A RACEHORSE trainer who has been forced to miss out on one of the region's biggest musical events of the summer is auctioning the tickets for charity. Michael Dods, from Denton Hall, near Darlington, is swapping one 'rock star' for another
IF anyone is in any doubt about where the priorities lie in the world of modern football, they should look at the punishment handed out to Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner yesterday. Bendtner, on loan at Sunderland last season, was fined a
A FORMER MP, a long-serving councillor and a retired police chief have been unveiled as Labour’s choices to be the North-East’s first elected crime commissioners. Voters nationwide will choose the first Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs)
A MAN had double reason to celebrate when he stopped on his leg of carrying the Olympic torch relay to propose to his heavily pregnant partner. David State dropped down on one knee and popped the question as he was running through Loftus, east
The Walking Dead (Channel 5, 10pm) Chris Moyles’ Comedy Empire (BBC3, 9pm) Ukraine’s Forgotten Children (BBC4, 9pm) IF you want to survive a zombie invasion, then it’s important that you follow a few simple rules. Don’t try to change the wheel
TEAMS of blindfolded kurlers have raised £600 to help boost the work of a group of volunteers helping the blind. The Blind Life in Durham group has run its annual Durham New Age Kurling Blind Awareness Competition. The competition involves teams competing
SARA DAVIES, 28, founder and sales director of crafts supply business Crafter’s Companion, who design and manufacture products for the crafts industry THERE aren’t many people who manage to start up a company in their final year of university
POLICE are investigating the theft of a laptop from a house in Middleton-in-Teesdale. The device, associated cables and a BT Home Hub were stolen from a house in Leekworth Gardens, sometime between 7.30am and 9.30am, on Thursday morning. The assailant
POLICE are seeking two women in relation to shoplifting offences at a high street shop. Two women entered The Original Factory Shop, Shildon, where they selected make up and toiletry items. The pair concealed the items on their person and left the Church
A PROPOSED £1.3m suspension bridge, which would be the longest of its kind in the UK, is one of the focal points of a market town's regeneration masterplan. The plan aims to recognise the historical and architectural importance of Barnard Castle,
MORE than 175,000 people took to the streets to witness history at the weekend as the Olympic flame passed through County Durham. Around one-third of the entire population of the county lined the route of the relay on Saturday and Sunday, according
VILLAGERS who saved their leisure centre from closure are set to unveil new facilities created under a £78,000 revamp this weekend. Coxhoe’s Linden Centre was saved from demolition and relaunched as Active Life Centre @ Coxhoe by the community-run Future
A BUSY road has been closed after a wagon brought down a telegraph pole. The A68 at Toft Hill, near Bishop Auckland, is expected to be closed for the next few hours while steps are taken to remove the pole, which is lying across both lanes. The wagon
FORMER Sunday Times columnist and award-winning novelist David Hewson has sunk his teeth into the hit series The Killing, and has given us an epic crime novel, which is a tie-in to the TV show. The plot shadows the original Danish series. It opens
THIS is the latest foray into fiction by journalist Tony Parsons, who is best-known for his popular novels One For My Baby, Man And Wife, and Man And Boy. After relocating to the sun-drenched island of Phuket, in Thailand, a British family hopes
THE glory that was Rome lasted but a short period, but the grandeur lasted more than 1,000 years and Greg Woolf does a grand job in telling us how it got started, how it came to be so successful and how it came to last so long. Although things
SIR John Betjeman dubbed him “the Herr Doktor”. Betj disliked the German-born academic’s, er, Germanic approach – painstakingly recording buildings of note, good and bad, along whole streets and through entire towns. He felt they were too
WHO needs Agatha Christie? In October 1898, en route to Paris’ Gare du Nord station, the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland’s jewels – more than 40 pieces worth £2m at today’s values – were stolen from her train carriage. The theft became possibly
REGARDING the latest round of defence redundancies (Echo, June 8). First HMS Ark Royal was scrapped, now some infantry regiments are going to be disbanded and others amalgamated. It seems to me we are going to be a partly undefended country in
AFTER the jubilee weekend when millions flew the flag for Her Majesty, it was distressing to notice serial correspondent Peter Winstanley (HAS, June 6) up to his usual unpatriotic tricks, implying that Britain fails in some alleged duty to act
AS a retired teacher whose main concern was student welfare, I can name several reasons why, in this multi-cultural and litigious society, even a non-faith school may desire information about a pupil’s religious background though I suspect our
WHEN parents separate it can lead to child contact disputes. There are times when mum assumes control and stops the child and dad having contact for no legal reason leaving them bereft. Recently, a genuine loving dad was denied contact with his
JUBILEE DAY From racing to sailing, the weekend was great With flags flying high at every event The flotilla was fabulous, noisy and wet With hooting and tooting at each turn and bend A wonderful concert to suit everyone With
A stolen box van crashed at Folly Top near Eggleston, Teesdale early on Sunday morning. Sgt Chris Knox from Barnard Castle said "the van was stolen from the Bail Hill, Marwood area in the early hours on Sunday 17th, we believe with its keys. Police
HOW can anyone plan a day out in the open air? It doesn’t matter whether it is January or June. I was so looking forward to having a pleasant and interesting day at Barnard Castle earlier this month. My daughter picked me up in the car
REGARDING Peter Winstanley’s letter (HAS, June 11) I would like to point out that racial purity goes back much further than the Nazis. As Benjamin Disraeli, who was a Jewish prime minister in Victorian times, said in his book Conningsby: “Mixed
I READ an article in this month’s Darlington Together stating that the council is working hard to tackle traffic congestion. All I can say is don’t hold your breath. Months ago a letter in HAS highlighted the problem in Neasham Road caused by
REGARDING John Abbott’s letter about tobacco advertising (HAS, June 2). How can a packet’s design make youngsters take up smoking? Can someone from the Department of Health come up with proof of all this? I started smoking at an early age. It
IN the light of what’s happened to Darlington Football Club, I blame three groups. Darlington Council should never have allowed a 25,000- seater stadium to be built for a team in the third division. As for Raj Singh and DFC 1883, why didn’t they
REGULAR readers must be totally fed up with the constant jaundiced whingeing of Stephen Dixon, of Redcar. If there was ever a case of “get a life”, then he is it. Of course, the world is not as we would wish it at present, but politicians are
ON the face of it, spending billions to host the Olympic Games just as the world’s economy teeters on the brink of disaster seems like a ridiculous waste of money. The final bill for London 2012 could be as much as £24bn if you add in the cost
Naked women with fish are helping to draw attention to the overlooked problems affecting our oceans and marine life. Steve Pratt talks to a professor campaigning for a clean-up PROFESSOR Callum Roberts hasn’t seen the article in which he was
Avoid defeat tomorrow and England will reach the last eight of Euro 2012, but the Three Lions’ progression into the knockout stages of the European Championship finals has not always been smooth. Deputy Sports Editor Craig Stoddart looks back at England
CRISTIANO Ronaldo inspired Portugal’s passage into the quarter-finals with two goals that ended dismal Holland’s participation at Euro 2012. Ronaldo was irresistible throughout as he led his side to a last-eight appointment with the Czech Republic
ANDY Carroll hopes Wayne Rooney will spearhead England to Euro 2012 glory – even though his return could lead to the axe for the Liverpool striker. Carroll staked his claim to remain in the side by netting the opening goal with a superb header
LARS Bender spared Germany from a shock Euro 2012 exit with the winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Denmark, whose tournament ended in Lviv. The Bayer Leverkusen midfielder, playing as fullback for the national team, struck as Denmark were pushing
WAYNE ROONEY insists England are genuine contenders for Euro 2012. Following the sorry World Cup demise in South Africa two years ago, there has been a general lessening in expectations around the Three Lions. It offers some reason for
A wave of excitement swept the region yesterday as the Olympic torch was given a breathtaking North-East welcome TENS of thousands of people took a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to glimpse the Olympic flame on its winding route from Durham
A SCHOOL has celebrated the official opening of a new multi-million pound extension with a party for pupils and parents. Hurworth School has been transformed after a £2.5m refurbishment scheme, which saw the original 1930s part of the school extended
A COUNCILLOR has called for a village school to extended over the summer holidays amid concerns about the number of children who were unable to get a place for September. Councillor Doris Jones, ward member for Middleton St George, near Darlington,
MOTORISTS in Darlington have been warned to take security seriously after a sharp rise in thefts from parked vehicles in the last week. Thieves have been targeting cars for items left on display, including one vehicle that has its window smashed for
A NEW plan to create a community transport service for a village set to lose all of its bus services later this year has been revealed to parish councillors. Sadberge Parish Council agreed to support the plan for the Sadberge Community Transport Limited
DARLINGTON has too many parking spaces and needs to find a way to rebalance a system that is too focused on a small number of car parks, an independent expert has found. Darlington Borough Council called in consultancy firm MVA to come up with a long-term
A MAN has died after being stabbed in Sunderland. Police were called to Avenue Vivian, in Fencehouses, near Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside, at about 10pm on Sunday. A 52-year-old man was found to have suffered stab wounds. He was taken
NORTH-East pie maker Tindale & Stanton has collapsed into administration for the second time in less than a year. The company is being traded by John Russell and Andy Wood from The P&A Partnership in Sheffield, who were also appointed as administrators
MIDDLESBROUGH will kick-off their 2012-13 Championship campaign at Barnsley on August 18. Tony Mowbray's side, who just missed out on a play-off spot last season, travel to Oakwell on the opening day before back-to-back home games against Burnley
Hartlepool UNITED will kick-off their 2012-13 League One campaign with a home game against Swindon Town on August 18. Trips to face Gary Liddle's Notts County (Aug 21) and Leyton Orient (Aug 25) follow for Neale Cooper's side, before back-to-back
SUNDERLAND will head to North London on the opening weekend of the Premier League season after being handed an early trip to Arsenal. The Black Cats will head to the Emirates on August 18 before Championship champions Reading go to the Stadium
NEWCASTLE UNITED face a tough start to the new Premier League season after being handed back-to-back dates with Tottenham and Chelsea. Tottenham, who finished fourth, will travel to St James' Park on August 18 to open the new campaign.
A TEENAGER has been hailed a hero after his quick-thinking saved a 12-year-old boy who was choking on a sweet. Joseph Rimell was with friends in Nunnery Lane, Darlington, when he saw Alasdair Cunningham staggering towards him, red-faced and
DURHAM University has been targeted in a nationwide campaign of bomb hoaxes. The university, regarded as one of the country’s top three institutions after Oxford and Cambridge, is one of about 50 across the country that have been subjected
HUNDREDS of hours of work came to nothing yesterday as heavy rainfall put paid to one of the region’s most popular country shows. The organisers of the North Yorkshire County Show were forced to cancel the event at the weekend, after days of
For North-East cricket statisticians, Saturday was another day for counting abandoned matches rather than runs scored. The 152 complete washouts took the season's tally to an incredible 1650, making 2012 officially the worst on record. With virtually
Andrew Gale and Phil Jaques starred in Yorkshire's highest ever opening stand to get their Friends Life t20 campaign up and running with a routine 22-run win over defending champions Leicestershire at Headingley. The pair shared 116 inside 13 overs to
A group of residents from Beech Avenue and Ash Grove in Spennymoor had a meeting with the police on Wednesday, 6th June, 2012, over concerns of anti-social behaviour in the area. The meeting took place in the open space area at the rear of both Beech
On a sensational Sunday, the league table was turned upside down as Thornaby won in dramatic fashion at Feethams to topple leaders Darlington, and Stokesley hammered second-placed Great Ayton by nine wickets. The Quakers looked on course for a routine
