We are fast approaching the MADDEST ten days of the year in Cockfield, and I suspect its pretty much the same wherever you live ! In the Middle House on Christmas Day, (about 11am) its like a private mens club. All the lads wearing dodgy looking
ONE person has died this evening in a road accident involving three cars - all of which burst into flames. Police are appealing for witnesses to the accident which happened shortly before 4pm on the eastbound A174 Kirkleatham bypass, near Redcar
AN investigation has been launched after a man died today at UK Wood Recycling Limited, Grangetown, near Middlesbrough. A spokesman for Cleveland Police said that a joint investigation was being carried out by the police and the Health and Safety Executive
A LITTLE girl left blind and disabled when she was violently shaken by her father has won a £500,000 compensation settlement. The award to four-year-old Amy Lea Laycock is the maximum possible under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, which awards
CHRIS Turner made two changes to his Hartlepool United side for his first game back in charge. Joel Porter was passed fit after a thigh strain forced him out of last week's draw at Hereford, while Ritchie Jones returned after suspension to start on
THREE people were injured during a major fire at a North-East industrial site. The blaze broke out shortly before 3pm today at Pearsons Industrial Estate, Hetton-le-Hole, near Houghton-le-Spring. Northumbia Police closed the roads to traffic because
This Christmas don’t just throw out your old bikes as Santa brings you brand new ones, take them to a Premier Waste Management recycling centre across the region and they will be reconditioned, and may even benefit communities in Africa. Across
A COUNCIL and an arts promotions company have admitted breaches of health and safety regulations following a tragedy in which two people died when an inflatable artwork flipped over. Chester-le-Street District Council today pleaded guilty to
Scores of jobs have been saved after 14 North-East branches of a photo processing chain were bought out of administration yesterday. Shoe repair and keycutting chain Timpson has safeguarded 545 jobs across the country by buying 187 of its Klick
TIS the season to be jolly - or should that be busy? Or frantic? Or hectic? Or actually none of the above. Read the newspapers, scan the internet, listen to the radio and watch the telly and you will get the same thing said over and over again
HULL CITY (4-4-2): Myhill, Ricketts, Zayatte, Turner, Dawson, Mendy, Boateng, Ashbee, Barmby, Geovanni, King. SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Fulop, Bardsley, Nosworthy, Ferdinand, Collins, Malbranque, Tainio, Richardson, Reid, Jones, Cisse. Hull
PART-time firefighters in North Yorkshire were outraged when a prankster nailed a sign to the building that houses their engine that read "Pretend Fire Station." And the incident, which happened sometime between 11.45am and 2pm on Thursday,
FULHAM (4-4-2): Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hangeland, Hughes, Konchesky, Davies, Bullard, Murphy, Gera, Dempsey, Johnson. MIDDLESBROUGH (4-4-2): Turnbull, McMahon, Huth, Riggott, Pogatetz, Aliadiere, Arca, Downing, Johnson, Tuncay, Alves. Fulham subs
NEWCASTLE (4-4-2): Given, Beye, Coloccini, Bassong, Enrique, Gutierrez, Butt, Guthrie, N'Zogbia, Owen, Ameobi TOTTENHAM (4-4-1-1): Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Zokora, Huddlestone, Bentley, Modric, Pavlyuchenko Newcastle
WITNESSES are being sought after a teenage schoolboy was hurt in a hit-and-run incident in North Yorkshire. The 16-year-old pupil from Harrogate Grammar School as was crossing Otley Road in the town, by Arthur’s Avenue, when the incident happened at
POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a collision between an HGV and a car which left both drivers injured. The accident happened at about 3.20pm on Thursday near Topcliffe, Thirsk, as a white Ford cargo lorry pulled on to the south-bound lane from
THE Poppy Appeal in the Richmond area raised its best ever total in 2008. The Royal British Legion has reported it raised £16,986. The figure is 36 per cent up on last year - which was also a record - and more donations are still to come in. Area organiser
PUBLIC toilets in three rural areas of North Yorkshire – including some used by ramblers on a busy long-distance walking route – are set to close as part of council cutbacks. The decision to operate winter closures of facilities in Great Ayton, Osmotherley
A THIEF has stolen around £500 from the till of a Chinese takeaway. Police are hunting the thief who took the cash from the Golden Valley takeaway in Front Street, Lanchester on Wednesday evening. At around 9.50pm, the man went into the popular shop
A HEADTEACHER has brought the Christmas spirit to his school by creating a wintry scene based on a popular children's book. Peter Boddy designs a Winter Wonderland scene to display in Red Hall Primary School every year. This year, Mr Boddy, designed
A COUNTY council is to be prosecuted for alleged breaches of health and safety law following the death of a boy who drowned during a school caving trip, it was confirmed today. Joe Lister, 14, died when floodwater swept through Manchester Hole
A UNIVERSITY bursar who stole almost £500,000 from her college employers and spent much of it on clothes was jailed for three years today. Trusted Christine Starkey, 59, diverted funds from the independent and relatively poor St Chads College, part of
A NEW designer clothes shop opens its doors on Saturday with just five shopping days to go before Christmas. Essential Clothing, in Priestgate, Darlington, will stock a range of top branded designer men's clothing. Owner Louise Townsend said she may
PANTO stars set about spreading Christmas cheer when they visited children in hospital yesterday. Dressed in costume, cast members from Jack and the Beanstalk at Darlington Civic Theatre handed out presents of selection boxes at the children's ward
STAFF, parents and pupils at a Darlington school came together yesterday to celebrate the headteacher's retirement and the school's closure. Maureen Dixon is retiring after 11 years at Dodmire Infant and Nursery School today - which is also the last
Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan will face Alex Ferguson's Man United in the last 16 of the Champions League. Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez was handed a return to Spain to face former club Real Madrid. And former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri
DON’T panic! Panic costs money. And at this time of year it’s easy to panic and spend a fortune. We get caught up in the sudden realisation that shops are going to be shut for – oh, at least a day – and feel we have to rush out to shop for England
VILLAGERS have formally adopted their strategy to fight plans for up to three wind farms near their homes. Sadberge Parish Plan group's wind farm addendum to its village blueprint has been passed by the parish council. The extra chapter of the plan
You can have your chocs and eat them... as well as keeping packaging to a minimum this Christmas. SELECTION boxes are an important part of Christmas, but often when the big, brightlycoloured boxes are ripped apart there’s very little inside
‘ME babbies, me bairns.” Who else could it be but Dame Berwick Kaler making his entrance in his 30th Theatre Royal pantomime? Nobody does it better. Dick Turpin is a slick, spectacular extravaganza packed with laughs, action, songs and the inevitable
The Swing Thing (BBC4, 9.30pm); Unreported World (C4, 7.35pm) IT was billed as “dangerous music that made you have sex with people”. This was regarded as a bad thing, with one psychiatrist claiming, “It is like taking a drug”. The “it” is swing,
Reader's Question MR Wilson has emailed me saying that every year he buys a poinsettia for Christmas, and tries to keep it alive for as long as possible after the festive season. Normally they die around the end of February, but the one he got last
PRESIDENT George W Bush managed successfully to avoid the shoes thrown at him by disgruntled Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi at a press conference in Baghdad. In public, Mr Bush seemed unfazed, but I suspect it was otherwise when the press conference
GEOFFREY Bulmer said that if a referendum was to be held he would vote for a republic in Great Britain rather than a continuation of the monarchy (HAS, Dec 8). He also said that all government offices should be fronted by an elected individual
I WAS present at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust consultation meeting at Auckland Castle on December 4 and read your article (Echo, Dec 9) in which the trust said the proposals for Bishop Auckland General Hospital are for
RECENT cases of assisted suicide have highlighted extremely harrowing suffering. Consider, however, that age-old principle “hard cases don’t make good law”, appropriate now given renewed clamour to liberalise the assisted suicide law, extending
I’M not dewy-eyed about the past. I know that modern technology has made our lives longer, safer and in many ways more pleasant. But progress has a price tag in the shape of the accelerated – at times frenetic – pace at which we all seem fated
On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, three burnt fingers, one troubled tummy and a candle setting light to the tree... Gabrielle Fagan suggests some way to avoid festive hazards. RUSHING around and trying to cram too much in too little
RECENTLY, we have seen harrowing stories of the deaths of two children – Baby P in London and Alisha Allen here in the North-East. Although both deaths were caused by parents, in each case MPs and government ministers have led calls for the sacking
My favourite Christmas card so far arrived this morning. It was signed by the children and staff at the Butterwick Children's Hospice. They wanted to say thanks for the money I've raised this year through sales of the Dad At Large books
Well, my pantomine debut is over and I'm sitting here waiting for the phone to ring. Surely, agents will be calling after my starring role as Barron Hard-up in the TFM Radio Christmas Pantomime this morning. I quite fancy The Archers next. Mind you
IT may have disappeared two decades ago, but the memory of British Leyland still casts a dark shadow over the UK’s motor industry. As the rest of the world gets on with the job of protecting car companies, this Government seems petrified by the
After 17 years mixing weather forecasts with anagrams and hidden messages, TV weatherman Bob Johnson retires today. Olivia Richwald, a former Northern Echo reporter who now works for Tyne Tees, talks to him about ‘skitey bits’, being censored
BUCK The Legend has created a huge impression winning his last two races over fences and can make it three in a row in the BGC Noel Novices’ Chase at Ascot, writes TATTENHAM. There had been the odd murmur recently that Nigel Twiston-Davies’ yard
THE price of success is that county champions Durham will begin the longest season in their first-class history at Lord’s on April 9. The annual four-day match between the title holders and the MCC will give Durham their earliest start in their
PAKISTAN cricket suffered a body blow yesterday with India cancelling a tour which was scheduled to begin in mid-January next year. India’s tour to Pakistan had hinged on government permission to travel to the neighbouring country. But with political
GUY Wilks has suffered a double blow to his rallying aspirations. Not only could the Darlington driver have celebrated his British Rally Championship victory prematurely, but his bid for a World Rally Championship seat with Subaru lies in tatters
GILES Clarke has issued a thinly-veiled warning to coach Peter Moores about the need for England’s Test performances to improve in the build-up to next summer’s Ashes series. The England and Wales Cricket Board chairman, in Mohali for the final
CANADIAN John Part believes retaining the Ladbrokes. com World Championship at Alexandra Palace would represent the greatest moment of his career. Part, who beat Kirk Shepherd 7-2 12 months ago to secure his third world title, faces Bill Davis
DARLINGTON and Middlesbrough must play their delayed EDF Intermediate Cup third round tie tomorrow, with the winners facing a tough trip in the fourth round. They will be away to the winners of the Walsall v Sheffield Tigers tie on January 17
DAVE Penney has demanded that Darlington show their ruthless streak against League Two strugglers Barnet after seeing his side slip up against some of the division’s lesser teams. Last Saturday’s 1-0 reverse at Morecambe followed disappointing
NEW Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce has warned rival clubs wanting to take advantage of their perilous position in the Barclays Premier League that he will not sell his best players, including £15m striker Roque Santa Cruz. The Paraguay international
SIR Alex Ferguson has launched a stinging attack on Real Madrid’s claims they have done a deal to sign Cristiano Ronaldo and vowed: ‘‘I would not sell them a virus.’’ The Manchester United manager thought he had put an end to speculation over Ronaldo
CRAIG Bellamy has ruled out a move to Celtic after claiming the Parkhead side could not afford his fee or his wages. The Wales international had a successful loan spell at Parkhead in the 2004-05 season before he moved to Blackburn. However, the
ENGLAND’S four Champions League contenders are chasing a £104m prize, according to tournament sponsors. Research carried out by football finance experts indicates that is the total cash sum that will be earned if Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or
KENWYNE Jones has claimed that Sunderland are not involved in a relegation battle, despite the club’s position in the bottom three after 17 games of the season. The Black Cats might have cruised to a four-goal victory over West Brom last weekend
WITH Ross Turnbull poised to sign a new long-term deal with Middlesbrough, the young Bishop-Aucklandborn goalkeeper is preparing to come face-to-face with the man he replaced. Mark Schwarzer’s sale to tomorrow’s opponents Fulham, and the subsequent
WHEN Chris Turner took charge of his first Hartlepool United game, the situation was a desperate one. As he embarks on his second spell in control of the first team at Victoria Park, it’s something of a different story. Back in February 1999,
HAVING spent more than an hour-and-a-half trying to persuade Michael Owen to extend his stay at Newcastle this week, Joe Kinnear has claimed he is “60 per cent certain” that the England international will sign a new contract at St James’ Park.
A SERIES of van thefts are being investigated by police. Between November 10 and December 15, a total of eight Ford Transit vans were stolen across North Durham, including six in Chester-le-Street and one each in Durham City and Stanley. Police are
A MISSING 81-year-old man has been airlifted to hospital with a head injury after going missing for 20 hours. The elderly man from the Stanhope area of County Durham was last seen just after lunch on Thursday. Overnight, 19 members of the Teesdale
The journalistic equivalent of Last of the Summer Wine – Compo, probably – the Backtrack column has been roaming the highways and byways of North-East sport for 23 years. Mike Amos looks back on 2008 – distinctly wet, but a good vintage, nonetheless
POLICE are appealing for witnesses following a runningbattle involving rival gangs. Cleveland Police have released CCTV images taken of the fighting near Middlesbrough town centre. One image appears to show a running fight. In the other, one
HUNDREDS of people lined the streets as the bodies of five British soldiers landed back on home soil from Afghanistan yesterday. They watched as the hearses made their way through Wootton Bassett, in Wiltshire, pausing at the local war memorial
AMBULANCE chiefs have issued an urgent appeal to the public after being swamped with 999 calls in the run-up to Christmas. Hard-pressed ambulance bosses want people to think twice before making an emergency call to the ambulance service. The
E-COMMERCE and web development company Visualsoft is expecting to help generate tens of millions of pounds for its clients with the Christmas boom in online shopping. Visualsoft, in Stockton, has built and provided the e-commerce technology
A COMMEMORATIVE plaque has been unveiled to mark seven lives lost when a Lancaster bomber was shot down in 1942. The plaque has been erected on Lord McGowan’s Bridge, on the A1085, near Dormanstown, Redcar, east Cleveland, in memory of the
MORE than 40 North-East businesses have been recognised for their commitment to improving the skills of staff. The 44 businesses have either been awarded Investors in People accreditation or retained it after a successful review. The companies
A SMALL garage that became a Northern institution renowned throughout the haulage industry is celebrating its 50th anniversary with plans for a new high-profile site. Londonderry Garage was founded on the old A1, near Northallerton, by Ron
SURVEILLANCE company 2020 Vision has won contracts collectively worth more than £2m in the past month. The largest of the contracts secured by the North Shields, North Tyneside firm is for two hospital projects worth £1.6m. One is to provide security
ELECTROLUX will sever all connections with a County Durham town after announcing the final part of its operation there will close. Two weeks after announcing a review of the facility, Electrolux yesterday said it will close its warehouse and
TRANSPORT operator Arriva yesterday predicted a £60m increase in its annual fuel bill for next year, despite the recent slump in global oil prices. The company has fixed 85 per cent of its fuel requirement for next year at an average price per
MEMBERS of a parish council have praised villagers who helped organise and attended a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Middleton St George Parish Council heard that the lighting event went extremely well. There was also a carol concert and celebrations
FORGET the Met Office – stoats at a 600-year-old monastery are a safe bet for an accurate weather forecast. Experts say a colony of stoats, which has set up home at Mount Grace Priory, near Osmotherley, in North Yorkshire, can predict whether
A £100M industry vital to the region’s rebirth is in danger of “collapsing” because of a Government blunder, ministers were warned yesterday. Leading figures from the growing transport biofuels industry are furious that a “drafting error” in legislation
POLICE are investigating after a grandmother died in hospital. Emily Welsh died in the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City, in August, five days after being admitted with a blood clot. Two nurses were suspended during
VISITORS to a farm shop are being treated to a festive display. Straw sculptures depicting the three wise men and their camels have been built by staff at Mainsgill Farm Shop, on the A66 near Richmond, North Yorkshire. The 15ft-high
NISSAN sent thousands of workers home early last night after bringing forward the Christmas shutdown at its North-East factory. The Japanese company decided to stop production a week early in response to the downturn in car sales across Europe
A £2.45M extension to a travellers’ site was announced yesterday, with ministers insisting it was vital to prevent tensions with local people. The money will be spent on refurbishing and expanding the site at East Howle, Sedgefield, County Durham
COPIES of the latest Dad At Large book will be signed by author Peter Barron tomorrow. Peter, editor of The Northern Echo, will be signing books between noon and 4pm in the reception of the newspaper’s head office, in Darlington. Dad At Large
GIFTS ranging from a refrigerator to a teddy bear have arrived at a women’s refuge. The presents for the Durham refuge were from staff at the Belmont Grange Care Home, in Durham City. Care home manager Julie Brown said: “We wanted to do something
FANS of Newcastle United are planning a weekend of celebrations in honour of Sir Bobby Robson over the Christmas period. The festivities paying tribute to Sir Bobby will be held on December 27 and 28, culminating on the Sunday as the Magpies
STAFF at an animal sanctuary are waiting for a canine fan to call to say they love a blind dog called Stevie Wonder. Dog handlers at Deerness Kennels, in Langley Moor, County Durham, are caring for the two-year-old black lurcher after he was
SEVERE gales are set to lash the region this evening, weather forecasters warned today. The relative tranquility of the last week will give way to strong winds with gusts of 50 mph or more from lunchtime. A Met Office spokesman said the North-East and
BABYSITTER Suzanne Holdsworth walked out of court into the arms of her sobbing family last night after being cleared of murdering a toddler. The 38-year-old collapsed and had to be almost carried from the emotionally-charged court after the
Police were tonight searching for an 81-year-old man who went missing in County Durham this afternoon. The pensioner is thought to have last been seen in his home community of Stanhope at 3pm. Police were joined by volunteers from the Teesdale
