A SERVICE which helps provide more than £12m worth of work in a North-East town has undergone a relaunch. Darlington CVS has rebranded itself as eVOLution, which includes a new name, website and logo. The new step in the development of the voluntary
A NEW initiative to prevent rural crime has been launched in County Durham. The Ferryhill Farmwatch scheme aims to foster greater links between police and the farming community. It is hoped that by improving communication between farmers and officers
CHARITY THANKS: Sainsbury's in Darlington have thanked people who helped raise over 3,000 for Sport Relief. Special thanks went to Polam Hall students who helped with bag packing. CHURCH CASH: A collection organised St Cuthberts Church in Darlington
A GUST of wind uncovered a cannabis farm, a court heard today. For it blew back the curtain of a bedroom window allowing a passing policeman to see huge heat lamps hanging from the ceiling. James Wildon initially refused to let the beat bobby into his
AN amateur football exhibition will take place next week, showcasing the collection of a former grassroots soccer stalwart. The Arthur Clark Collection will be on display at Crook Library in County Durham on Thursday, April 3 from 7.30pm. Mr Clark was
CHILDREN at a Darlington school have been working with a professional artist to decorate a local library. Yvonne Preston, a community visual artist visited Hummersknott school as the final part of a project working with 11 schools in Darlington to produce
A SERVICE which helps to provide more than £12m worth of work in Darlington has undergone an evolutionary relaunch. Darlington CVS has rebranded itself as eVOLution, which includes a new name, website and logo. The new step in the development of the
A MAN celebrated his birthday by winning a top of the range car on a television lottery show. Joseph Walton was enjoying his 43rd birthday on March 14 when he discovered he had won the prize on the BingoLotto programme, hosted by Joe Pasquale. He and
ROOKIE comedian and The Northern Echo journalist Owen Amos will take to the stage alongside three seasoned performers this weekend. Mr Amos, 23, will make his debut at the Hilary Bites Comedy Club, at Inside Out, Beaumont Street, Darlington, tomorrow
A MAN has been remanded in custody after appearing in court charged with the manslaughter of a 19-year-old. Joseph Dixon, 20, from Porchester Road, Pennywell, Sunderland, appeared before the city's magistrates' court today. Ryan Hyden, from Pennywell
Bishop Auckland Prince's Trust Team 18, a 12-week personal development programme for 16 to 25-year-olds run in partnership with Stockton Riverside College, is holding a final presentation on Wednesday, April 2. It will be held at the Lightfoot Institute
HEALTHY working conditions at a south west Durham secure unit have earned a silver award. Aycliffe Secure Services, managed by Durham County Council, received a silver Working for Health Award, today. (FRIDAY 28 2007) The NHS local award for County
POLICE have released a CCTV image of a man suspected of raiding a petrol station yesterday morning. Staff at the Shell Service Station on Thirsk Road, Kirklevington, near Yarm, were threatened by a man with a knife and a crowbar at 4.45am. He managed
A HERD of stray horses who have been running amok in a village for the last few days have been rounded up, say police. The eight horses, including three with foals, have damaged people's gardens and the local school and cricket fields in Hunwick. They
A HOUSEHOLDER was brutally attacked by a gang when he told one of them to stop urinating against his neighbour's fence. Edward Bainbridge was at home with his wife on April 27 last year when he heard youths teasing his dog in the garden outside. Newcastle
When Were We Funniest A new panel show on UKTV Gold concerning British comedies from a variety of decades, ranging from the 60's to the present. The line up includes a variety of comedians, with Alexander Armstrong as the host, Martin Freeman represents
MEMBERS of the public are being invited to have their say on the future of dental services in County Durham. A number of public consultation events have been organised by the County Durham Primary Care Trust (PCT) commissioning team. The aim of the
MURDER squad detectives have released CCTV pictures of witnesses they urgently want to trace in connection with the death of a North-East man. Police investigating the killing of Paul Gilbert in Newcastle have renewed their appeal for help in the case
SIX convenience stores across the region have been bought up by the Co-operative Group. Five of the stores - currently trading as Bells Stores - are in Brookfield, Middlesbrough; Newton Hall, Durham; Wynyard, Billingham; Bassleton Court, Thornaby and
AN inquest into the death of a North-East soldier who was killed while repairing a damaged tank in Afghanistan will resume today. Lance Corporal Sean Tansey, 26, was servicing a Scimitar at a UK base near Sangin, in northern Helmand, when the accident
AN architectural preservation group has requested that a building, once described as ugly, be given protected listed status. Darlington Civic Trust has written to Darlington Borough Council with proposals to refurbish and improve the 1970s town hall.
THE POLICE helicopter and five patrol cars are searching for a suspected robber on the run on the outskirts of Darlington. Two young men who are believed to have been involved in a robbery in Barnard Castle were chased by police to High Coniscliffe,
A NEW initiative to prevent rural crime has been launched. The Ferryhill Farmwatch scheme aims to foster greater links between police and the farming community. It is hoped that by improving communication between farmers and officers they can work
A TEENAGE cyclist was left with serious head injuries in a hit-and-run crash. The 18-year-old Billingham man was knocked off his bike while crossing Marsh House Avenue, near the junction with The Linkway, Billingham, near Stockton, at around 7pm last
POLICE are appealing for witnesses to an assault in Bishop Auckland earlier this month. The attack happened near Woolworths, in Newgate Street, on Friday, March 14, between 11.30pm and midnight. The victim, a woman in her 40s, had been drinking
TODDLERS were thrilled when a chick hatched out and started chirping in their class at a nursery school yesterday. It was the first to be born from a dozen eggs donated by parents to the class at Cockfield, near Barnard Castle. Three year old
A COUNCILLOR has criticised "mindless vandals" whose socalled horseplay has led to animals regularly straying through a village. Coun Brian Myers, who represents the Willington ward on Durham County Council, has received complaints from residents
DEMOLITION work left residents in Wear Valley with no electricity and one family with a heap of rubble in their yard. Ian Todd, 41, from Crook, came home to a driveway filled with bricks after developer Miller Homes bulldozed a nearby garage to
A YOUTH centre has received £1,000 funding from a bank. Thirsk Clock will use the money to fund activities for more than 300 young people, who use the centre each year. Linda Gibbon, chairwoman of the trustees at the charity, expressed her thanks
A LOCAL authority hoping to introduce parking charges to raise £450,000 has employed 19 more members of staff in the past year, it has emerged. The appointments were highlighted yesterday at a meeting of Hambleton District Council. The authority
POLICE are warning the public to be vigilant after a patient went missing from a psychiatric hospital. John Evans, 29, who police say can be dangerous, was being treated at Northgate Hospital in Morpeth, Northumberland. Mr Evans left the unit shortly
WATER company staff have gone back to school to build a garden. Yorkshire Water workers spent two days this week creating a vegetable patch at Swainby and Potto Primary School. Volunteers constructed a fence around part of the school grounds
A SCOOTER scheme that has helped hundreds of young people into work met with the approval of Transport Minister Rosie Winterton yesterday. The Wheels2Work project helps youngsters in isolated communities access jobs and training by lending them
A PIONEERING youth group formed to clean up the streets of a former colliery community has received formal recognition for its efforts. The Easington Colliery Crimebusters was formed in the town in 2005. Having pinpointed various problems,
THE race to be crowned the entrepreneurs of tomorrow appeared to be turning into a twohorse race as the competition reached the half-way point. With three of the six challenges completed, pupils from Framwellgate School remained runaway leaders
A BRIEF post-war meeting over the counter at a cafeteria led to a lifetime relationship for a young serviceman and a waitress. Johnny Bunyan, from Camberley, in Surrey, ventured North after being called up to perform National Service with the
A SHOP assistant at an off-licence with a reputation for serving underage drinkers has been fined £120 for selling beer to teenage youths. Paramreer Singh Bhamrah, 19, of Wear Road, Stanley, appeared before Consett Magistrates' Court yesterday
AN awareness-raising event aims to help people find out more about climate change and what they can do to reduce its impact. The session will take place at the Middleton Grange Shopping Centre, Hartlepool, on Tuesday. It is being organised by
ADAPTED A SCHEME has been launched to keep disabled people safer in their homes, with specially adapted smoke alarms. The pilot scheme, being run in Middlesbrough, is designed to help people who are unable to check their smoke alarm themselves
POLICE found heroin with a street value of more than £2,000 after raiding the bedsit home of a Middlesbrough drug addict, a court heard. Richard Duce was yesterday jailed for three years after he admitted possessing Class A drugs with intent to
PEOPLE are invited to comment on land that is being potentially targeted for development in Redcar and Cleveland. The council is assessing possible sites for housing developments as part of the work to prepare a Local Development Framework.
A SERIES of community events will be held on two troubled housing estates to help build bridges following a month-long crackdown on crime and anti-social behaviour. At the beginning of this month, police raids took place on Berwick Hills and
EGGLESCLIFFE School Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) has raised £15,000 to support the school's healthy eating scheme. Determined parents held quizzes, live music events, raffles, summer fetes and antiques evenings in their drive to raise
BRITISH Airways cancelled dozens of flights as travel chaos continued at Heathrow's new £4.3 billion Terminal 5. By 8am this morning a total of 36 flights - all of them short-haul - had been axed, and BA had brought in extra staff to cope with passengers
NEVER too old, Tuesday's column half-recalled a 1960s FA Youth Cup final between Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion in which Sunderland had gone 3-0 down in the first leg and won the second by six. There was good reason for the reminiscence
OL' blue eyes is back! He dropped in to Sunderland Empire on a giant moving screen that blasted him clean out of the past to be centre stage of this innovative musical. Sinatra died in 1998 after a long illness and here he is ten years later,
Benidorm (ITV1, 9pm); Teenage Kicks (ITV1, 9.30pm); Torchwood (BBC2, 9pm); COMEDY is a funny thing, but not always as an ITV1 double bill demonstrates. Benidorm gave the channel a rare comedy hit last year. The series - along with tanned-to-a-crisp
AT first sight it looks more like a sweet shop, a magical sweet shop as invented by Willie Wonka perhaps. Rows and rows of jars glinting and glistening with all the colours of the rainbow. Closer inspection reveals the jars contain not sweets, but
As a miniature munching army crosses from the Continent, we need to be on guard against a major threat to our ancient woodlands AS a gardener, it is hard enough to learn all the rudimentary basics of how to grow each particular variety of plant
Running is often seen as a sport for the super-fit marathon runner. But with the women-only Race for Life charity event coming up, Julia Breen looks at how even the complete novice can pull on a pair of running shoes and go for it WATCHING the London
I AM writing to express my extreme disgust at all of the Bishop Auckland residents and visitors who witnessed the assault and chase of a 14-year-old boy by a gang of yobs during a 40-minute ordeal (Echo, Mar 20). What happened to British fair
WITH regard to whether the National Anthem should be changed or not (HAS, Mar 18). With its drum-roll introduction and splendid chords, I find that God Save the Queen is a fine piece of music and should be kept. When Sir Edward Elgar wrote Land
YOUR article regarding a proposed airport business park (Echo, Mar 20) contained a reference to "the fastgrowing Durham Tees Valley Airport". Figures recently released by the Civil Aviation Authority indicate that DTVA experienced the largest
I BELIEVE that Councillor Ken Walker's letter on tackling sleaze in national and local government (HAS, Mar 24) is on the right track. However, I feel we need to go further and have a total overhaul of the way we are governed. Our so-called elected
WHAT is it with this Government and this country? Anyone who displays a degree of loyalty or service is knocked down or penalised. Firstly, the loyal servants of the Crown, the Gurkhas, are denied proper pension rights and residency in this country
AS someone with motor neurone disease (MND) I find it difficult to understand anybody not wanting animal-human embryos to be created for scientific research that may be a way towards a cure for conditions such as MND and Parkinson's disease. I've
AS a regular visitor to Darlington I see Gurkha servicemen shopping for their needs before being posted overseas. They can always be recognised in their blazers with white shirt and regiment tie. Always quiet and very polite. I consider that
EVER wondered why MPs have such long summer holidays? No it's not a joke, it's all to do with history. In Victorian times, the River Thames was an open sewer, so in summertime the smell made Westminster a pretty unpleasant and unhealthy place
In Binge Drink Britain, bouncers are on the front line. Owen Amos spends a Friday night on the door in Stockton and discovers just what doormen put up with. MARK Kidd, bouncer, has suffered a broken leg, a fractured skull and a smashed wrist
THERE is merit in the adage that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. And, in the case of council chiefs, they are certainly not being paid peanuts. Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed that council chief executives
JAMES REVELEY bids to build on an already burgeoning reputation by booting home Pepsyrock (2.40) in Newbury's Novices' Handicap Chase. The son of Lingdale trainer, Keith Reveley, James continues to catch the eye with a string of very stylish performances
YORKSHIRE chief executive Stewart Regan has confirmed that following negotiations Rana Navedul- Hasan will be eligible to play for the county. The 30-year-old seamer played for Sussex last season but doubt had surrounded his availability for
IT was quite a coincidence that Marcus Trescothick should make the rather pointless statement about his retirement from international cricket on the same day as Steve Harmison dubbed Geoff Boycott "a waste of space." The two Ashes heroes might
RICKY Hatton craves a rematch with Floyd Mayweather - and efforts to lure the American to Wembley next spring have already begun. Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer revealed yesterday that he has received a positive response
The Great Britain team contested the men's pursuit at the Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester. They broke the world record as they successfully defended their title, completing the 4000 metres race in three minutes, 56.322 seconds. The
WITH Jamie Noon among the four backs who are injured, Mathew Tait switches from full back to outside centre for Newcastle Falcons' Guinness Premiership trip to Harlequins tomorrow. Noon is ruled out by the shin injury he suffered at Leeds last
ENGLAND return home from their Test series triumph in New Zealand confident they now have a bigger pool of internationalclass bowlers to choose from for the summer campaign ahead. Coach Peter Moores and the rest of the squad set off with thoughts
NIALL QUINN feels that securing a second successive season in the Premier League would seriously strengthen Sunderland's arm in the transfer market this summer. The Black Cats remain very much in a fight against relegation, despite recording
WITH Richard Barker likely to miss out tomorrow, Hartlepool United boss Danny Wilson will look to Joel Porter and James Brown to flourish again. Pools take on long-term League One leaders Swansea City at Victoria Park. Barker suffered a hamstring
FABIO CAPELLO will carry on experimenting to find the right blend in his England team in time for the World Cup qualifying campaign. That was evident from England's 1-0 defeat against France in Paris, a setback which must have made Capello realise
STEVEN Gerrard will need more time to fully adapt to being the second striker for England. But the Liverpool captain is confident he can make things happen'' in the role behind Wayne Rooney. Gerrard played just behind Rooney in the 1-0 defeat
THE family of a teenage soldier killed in Iraq will mark the first anniversary of his death by taking part in one of his favourite pastimes. Rifleman Aaron Lincoln, 18, from the Sherburn Road Estate, in Durham City, loved singing along to backing
A HORSE owner is riding high after winning £25,000 on the People's Postcode Lottery. And 25 seems to be a lucky number for Jacqueline Taylor, as she is about to pay off her 25-year mortgage and celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary. Mrs Taylor
THE region's only ethnic minority MP has condemned Labour's plans for "all-black" shortlists for Westminster seats and warned of "bloodletting". Dr Ashok Kumar, the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP, said the proposal, being pushed by
A COUNTRY house hotel in the region has invested in the personal touch to provide guests with an award-winning service. When Headlam Hall Hotel, on the A67 between Darlington and Barnard Castle, was named runner- up in the small hotel of the
GREEN Metropolis, a North-East company dedicated to encouraging people to recycle books for the benefit of the environment, has created The Green Story, a free online writing competition where people of all ages get the chance to write a chapter
DALEPAK owner Northern Foods showed its renewed pricing power yesterday by revealing it was on course for better-thanexpected annual profits. The group, which employs 300 people at its factory in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, said underlying
ONE of the North-East's fastest-growing companies has seen more than 100 of its employees gain extra qualifications. One hundred and ten staff at engineering firm The Tanfield Group, based in Washington, Wearside, have achieved Level 2 NVQs in
TWO brothers have joined forces to develop their business ventures in a £1.2m project that could create up to 18 jobs. CLS Dual Fuel Ltd and Cleaner Air Solutions (CASL) - owned by Gary Bowden - and Lonsdale and Bowden (L&B), owned by Sean Bowden
AN organisation which was set up to support the North-East's creative industries has helped provide more than 730 jobs and safeguard at least 530 posts since its inception nine years ago. The Cultural Business Venture (CBV) has invested more
AN entrepreneur who developed a market-leading storm drainage system to cut the risk of flooding to homes and businesses is opening a facility in the North-East to pioneer new products. Damone Armstrong established H20 group in 2006 to develop
MILLIONS of pounds worth of extra investment could be made in the region as a result of the latest phase of development at Teesport, development leaders said last night. The approval of plans to build a £50m import centre at the Middlesbrough
I ATTENDED a meeting at Croft post office when Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson assured those present that "I will do everything I can to ensure that the post office stays open". I must confess, however, that I formed the opinion (along with others)
A NORTH-EAST MP has come under fire for his perceived inactivity over the planned post office closures. Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors in Darlington have demanded to know what the town's MP, Alan Milburn, is doing about proposals
A FORMER television presenter has joined forces with villagers to fight a proposed windfarm near their homes. At a meeting in Bishopton Village Hall, near Darlington, residents, including former Tyne Tees newsreader Paul Frost, pledged to fight
THE region's fisherman are struggling to make a living because they say harsh restrictions are severely limiting what they can catch. Europe's fishing industry is run from Brussels, which dictates what type of fish - and how many - fishermen
VIDEO games will be forced to carry cinema-style age classifications to improve children's safety in the digital age under a new strategy announced yesterday. Psychologist Tanya Byron called for an overhaul of games classification, while her report
A YOUNG woman who prematurely went through the menopause said NHS red tape had "robbed her of motherhood". Catherine Storey was given the news by her doctor when she was 18. It meant the administrative assistant, now 20, could never have children
NINE weeks since a man went missing, police and his family are still hoping to find him. Fifty-three-year-old Michael Hunter walked out of his home in the Westmoreland Street area of Darlington, on January 24 - the morning of his mother's funeral
A BUSINESSMAN has been ordered to pay a £35,000 bill by phone company Orange - despite never having been a customer of the firm. Mike Scott, of Darlington, was stunned to receive a letter from a debt collection agency giving him seven days to
A VETERAN runner has hurdled her way to a European record at an athletics event in France. Joss Harwood, from Witton Park, near Bishop Auckland, competed in the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, in Clermont-Ferrand, on Friday, March
A NORTH-EAST councillor is under pressure to resign after suggesting euthanasia as a way of reducing the number of children in care. North Tyneside Conservative Hugh Jackson made the remark during a discussion at a council meeting about the
DEMENTIA patients at one of Britain's worst care homes were forced to sleep on filthy mattresses surrounded by faeces smeared on walls, a hearing was told. Manager Ann Rigby let the Bamburgh Court Care Centre for the mentally ill fall into such
A MUSICIAN and artist has brought a piece of history back to the town where Jimi Hendrix played one of his first UK gigs. A photograph of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, taken before the band's renowned Darlington gig, was bought by Shaun Campbell
PAY row flared last night after it was revealed that a record number of North-East council bosses are earning more than £100,000 a year. At a time when pensioners and families are facing inflation-busting council tax rises, it has been revealed
Shane Warne admitted playing in England had been a ''wonderful experience'' after he announced his retirement from first-class cricket. The 38-year-old Australian had agreed to remain at Hampshire until the end of the 2008 season and it was expected he
A NURSE accused of bullying colleagues and patients on a hospital ward is said to have told a seriously ill woman: "If you were a dog, you would have been put down." Julie Thompson, 44, is also said to have threatened to rip off a ward manager's head
A MILLIONAIRE who committed suicide in his factory had been having an affair with a married woman in the weeks prior to his death, an inquest has heard.Ashley Renham's body was found by his teenage daughter, Candice, at Middleton Miniature Mouldings,
MICHAEL OWEN is confident of becoming an England regular again, but believes Fabio Capello should already know all about his worth in front of goal. The Newcastle United striker failed to make Capello's starting line-up for the second successive game
A FORMER television presenter has joined forces with villagers to fight a proposed wind farm near their homes. At a meeting in Bishopton Village Hall, near Darlington, residents, including former Tyne Tees newsreader Paul Frost, pledged to fight plans
A TREE conservation group has outlined its plans to create a major woodland on the outskirts of a city. The Woodland Trust wants to transform Low Burn Hall Farm, in Durham City, into a broadleaf forest, open to the public, featuring woodland trails and
STEWART DOWNING last night described the instant respect Fabio Capello has gained from the England dressing room and suggests the Italian's early experimenting will eventually bring success to the national team.Downing earned his first cap under Capello
A FOOTBALL club which lost a star striker when he had a heart attack on the pitch has backed the British Heart Foundation's York City Jog. And the players from York City FC are urging others to take part in the sponsored event at the Knavesmire on Tuesday
