NEWCASTLE'S demanding two-mile track requires stamina in spades and as far as this quarter is concerned Empangeni (4.10) has a fistful of trumps. Trainer John Dunlop must be laughing his cotton socks off at the handicapper as Empangeni is still only rated
It may seem like mere silliness but a hospital ban on cooing at babies strikes at the heart of human compassion. YOU don't know whether to laugh or weep. A hospital in Halifax has asked visitors not to coo over newborn babies, as it might invade their
A TEAM of volunteer countryside wardens is to be created in an attempt to drive anti-social behaviour away from nature reserves. After a series of alarming incidents at several sites, Sedgefield Borough Council's countryside team called for help to tackle
SIX inmates destroyed a prison chapel, drank the communion wine and dressed in the vicar's vestments after going berserk - because they were homesick. The teenage gang "went mental", shouting abuse at the vicar conducting Sunday service before throwing
STEVE McCLAREN will have a numbers count before his Middlesbrough squad board their flight to Greece this morning, after the list of injured first team regulars continued to grow last night. Boro, already without Stewart Downing until the New Year with
BRAVE teenager Charlene Henry is in a race against time as doctors battle to find a kidney that will save her life. The 17-year-old, from West Denton, Newcastle, has had her name added to the transplant list and is waiting for a suitable donor to be found
A KILLER labelled one of Britain's most dangerous men tried to cut off a friend's head with an axe in a fit of mistaken jealous rage. Gary Taylor wrongly believed Colin Johnson was having an affair with his girlfriend. Newcastle Crown Court was told how
NEWCASTLE UNITED midfielder Emre is threatening to infuriate manager Graeme Souness by playing for Turkey next week, even though he has not kicked a ball for the Magpies in the last month. The £3.8m buy from Inter Milan in the summer has been restricted
RESIDENTS, highway chiefs and the Army have joined forces to criticise plans for a major new town centre development. A planning application for a 3,700sq metre development off Catterick Road, Colburn, has been submitted to the district council. Plans
KELVIN Davis hopes his impressive display against North-East rivals Middlesbrough last weekend has gone a little way towards redeeming himself in front of those fans who doubted his top-flight credentials. The Sunderland goalkeeper has come under fire
A HOSPITAL "mishap" during an operation led to a student's death, an inquest was told. Lindsey Hudspeth, from Leeholme, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, died a month after a gall bladder procedure at Darlington Memorial Hospital. The inquest heard
NORTH Durham MP Kevan Jones will be visiting a former pit village in his constituency to help raise funds. Mr Jones will call at Craghead Village Hall, on Friday, from 10am, to take part in a coffee morning as part of Macmillan Cancer Relief's World's
A TEAM of 12 supermarket workers have transformed an overgrown open space into an environmental haven. The staff from Asda's depots in Washington responded to a call by Durham Wildlife Trust and cleared the land for Sunderland social services department
A GROUP of young people held a sponsored walk to raise £100 for children in Africa. The teenagers, based at Herrington Burn YMCA, walked from Marsden Grotto to the mouth of the Tyne. Main organiser Steph Coonan, 17, of Doxford Park, is one of six people
A national organisation called Crusaders is giving a free presentation entitled Reaching The Rising Generation at Blackhill Baptist Church, near Consett, on October 15, at 7.30pm. It is a Christian service for young people and the talk is for youngsters
THE director of public health for Hambleton and Richmondshire launched his annual report for 2004/2005 last night. The area's primary care trust held its third annual meeting, at Tennants Auctioneers, Leyburn, when Dr Phil Kirby, director of public health
WORKERS have been given the chance to better their education at a learning centre. The 850 staff at Morrisons regional distribution centre, in Stockton, can now put lunch breaks to good use with eight computer stations, designed to encourage further education
A VILLAGE hall has won a design award. Judges said West Burton village hall, in Wensleydale, had a "pleasing distinctiveness, balanced by use of traditional materials". The Best Buildings Design Awards was run by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority
A MAN has been given a suspended prison sentence after assaulting two police officers and racially abusing one of them. David Hughes, 24, of Lilburne Crescent, Newton Aycliffe, pleaded guilty to two charges of assaulting police, resisting arrest, being
THE family of a schoolboy who died after an asthma attack has launched an appeal in his memory. Nine-year-old Jacob Fleming, of School Aycliffe, died last May after his first asthma attack. On Monday, which would have been Jacob's 11th birthday, his mother
The new Chinese owners of MG Rover yesterday announced plans to create 1,200 jobs at the carmaker's main UK factory. Two of the three final assembly production lines at the Longbridge plant, in Birmingham, will be retained, as well as the site's paint
WORK has started on a modern centre aimed at providing a host of activities and services for families in the Willington area. The centre in Chapel Street will cost £950,000 with £690,000 coming from SureStart Wear Valley East and a further £260,000 from
A drinking binge ended with a teenager slashing her boyfriend across the throat with a shard of broken glass. Durham Crown Court heard that the man ran from the couple's flat with blood pouring from the injury. The 25-year-old victim was tended to at
A PRE-SCHOOL manager is celebrating being named best in the country by a national magazine. Gill Hunton, of Osmotherley Pre-School, was presented with her nursery Manager of The Year award at the Early Years Educator magazine's annual conference. The
A NEW role is being recommended for a North-East prison because of confusion over its precise function. Officially, Holme House Prison, in Stockton, Teesside, receives unsentenced adult and young adult remand prisoners directly from court, as well as
A BENEFITS cheat who falsely claimed more than £22,000 over five years has been spared a prison sentence. Laura Ramsey, 26, of Tees Drive, Darlington, was told by Recorder Simon Bourne-Arton that she was very fortunate not to be going to jail. The mother-of-three
THE teenage daughter of a woman killed in an attack at her North-East home paid an emotional tribute to the "best mum" she could ever have wished for. Choking back tears, Kimberley Luke, 17, and her ten-year-old brother, Kieran, stood before a packed
IT is exactly the boost that the Teesport campaign has been waiting for. Yesterday morning, Asda - part of retailer Walmart - announced it was opening an import centre on the Tees, creating hundreds of jobs. In a few months, millions of clothes, televisions
A POPULAR bar steward and his wife have been charged with the theft of £50,000 from a workingmen's club. Regulars at the club in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, have expressed their shock at the allegations that the couple siphoned off the money over
It may seem like mere silliness but a hospital ban on cooing at babies strikes at the heart of human compassion. YOU don't know whether to laugh or weep. A hospital in Halifax has asked visitors not to coo over newborn babies, as it might invade their
SEARCHING last Thursday for something else entirely, we discovered in the Echo of October 19, 1966, a report of angry reaction to Newcastle City Council's plan to appoint its first press and public relations officer, at an annual salary of £2,700. Almost
SEARCHING last Thursday for something else entirely, we discovered in the Echo of October 19, 1966, a report of angry reaction to Newcastle City Council's plan to appoint its first press and public relations officer, at an annual salary of £2,700. Almost
IT MAY look like something out of a movie but this is the first real-life action picture of a mythical monster of the deep - the giant squid. Japanese researchers captured dramatic images of this 26ft deep sea squid attacking bait at a depth of nearly
TONY Blair signalled his determination to stay at No 10 yesterday when he told Labour's conference "the battle is not yet won" to change Britain for the challenges of the 21st Century. In a hard-hitting speech that challenged his "Old Labour" critics
The Closer (C4) Love Soup (BBC1) DETECTIVE Brenda Leigh Johnson comes from a long line of TV cops who arrive at a new job and are met by resistance from the established team. In the first episode, the outsider duly does the job and, by the end of the
Yorkshire were left clutching at straws towards the end of the season and they grabbed one by holding on to third place in the Frizzell Championship's Second Division to achieve their main aim of winning promotion in the most important of all the competitions
PERHAPS prompted by the warning, in the British Medical Journal, that women who delay childbirth into their late 30s or 40s "risk heartbreak", fertility experts have identified a related matter. More women are choosing to conceive through IVF treatment
SEDGEFIELD specialist Teme Valley made it win number eleven at the course yesterday with an easy victory in the Coors Brewery Claiming Hurdle. Owned and trained by Howard Johnson, Teme Valley coasted home seven lengths clear in the hands of Grand National
POST PRAISE : Why are people so quick to knock the British postal service and yet slow to praise? During my holiday in Italy last month I posted several cards to family and friends - four weeks later and still no sign of them. Give me the British postal
SEARCHING last Thursday for something else entirely, we discovered in the Echo of October 19, 1966, a report of angry reaction to Newcastle City Council's plan to appoint its first press and public relations officer, at an annual salary of £2,700. Almost
WHAT manager David Hodgson wouldn't give for a bit of lady luck to shine down on his beleaguered Darlington side. A frustrated Hodgson watched Boston United consign Darlington to their fifth game without a win in front of their lowest crowd of the season
AS the faithful waited for their long-serving leader to arrive, the loudspeakers blasted out One More Time by the dance duo Daft Punk. Meanwhile, the stewards on the balcony were frantically urging people to get downstairs, where an alarming number of
A CAMPAIGN to stop the demolition of 1,500 homes in a Teesside town is to continue - despite a poll showing that a majority of residents support the proposals. The results from the Mori survey will be used to back Middlesbrough Borough Council's case
COUNCIL tax payers are to pick up an estimated £45,000 bill after a town clerk was wrongfully dismissed over a £40 photocopying blunder. Town clerk Leanne Plant was awarded £12,500 damages yesterday after being sacked by Thornaby Town Council for allowing
A TEENAGER who carried out a rape after drinking a litre-and-a-half of vodka has been locked up for seven years. Sean Thomas Regan, 16, threatened to rape his victim's daughter during the attack at a flat in Skipton, North Yorkshire, in March. He pleaded
The world's largest retailer announced yesterday that it had decided to build a £20m import centre at Teesport, favouring the North over crowded Southern ports. Business Editor Julia Breen looks at the impact this will have on Teesport's campaign to bring
A BUSY North-East airport has unveiled the newest recruit to its fire-fighting team. The Rosenbauer Panther 6x6 CA5 is a pioneering, specialist aviation fire appliance at Newcastle International Airport - the first of its kind in the world. Airport fire
All Bar One and Harvester owner Mitchells and Butlers warned of a sharp rise in costs yesterday but said it had been cheered by a strong sales performance. The owner of 2,000 pubs in prime locations nationwide described trading during the past financial
RESIDENTS are invited to a health fair to check on their own health and personal wellbeing. People will also be able to find out more about local health services at Stockton Library tomorrow from 9.30am to 4.30pm in an event organised by the North Tees
GRASSROOTS projects across east Durham were yesterday lining up for a share of an £8.6m windfall. Community centres and sports halls will be rebuilt, recreation areas created and learning opportunities provided under the handout from national charity
BUSINESS owners have welcomed the success of a scheme designed to bring jobs to Darlington. The Targeted Assisted Employment project assesses the recruitment needs of local businesses and then matched vacancies to job-seekers from the Bank Top, Central
A WOMAN who left a career in human resources to launch her own business said she has filled a gap in the contemporary furniture market. Roz Henderson, of Darlington, started the online Sedini company after spending months searching for fashionable stools
A COUNCIL has responded to criticism over its handling of an arson problem facing a recreation ground. The statement from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council comes after a fire official said the Trunk Road Recreation Ground, in Dormanstown, near Redcar
HATE-crime is being targeted by Cleveland Police as the force encourages people to come forward and report incidents. A scheme called True Vision is being expanded in the majority of forces in England and Wales. In Cleveland, 3,000 race-hate packs and
IT was a case of viva Espana at a Middlesbrough primary school when youngsters got a taste of Latin living. Pupils at Grangetown Primary enjoyed a fun-packed Spanish day when plenty of Mediterranean tastes and sounds filled the air. The day was organised
YESTERDAY'S announcement that last season's dual English and Irish 1,000 Guineas winning filly Attraction has been retired brought down the curtain on a truly outstanding career. Every sport needs its superstars and Attraction ensured that the spotlight
The Butterwick Hospice is looking for volunteers to take part in its fire and "ice" walks on Tuesday, October 11, at The Aclet Pub, Bishop Auckland. People will be challenged to either walk barefoot over hot coals or broken glass (ice walk). Organiser
A TOWN centre pharmacist is inviting people to enjoy a cup of coffee with staff on Friday. The Moss Pharmacy, soon to be renamed Alliance Pharmacy, in Cheapside, Spennymoor, is taking part in the world's biggest coffee morning to raise funds for Macmillan
A SURVEY has revealed the level of trust and confidence patients in Wear Valley and Teesdale have in their doctors and dentists. Eighty four per cent of the 850 people questioned by the Healthcare Commission said they trusted their general practitioners
NERVES are jangling at a North Yorkshire school as staff prepare to abseil down one of the region's most famous buildings. The group, from Carnagill Community Primary School, in Catterick Garrison, will descend 150ft down the Baltic Centre, in Gateshead
GARDENERS have been praised for the high quality of entries in an annual contest. Representatives of Dobbies Garden World, in Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, selected Jean and Victor Cox's garden, in Cleveland Avenue, as the winner. The competition,
PEOPLE in Bowburn will be asked their views on the area's regeneration at a consultation day tomorrow. The event, in Bowburn Community Centre, Durham Road, runs from 3pm to 8pm and is open to residents of Bowburn, Parkhill, Old Quarrington and Tursdale
Durham seamer Liam Plunkett is aiming to become the first emerging cricketer to benefit from the National Academy's latest technology and develop into an established member of the England squad. The 20-year-old was the surprise name included in England's
FEARS are growing that a town could be moving over to the dark side after two sightings of a mysterious character wearing a Darth Vader mask - and false breasts. He or she was also seen in women's underwear. Police are not sure if the person is a male
OPTICIANS in the North-East will be supporting the fight against breast cancer next month by getting pretty in pink. Branches of Specsavers throughout the region will be selling a range of pink merchandise for the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, including
A HOSPITAL mishap during an operation led to a student's death, an inquest was told yesterday. Lindsey Hudspeth, from Leeholme, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, died a month after a gall bladder procedure at Darlington Memorial Hospital. The inquest
It may have been his first conference speech since announcing he would step down as Labour leader before the next election, but Tony Blair yesterday seemed a long way from being a lame duck. Nick Morrison reports HE is supposed to be a prime minister
COMPANIES in the region will have the opportunity to forge links with Russia at a breakfast event. The event, organised by UK Trade and Investment, will highlight opportunities in the former Soviet country. Peter Langham, head of trade and investment
TONY Blair sounded and looked like a man in full control of his party, his country and his future yesterday. Even though yesterday morning's papers had been full of Gordon Brown's alleged attempted coup - "I'm Gord and ready" and "10 Browning Street"
MOBILE phone group Vodafone last night confirmed plans to close a call centre, putting 650 jobs at risk. The company's Birmingham site will close in February, with work transferring to other centres. Union officials criticised the move, saying that for
A COUPLE who were terrorised by gangs of drunken teenagers at their food take-away were last night praised by police for their bravery after five youngsters were locked up. Linon and Ailing Lee suffered four months of abuse and intimidation before their
