Last night’s STL Division One game between Bedlington and league leaders Spennymoor had to be abandoned after 20 minutes because of a bad injury to Spennymoor striker Adam Johnston. The striker landed awkwardly and broke his ankle, and the
Middlesbrough's reserves are almost certain to win the Totesport.com League next week after comprehensively defeating Gateshead last night. Boro won 5-2 at the International Stadium, courtesy of a hat-trick from Adam Reach and a double from Charlie
There’s a spectacular night of entertainment being put on by Cockfield Christmas Lights committee at Cockfield club on Sunday 1st May from 6pm till 11.30pm. There will be four live acts on stage plus a disco and bingo. The evening features.
Newcastle have been handed a one-year ban from European competition, suspended for five years, and fined 25,000 Euros (£22,190) after pleading guilty to a charge of misconduct at a European Rugby Cup disciplinary hearing in Dublin today. The punishment
IN two meetings this season, Hartlepool United have conceded nine goals against Sheffield Wednesday, but Mick Wadsworth is unconcerned ahead of their latest encounter. The Owls put five past Pools at Victoria Park in League One and four
Newmarket has not been the most fruitful of hunting grounds for Richard Fahey but he left the opening day of the Craven meeting with two of the big-race winners. Top of the list financially was the success of Sir Reginald in the £150,000 Tattersalls
Darlington are reassuring supporters that their tickets for the FA Trophy final at Wembley are now on their way. Ticketmaster, who are facilitating the sale of tickets for the club, have now started to distribute tickets, with some fans
ELECTRONICS firm Filtronic is still on course to significantly increase sales next year despite losing work from a major customer and delays in a contract for a new one. The firm is now expecting sales in this financial year, which runs to next month
DURHAM will take on Yorkshire tomorrow without Stephen Harmison and Mark Stoneman, who both picked up injuries in the opening round of County Championship competition. Harmison has broken his ulna bone and faces at least a fortnight on the
IN the Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council elections on May 5, Labour's control of the authority will be put to the test after Ian Swales swept to victory in last year's General Election, ousting Labour's Vera Baird with a massive voting swing. The
A COUNCILLOR has lamented "major mistakes" that have turned a once-historic home into a vandal-hit ruin. Tunstall Court, a Victorian mansion built for the Furness shipbuilding family in Hartlepool, is now a wreck. Tory councillor Ray Wells has criticised
A MAN had seek sanctuary in a house after he was assaulted by a gang of youths as he walked home. The 51-year-old was attacked on Mansfield Road, Eston, near Middlesbrough, at around 10pm on Monday night. The victim was approached by a group of up to
SUNDERLAND defender Titus Bramble is hoping to receive the green light to return to full training when he visits a specialist later today. Bramble will undergo a series of tests on the knee cartilage injury he sustained in the build up to this
PETER Lovenkrands has accused Premier League officials of unfairly targeting Joey Barton, and claimed the Newcastle midfielder is treated differently to any other player in the country. Barton's disciplinary record has been the subject of
A DRUG dealer made an estimated benefit of £184,467 from his activities, aiding distribution of cocaine round the North-East. But David Edward Cairns was said to have realisable assets of only £19,223, a confiscation hearing at Durham Crown Court was
A HOUSING company is investing £1.5m in making 72 homes more energy efficient. Coast & Country is carrying out the work on three blocks of flats, at Barley Hill Close, Normanby, Middlesbrough. This will include external wall insulation, new windows,
PARENTS have been warned about the dangers of using second hand child car seats that they dont know the history of. To raise awareness of the issue Middlesbrough Councils road safety and trading standards teams joined forces with Cleveland fire brigade
THE DALES PACT The Dales PACT meeting was held on Monday 28th March 2011 at 7pm in Romaldkirk Village Hall. Last month’s priority:- * Due to a recent burglary in Romaldkirk to target suspicious vehicles in the Dales Update of last month
STUDENTS from East Durham College have spent two weeks visiting Germany as part of their long-running exchange programme. The programme, now in its 20th year, saw 15 students spend time with Stattliche Fachoberschule und Berufsoberschule School in Altötting
AMERICANA singersongwriter Carrie Elkin made a welcome return to the Jumpin’ Hot Club and spun a fine selection of her self-written songs. Though more often in reflective mood than otherwise, Elkin lifted the sombre mood through her clever asides
IF you press historical rewind and keep your finger on the button until you get to 1863, you’ll find Dan Leno making his debut, aged four at the Cosmotheca Music Hall, in Paddington, London. He was billed as Little George, the Infant Wonder,
This is the Broadway musical of the British film. The fabulous West End Operatic Society are pushing the boat out (and their definition of operatic, too) but the naked truth is that this one’s a winner. Some skint average Joes convince themselves
Desperate Housewives (C4, 10pm) Life Of Riley (BBC1, 8.30pm) Starlight: For the Children (Five, 7.30pm) The Crimson Petal and the White (BBC2, 9pm) IF there’s one thing Desperate Housewives has been good at over the years, it’s leaving
THE World’s Biggest Liar competition, the very antithesis of honest endeavour, is held each November at the Santon Bridge Inn, at the foot of Wasdale in the western Lake District. Among the stipulations is that lawyers and politicians are refused
A FAMILY-owned firm responsible for the upkeep of some of Britain’s highest-profile historic buildings was set one of its most challenging jobs to date, carrying out work at a monastery where monks live in complete solitude. Stone Technical Services
WORLD markets suffered heavy declines yesterday amid fresh fears over Japan’s ongoing nuclear crisis and a lacklustre start to the US earnings season. A slide in oil prices added to the pressure, with the FTSE 100 Index closing down 89 points
I CAUGHT it out of the corner of my eye, in the same way I might have done a pretty girl in my youth. Unlike so many of its contemporaries, it stood out from the crowd. It was attractive, although not in a pretty way. Far from being dainty, its form
BANKRUPTCY moves against former Newcastle and England football star Paul Gascoigne have been put on hold again until next month. Gascoigne, 43, who owes the taxman £32,000, is fighting a bankruptcy petition brought by Her Majestys Revenue and
Whorlton's village pub has reopened under new management after being closed since the end of last year. Steve McLoughlin, who also runs the Black Swan in Staindrop, and the Bridge Inn in Middleton in Teesdale, has taken on The Bridge.
OKAY it’s not up there with his The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In length alone, its six brief stanzas fall 122 short of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s narrative epic. And it hasn’t given us any memorable lines, like the Mariner’s: “He prayeth best
HOW many countries neighbouring the Sudan are wealthy, yet do little to help their less well off and starving neighbours? Countries such as India and Pakistan spends billions each year on defence and nuclear weapons, but foreign charities and
YOUR front page headline “13,000 to benefit from Coalition jobs boost” is followed by a reference to “a jobs bonanza in the region” as a result of the Government’s so-called “flagship growth fund” (Echo, April 12). However, buried late in the
MAY I congratulate The Northern Echo on the success of your Zurbaran campaign, an example of journalism at its finest. It began with the exposure of secrets that never should have been and was followed by a relentless campaign in which you persisted
TALKING of “fantasy worlds” and “parallel universes”, I would like to congratulate Gavin Hay (HAS, April 8) on the wonderful world he lives in – a world where violent crime keeps happening all around him, but where the police always turn up “within
THE Government’s Health and Social Care bill which is proving extremely controversial, opens the way for “fair competition” in the health care “market”. By all means, strive for improvements in care and provision, but build on the established
AS the hapless Health Secretary Andrew Lansley stumbles through the most difficult period of his career, humiliated in the Commons, vandals painting “Hands off our NHS, Tory scum” on the wall of his constituency office and a rap video on YouTube –
COUNCILLORS and their colleagues in planning departments generally get a bad press nationally, but, for their transformation of Darlington town centre, I feel a local vote of thanks is in order. The town centre is now a delight and in marked contrast
VILLAGERS have vowed to keep fighting, despite church leaders having withdrawn plans to build homes on a green area. The Church Commissioners dropped plans to build three two-and-a-half storey-high houses on land off Luke Avenue, in Cassop, near Durham
WITH the new increased postal charges people might begin to deliver their personal mail by hand. Being a pensioner myself, if postage rates go up much more I will not be able to afford the postage to write to Hear All Sides. What say you? Roland
IT is clear that the Government would like to involve us in military campaigns and feels it is entitled to do so provided it can refer to a UN Security Council resolution. I am in favour of actions which are humanitarian and are designed to protect
HAVE you ever wanted to make your own cartoons? The original CrazyTalk software allowed users to create basic animations – using a photo of a face and synchronising it to a soundtrack. It was fun and easy-to-use but anyone serious about film-making
THAI new year is being celebrated at a popular new North-East restaurant. The acclaimed Central Thai restaurant, in Durham City, is hosting three nights of Thai banqueting with dancing and kick-boxing demonstrations. There has also been fruit carving
K PEACOCK (HAS, April 6) failed to mention that the electoral status quo of first past the post effectively disenfranchises a vast section of the population. Only those residing in marginal constituencies have a say in who governs the country.
SALARIES of between £106,349 and £188,212 are the sort associated with scientists, inventors and surgeons. So it came as a big surprise that these are some of the wages paid to council officers in Middlesbrough, Stockton and Redcar. The roll
TO be fair to Nick Clegg, he handled yesterday’s “handbagging” by Rochdale grandmother Gillian Duffy rather better than Gordon Brown managed during the General Election campaign. That said, he couldn’t really have handled it any worse than Mr Brown
A cartoon film about a mouse inspired him to write and now Guy Mankowski is putting aside his work as a psychologist to devote himself to full-time writing. He tells Steve Pratt about his debut novel The Intimates. THE timing was serendipitous. Guy
NURSES have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion saying they have no confidence in the Health Secretarys management of NHS reforms. Delegates at the Royal College of Nursing conference in Liverpool voted 99 per cent in favour of the motion
THE picture in last week's Memories of the big man of The George caught me eye. There amid the ivy of the 1900s, at the top of the famous coaching inn in Piercebridge, was a sundial I had never noticed before. It is crammed in under the roof - presumably
AFTER enduring an injuryplagued season, Newcastle United midfielder Danny Guthrie understands he will have to be patient in his quest for more Premier League starts. Guthrie has made just 12 first-team appearances this season, having missed the
WHEN Simon Mignolet joined Sunderland last summer, he never imagined making 17 appearances in his first Premier League season, but the young goalkeeper insists there is still a lot more to come. Craig Gordon suffered a broken arm in pre-season
A NORTH-EAST teenager who was taken to hospital with suspected meningitis has died, it has been confirmed. Michael Lloyd was one of two 15-year-old boys from Emmanuel College in Gateshead who took ill over the weekend with what is believed
TIDAL Bay could take his chance in Saturday’s Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr following his early exit at Aintree last weekend. The 10-year-old only made it as far as the 10th fence in the Grand National when he parted company with his jockey
BINOCULAR could bid to round off what has been another turbulent season in the Rabobank Champion Hurdle at Punchestown on May 6. Nicky Henderson’s seven-year- old was a brilliant winner of the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last year, but was
SPECIFIC Gravity can strike for Henry Cecil in the Blue Square Feilden Stakes at Newmarket. The twice-raced Dansili colt looks capable of taking high rank in a powerful Warren Place team this season judged on two juvenile efforts. He was a promising
A FRUSTRATED Tony Mowbray was coming to terms with a growing list of absentees last night after watching Middlesbrough’s six-goal draw with Ipswich Town arrive at a substantial cost. Just hours after being told Dutch striker Marvin Emnes could
THE tender years of one of Darlington's parks will be captured on film, thanks to a Lottery grant. Sixth form media students will help members of the Friends of the Denes to make a film of memories of the park's formative days. The Heritage Lottery
Hutton Magna Village Hall received its annual spring deep clean last weekend. A party of volunteers gave the building a thorough going over to get it ready for the new season, followed by a well-deserved lunch. Pictured left to right: Marian and
A CAPACITY audience enjoyed stunning performances when the live tour version of Dancing on Ice came to the North-East last night. Skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were joined by the champion of the ITV1 series, Sam Attwater, and
VICTIMS of the Dreamspace inflatable artwork tragedy are to receive compensation – five years after the disaster that left two people dead. Mother-of-two Claire Furmedge, 38, of Chester-le- Street, and grandmother Elizabeth Collings, 68, of
THE boss of rail firm East Coast has admitted the punctuality of its trains is “not where we want it to be” as it prepares to launch a new timetable next month. Managing director Karen Boswell said the timetable – nicknamed Eureka – would offer
A SCRAPYARD owner is hoping to recover legal costs totalling more than £100,000 after a row with his council over industrial work near a nature reserve. However, Darlington Borough Council said Anthony Shepherd had exceeded the time limit needed
A TOWN has received a “kick in the teeth” after three bids to the Regional Growth Fund were unsucessful. The three schemes in Darlington aimed to create hundreds of jobs, improve roads and renovate office space. However, the three schemes
DIANA GARBUTT described her husband as the “only man she had ever trusted”, the mother of the man accused of her murder told a jury yesterday. Joyce Brook denied her son, Robin Garbutt, and daughterin- law were trapped in a sham marriage.
A CATHOLIC school and three churches have launched petitions opposing a possible cut in free transport for faith schools. Church leaders and teachers in Bishop Auckland say they are outraged at the plan being consulted on by Durham County Council
THRILL-SEEKING teenagers are risking their lives by jumping hidden pit shafts on off-road bikes, police say. As well as putting themselves at serious risk, the youngsters are endangering passing walkers and angering nearby residents.
PLANS to modernise NHS services on Teesside have suffered a second major setback with the shelving of a £35m integrated health centre. The Department of Health’s decision not to approve the Billingham scheme means that the Integrated Health and
AN apology has been issued after a poster advertising a TV drama about “The Walking Dead” was put up on the side of a funeral parlour. The siting of the advertisement for The Walking Dead, a post-apocalyptic television horror show, sited next
THE lawyer acting for Paul Gascoigne has pledged to get “every farthing” from the News of the World if phone hacking allegations are upheld. Gerald Shamash, who is suing the newspaper on behalf of the former Newcastle and England footballer
AN investigation is under way into allegations that staff at a care home have mistreated vulnerable patients. The Northern Echo understands that at least two members of staff have been suspended from work at Southwoods Nursing Home, in Northallerton
TROUBLED care home group Southern Cross Healthcare yesterday issued a profit warning and announced its chairman had resigned, as it continued with efforts to address its difficulties Ray Miles, who had been chairman for more than three years, stepped
A CORPORATE clothing company started from the back of a van 21 years ago is making sure staff on the leading TV talent show have the X Factor. Workwear Express, founded by managing director Andrew Ward when he was 17, has just completed branded clothing
Spennymoor manager Jason Ainsley is hoping that the law of averages doesn’t work against them tonight at Bedlington. The league leaders, who have a six point advantage over Newcastle Benfield on the same games in second, have already played and beaten
THE level of North-East businesses in difficulties has dropped year-on-year, bucking a national trend, new research has shown. Financial services firm Begbies Traynor said the North-East's level of business distress had fallen eight per cent
