Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson hailed his side's "fantastic achievement" after they defeated Chelsea 6-5 on penalties to win the Champions League in Moscow. Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Lampard exchanged first half goals but that was the
A MAN has been arrested after firing an air powered pellet gun in a hospital accident and emergency department. Police were called to Sunderland Royal Hospital at 5.30pm tonight to reports that a man was threatening to harm himself. He then fired the
THE short-listed sites for a new £420m hospital have been revealed. The new facility, serving east Durham, Hartlepool and patients north of Stockton could be built at either Wynyard Business Park or Green Farm in Wolviston, just off the A19. Concern
THE razzmatazz of Hollywood has arrived in the region with the filming of a new multi-million pound TV spectacular. Film-makers are lavishing almost £18m on a swashbuckling new version of Daniel Defoe's classic tale Robinson Crusoe. And the cameras
They may have led opposing parties, but Harold Macmillan and Tony Blair have much in common WHEN the 30-year-old public school-educated Tony Blair stood as the prospective Member of Parliament for the County Durham constituency of Sedgefield,
Echo Memories looks at the life of planner Thomas Sharp, the man who made his mark on a city THOMAS SHARP (1901-1978) was a man with a plan. His lifelong career was dedicated to town planning and his influence on the development of Durham City
TWO funeral parlour managers who hid the body of a baby in an elderly woman's coffin will attempt to have their sentences cut in July. Mark Eshelby, 48, of Londonderry, Northallerton, North Yorkshire and Graeme Skidmore, now 45, of Dunbar, East Lothian
MEMORIES of the days when steam ruled the rails will be relived in an art exhibition next month. Artist Les Joss will display a collection of his work at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon, from Sunday June 1 to Friday 27. Entitled
In appealing for information about a curious riverside stretch of south Durham, Tom Hutchinson and Chris Lloyd stumble across tales of floods, lunatics, boxers and a dumpling-eating sheep's head BISHOP AUCKLAND tumbles down Batts Bank towards the
COUNCIL bosses have pledged funding of £200,000 to help support people with financial problems. North Yorkshire County Council members approved the authority's latest council plan, setting out a vision for the county up to 2011, at their quarterly meeting
THE razzmatazz of Hollywood has arrived in the region with the filming of a new multi-million pound TV spectacular. Film-makers are lavishing almost £18m on a swashbuckling new version of Daniel Defoe's classic tale Robinson Crusoe. And the cameras
A MAN caught trying to smuggle drugs into prison for his friend was yesterday locked up himself. Neil Pallister was jailed for four months after he admitted possessing Class C drugs with intent to supply. Pallister believed his addict pal might need
A FAMOUS creamery has unveiled its brand new look, just in time for the busy Bank Holiday weekend. The Buttery Restaurant at the Wensleydale Creamery, Hawes, has been given a brighter, lighter, more airy look, complete with new carpets, blinds, and
RESIDENTS and visitors are gearing up for the annual Richmond Meet, which takes place this Bank Holiday weekend. The event begins on Thursday with the opening of the fair at 6pm in the Market Place, followed by the Swaledale Spoco - a 24-mile cycling
BISHOP Auckland FC will face Premier League opposition twice this summer after confirming a pre-season friendly against Sunderland. The Two Blues will take on the Black Cats on Saturday, July 19 at West Auckland Town's Darlington Road ground, with a
FORMER Hartlepool United player and parliamentarian Lord Tom Burlison has died. Lord Burlison was Honorary Life President of the League One club. A spokesman for Hartlepool United said: "Not only was Lord Burlison a former player at the club, but he
THE Bank Holiday plans of a group of five friends from North Yorkshire are anything but relaxing. They plan to spend their time pedalling a distance of 134 miles to raise money for six different charities. Sarah Barron, Joan Finn, Jill Gardner and Karen
FUNDRAISERS have handed over to hospital staff a £49,000 laser scanner, which will be used to give potentially life-saving treatment. Surgeons received the piece of equipment, paid for by volunteers from the Friends of the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton
YOUNGSTERS took a trip into the past - when they were taken on a trip to a building site. Pupils from Hovingham CE primary, near Helmsley, were invited to a site in the village where Lindrick Homes are to build 25 new homes. York based specialists On-Site
Desperate Housewives (C4, 10pm) Dan Cruickshank's Adventures In Architecture (BBC2, 9pm) A NATURAL disaster in a soap is always a good way to tie up loose ends and dispose of anyone being difficult over renegotiating their contract. So it is with
NORTHERN Recruitment Group, the Newcastle-based recruitment company, has appointed a business manager to drive its growth across the Tees Valley. Kiersten Wasson will head the team at the groupfs office in Middlesbrough, having moved from her
THREE experts in starting and growing rural enterprises have joined Business Link North-East. Each of the three rural account managers has an agricultural background, and will work closely with businesses in the landbased sector. Steve Urwin,
CONSTRUCTION firm Esh Group has branched out with the purchase of two companies. The deals for the two companies in the renewables sector, Green Energies and Pure Renewable Energies, mark an important development in the group's future strategy
NORTH-EAST surveillance specialist 2020 Vision Systems has won a contract worth nearly £100,000 to strengthen the security at one of Scotland's most visited conference centres. Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), which has held events
SPECIALIST glass manufacturer Romag is launching its Power- Glaz range in France and the United Arab Emirates as a result of the soaring worldwide demand for photovoltaic glass. The company, based in Consett, County Durham, has seen a 69 per cent
STRIKE action at airports in Norway led to the cancellation of a new North-East service. The daily Eastern Airways service from Newcastle International Airport to Stavanger Sola Airport, which is aimed mainly at the business market, only launched
A FOUR-year-old boy who was hit by a car as he used a pedestrian crossing yesterday afternoon is still in a serious condition. The youngster was crossing King Street, in Spennymoor, County Durham, at 3.45pm yesterday when he was hit by a Vauxhall Corsa
MARKS and Spencer will sell branded products for the first time, with trials of the rival goods being held in the North- East, it was revealed yesterday. About 350 leading brands will be stocked on shelves alongside its own-make products in 19
Whether we like it or not, soap families set examples for the population. No wonder children these days aren't parented properly. IS it possible to teach people how to be good parents? And if so, how? Not by watching television, that's for sure.
The column pays tribute to contemporary and fellow writer, North Yorkshire journalist Brian Redhead BRIAN Redhead's funeral was held on Monday afternoon at St Gregory's in Bedale, the town where he'd spent all his 61 years. Brian was a journalist
CONGRATULATIONS to Councillor Simon Henig for being elected as leader of the Labour Group on Durham County Council (Echo, May 12). As such, he is expected to be confirmed as the authority's new leader on Friday. How convenient that the previous
CONGRATULATIONS to Anne Farrow whose defence of Gordon Brown (HAS, May 14) needs to be commended. HAS correspondents and the media in general, including The Northern Echo, have painted a distorted picture of a man whose humanity and integrity
CHERIE Blair, or Booth as the mood fits, jealously guarded her privacy and that of her offspring, even down to the refusal to confirm or deny if the youngest had received the MMR vaccine. Nonetheless, she made the headlines usually for all the
RE Derek Thornton's response (HAS, May 9) to my letter about fuel prices (HAS, May 5) I did point out that there were factors that lay outside of the oil companies' relationship with the customer. Perhaps the Government did have a role to play
PETE Winstanley asks how the BNP gets so much support in Sedgefield which he states is 99.4 per cent white (HAS, May 16). I believe he is mistaken if he thinks that the BNP is a single issue party. We campaign on the offshoring of jobs, which is
A PENSIONER from Grimsby wrote to his local councillor asking why he could not have free meals, a 42ins television without paying a licence fee, free workouts at the local gym, free snooker and pool and some drugs brought to his house "like the
IT really is extraordinary - quite unbelievable: the decision to overturn the whole life sentence on the vicious and calculating killer of a Middlesbrough doctor. He may now apply for release after the 18 years he has served. If he does so and succeeds
RE your story about Reg Wilson's possible early release in a few weeks time following his brutal killing of doctor David Birkett (Echo, May 17). If and when he is released, and does kill again, will the persons responsible for his release be charged
THE loss of any child is a cause of great sadness. But the circumstances surrounding the death of 13-year-old Kelsey Winter are especially heartbreaking. An inquest into Kelsey's death yesterday heard how she was found hanging at her home in Barnard
A MAN who claimed jobseekers allowance while he had more than the permitted level of savings has been given a two-year conditional discharge. Graduate Christopher Rae, 26, who is now working in a psychiatric hospital, received £2,750, Durham Crown
The Burmese crisis - caused by a cyclone, exacerbated by its leaders - continues to kill thousands. Owen Amos speaks to one North-East man who spent 14 months in a Burmese prison - and who has a firm message for the West. IF anyone knows Burma, it
POLICE have today named the pedestrian who was killed in a collision on Marsh House Avenue, Billingham yesterday afternoon as 56-year-old Judith Heavisides. Ms Heavisides has two grown up children and lived with her partner in Billingham. She had been
DURHAM'S MP is asking the Government to check that Durham City Council is acting in accordance with national policies. Labour member Roberta Blackman-Woods has written to Hazel Blears, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
AN African drummer has been passing on his skills to children at a village school. Robert Maseko, who was born in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, led drumming workshops at Sherburn Village Primary School yesterday, as part of the
A BUS company is committing a local legend to the side of its vehicles. Go North-East, which has given names to several of its routes, including The Angel, The Red Arrows and The Lime, is naming a service from Chesterle- Street to Sunderland, The
WORK is under way on a £4m development which will bring 33 energy-efficient homes to a former County Durham mining community. The scheme at Argyle Place, in South Hetton, is expected to breathe new life into a run-down residential estate. The
PARENTS of children battling drug problems are being urged to take advantage of a support service. Hartlepool-based Pins (Parents In Need of Support) provides practical and emotional one-to-one support, education and training to about 250 parents
POLICE say they delivered a massive blow to the supply of amphetamine in east Cleveland after finding 3kg of the drug buried in a suspected dealer's garden. Officers carried out a number of co-ordinated raids across the Redcar and Cleveland borough
POLICE are appealing for information after an alleged sexual assault on a 16-year-old girl as she walked home in Billingham. The girl was walking along Junction Road, from Durham Road, between 10pm and 11pm on Friday, May 16, with a boy known
COUNTRYSIDE officers and historians are appealing for people to join them for a leisurely walk. The free two-hour ramble around Greatham Village, Hartlepool, will be led by heritage and countryside officer Rachel Jackson and Greatham historian
VULNERABLE children could be left to wander the streets if funding for a programme is axed, youth workers say. The Trinity Youth and Children's Project, based in the Middlesbrough suburb of North Ormesby, offers after-school and holiday activities
SEDGEFIELD suits three-times course winner, Karo de Vindecy (7.50), a leading contender for the this evening's featured Northern Echo Handicap Chase. Our sponsored two-and-a-halfmiler has attracted a competitive 12-runner field, but none boast
YORKSHIRE coach Martyn Moxon believes Mark Ramprakash's England chance has passed - but is still concerned that the Surrey star could damage the Tykes at the Oval. The 38 year-old, with 52 Test caps to his name, is aiming to record the 100th hundred
PETER Moores has underlined the importance of Michael Vaughan's leadership to England's developing Test side if they are to challenge Australia for the Ashes next summer. Vaughan's place in the side has come under scrutiny in recent months after
LIAM Miller is hoping his recent displays for Sunderland and Republic of Ireland have been good enough to see him taken off the transfer list this summer. Miller was transfer-listed in February after regularly turning up late for training, and
DARLINGTON manager Dave Penney yesterday began plotting for another stab at promotion when he started his summer clear-out by telling three of his squad they are surplus to requirements. Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu, John Brackstone and Kevin Burgess
A TEENAGER has been jailed for three years for putting a friend through a terrifying ordeal after moving in with her while on bail for another offence. Teesside Crown Court was told that Peter Fry was given bail after being arrested for having
A FORMER diving champion who witnessed the opening of a city's 76-year-old baths has been chosen to help launch its £12.3m replacement. Ken Spirit was 13 when he watched the then Lord Barnard open Durham's City Baths, on Elvet Waterside, on September
A JUDGE issued a warning last night to greedy people and criminals after jailing two conmen who tried to carry out a so-called "black money" scam in the North-East. It is believed the case involving African illegal immigrants Daniel Nkwenti and
A RENEWED effort is being made to solve a mystery that has baffled experts for more than a decade. On May 25, 1997, the bones of a well-dressed man were discovered by a gamekeeper on Thorny Grange Moor, Colsterdale, near Masham, North Yorkshire
GIN, whiskey and rum are top-shelf staples of pubs. But spirits of another kind are also abundant in The Foresters Arms, near Darlington, according to the pub's landlady, who says she was mysteriously locked in a beer cellar overnight. Kate
Campaigners issue warning after inquest hears how troubled North-East schoolgirl was found hanging in her bedroom ANTI-BULLYING campaigners last night warned of the dangers of name-calling after an inquest heard a teenage girl found hanging in
PEOPLE who drive their electric wheelchairs too fast around a North-East town are being targeted in a new safety campaign. Darlington Association on Disability (DAD) is aiming to educate users of electronic wheelchairs and scooters to keep to the speed
TWO men who could not get a taxi home after a drunken night out decided to take a nine-tonne dumper truck from a building site instead, magistrates heard. Richard John Morgan, 21, who works in the construction industry, used a universal key he happened
TENSIONS were running high in a North-East community yesterday after a teenage girl was killed by a police patrol car.Officers with riot training were put on standby in the West End of Newcastle in case violence flared after the death of 16-year-old
IT was business as usual for pioneering North-East stem cell researchers today - 48 hours after MPs backed their controversial work.Last month, it was confirmed that Dr Lyle Armstrong, working at the North-East England Stem Cell Institute
IT is a blueprint that has won Newcastle Falcons a lot of admirers. Fill your backline with bright young English talent, tell your forwards to give them the ball as quickly as possible, and then stand back and watch them fling it around.Lots of admirers
SOME of the 2,000 looming job losses at Northern Rock will be avoided if a deal can be struck with a rival lender, the state-owned bank told MPs yesterday. Ron Sandler, the government-appointed executive chairman, revealed he was trying to persuade another
GIN, whiskey and rum are top-shelf staples of pubs. But spirits of another kind are also abundant in The Foresters Arms, near Darlington, according to the pub's landlady, who says she was mysteriously locked in a beer cellar overnight. Kate Umpleby spent
A PETITION containing the names of more than 19,000 people opposed to plans for car parking charges in four towns has been handed to council bosses.Campaigners protesting against the proposed charges in the North Yorkshire market towns of Northallerton
TWO family doctors have strongly criticised Government plans to impose a new kind of health centre in a North-East town which they say is already well served by GPs. Darlington GPs Drs Robert Upshall and Ahmet Fuat argue that a new health centre which
England midfielder Frank Lampard will put his own future aside in a bid to secure a family double in tonight's Champions League final against Manchester United. Lampard, whose mother Pat died in between their two semi-final legs against Liverpool, was
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson looked forward to the Champions League final and insisted: ''I am very relaxed.'' The Manchester United manager is determined to get his hands on the trophy again after a nine-year absence that in his words
WITH the number of foreign players in the Premier League continuing to rise, some would have you believe that the leading English clubs are not really representative of English football at all. So why, when Manchester United take on Chelsea in the Champions
KEVIN Keegan will urge Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley not to sack Joey Barton, but the club was last night "considering" its options after the disgraced midfielder was jailed for six months.Barton pleaded guilty to assault and affray at Liverpool
A FIRST edition of a Sherlock Holmes story discovered in a North Yorkshire Oxfam shop has sold for more than £15,000 after a bidding war between buyers in the US and the UK. The rare first edition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes story
