Archive

  • Fire crews called to kitchen blaze

    ONE woman has been treated for shock after a kitchen fire in Newton Aycliffe tonight. Fire and ambulance crews were called to a flat on Hutton Place in Woodham, shortly after midnight. The fire was out by the time fire-fighters arrived. A spokesman

  • Funeral details announced for former council leader

    FUNERAL details have been announced for a former council leader who died last week. Albert Nugent, leader of Durham County Council from May 2006 to May 2008, died at his home on Friday, April 2, following a long illness. His funeral will be held at

  • Sir John Hall's cancer revelation leads to charity call rise

    CALLS to a cancer charity have risen three-fold after Sir John Hall revealed his battle with the disease. The Prostate Cancer charity say the number of daily inquiries they receive has shot-up after the ex-Newcastle United owner revealed he is suffering

  • "Wake" held for Corus plant

    A FUNERAL-style wake has been tonight held by axed Corus employees to mourn the loss of the mothballed steel plant. More than 200 former workers and their partners gathered at the Rust in Peace event in Middlesbrough. Tommy Dring, 53, who toiled in

  • Passion for Fashion…By Viv Longstaff

    I have a passion for beautiful dresses and my collecting began a few years ago with vintage wedding gowns. After going to see an exhibition of ‘Wedding Dresses Through The Ages’ at the Bowes Museum I just had to have some. To be honest it became

  • Outstanding!

    A North Yorkshire child minding business has been awarded the highest possible grade at a recent OFSTED inspection. Laura Stephenson, together with her mum Judith, runs Laura's Childminding from their home in Ravensworth. As a registered childminder

  • Week one to the Tories

    SO we near the end of the first week of Election 2010. How do you reckon it's going? The Tories, I think, have played a blinder. They hit the ground running the moment the election was called, despatching their shadow ministers to the four corners of

  • Match Preview: Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday

    MIDDLESBROUGH Jones Hoyte Wheater McManus Naughton Robson Williams Arca O'Shea McDonald Killen Varney Tudgay Soares Clarke O'Connor Potter Nolan Beevers Purse Spurr Grant SHEFF WED Boro subs (from): Lita, Coyne

  • 'Tax payers paying for builders' mistakes' - Councillor

    A COUNCILLOR claims tax payers are getting a raw deal over repairs to Darlington's £7m Pedestrian Heart. Veteran Conservative Bill Stenson said the developers of Darlington's pedestrianised town centre should pay for correcting defects to the

  • Match Preview: Newcastle United v Blackpool

    NEWCASTLE Harper Simpson Williamson Coloccini Enrique Routledge Guthrie Nolan Gutierrez Lovenkrands Carroll Campbell Taylor-Fletcher Euell Adam Vaughan Southern Baptiste Coleman Crainey Evatt Gilks BLACKPOOL Newcastle subs:

  • Match Preview: Darlington v Accrington Stanley

    DARLINGTON Redmond Arnison White Miller Milne Moore G Smith Dempsey Gray Diop Purcell Grant Symes Kee Ryan Proctor Turner Winnard Edwards Kempson McCarten Bouzanis ACCRINGTON Darlington subs (from): Liversedge (gk), Burn, McReady

  • Magpies should celebrate promotion with the city

    FIRST Sunderland. Now Newcastle United. What is it with North-East clubs choosing to opt against an open-top bus ride to celebrate promotion back to the Premier League? It will be three years ago in May that, after leading Sunderland to the

  • Match Preview: West Ham United v Sunderland

    WEST HAM Green Spector Upson Kovac Da Costa Faubert Behrami Noble Stanislas Cole Ilan Bent Campbell Malbranque Meyler Cattermole Henderson Richardson Ferdinand Da Silva Hutton Gordon SUNDERLAND Sunderland subs: Carson (gk),

  • Wind farm upgrade

    A POWER company has completed upgrading wind turbines to replace an old design on a North-East wind farm. The E.ON wind farm near Hetton-le-Hole on Wearside had featured four two-bladed wind turbines that were built in 1997. The new scheme now features

  • Cannabis farm uncovered in Willington

    A CANNABIS farm was uncovered at a North-East home after neighbours reported a strange smell. Officers found ten mature cannabis plants in the bedroom of a home on High Street, Willington, in County Durham after a tip-off yesterdayabis Farm uncovered

  • Man in bomb hoax alert won't face charges

    A MAN arrested over an alleged bomb hoax will not face charges, police said today. The 47-year-old from Durham City was arrested after a suspicious bag was spotted outside the back of Cotswold outdoor shop, in Silver Street, Durham, on Monday, February

  • The art of tweeting

    "I said to the local party as I was leaving that I don't do twitter and facebook and am never going to be comfortable with them, so maybe they need to move to somebody who is going to be." This was one of the snippets that I was unable to use, for lack

  • Woman's body found in Ouse at York

    POLICE searching for a missing 34-year-old woman have recovered a body from the River Ouse in York. The body was recovered from the Skeldergate Bridge area of the city at about 11.30am today. Although the body has not been formally identified

  • Biker injured in early hours

    A MOTORCYCLIST suffered serious leg injuries after he lost control of his bike in the early hours of this morning. The 21-year-old rider was injured when he crashed through the central reservation of the A693, near Ouston, Chester-le-Street at around

  • New plan aims to boost North East business empire

    A MAJOR £5m plan to build a motorway service area on the A1 aims to keep a truck stop operator as one of the best in North. Exelby Services, which has a £50m national yearly turnover, is set to expand its business empire by building a 15-acre

  • Youth council post feelings on dog fouling

    YOUNGSTERS have been designing posters to rid their village of dog fouling. Sadberge's youth council has come up with the idea after raising two priority concerns for their village. Children want to improve the play area and stop dog fouling in the

  • Davey makes first signing

    DARLINGTON midfielder Gary Smith has signed a new deal at the Northern Echo Arena, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2010-11 season. The 26-year-old centre , who has played 27 games for the Quakers this season after signing for the

  • Show to celebrate anniversary

    AN amateur music society has revealed plans of a show to celebrate its 65th anniversary. The Consett-based CBS Musical and Stage Society will mark the occasion with a six-day production of My Fair Lady. The society will stage the popular

  • Jamie's marathon effort

    A NORTH-East soldier is to speedmarch the London Marathon for charity. Jamie Peace, a Sapper in the Royal Engineers, will "tab" the 26.2 miles wearing army boots and carrying a rucksack weighing 20kg, with comrades Adam Bannister and Chris Underhill.

  • Money for Beginners: The perfect time to switch

    IF you saw someone feeding 25 £10 notes into an open fire to keep warm, would you stop them? It’s a ludicrous waste of cash, yet across the nation people are doing just that to keep warm, unnecessarily putting the notes into gas and electricity

  • Orchestra of Opera North, The Sage Gateshead

    THE Orchestra of Opera North is more often hidden from view in the pit, providing backing to a range of operatic productions. But it remains the only ensemble in the country to have a year-round dual role in the concert hall. In a rare foray

  • PopStar! An X-cellent Musical, Darlington Civic Theatre

    THIS is the cheeky takeoff of X Factor which was forced to close under threat of legal action in 2008 after touring as eXtra Factor. Reference is still made to the original title as a Simon Cowelllike Sam Kane struts out to begin an increasingly

  • Serial success

    The Mentalist (Five, 9pm); Dispatches: Tracing the Marathon’s Millions (C4, 8pm); Astaire and Rogers Sing the Great American Songbook (BBC4, 8.30pm) HE wooed Anne Hathaway’s character in The Devil Wears Prada on the big screen before starring

  • Small business

    AS THE North-East faces a number of challenges in terms of public spending and the role the public sector plays in the region, any future Government should be seeking to increase the numbers of self employed and small businesses. Increasing the

  • Social housing

    AS the starting pistol for the General Election has now been fired we want to see the care of older and vulnerable people in this country’s society take centre stage. For too long social care has been chronically under-funded. We call upon each

  • Chairman backs scanner appeal

    A COUNCIL chairman has donated £500 to a heart scanner appeal. Councillor Brian Myers, chairman of Durham County Council, has given the cash to the Heart of Durham Appeal from his charity fund. The British Heart Foundation campaign aims to raise £47,923

  • Country champions

    WITH the General Election fast approaching, now is the time to ask those who aspire to be our MPs in the future what they will do if they are elected. All too often, the environment and the countryside do not get the attention and priority they

  • The BNP

    I NOTE that there have been a number of letters in Hear All Sides which have tried to imply that the BNP is an ordinary mainstream political party, which is neither racist nor violent. Yet, there is news this week that the BNP’s head of publicity

  • Laptops

    I HAVE a new companion in life, not a boyfriend, not a dog but a laptop. It never leaves my side. I wonder if my need to be in constant communication with friends and other acquaintances, find out new information, news, gossip, voice my opinions

  • Christianity

    LAST week, coinciding with the most important week in the Christian church, Church of England Bishops complained of the marginalisation of Christianity within this country. I gave it little thought until, over the weekend, two interesting examples

  • General elections

    THE only certainty in my mind about the General Election is that I will vote. I will vote for a candidate I know well enough to have a good idea of his or her intentions. I need to add that I always do vote in elections. I will be 82 years old

  • Margaret Thatcher

    DAVID CAMERON, who believes Margaret Thatcher to be some kind of goddess, can have little concept of the misery and suffering this woman inflicted on the working class, by blighting an entire decade. Words that I associate with her name are arrogance

  • An unpleasant pheasant

    I AM pleased that the mad pheasant of Newsham has finally calmed down and found love (Echo, April 5). After first reading about this insane cock in The Northern Echo, a few people got worried, including myself. So much so that I was going to

  • It’s what friends are for

    IFIRST came across Neil Herron during the debate on the regional assembly. His side won, mine lost, as he is good enough to remind me every now and then. Despite our differences, I formed a high opinion of Neil and his determined and principled

  • An error of judgement

    WE do not for a minute believe that the Army intended any offence by erecting models of “mosques” on its firing range at Catterick Garrison. We view it as an attempt to create a training environment in keeping with the war zones in which soldiers

  • Power broker

    In the second of our series of election interviews, Political Correspondent Rob Merrick discusses hung parliaments with the most senior Liberal Democrat in the region. SIR ALAN BEITH is not only the North-East’s most senior Liberal Democrat

  • Rashid ready to impress from start

    ADIL Rashid says match practice in the United Arab Emirates and Barbados in the last two months has helped him prepare for today’s start of the County Championship season. The leg-spinning starlet believes he is the type of player who benefits

  • Big Buck’s raking in the titles for Nicholls

    BIG Buck’s is living up to his name for trainer Paul Nicholls and owner Andy Stewart as the staying doyen rattled off his eighth consecutive success in the BGC Partners Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree. The dual Cheltenham Festival winner took his

  • Watson rolls back the Augusta years

    IT was going to take something special to take at least part of the attention away from Tiger Woods on the opening day of The Masters – but 60-year-old Tom Watson managed it. Twelve months after crashing out of the event with an 83, his worst

  • It’s time for Ashley to do the talking

    WE don’t care about Ashley, he don’t care about me, all we care about is NUFC.” It is the song that has come to define Newcastle’s season, positing continued off-field acrimony against the unity and defiance that have helped propel the Magpies

  • Ferguson moves on quickly

    LESS than half an hour after his horse, What a Friend, eased the misery of the painful Champions League exit to Bayern Munich, Sir Alex Ferguson was announcing that Wayne Rooney will have some goalscoring company next season. Little is known

  • Boro aim to make progress in talks

    MIDDLESBROUGH are continuing talks with Portsmouth in the hope an agreement can be reached over the £1m payment which will be due if Gary O’Neil makes one more appearance for the club. O’Neil, who has chalked up 99 appearances, trained with

  • Inevitable relegation won’t affect Davey’s focus

    DARLINGTON’S relegation could be confirmed tomorrow afternoon but manager Simon Davey will not share the pain felt by everyone else connected with the club. The gaffer does not underestimate the impact that losing their League Two status will

  • Ferdinand feels the Hammers’ plight

    DESPITE fearing the club he supported as a child will be dropping out of the Premier League, Sunderland’s Anton Ferdinand insists he will put sentiment to one side at Upton Park tomorrow. When Ferdinand, born and brought up in the Peckham area

  • Liverpool 4 Benfica 1 Liverpool win 5-3 on agg

    Liverpool 4 Benfica 1 Liverpool win 5-3 on agg FERNANDO Torres struck twice as Liverpool produced a devastating attacking performance to power past Benfica into the Europa League semifinals. Dirk Kuyt and Lucas were also on target as the Reds

  • Pools aim to make it safe

    AFTER finally ending their horrendous run away from Victoria Park, there’s a new outlook among the Hartlepool United squad. A sequence of ten successive away losses and a draw was ended with last weekend’s victory at Orient. The 3-1 result

  • Hughtons’ head start on Premier planning

    CHRIS Hughton has claimed Newcastle’s early promotion to the Premier League will give them a head start as they begin to plan for next season. The Magpies manager will meet owner Mike Ashley and managing director Derek Llambias within the next

  • New director for chapter

    MEMBERS of the Fortress Chapter of Business Networking International, based in South-West Durham, have appointed photographer Phil Graham as their director. Mr Graham, who runs FILMAR Photography, takes over from utility warehouse distributor

  • M&S staff to receive a share of £80m

    STAFF at Marks and Spencer (M&S) have been awarded an £80m bonus pot after bumper sales growth in the final quarter of the financial year. About 50,000 store staff have picked up between £200 and £500 in the first such payout since 2008, with

  • More than 50 job losses at rail maintenance company

    MORE than 50 people have been made redundant in Darlington through the administration of a rail maintenance firm, it emerged last night. The workers, based in Darlington’s Park Lane, were told last week they would lose their jobs with immediate

  • Search for the best

    A SEARCH is under way for the best truck or van driver in the North-East. The hunt for the Bell North- East Fleet Driver of the Year 2010 is open to fleet drivers and is designed to recognise the high skill levels required by drivers of larger

  • Web-based car insurance firm creates 350 jobs

    AN internet-based car insurance company with a significant presence in the North- East is expanding and creating up to 350 jobs. The online insurer swiftcover.com said the jobs would be created over the next three years as a result of a multi-million

  • Facing up to ‘animal cruelty’ challenge

    AN ethical retailer has taken to the streets to badger parliamentary candidates into making animal welfare a priority. Staff from Lush Cosmetics, in Middlesbrough, launched their own campaign by dressing as foxes, dogs, orangutans and chickens

  • Further surge in sales of new cars

    NEW car sales surged ahead again last month as the recovery in the motor industry continued, it was revealed yesterday. A total of 397,383 new cars were sold in March – 26.6 per cent more than in March last year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers

  • Market leader to expand its coverage

    A FIRM looking to take advantage of the expected upturn in the construction industry has set itself targets of near-doubling turnover to £5m and establishing itself as a UK market leader. Precision Geomatics supplies land survey, setting out

  • Barnardo’s befriender plan

    ADULTS with time to spare to befriend a child in local authority care are needed for a major new scheme being launched in the North-East. Children’s charity Barnardo’s is launching an Independent Visitor Service for children in foster and residential

  • We’re not selling up, say angry restaurant owners

    THE owners of one of the region’s most renowned pubrestaurants have angrily denied rumours they are selling their business to a television celebrity. They say the stories are “damaging and totally unfounded” and are threatening their business

  • Prisoner arrested over jail glass attack inquiry

    DETECTIVES investigating an alleged prison glass attack in which three officers were injured have made an arrest. Craig Wylde lost the use of his left hand and two colleagues were hurt after an inmate, said to be killer Kevan Thakrar, were allegedly

  • Hospice dazzled by jewellers’ gift

    A £1,500 diamond has been donated to a black tie charity dinner, which is being held in aid of a North-East hospice. Freeman Jewellers, in Yarm, near Stockton, is giving the cut loose jewel after hearing about the work of the Butterwick Hospice

  • Daughter steps out for hospice

    A WOMAN is to tackle a sponsored walk in aid of a hospice which transformed the quality of her mother’s life. Karen Dobson noticed a marked improvement in her mother Anne Nixon’s health after she began visiting St Cuthbert’s Hospice, in

  • Masks in memory of Margaret

    MORE than a year after a woman died in a North-East hospice, her niece has organised a charity ball which aims to raise £5,000. Clair McGregor, who runs the Party Godmother shop, in Railway Street, Bishop Auckland, has sold nearly 300 tickets at

  • Thief locked up after stealing from her family

    A HEARTLESS serial thief who stole from almost every member of her immediate family has been jailed. Stephanie Swanston stole from her mother, father, two grandfathers, uncle and even her ex-boyfriend’s father. The 22-year-old used £500 in cash

  • Blind say market place plan is accident waiting to happen

    Plans for Durham’s Market Place have again come under fire as work is about to begin. Mark Tallentire reports. A MULTI-MILLION pound market place makeover will finally get under way later this month, it has been announced. Contractors Carillion will

  • Hen owner lays trap to thwart pet thieves

    A LONELY hen is starring in her own chick flick after thieves stole the rest of her feathered friends. Pet owners Heather and Dave Powles have set up CCTV cameras to watch over their last hen, Audrey, in the back garden of their home near Shildon

  • Trial told of failing health after marriage collapse

    A MURDER trial jury heard yesterday how a spurned husband’s health deteriorated after his ten-year marriage collapsed. The full details of the divorce petition lodged by cheating wife Katrina Jones were also publicly revealed for the first time

  • Facebook ‘ignores plea for button’

    FACEBOOK has not passed a single complaint about suspected paedophiles grooming vulnerable child users to police in Britain, it was claimed yesterday. Jim Gamble, who heads Britain’s response to safeguarding youngsters online, said he has real

  • Clegg warns of VAT rise to fund Tory tax pledges

    LIBERAL Democrat leader Nick Clegg last night labelled the Tories’ tax policies a joke as he warned they could cost the average family £389 extra in VAT. He said David Cameron’s “tax bribes” would cost £13.5bn and require a rise in VAT to 20.5

  • Labour attack on plans for regions

    DAVID CAMERON was accused of looking “down his nose” at the North yesterday, as Labour tried to fight back in the row over its plans to increase National Insurance (NI). Business Secretary Peter Mandelson seized on the Conservative leader’s statement

  • Aiming a political blow

    THE region’s economic regeneration agency would be scrapped if the Tories get into power, Shadow Business Secretary Ken Clarke revealed yesterday. The Conservative Party plans to replace the quango with panels made up of local authority leaders

  • Blood found in house is from Mandy

    BLOOD found inside a house came from a missing agoraphobic woman who had not left her home for more than 13 years, police confirmed yesterday. The confirmation has raised concerns that Mandy Bishop may have suffered an injury and could be in

  • Retiring farmer’s in a slurry to sell a local landmark

    A ROADSIDE landmark will go under the hammer today after entertaining passing motorists for almost a decade. A rusting slurry tanker was painted with the slogan Government Think Tank by farmer Roy Smith in 2001. Mr Smith, 75, said he

  • Lords back ban on use of sunbeds by under-18s

    PEOPLE under-18 will be banned from using sunbeds after the House of Lords approved the Sunbed Regulation Bill, just ahead of the dissolution of Parliament. The new law will mean that The Northern Echo’s campaign to ban youngsters from tanning

  • MoD apologises over firing range 'mosques'

    THE Ministry of Defence (MoD) started to dismantle models of mosques built on an Army firing range last night after being accused of helping to radicalise young Muslims. North-East Islamic groups had condemned the seven cutouts erected on military

  • Body of kayaker is recovered from river

    Tributes have been paid after a teenage kayaker from the region drowned in a fast-flowing river in Scotland on Wednesday. His body was finally recovered yesterday, more than 24 hours after rescuers began their battle with the turbulent rapids.

  • Music piracy case charges dropped

    CRIMINAL charges have been dropped against a teenager in a landmark music piracy case. Matthew Wyatt, 17, was charged with illegally distributing copyrighted material after sharing three albums and one single on the OiNK file sharing website.