newcastle General Hospital. Her husband, Michael, also 53, and taxi driver Michael Joseph Stewart, 39, of Surrey Crescent

  • These youngsters are never bored on a board

    TOP exponents of skateboarding, BMX bike riding and break-dancing were on Teesside yesterday to pass on tips to local youngsters. Skateboard enthusiasts were shown how to improve their flips and glides at R-kade skatepark, in Redcar, the setting for the

  • Car park homes plan is rejected

    COUNCILLORS have rejected plans to build new homes on part of a pub car park. Carlton Developments North Limited wanted to build a terrace of four homes in the car park of the County Hotel, Aycliffe Village. But members of Sedgefield Borough Council's

  • Directors to appear in crown court

    TWO cleaning company directors will appear at crown court this month accused of overseeing a benefit fraud scam. David Wrightson and Phil Rowland are alleged to have encouraged cleaners to use false names while working for National Cleaning Systems (NCS

  • Girls are crowned champions

    A GIRLS football team is celebrating after narrowly winning a tournament by beating their local rivals in the final. Richmond Methodist School won the Richmond and Catterick Girls Football Competition for primary schools, beating Ravensworth Primary School

  • Sell-out dance show raises charity cash

    MORE than 40 students from a dance school raised £800 for charity with a sell-out performance in Spennymoor. Tap dancers from Nichola's Hall of Dance, in Spennymoor, aged from three upwards, performed in the show at Spennymoor Town Hall. More than 300

  • Mum creates play area for local school

    A HEADTEACHER and a mother of three of her pupils have proved they are in a class of their own. A project by Nicola Harrison and Jean Yendell, headteacher of Kirby and Great Broughton Primary School, to redesign the school grounds has won an award from

  • Gadfly: Coloured judgement on sports success

    FOR a time over the bank holiday it seemed that the only content of today's column might be the wanton recollection from Elizabeth Steele in Staindrop that she once knew a caravan site on a sewage farm at Sandford, near Oxford, which was owned by a Mr

  • Graeme Storm's European Diary

    IT has not been a bad week. Liverpool won the Champions League, Hartlepool United made it to the Millennium Stadium and I broke the £100,000 barrier for the first time. In fairness it could have been an even better weekend had I been able to cope with

  • Glittering show comes to region

    GLITTERING period costumes and music came to the region last night as a theatre production began. Carl Rosa's The Merry Widow is being staged at Darlington Civic Theatre until Saturday. The story is set in the heady champagne days of Paris, in 1912, and

  • Jarvis takes debt for equity route

    Embattled shareholders of engineering group Jarvis will be left with 4.75 per cent of the company following a debt-for-equity restructuring, it emerged yesterday. The proposed financial rescue plan, which is needed to tackle debts of more than £300m,

  • Former officer awaits appeal over palace urination case

    A POLICE chief who resigned after he was convicted of urinating against a presidential palace wall could have his name cleared today. But on the eve of his long-awaited appeal, former Chief Superintendent Kevin Pitt last night told The Northern Echo:

  • Stephen Wilkie and Steve Conn

    Construction company the Esh Group has appointed two directors to Lumsden & Carroll, the commercial build and civil engineering arm of the group. STEPHEN WILKIE, 34, and STEVE CONN, 39, have both been promoted from within the organisation to become

  • John Martyn, Newcastle City Hall

    A COOL and charismatic John Martyn and his band played to a theatre only half filled, with a jet black drape as a backdrop. Subtle lighting made the large figure on stage cradling the guitar easy on the eye, while sounds emanating from it were at times

  • Elderly trained to deal with bogus callers

    A town's elderly people are to be trained in how to spot and foil doorstep confidence tricksters. The University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, has joined forces with Cleveland Police, to host free training sessions offering advice and guidance to help local

  • Shares in multiplex plummet as Wembley-builder warns of loss

    SHARES in the Australian group building the Wembley football stadium plunged to a record low yesterday after it warned it would make a £45m loss on the project. Construction firm Multiplex has previously blamed the change in steel contractor - which was

  • Directors to appear in crown court

    TWO cleaning company directors will appear at crown court this month accused of overseeing a benefit fraud scam. David Wrightson and Phil Rowland are alleged to have encouraged cleaners to use false names while working for National Cleaning Systems (NCS

  • Miller edges closer to Wearside

    MUCH-ADMIRED midfielder Tommy Miller last night admitted that Sunderland were winning the three-way battle to secure his services. Miller's father, Tommy Snr, met with Black Cats boss Mick McCarthy last week to discuss his son's proposed move to the Stadium

  • Pietersen handed chance to stake claim for Ashes place

    Kevin Pietersen has been handed a month-long opportunity to exploit the absence of his rivals and stake his claim for an Ashes Test place after being named in England's one-day squad. The Hampshire batsman has been included in a 14-man squad which will

  • McGurk can leave

    DAVID HODGSON will not stand in David McGurk's way if the defender chooses to quit Darlington this summer, writes Lee Hall. Despite recently signing a one-year deal, McGurk has been told that he will not be guaranteed first-team football next season.

  • Liverpool target Boro ace Zenden

    EUROPEAN champions Liverpool are threatening to end any hopes Middlesbrough have of keeping Bolo Zenden on Teesside next season. The Reds are believed to have already held preliminary talks with the Dutchman and the player has been left encouraged by

  • Comment from The Northern Echo: Will this make a difference?

    TWENTY years on from Live Aid and nothing has really changed - Bob Geldof has gone grey but he is still swearing at us in manic frustration. And it is because nothing has changed that the forthcoming Live 8 events in London, Philadelphia, Paris, Rome

  • Trust free to sell off former club site

    THE trust that owns the former home of Darlington Football Club has moved another step closer to disposing of the land after an ownership dispute was finally resolved. The Quakers played their last game at Feethams, their home ground for more than a century

  • Confidence rising in service sector

    BUSINESS confidence has risen sharply in the past month now that uncertainty over the effects of the last budget and the General Election have ended, according to a survey. A poll of 200 firms by Lloyds TSB Financial Markets revealed that the service

  • Strachan wants Bellamy to extend Celtic stay

    GORDON STRACHAN last night told Craig Bellamy to forget about moving back to the Premiership and focus on fulfilling all of his ambitions with Celtic. The Newcastle United striker has gone on holiday - after his loan deal north of the border expired -

  • Ex-Magpie Quinn hits the target

    MICK QUINN'S playing days at centre forward might have long gone, but the former Newcastle striker-turned-trainer showed he can still hit the target by sending out Bold Minstrel to win the feature race at Redcar yesterday. "He's grown and strengthened

  • James Walker

    SURGO Construction has announced the appointment of director JAMES WALKER to its board. The 27-year-old has been appointed as quantity surveying director. Mr Walker has grown up with the construction industry, as his father is Surgo's managing director

  • Strong growth for law firm

    NORTH-East law firm Ward Hadaway announced growth of 17 per cent over the past year - and said it signalled strength in the regional economy. The Newcastle-based firm said it was the second year in a row it had grown at a rate of 17 per cent - and its

  • Former police chief takes on university role

    ONE of the country's most senior former police officers has been appointed chancellor of a North-East university. John Stevens, who was made Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington in the New Year's Honours List, was named the new Chancellor of Northumbria University

  • Jan Johanson

    JAN Johanson has been promoted to a divisional director at North-East stockbrokers Wise Speke after 20 years with the company. She first joined Wise Speke in 1984, working in the secretarial department, and after having a family returned on a part-time

  • Attempted murder trial adjourned

    THE trial of a man charged with attempting to murder his girlfriend has been adjourned until next week. Andrew Burn, 22, of Coniston Road, Skelton, East Cleveland, denies the attempted murder of 19-year-old Zoe Lonsdale on March 9 this year. His trial

  • We're winning war against drug suppliers, police say

    POLICE say they are winning the battle against hard drugs in a Teesside town, following a series of arrests. Officers say they have succeeded in disrupting the heroin supply chain to addicts in Redcar. The success follows a long-running undercover police

  • Ex-Magpie Quinn hits the target

    MICK QUINN'S playing days at centre forward might have long gone, but the former Newcastle striker-turned-trainer showed he can still hit the target by sending out Bold Minstrel to win the feature race at Redcar yesterday. "He's grown and strengthened

  • The greatest show on earth

    THE biggest names in world of music have agreed to take part in the Live 8 series of free concerts. The line-up for the British concert includes Robbie Williams, Madonna and former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney. They will be joined by Coldplay, Sir Elton

  • Doctor provides solution with new role

    DR NAZAR IMAM, an anaesthetist at North Tees University Hospital, has taken up the newly-created post of vice-chairman at Thornaby-based language charity Everyday Language Solutions. The Pakistan-born doctor was educated in Ghana where he graduated in

  • Richard Berg-Rust

    * THE Theatre Royal in Newcastle has strengthened its senior management team with the appointment of director of development RICHARD BERG-RUST. He has returned to the region from London where he was senior gifts fundraiser for leading housing charity

  • Young singers aiming for chart hit with charity record

    UP-AND-COMING North-East singers are recording a single to help abused and neglected young people in the region. About 70 young voices will feature on a Band Aid-style single, More Than The Need, being made at the White Wolf Recording Studio, in Tanfield

  • Inmates help youngsters build Daleks

    PRISON inmates are helping youngsters build two Daleks to exterminate the problems of drugs and disability discrimination. Youth worker Keith Jones and young people at the Teesdale Community Resources (TCR) group, in Barnard Castle, County Durham, have

  • Gadlfy

    FOR a time over the bank holiday it seemed that the only content of today's column might be the wanton recollection from Elizabeth Steele in Staindrop that she once knew a caravan site on a sewage farm at Sandford, near Oxford, which was owned by a Mr

  • Brothers restrained after attacking their former friend

    TWO brothers have been given a restraining order after a court heard they regularly harassed and assaulted a former friend. Christopher and Daniel Legge, from Darlington, appeared before Darlington Magistrates' Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to assaulting

  • Mums and toddlers take an interest in their environment

    YOUNGSTERS have been getting their hands dirty in a project designed to encourage them to be proud of their environment. In the first initiative to be staged at the new Darlington Children's Centre, on the Branksome estate, about 20 mothers and their

  • Volunteers get advice to boost skills

    WILDLIFE trust volunteers are being given expert advice to help enhance their practical and conservation skills. As part of National Volunteers Week, from today until Tuesday, Durham Wildlife Trust is staging three free training days for its helpers.

  • New clinic 'brings hospital services closer to residents'

    CIVIC leaders have welcomed news of an increase in services at a community hospital. From June 20, Ripon Community Hospital will hold a breast surgery follow-up clinic once a month. And bosses at Craven, Harrogate and Rural District Primary Care Trust

  • A night on the town ends with day in court

    THREE friends are now paying the price following a drunken night out. Lisa Burton, Wayne Uttley and Paul Hoggart, all from Darlington, have been fined £775 in total following an incident on February 24. The three appeared at Darlington Magistrates' Court

  • Expansion for town business

    A MORTGAGE advice centre is moving to bigger premises. Staff at the Mortgage Service Centres, in Neville House, Bondgate, Darlington, will move to another office in Bondgate between June 20 and 23. The company offers advice and packaging service for mortgages

  • Hunt for witnesses

    TWO MEN attempted to snatch a woman's handbag on Bank Holiday Monday. The 43-year-old was walking home from Crook town centre at about 1am and was texting on her mobile phone when a man pushed past her and caused her to drop her phone. A second man snatched

  • Director debuts in Wilde play

    PETER WILSON will make his directorial debut with Saltburn 53 Drama Group's rendition of the Oscar Wilde comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest. The production is at Saltburn Community Theatre, from today until Saturday 4. Doors and bar open at 7pm for

  • A good old cuppa for golden girls in their hundreds

    TWO of the region's "golden oldies" celebrated important milestones yesterday. Isobel Walker and Lillian Bell have a combined age of 208 - and they both celebrated with a good old cuppa. At 108, Mrs Bell is Darlington's oldest resident. To mark the occasion

  • Work gets under way on £46m homes plan

    WORK on a £4.6m scheme to build houses in a derelict area of Leeming Bar starts next week. Contractors will move on to the site in the village on Monday, but demolition work will not start for a further week. Chevin Housing Association has bought seven

  • Opera star Michael heading to North hall

    LEADING tenor Michael Bracegirdle will travel from London to star in an opera in a North-East village hall this month. He will sing the part of Alfredo Germont in a Northern Opera production of Verdi's La Traviata, at Mickleton, near Barnard Castle, County