THE last soldiers from the 3 Rifles battlalion arrived back in barracks this evening. The soldiers arrived back at their Edinburgh base at Redford Infantry Barracks where they were met by family and friends following their gruelling six-month tour in
PUPILS have been helping to keep their village looking at its best. Youngsters from Sedgefield Community College supported both Sedgefield in Bloom and The Big Tidy Up campaigns by taking part in a litter pick. Year eight pupils gathered
BELOW is the 12 inch extended version of my coloury piece with William Hague. The British voter is quite extraordinary. The first lady in my piece genuinely didn't seem to know Mr Hague was a Conservative until she spotted his sticker. My recollection
Cockfield residents have only 21days to make any objections to turning ‘Hycroft’ into a residential school after a planning application was made today. Objections must reach Teesdale planning department by the 21st May; here is the press release from
THE famous York Mystery Plays could return to their traditional home in two years’ time. For decades they were performed amid the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey every four years, attracting audiences from around the world. But there has not been a major production
A CAR crashed into the side of a petrol filling station yesterday morning. The Audi A3 driver, a woman in her mid-20s from the Shildon area, believes her breaks failed causing her to collide with the All Saint’s garage, at Shildon, County Durham, at
A COUNCIL will consider a proposal to extend and refurbish a Sure Start nursery. Sure Start wants to improve facilities at its Tudhoe Moor Nursery, in Spennymoor, County Durham. The proposal is for a 45sq metres extension with a pitch roof to the east
VILLAGERS who feared money pledged towards community facilities would be lost have been assured the project is safe. Sedgefield Residents Forum have been writing to Durham County Council since before Christmas to track the £47,000 meant to be invested
A DATE has been set for a sex abuse scandal involving up to 150 children and the Catholic Church to be heard at the Court of Appeal. From July 12 to 15, Middlesbrough Diocese will argue in London that it should not be solely blamed for the abuse of
A MARRIED couple who conned a farmer out of £1m after suggesting they were connected to Irish terrorists were jailed today, police said. A judge heard how travellers Dennis McGinley, 30, and Bianca McGinley, 24, defrauded terrified victims in North Yorkshire
VOTERS in Richmond are being offered the chance to ask all of the candidates for the local seat for their views on issues at a hustings event. William Hague, Conservative, Eileen Driver, Labour, Lawrence Meredith, Liberal-Democrats, and Leslie
A FORMER Conservative leader is to take part in a hustings event to discuss local issues in the run to the General Election in Richmond. William Hague, the Conservative’s candidate for Richmond and the shadow foreign secretary, is to join his opponents
YORKSHIRE became the second team in three games this season to bat for five sessions against Durham, reaching 530 for five from 164 overs at tea. Essex batted for 162.3 overs before they were all out for 484 in the opening match at Riverside
SOLDIERS and civilians will join forces on Thursday, April 29, in their annual effort to clean up the town centre in Catterick Garrison. The aim of the day is to improve the environment and create a safer Coronation Park for use by the whole
OFFICIALS from a variety of international hot-spots have been discovering more about policing North Yorkshire-style. They took part in a fortnight’s placement with the force as part of a 12-week course held by the Post-war Reconstruction and Development
AS I write, Gordon Brown is in Gillian Duffy’s now-famous terraced house in Rochdale, trying to persuade that “bigoted woman” to save his election campaign. Therefore, the final conclusion on the incident that finally provided some drama from
LOVINGLY kept MG cars from the 1930s onwards will be gathering at Kiplin Hall, near Scorton, Richmond, next week. The Yorkshire Dales Classic Car Club Open Event is to be held on Sunday, May 9. The drivers spend the day touring the Dales and return
A MAN accused of killing two jockeys when he allegedly set fire to a block of flats sent "creepy" text messages to a girl, a jury was told today. Peter Brown was accused of sending the messages to Jordan Lambert several months before the fatal fire claimed
A COLLEGE has been officially accredited by the Rugby Football Union. East Durham College, based in Peterlee, County Durham, has been named an RFU Community Rugby Accredited College, recognised by the RFU, the Women’s RFU and British Colleges Sport.
I've just driven back down the A1 from Newcastle and listened to Jeremy Vine's interview with Gordon Brown after he was recorded calling a woman questioner "bigoted". My instinctive reaction is that this will be remembered as one of the biggest
PATRICK BARLOW’S adaptation of The 39 Steps is a rip-roaring, well, I say, how utterly splendid kind of an evening. It takes its audience on a fast-paced, often bumpy, ride through Thirties London and the Scottish Highlands, alongside its main
BOYS will be girls will be boys... or is it the other way round? Either way, cross dressing, drag acts, showgirls who might be men, bigotry, relationships, both gay and straight.. it all adds up to a whirlwind of a plot which has confirmed La
POLICE have raided two business addresses and two houses in the North-East as part of a major investigation into insurance and car hire claims made following vehicle collisions. Around 30 officers from Durham Constabulary’s organised crime team and the
Jamie Does… Stockholm (C4, 9pm) Desperate Housewives (C4, 10pm) Sons of Anarchy (Bravo, 10pm) Cracking Antiques (8.30pm) CELEBRITY chef Jamie Oliver is in no doubt that Swedish cooking is “one of the unsung heroes of the cooking world”. And in
THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has said today that the Bishop of Durham, Dr Tom Wright, will be greatly missed when he retires from the See of Durham at the end of August. He said: "Bishop Tom has given generously of his extraordinary
POLICE have raided two business addresses and two houses in north Durham as part of an investigation into insurance and car hire claims made following vehicle collisions. Around 30 officers from Durham Constabulary's organised crime team and the economic
THE tedious cricket continued at Headingley this morning, with Jacques Rudolph and Anthony McGrath completing workmanlike centuries as both teams concentrated on denying each other bonus points. Yorkshire reached 408 for three at lunch but
AN award-winning landscape architect has clinched a contract for an urban regeneration project in the region. TGP Landscape Architects is celebrating after also being chosen to carry out a further stage of a major scheme in Newcastle. The Durham
A TEESSIDE financial services firm has merged with another North-East company. Stockton-based financial advisors WR Financial Management Limited, based on Teesdale Business Park, has agreed a deal with Barrington Slimmings, based in Stannington
CONSTRUCTION officially got under way yesterday on Nissan’s electric car battery plant in the North-East. The facility, next to the car firm’s Sunderland plant, will produce advanced lithiumion batteries from early 2012, creating 200 jobs at
A YOUNG entrepreneur who made millions providing finance for low-carbon businesses believes the support of major international companies for green technology is helping drive its growth. The comments by Sean O’Connor, 29, who founded Clean Energy
A FLOORING retailer is continuing the growth seen last year by revealing plans to open at least five more stores this year, creating 20 jobs. Frank’s the Flooring Store has already created 30 jobs over the past 18 months, and has defied the recession
MARKS & Spencer have a lot to answer for. Thirty years ago this month, they sold their first packaged sandwiches. They inspired a thousand imitators. And the nation’s tastebuds shrivelled and died, overwhelmed by damp, chilly, tasteless bread
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown today apologised profusely after he was caught on microphone branding a woman who spoke to him on the campaign trail 'bigoted'. The PM's comments came as he was driven away from an event in Rochdale at which 65-year-old
THOUGH once something that you wouldn’t talk about in polite columns – like nits, syphilis and Tottenham Hotspur – it has to be admitted that we have mice. Or possibly mouse. We’ve had them before, in truth, field mice fleeing round the kitchen
ALL trade unions have rules regarding political spending. As with other unions, Unite has a political fund from which to draw to support its political aspirations. In all unions there will be many shades of political persuasion across the membership
WHO represents the poor in this General Election? Under New Labour the gap between the rich and poor, already given momentum under Margaret Thatcher, has continued to grow. The very rich are now in the process of withdrawing entirely from society
ONCE again the County Durham Palestine Solidarity Campaign uses lurid and distorted language to misrepresent the situation in the Middle East (HAS, April 26). I, too, have concerns about the building of settlements in so-called Palestinian areas
MICHAEL Baldasera, writing to argue against the concept of assisted suicide (HAS, April 21), states that “the public at large see the need to keep the law as it is, once the potential for abuse is generally known”. I find this rather surprising
BARRING disasters as yet unknown, the tackling of the national debt is the biggest challenge facing the next Prime Minister. How will his government – red, blue, or yellow – manage to cut the country’s mind-boggling deficit without damaging the
More than four decades after a stormy opening night, Richard O’Brien is still urging audiences: “Let’s do the Time Warp again”. He talks to Steve Pratt ahead of the Rocky Horror Show’s tour to Darlington and Sunderland. JUNE 16, 1973. Outside
BIRMINGHAM have been hit with a disciplinary charge by the Football Association following the angry scenes at their derby defeat by Aston Villa. The club have been charged with failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly
STOKE manager Tony Pulis has issued a statement expressing his disappointment that news of a reported dressing- room bust-up between Abdoulaye Faye and Glenn Whelan was made public. Potters captain Faye and midfielder Whelan allegedly clashed
A BOY whose father was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan is raising money to make a difference to the lives of young people in the country. Ewan Upton, 11, who lost his father, Sean, last year, has joined forces with friends Hannah Burston
THE economic crisis took centre- stage in the election campaign yesterday, with a stark warning that all three parties are keeping their plans for harsh spending cuts under wraps. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) launched a strong attack
Lyon 0 Bayern Munich 3 (Bayern win 4-0 on aggregate) AN Ivica Olic hat-trick ensured Bayern Munich progressed to their first Champions League final since 2001 as they easily dispatched ten-man Lyon. Olic had already ensured Bayern had one foot
MANCHESTER CITY have been advised by the Premier League that they will not be able to recall Joe Hart from Birmingham to solve their goalkeeper crisis. The club approached league chiefs after injuries to Shay Given, Stuart Taylor and David Gonzalez
CITYSCAPE put up an eyecatching performance on his return from a long lay-off and can claim the Britain’s Got Talent Paradise Stakes at Ascot. Second in last year’s Greenham, he was viewed as a likely outsider for the 2000 Guineas but finished
WHILE no-one could have predicted that Chris Rushworth would be opening the bowling for Durham in the third match of the season, few people would have been more surprised than Martyn Moxon. It was during the Yorkshire coach’s tenure at Durham
NEWCASTLE UNITED manager Chris Hughton has dismissed claims he will need to recruit a proven Premier League striker this summer, labelling leading goalscorer Andy Carroll as the new Peter Crouch. No sooner had the Magpies’ return to the top flight
MIDDLESBROUGH chief executive Keith Lamb has authorised Gordon Strachan to undertake major surgery on the squad this summer, warning “there will be casualties”. After sharing the frustration of supporters who’ve seen the Teessiders’ promotion
FORMER Sunderland boss Roy Keane will attempt to agree a permanent deal for Daryl Murphy after admitting defeat in his pursuit of Black Cats’ midfield playmaker Jack Colback. North Shields-born Colback, who set up his side’s late equaliser at
A MENTAL health hospital patient who tried to kill herself because she was not getting the after care she felt she needed, has criticised community mental health services. The 49-year-old woman, from Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, says she
A FORMER railway station supervisor could be jailed for performing a sex act in front of a boy as the pair of them chatted via an internet webcam. In the summer of 2008, Leslie Booth is said to have taken off his trousers and encouraged the
A SHOP owner whose 4ft statue of a willy was seized has now paid the £80 fine to release it from police custody. Jason Hadlow, whose “Free Willy” crusade gained international support and spawned a Facebook campaign, is now awaiting the return
VANDALS who set fire to a grave are unable to be identified after it emerged that a security camera was obscured by a tree. Pensioner Beryl Ormerod said she was devastated after artificial flowers on the black marble headstone of her parents’
Political Editor Chris Lloyd joins the Conservatives as they take to the campaign trail in Sunderland. "HAWAY, it’s William Hague,” shouts a large, low lady barrelling over to shake the deputy Conservative leader’s hand. “It’s the first
A TEENAGER facing terror charges has admitted researching how to make an electromagnetic pulse bomb capable of knocking out vital computer systems if successfully detonated. Former milkman’s assistant Nicky Davison told a jury at Newcastle Crown
It may not be Aintree, but that did not deter more than 3,000 spectators who snapped up free tickets for the Durham National at Sedgefield Racecourse, in County Durham, last night. Helen Smithson reports. GETTING hold of tickets for a sports event
A MAN defrauded a number of unsuspecting victims – including one he met in hospital – to pay off his gambling debts, a court heard. Christopher Grainge, 36, admitted three counts of fraud when he appeared before magistrates yesterday. Grainge
VETERANS of one of the most vital and hard-fought battles of the Second World War yesterday remembered their comrades who never returned. The battle of Kohima effectively ended the Japanese plan to invade India and was described by Earl Mountbatten
A COUNCIL health and safety manager was unaware a safety committee had been set up until the fatal accident involving an inflatable artwork, an inquest has heard. Denver Meade was appointed by Chester-le-Street District Council several months
A CAMPAIGN to stamp out drug dealing recorded its 200th arrest during a police operation this morning. Five people were arrested and cannabis was found by Darlington police conducting the latest raid as part of Operation Nimrod. More than 80 officers
Darlington 0 Notts County 5 A THREADBARE Darlington side put on a brave show, but succumbed to a late goal glut as Notts County sealed the League Two title with an emphatic win last night. The 5-0 scoreline gives an unfair reflection of the match
THE Bishop of Durham has announced he is retiring in a few months’ time for an academic post in Scotland. The Right Reverend Tom Wright, will step down on August 31 and take up an appointment at St Andrew’s University, in Fife. His decision
