Archive

  • Victor Chandler writes.....

    Haydock stage a cracking card today including the Group 2 Temple Stakes which sees Bated Breath (3.00) run over 5f on fast ground for the first time. It is possible that he will get taken off his feet at the minimum trip but he is a horse who can pull

  • A Smart tip for Haydock

    It will take less than a minute it win it, but what a fascinating race this afternoon's betfred.com Temple Stakes is at Haydock, due off at 3pm. Many people will be looking at Group 1 winner Tangerine Trees who impressed his trainer Bryan Smart in a

  • Large fire at disused workshop in North Yorkshire

    FIREFIGHTERS tackled a major blaze at a disused workshop ocurred tonight. The fire at the site of the former Shipton Services, at Shipton-by-Beningbrough, near York released a huge plume of black smoke which could be seen for many miles.

  • Laverty leads the way as BSB reaches Snetterton

    MICHAEL Laverty set the fastest time in today's practice sessions ahead of this weekend's British Superbikes races at Snetterton. The Samsung Honda rider repeated the pace he showed in pre-season testing at the Norfolk circuit as he set the benchmark

  • Equity release plans are back on the increase

    AS the storm clouds gather over Europe’s economy, many of Britain’s over-50s must believe that the value of their homes will support their living standards through any financial turmoil which lies ahead. According to the latest State of Retirement

  • Cyclists to strip for protest ride

    A GROUP of hardy cyclists are hoping the weather stays sunny until at least the beginning of next month. For on June 2 they will be taking part in a mass ride through the streets of York - and many of them will be as naked as the day they were born.

  • Marks and Spencer slashes sales targets after profits fall

    HIGH street stalwart Marks and Spencer dramatically cut sales targets yesterday following the retailer’s first fall in profits for three years. A mixed performance in women’swear and homewares resulted in a 1.8 per cent fall in like-for-like sales

  • Deaths of Victorian children to be marked

    A TRAGEDY involving two children 112 years ago in a North Yorkshire village, is due to be marked tomorrow morning (Saturday, May 26). On May 26 1900, a brother and sister aged two and four, wandered away from their home near Lastingham, on the North

  • Comedy star opens new attraction

    WRITER and comedian Hugh Dennis returned to the wiids of North Yorkshire yesterday to open a new attraction that explains the story behind its daramtic landscape. The TV and radio personality visited Sutton Bank earlier this year when he was filming

  • Friends epic ride in memory of chum

    THREE friends have completed a coast-to-coast cycle ride of nearly 140 miles in memory of a close friend. Richard Bennington, co-owner of The George at Wath, near Ripon, joined his head chef, Gavin Swift and pal Darren Nunns for the 134 mile trip.

  • Elizabeth and Natalie step up for frontline duties

    LATIMER Hinks has appointed two new partners from within its private client team. Elizabeth Armstrong and Natalie Palmer are both established, senior members of the Darlingtonbased firm’s team, specialising in wills, trusts, probate, inheritance

  • Firm lights the way for others to follow

    Recession has had an enormous impact on business across the region and it was those that adapted quickest that prevailed. In this month’s Success story, Bryn Littleton finds out how a light-bulb moment saw a Tees Valley company revolutionise its

  • Ever wondered what it's like to be a...Cruise Ship Captain

    Business isn’t always about boardrooms, briefings and black coffee. So, in tribute to the North-East men and women who take a more unusual approach to enterprise, Andy Richardson takes a look at the unconventional, alternative or downright difficult

  • No standing still with employment law for Theresa

    TILLY Bailey and Irvine Solicitors has expanded its employment law team with the appointment of Theresa Carling. Since completing her legal training at the University of Teesside and University of Central Lancashire, Mrs Carling has specialised

  • Aiming to stop prejudice in construction industry

    A NORTH-EAST initiative is leading the way in stamping out discrimination in the construction industry after new equality legislation was implemented. The ConstructED scheme, which is the first of its kind in the UK, has been created to implement

  • Students dig up some ideas for careers in visit to mine

    GROUP of North-East sixth formers have been finding out how mining in the region is alive and well and offering possible job opportunities. Liz Shaw, a former student at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, in Darlington, who now works as a senior

  • Lessons about the international market

    STUDENTS at a County Durham School were given an insight into how business now needs to meet the requirements of an international market. Shaun Woods, airport manager at Durham Tees Valley Airport, ran the project where pupils looked at visiting

  • If you can’t stand the heat

    BUSINESS Secretary Vince Cable was in Redcar on Monday to hand over £1.4m that had been promised to steelmaker SSI in April 2011. The cash will be used to train staff. But, instead of basking in the glow from the recently relit blast furnace, Mr

  • History buff

    The Great British Story: A People’s History (BBC2, 9pm) Piers Morgan’s Life Stories – Jimmy Tarbuck (ITV1, 9pm) Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (BBC4, 9pm) TO many women of a certain age, Michael Wood is the twinkly-eyed historian capable of getting

  • Darlington FC: Down - but not out

    IT is a sad day for Darlington Football Club. It has been kicked while it's down and confusion still reigns. Being relegated four divisions, into the Northern League, is a hard blow to take and it is a punishment which sends a clear message

  • So would you ‘shop’ your child?

    Parents will protect their offspring through thick and thin, but it’s not always the right decision HOW far would you go to protect your child – even when you knew they’d done something awful? It’s a tricky one. The parents of 20-year-old Eliot

  • Fly tipping

    REGARDING Councillor Nick Wallis’s comments about fly tipping in Darlington (HAS, May 21). Was he referring to the same Whessoe RoadI drive along each day. Whessoe Road has increasingly become an eyesore due to fly tipping, as has Burtree Lane

  • Biker bites back at slur

    REGARDING the tea shop ban on three ladies who refused to stand for the National Anthem (Echo, May 22), I am incensed at Anita Atkinson’s slur on bikers. She said: “If the women had been leather clad bikers or youths you would expect to call the

  • Bariatric surgery

    REGARDING the feature about a couple who both had weight-loss surgery on the NHS (Echo, May 24), it makes a great story with the couple having gone through it together. However, I can’t help thinking the feature is just a big advert for surgical

  • Europe

    POLITICS should be the vehicle for progress, but so often political gestures become embroiled in national pride and preservation. I suppose it is to be expected that in times of crisis and uncertainty we become territorial. There is little interest

  • Votes for prisoners a sensible outcome

    THE ruling by the European Court that prisoners must be allowed a vote (Echo, May 20) is a sensible piece of legislation, notwithstanding the hysterical front-page screams against it in the papers. An important aim of imprisonment is – and should

  • The Wizard of Oz

    I FOUND the letters by JL Wilks and Charlie Kay concerning Animal Farm very interesting (HAS, May 23), but I wonder if either gent has considered “The Wizard of Oz”? Within the land of Oz people were raised to believe that simply because of the

  • Car tax

    ALEC TELFORD writes that the Government should abolish road tax, because it receives a “fantastic” amount from fuel duty (HAS, May 22). Alec will be pleased to know that road tax was actually abolished in 1937. I can only presume that Alec is

  • Preserving the past for the future

    THE sun’s out and the summer symphony of lawn-mowers and hedge clippers is at full volume. Whether it’s a landed estate or a postage stamp outside the back door, people love their gardens and rightly so. They’re the place where, even if it’s just

  • Quakers in Northern League

    THE Quakers will play in the Northern League next season, the Football Association (FA) has decided. The FA will relegate the club four divisions below the Blue Square Bet Premier where they played last season. Fans’ company Darlington

  • Public herd pigs to safety following crash

    POLICE have thanked the public for their help when pigs became trapped in an overturned lorry. At about 8am this morning, a lorry transporting pigs ended up on its side following a collision just off the A66 at Newsham in North Yorkshire. The livestock

  • Heroes and villains

    THERE could hardly have been a starker contrast... In Middlesbrough yesterday, hundreds of people lined the sun-kissed streets to pay their respects to Corporal Andrew Roberts, who lost his life during a mortar attack serving in Afghanistan. A

  • Save them from poverty trap

    Is child poverty a price worth paying for austerity? Helen Goodman, the Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, thinks not A FEW years ago a collection of poems written by children living in poor housing was published. This poem was written by a Durham

  • Town sites found for eco project

    SEVERAL neglected areas of land have been earmarked in a market town as suitable for turning into wildlife spaces. The Northallerton Environmental Enhancement Initiative this week held a public consultation in the town hall, where it unveiled the abandoned

  • Man hurt in collision in Consett

    A 19-YEAR-OLD man has been airlifted to hospital with serious head injuries after being struck by a car this morning. A police spokesman said a Mercedes Benz collided with the teenager the near to the roundabout at Delves Lane, at its junction with

  • News In Brief:

    MOUNTAIN WALK: Northallerton Ramblers will be staging a walk over North Yorkshire’s highest mountain, Whernside, this Sunday, May 27. The eight mile hike is part of a series of walks being staged by rambler groups in the UK to mark the run-up to the Olympic

  • Strauss says he’s too boring to tweet

    ENGLAND captain Andrew Strauss has reminded his players of their responsibilities after Kevin Pietersen’s latest Twitter faux pas. Pietersen was fined an undisclosed amount, reported to be £3,000, by the England and Wales Cricket Board after

  • Durham slump to season low

    DURHAM’S disastrous season hit a new low yesterday when they were bowled out by a bunch of talented teenagers and crashed to a five-wicket defeat at Taunton. It underlined that relegation is a genuine threat and victory at home to fellow strugglers

  • Durham coach Cook won't start to panic

    DURHAM coach Geoff Cook last night declined to admit that his side are in a relegation fight after a three-day five-wicket defeat by Somerset at Taunton. “The important thing in this situation is not to panic,” he said. “We have only played six

  • Lescott sure of Neville’s quality

    JOLEON Lescott has backed Gary Neville’s appointment as a member of Roy Hodgson’s England backroom team – even if it means he has to stay away from the chocolate cake at dinner. Hodgson sprang a major surprise last week when it was confirmed

  • Students sample session of diplomacy

    STUDENTS from Teesdale played their part in international diplomacy on a visit to a United Nations agency. Four sixth form students from Barnard Castle School were among 200 young people from all over the country who spent the day at the International

  • In the summertime!

    Morning Readers! What can I say other than what fantastic weather we're having this week. It makes us want to get those salads out and eat healthily. I hope the warmer weather has helped you get great results this week. I'm pleased to say I

  • Disabled access at heart of club row

    CONCERNS over access for disabled people could be set to derail controversial plans for the £1m renovation of a grade II-listed building. Businessman Alistair Powell wants to turn the Mechanics Institute Building, in Skinnergate, Darlington

  • Ruby's lucky escape after lurcher attack

    A MUCH-LOVED Jack Russell terrier has had a lucky escape after being attacked by four lurcher-type dogs while on a morning walk. Bryan Dale, who lives in the Brinkburn area of Darlington, was out with his three-year-old pet dog, Ruby, when

  • Former Sunderland boss favourite for Hull job

    FORMER Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is being considered for the vacant managerial position at Hull City. Bruce has been out of work since his dismissal at the Stadium of Light in December. However, he is understood to be one of a handful of managers

  • Cabaye: France fear England

    NEWCASTLE United midfielder Yohan Cabaye has tipped England to finish above his native France and win their group at this summer's European Championships. Cabaye has established himself as a key member of France's first-choice midfield in the last 12

  • Airport expansion plan revealed by firm

    AN expansion plan is being drawn up for loss-making Durham Tees Valley Airport and will be handed to the Government within weeks. Airport bosses are preparing a bid to the regional growth fund to develop the 250-acre south side of the airport,

  • Accident rescue pilot tells of daring action

    THE pilot of an air ambulance that came to the rescue of a pensioner injured in a rush-hour accident has told of the daring landing. A 72-year-old woman from the Skerne Park area of Darlington last night remained in a stable condition in The

  • Schools celebrate as rebuild cash given

    STAFF from 27 crumbling schools in the region were celebrating last night after they were finally promised cash to rebuild – after a two-year controversy. The schools, including five in County Durham, four in Stockton borough, three in Hartlepool

  • 87 building jobs saved at trade supply company Expamet

    THE jobs of all 87 workers at Hartlepool-based building trade supply company Expamet have been saved after the firm was bought out of administration. The 120-year-old business, which supplies plasterers' accessories and metal construction products

  • Concerns Olympics will disrupt region's business

    A VINTAGE radiator restoration company director has complained that the Olympics is disrupting business without tangibly benefiting the region. Eve Vanner, who runs North Yorkshire firm Castironrads, who collect and restore antique radiators

  • Vandals lay waste to allotments

    ELDERLY allotment keepers have told of their heartache after vandals targeted plots, causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage. Vandals struck at the allotments in Honeypot Lane, in Darlington, on Wednesday night. They tipped up compost bins

  • Accountant tells court she paid creditors

    A FORMER rail company accounts manager accused of defrauding the firm yesterday claimed she had paid its creditors herself to ease the stress on her colleagues. Corina Elaine Heslop, who is accused of paying eight cheques totalling £36,781 from

  • £4.5m funding revives metro link for hospital

    A MUCH-VAUNTED Tees Valley rail scheme could be back on track thanks to £4.5m worth of Government green funding. Work will begin on building a railway station at the region’s biggest hospital, The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough

  • £1 for 'low life' who took thousands from heroes

    A CONWOMAN who co-ordinated a scam to dupe wounded soldiers out of thousands of pounds has been ordered to pay back only £1. Natalie Hornby, 39, from Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, accepted charity donations from people by posing as a Help for Heroes