OLDER women who are trying to get pregnant through IVF treatment may benefit from prize-winning research by a North-East scientist. Dr Hayden Homer, a research training fellow at the Newcastle Fertility Centre, won first prize for his work at the Biennial
GARY BREEN has warned his Sunderland team-mates that their current plight at the foot of the Premier League can make or break the club's youngsters. The Black Cats go into the holiday programme firmly rooted to the bottom spot, having failed to register
A PROPERTY group has made a £600,000 profit in only ten months after selling an industrial unit in the region. Kenmore Property Group has sold the Rayovac industrial unit, in Stephenson Road, Washington, Wearside. The group was advised to buy the factory
TWO men who died after crashing a stolen car had been driving at high speed moments before, police said last night. Robert Michael Royal, 22, and Stephen John Dickens, 24, both from Darlington, died instantly when the red Rover MGZS careered into a traffic
EIGHTEEN homes are to be built in Witton-le-Wear next yea. Wear Valley District Council development control committee approved plans for the terraced and detached houses in The Paddock area of the village. Developers Dere Street Limited will build the
MARK NICHOLSON has been appointed business consultant at North-East health and safety company, Frontier. The 29-year-old from South Shields, South Tyneside, has joined Frontier after a career in business development, which has seen him travel around the
SHOPPERS in Darlington have helped elderly and needy people tuck into festive meals this Christmas. Darlington Lions distributed food parcels on Saturday across the town, thanks to contributions from shoppers. The club collected more than £3,000 when
A WOMAN has won the right to build two houses in her large village garden, despite opposition from a dozen neighbours and local councillors. Following a planning appeal, Emily Bainbridge was given approval yesterday to put up a pair of four- bedroomed
A WORKER has been selected from 13,000 fellow employees to receive an award. Julian Benstead, 44, of Guisborough, has worked for Darlington-based mobile phone company Orange for the past nine years. Mr Benstead, a controller support team coach, was honoured
A YOUNG greyhound is hoping to celebrate Christmas in the loving surroundings of a new family. Billy's career as a racing dog was a non-starter when the young dog refused to run. Now, his owners have handed him over to a greyhound rescue volunteer, who
A JUDGE yesterday called on warring factions in a family feud to "draw a line" under their dispute. Judge Richard Lowden made his comments after sentencing a woman and her nephew for a drunken armed attack at her in-laws' home. Durham Crown Court heard
A WAVE of grants has been handed out by County Durham Environmental Trust's (CDENT). Funding of £120,000 from CDENT under the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme has been granted to seven projects. The South-West Durham Heritage corridor has received £50,000 to
A RURAL post office in a North Yorkshire village is to close for a temporary period from Thursday, December 29. The post office at Bishop Monkton, on St John's Road, is to shut following the expiry of a temporary contract. Rural transfer advisor Bill
A PROLIFIC criminal led police on a high-speed chase through Weardale within weeks of being released from prison, a court heard. Simon McPhee, of Darlington, pleaded guilty to eight charges, including aggravated vehicle taking, theft, driving without
ESTATE agents who turned their windows white for Christmas have won first prize in a traders' competition. Staff at the Bishop Auckland branch of Reeds Rains made the decorations for their Winter Wonderland display themselves, impressing judges from the
A MIDDLE-AGED man is critically ill in hospital after he fell 40ft from an escalator during a night out. The 45-year-old Newcastle man, who has not been named, fell head-first over the banister of the escalator at The Gate entertainment complex, in the
A MOTOR dealer has turned Santa for a money-strapped football team. Coulby Newham's under-14s team were looking for a sponsor to fund a new strip when Jennings Ford, in Stockton, stepped in. The new strips are a welcome boost to the team, which is in
Bad Girls Christmas Special (ITV1) Chopratown (BBC1) NOT so much Bad Girls as Mad Girls. The women-behind-bars drama isn't exactly known for subtlety or good taste and the totally bonkers Christmas Special was as barking as a pack of starving dogs. And
POLICE temporarily closed a pub and takeaway after separate outbreaks of disorder at the weekend. The Colonel Prior pub, in Doxford Park, and the Bravo Pizza takeaway, in Stockton Road, both Sunderland, were shut by police for 24 hours after fighting.
A PASSENGER who took a frightened taxi driver on a ten-mile ride was jailed indefinitely for the protection of the public yesterday. Drug addict John Miller, 27, threatened cabbie Ian Smith with a martial arts-style double bayonet while demanding to be
A CHURCH-GOING widow told a court yesterday that she was raped by a man who showed her a photograph of himself at Buckingham Palace being made an MBE. She said former firefighter Peter Glover invited her to his home when their friendship blossomed after
HEALTH officials in Darlington have signed up to a global cause to give children the best possible start to life. Darlington Primary Care Trust (PCT) has pledged to encourage breastfeeding by signing up to the Unicef UK baby-friendly initiative. Staff
A WOMAN who drove off after her car had hit a parked 4x4 had later been confronted by its irate owner ''yelling and shouting'' at her, claming he would have to spend £1,100 to put the damage right. Paula Kay Farrell told District Judge Sheila Driver,
NURSERY children delighted a packed audience when they took to the stage for a performance of One Snowy Night. The play was staged in the Red Room at Catterick Childcare Centre, part of Darlington College's Catterick campus. Youngsters told the tale of
A CHORAL society will bring a little Christmas cheer to a hospital tomorrow evening for a remarkable 40th year in a row. Members of Durham Choral Society will perform at the University Hospital of North Durham at 7.30pm, when they will present a selection
AUSTRALIAN contractor Multiplex yesterday warned that its 2006 profit was likely to be 77 per cent below what it had forecast, blaming cost setbacks at its troubled Wembley Stadium project. The construction and property group said it expects a 165m Australian
DISPERSAL orders to crack down on anti-social behaviour have been hailed a success. Disorder in the Dyke House area of Hartlepool has halved and crime in general has also been reduced. The order, which operated in Dyke House from November 7 to December
A NORTH-EAST soldier is helping Kashmiris build a future in their earthquake-devastated province. Lance Corporal Ken Wood, from Middlesbrough, is helping to construct buildings to be used as clinics and classrooms in the Pakistan province of Kashmir.
GARY BREEN has warned his Sunderland team-mates that their current plight at the foot of the Premier League can make or break the club's youngsters. The Black Cats go into the holiday programme firmly rooted to the bottom spot, having failed to register
CARPHONE Warehouse yesterday doubled the number of customers using its TalkTalk fixed-line services by spending up to £154m on acquiring Onetel. The group - best known for its high street stores selling mobile phones - struck a deal with power supplier
CHILDREN as young as 12 will be prescribed nicotine patches to help them quit smoking. After a successful pilot project that started last year, all six secondary schools in the Derwentside district of County Durham will offer nicotine replacement therapy
A DISPUTE over pay at a North-East factory has been resolved. The 150-strong workforce at Hydro Aluminium Extrusions, in Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, has accepted an improved pay offer following 12 days of industrial action. Dave Telford
IN October, when ministers finally agreed a way forward on the highly contentious issue of smoking in pubs and clubs, we described the Government's thinking as "a fog of confusion". The Cabinet, in struggling to come up with an agreement, had decided
A GRISLY find on a beach sparked a police investigation. Officers were drafted in to make a detailed search after a dog walker found part of a human skull, which a hospital consultant considered to be recent. The grey, dish-shaped bone found on Coatham
From tomorrow, gay couples will be able to register a civil partnership, giving them the same rights as married couples. Nick Morrison talks to one of the first couples in the country to take advantage of what has been hailed as the biggest ever step
From shining brasses to washing clothes, a new book highlights how our forbears handled housework. Sarah Foster examines some of their quaint and quirky habits. WE all know that life in olden times was hard - no bunging in the washing as you leave for
THE oldest juvenile dancers in the panto are 12 years old, the youngest is only seven. Typical kids, they are shy, chatty, funny and giggly - and all utterly, devastatingly, professional. From now until the end of January they will be dancing two days
REGIONAL ASSEMBLY: YOUR correspondent, J Routledge (HAS, Dec 13), makes yet more nonsensical claims. As a Liberal Democrat, I do not want to "see my country disappear" any more than he/she does. Regional assemblies are not a "requirement" of the EU. The
Northern Desert, who very much caught the eye after a break last time, looks the best bet of the day in the £10 Free Bet Handicap over a mile at Lingfield, writes Richard Young (Janus). Peter Hiatt's runner, a course and distance winner in January, shaped
DURHAM-based Esh Group has announced the appointment of four directors to its plumbing and electrical arm. DAVID TWEDDLE, 48, KEITH WALKER, 32, KIRK BARCLAY, 46 and PETER WATT, 39, have been promoted to directors at Bartram Walker Mechanical Services,
A DISTRAUGHT pet owner is appealing for information about her missing guinea pig left at a boarding kennel where scores of neglected pets were found. Wendy Cole took her three-year-old pedigree Himalayan guinea pig Smudge to A1 Kennels and Cattery, at
A MOTHER-OF-THREE arrived home after a weekend break yesterday to find burglars had stolen goods worth £10,000, including all her children's Christmas presents. The intruders ransacked her flat in Gainford, near Barnard Castle, County Dur-ham, and walked
MPs will be given the final say before a single police force is created for the entire North-East, Home Secretary Charles Clarke pledged last night. In a dramatic U-turn amid rising criticism of the restructuring plans, Mr Clarke dropped plans to force
BUSINESS Link Tees Valley has appointed two new members of staff who have experience of running their own businesses. GILL CAIRNS and GILLIAN BAKER are the latest recruits to the team of account managers at Business Link's Tees Valley operation, responsible
NORTH-EAST football stars helped the medicine go down at two hospitals yesterday. Middlesbrough players Gareth Southgate, Mark Schwarzer, Yakubu, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Gaizka Mendieta, Ugo Ehiogu, Emanuel Pogatetz and Mark Viduka were among the stars
AMBULANCE controllers are bracing themselves for the usual timewasting or downright bizarre calls over Christmas and New Year. The North East Ambulance Service is urging members of the public to call 999 only for life-threatening and serious cases. But
Kabir Ali's brave rearguard fell agonisingly short of pulling off an improbable victory as England lost their one-day series to Pakistan via a 13-run margin in a thrilling match at Rawalpindi. England gave themselves obvious prospects of success which
VANDALS wrecked a village bus shelter at the weekend, landing council tax payers with an £800 bill. The shelter, at the bottom of Chapel Row, Ferryhill, was targeted on Saturday night for the second time in three months. Durham police and Ferryhill Town
THE bidding race for Teesport owner PD Ports looked to be over last night as one suitor pulled out. Australian infrastructure firm Babcock and Brown is in line to land Middlesbrough-based PD Ports after rival suitor, the Endeavour Ports consortium, declined
STUDENTS from a Darlington college lived less privileged lives for two days when they had to live on a dollar. Members of the Fair Trade group at Carmel RC Technology College marked the global White Band Day initiative by living on a dollar - about 70p
THE family of a young soldier seriously injured in a crash in Cyprus were yesterday keeping a vigil by his bedside. A Land Rover carrying Fusilier Marc Dryburgh, 23, was making its way from a garrison at Dhekelia to Ayia Nicholas when it hit a tree last
PRIMARY school youngsters have been spreading a bit of seasonal cheer by serenading dignitaries and visitors to their home town. The children, from schools in Ferryhill, have been taking part in the Christmas carol concerts in the gardens of Ferryhill
A WORKER has been selected from 13,000 fellow employees to receive a staff recognition award. Guisborough man Julian Benstead, 44, has worked for Darlington-based mobile phone company Orange for the past nine years. A panel of judges from the company
A CHURCH-GOING widow told a court yesterday that she was raped by a man who showed her a photograph of himself at Buckingham Palace being made an MBE. She said former firefighter Peter Glover invited her to his home when their friendship blossomed after
FORMER Auf Wiedersehen Pet star Tim Healy returned to his home town yesterday to open a unit for the elderly. The TV celebrity was in Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, to open Shadon House, which offers care for 23 people suffering from dementia. The unit
A DAY nursery and out-of-school club is celebrating a double success after becoming the only childcare provider in North Yorkshire to receive two top awards. The Westfield Day Nursery, in Easingwold, achieved both the Investor in Children Award and the
A MAN was cleared of rape yesterday - after a jury accepted he had been sleepwalking. James Bilton, 22, said he could not remember the alleged attack at his flat in York and that he must have been sleepwalking. The bar worker of Hope Street, York, told
A TEENAGER needed hospital treatment after she was attacked as she went to work at the weekend. The 17-year-old was assaulted by two men as she walked in the Columbia area of Washington, Wearside, at about 7.45am on Saturday. After the attack, which took
A TEESSIDE woman has been given a 12-month suspended sentence after illegally copying and selling pirate DVDs. Marie Hood, 53, of Woodhouse Road, Guisborough, appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Friday. The defendant was also given a two-year supervision
FATHER Christmas abandoned his sleigh and reindeer and climbed on a motor- bike when he set off yesterday to visit three children's centres in County Durham. Santa, accompanied by his elves, stepped on the gas as he made his tour of the SureStart centres
When he left home at 23, John Elliott was one of a family of six in a two-up, two-down. Now he and his wife Margaret share five bedrooms, six netties, a swimming pool, snooker room and much else in the house near Crook once owned by Sunderland striker
BIG Brother winner Anthony Hutton swapped pantomime for pampering when he helped out a family friend by launching her beauty salon. The 23-year-old, who won the reality TV show in August, is currently appearing in Beauty and the Beast at Darlington Civic
A ROW over the closure of a village's conveniences has been reported to a council watchdog. Councillor John Shuttleworth fears that the decision by Wear Valley District Council to close toilets in the village of Daddry Shield, near Stanhope, will be detrimental
FATHER Christmas was in Stockton to visit Ropner Park on Sunday. The event was part of the friends of Ropner Park annual family fun day. The choir of St Paul's Church and the Salvation Army Band provided entertainment while hot fruit punch and home-made
A PROLIFIC criminal turned to stealing cars to pay off his drugs debt within weeks of being released from prison, a court heard. Simon McPhee, of Dickinson Street, Darlington, pleaded guilty to eight charges, including aggravated vehicle taking, theft
THE wife of a long-serving Darlington councillor has died a week before her 84th birthday. Wyn Stamford-Bewlay, wife of Councillor Philip Stamford-Bewlay, died last week from a heart attack. Coun Stamford-Bewlay has been a Conservative councillor on Darlington
A MOTORIST who crashed his car as he left a Harrogate pool then worried about reporting the incident for fear of reprisals, the town's magistrates were told yesterday. The court heard how James Bagley, 83, who swims daily at Starbeck Baths and is a member
ONE of the nation's finest Victorian estate churches has taken on a new look as a major restoration project gets under way. A £150,000 project has begun to repair stonework at grade I-listed St James' Church at Baldersby, near Thirsk. And with work concentrating
CHILDCARE provider Kids and Co had a double celebration yesterday as it received two Darlington Quality Assurance Kitemark plaques. The award was presented to Kids and Co nursery units in the Town Hall and at Borough Road by Councillor Heather Scott.
A REMAND prisoner facing two allegations of burglary will be tried in his absence if he fails to turn up at court for the next hearing of the case. Judge Richard Lowden gave the warning after 25-year-old Thomas Adey failed to be produced for a scheduled
SOCIAL services staff are celebrating their third successive award for quality. Members of the North Yorkshire Councy Council's social services' customer relations units have again been awarded a charter mark. The service was independently assessed by
Customs men have seized more than a million black market cigarettes smuggled into the North-East. The illegal tobacco - which would have been sold at knock-down prices in the run-Christmas - is worth more than £200,000. More than one million cigarettes
PEOPLE living in streets earmarked for demolition have condemned opportunist entrepreneurs offering to buy their homes at half the market value. Eddie Johnson, who lives in one of the streets marked for demolition, said: "I think this is absolutely appalling
AUSTRALIAN contractor Multiplex yesterday warned that its 2006 profit was likely to be 77 per cent below what it had forecast, blaming cost setbacks at its troubled Wembley Stadium project. The construction and property group said it expects a 165m Australian
A MULTI-MILLION pound waterfront scheme aimed at creating 2,500 jobs has cleared its first planning hurdle. Hartlepool Borough Council yesterday recommended planning approval be given to the joint application by Tees Valley Regeneration and PD Ports plc
A PASSENGER who took a frightened taxi driver on a ten-mile ride was jailed indefinitely for the protection of the public yesterday. Drug addict John Miller, 27, threatened cabbie Ian Smith with a martial arts-style double bayonet while demanding to be
WORKERS at the country's oldest chromium plant will meet tomorrow to discuss a revised redundancy package put forward by the company. Bosses at Elementis Chromium, at Eaglescliffe, near Yarm, Teesside, met unions yesterday amid threats of industrial action
EMPLOYMENT law expert Dr John McMullen has been appointed head of employment law at North-East and Yorkshire firm Watson Burton. Before that, he was the national head of employment at Pinsent Masons, a firm he joined in 1991. He is classed as one of the
DEAN McDonald has bid a fond farewell to Hartlepool United - and thanked the club for making him a better footballer. The striker has returned to Ipswich after a successful one-month loan spell. McDonald scored once in five games and the crowd took to
WHILE Sven-Goran Eriksson would have left Upton Park purring at Michael Owen's form on Saturday, Scott Parker is hoping his dominant midfield display also caught the eye of the England boss. Eriksson has claimed that three World Cup places are still up
A CLUE to the sender of mystery Christmas cards that have turned up at the wrong address each year for the past decade has finally been found. Every Christmas for more than ten years, Peter Wareham has received a card addressed to Mr and Mrs R Day. The
THE heartbroken best friend of Toni Hannant last night spoke of the moment the teenager was killed by a train. Seconds before the tragedy, the 14-year-old had been laughing and singing as she walked next to the main East Coast railway line in Blackhall
TIM WALLIS, chairman of North-East based Crutes Law Firm, has been re-appointed as a member of the Civil Justice Council by Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the Lord Chancellor. The Civil Justice Council is responsible for overseeing and co-ordinating the modernisation
BEAUTY and the beast came together yesterday to launch a fundraising campaign for Cancer Research UK. Anneliece Butler sold the first pin badge featuring King Kong, which the charity hopes will bring in much-needed funds to pay for its work. Five-year-old
A MOTORIST who caused the death of a friend in a motorway accident has been jailed for three years. Osman Akbar, 20, who admitted causing the death of Imran Yaseen, was driving a Vauxhall Vectra when it hit the back of a stationary low-loader lorry on
Plans to opencast land that includes a county wildlife site have been granted planning permission despite objections from organisations including English Nature and the Durham Wildlife Trust. Durham County Council's planning committee has approved by
Jack And The Beanstalk, Harrogate Theatre I DON'T know how teacher Mrs Dixon enjoyed this pantomime but the rest of the packed theatre laughed, cheered, clapped, booed and screamed throughout. "Don't worry," Tim Stedman's Simple Simon told her, "the nightmare's
The region's X Factor pop duo have returned to the North East for Christmas. And excitement is in the air with talks of a possible lucrative record contract and an engagement. Brothers Carl and Andy Pemberton, of Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough, who form
A BAN on smoking in all pubs moved a step closer yesterday after Government plans to exempt those not serving food were ridiculed by a committee of MPs. In some of the strongest language used about a Government policy, the Labour-dominated Health Select
PARENTS of children at a top-performing school, which is under threat of closure, are being asked to support governors in a bid to secure the future of the school. A letter, sent to parents at Hurworth School last night, says the school will try to get
Church bells, the manger, the crib, carols, Holy Communion on the big day. Just go out and have yourself a very Christian Christmas. Things are looking up when even the Archbishops have said as much. Usually the best they can do at Christmas is to tell
MIDDLESBROUGH'S Mark Viduka has joined the fast-growing Aiyegbeni Yakubu fan club by labelling the Nigerian an 'unbelievable' striker. Yakubu's double in Sunday's 3-3 draw with Tottenham again made his £7.5m summer price-tag look a bargain. Despite being
SPECIALIST sweet shop Bah Humbugs, in North Yorkshire, has opened its doors to customers around the world and proprietor Lucy Scott-Paul is being swamped by people ordering Christmas hampers. The Masham-based shop was launched online earlier this year
MORE than £4m of investment will be pumped into promoting the North-East as a tourist destination from next month. Regional development agency One NorthEast is launching marketing campaigns aimed at the local, regional and international markets throughout
A BIOFUELS company contemplating making a multi-million pound investment in the region is calling on local wheat growers to pledge their interest. Somerset-based Wessex Grain is looking at sites on Teesside to build a bioethanol plant, converting wheat
THE day was hot, the blonde was beautiful. The walk had been ten miles uphill, past Bog House and Hagg Common to Bransdale, for the final of the Lady Feversham Cricket Cup. There are no buses to Bransdale. She stood six feet tall in shoeless feet - the
