TWO comedians are set to return to the region in July with their new shows.Funny Way To Be Comedy Club favourites Jo Caulfield and Brennan Reece will appear at the club in a double-headliner show on Saturday, July 22, at The Witham Arts Centre in Barnard
CONSERVATIVE Cabinet Minister and Secretary of State for International Development, Priti Patel, was on the campaign trail promoting business yesterday.As part of a national tour, Ms Patel donned a high vis and hat for her visit to two of the region’s
A FORMER Emmerdale star has taken on a fresh role - to give his backing to an MP’s campaign against the Conservative’s so-called “dementia tax” plans.John Middleton, who played vicar Ashley Thomas in the soap for 20 years, was greeted by a crowd of fans
A VILLAGE has improved its outdoor play area thanks to a council grant.Shipton-by-Beningbrough has added a nest swing to its range of outdoor play equipment, not only for use by children from the area but also for the many visitors the village receives.Backed
A FORMER North-East airport boss has taken over at a rival base. David Laws has been appointed chief executive at Leeds Bradford Airport just months after leaving a similar role at Newcastle Airport. Mr Laws, a former North East England Chamber
THE CLUB had a very successful end to the month in regards to results. At the Nottingham Sprint Triathlon held on Saturday the 20th May, Tracey Warrior finished the race in a time of 1:28:02, an excellent 8th in her age group, 206th overall; Stuart Rimmer
A CAMPAIGN to raise the profile of female coaches, leaders and volunteers in sport is set be launched across the North-East in an initiative to get more women involved in teaching.The Pass on Your Passion movement includes 20 women already in the field
HAS Jeremy Corbyn been given a fair crack of the whip by the press? Readers of The Sun, Express or Daily Mail who watched his fairly assured performance in Monday evening’s Jeremy Paxman interview might have been surprised to find the Labour leader
A TEENAGER who needed surgery after being caught up in the Manchester terrorist attack has paid her respects to those who lost their lives after having an emotional reunion with her friend who was also injured in the atrocity. Laura Anderson joined well-wishers
FASHION students are designing clothes inspired by the swinging sixties for a festival being staged by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.The heritage railway works with a variety of educational organisations and when relaunching its 60s Fest decided to
THE owners of a lost dog are offering a “substantial” reward for his safe return.Alfie the black and white spaniel went missing during a family picnic on the Weardale moors, near Stanhope, on May 28.His owner, Amy Dodd, said the one-year-old was spooked
Cyclists who are riding more than 450 miles to provide financial support for young people to work in racing had pride of place at Redcar today. The riders from the British Racing School “Rory MacDonald Memorial Fund” stopped at the seaside track
SUNDERLAND will this week look to come up with a reduced shortlist from an extensive crop of candidates they believe are interested in succeeding David Moyes at the Stadium of Light.Chief executive Martin Bain has been tasked with securing a suitable
ENTRIES can still be made for what is hoped will become an iconic annual run, set against an historic backdrop of a World Heritage site.Organisers hope the second Durham City Run will attract an entry of 2,000-plus to beat the figure taking part in the
VETERINARY teams working in practices in the North-East have helped to earn their group a prestigious award recognising a magazine circulated in-house.The White House Cross Vets group, which has practices in Redcar and Coulby Newham, issues its 44-page
A STUDENT has become the youngest person ever at a Darlington sixth form to receive the Duke of Edinburgh Award.Sophia Sheppard is the youngest ever from Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College to win the gold award.As part of the experience, the 18-year-old
ONE of the North-East’s largest landlords says more than £3m of welfare benefits have gone unclaimed in County Durham in the last 12 months. County Durham Housing Group is now urging tenants to check their details are up to date with relevant authorities
A £7,300 grant has been awarded to a project that aims to collect memories of life in a moorland village.Revival North Yorkshire, a Community Interest Company, received the money from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project which aims to document 100
AN elderly aristocrat caused a three vehicle smash when she drove through a closed junction on her way to a morning gym session, a jury has heard.Lady Susan Zetland, 77, was on her way to a dawn workout in a hotel gym when she came to a junction close
NEWCASTLE FALCONS duo Max Davies and Jamie Blamire will both start for England Under-20s tomorrow as they begin their defence of the Junior World Championship title. Their campaign gets underway against Samoa in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi,
A PROTECTED bird of prey has been shot in the Yorkshire Dales in what authorities have slammed as a “mindless and barbaric act”.North Yorkshire Police have launched an appeal after the buzzard was found with a shotgun pellet lodged in its skull.It is
A STUNNING high wire performance will bring down the curtain on a four-day celebration of art and culture which is taking over a town in the summer.Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF) is marking its 30th birthday with a stellar line-up of
AN “inspirational” special school has opened a £1m new extension to help meet the needs of its 200 pupils.Mowbray School in Bedale is one of three North Yorkshire County Council special schools for children aged from three to 16 with Special Educational
A WITNESS to the tragic events that led to the death of a 19-year-old man at a North Yorkshire beauty spot has warned of the dangers of wild swimming.Emergency services rushed to Wain Wath Force on Friday evening after a man got himself into difficulty
Fifteen apprenticeships are being created as part of ongoing plans to revitalise a North-East town and offer increased training opportunities for the community.Auckland Castle Trust has just announced 15 new posts for Bishop Auckland, covering everything
A FORMER footballer who stalked his ex-girlfriend by following her home from work and staring through her windows has narrowly avoided jail. Paul Wratten, who played more than 50 times for Hartlepool United, admitted stalking the woman and causing
THE family of a man killed in a car crash have paid tribute to their “gentle giant”.Christopher Janson, 26, died following a collision between two cars on Brooms Lane, between the Jolly Drovers roundabout and Stony Heap, Consett at around 9pm on Sunday.The
SOME of the oldest and rarest tractors and vintage vehicles in the world will be on display at a festival being held in the region. A 95 year old Ford Model T tractor previously used as a farm postbox and the only Model T Speedster in the UK are two of
THE new owners of a radio station that was saved from going off air permanently have announced an expansion in its output by moving to a digital radio frequency.Star Radio, in Darlington, was threatened with closure in March after failing to remain profitable
A CLASSIC vehicle show set to return to County Durham in time for Father’s Day.The Raby Castle Classic Vehicle Show will take place at the castle, near Staindrop, Teesdale, on Sunday, June 18.The event, which will run from 10am until 4pm, is now in its
A COMMUNITY alliance has launched its election manifesto, pledging to boost the economy, fight for public services and protect the green belt. The North of England Community Alliance has launched its election manifesto has outlined its commitments, which
AWARD-winning Artist Lucy Pittaway has opened her second full time art gallery to showcase her popular work.The new art gallery in Richmond opens following the success of the Lucy Pittaway Art Gallery in Brompton-on-Swale, which will continue to operate
A CHARITY which refurbishes old bikes will be able to keep the wheels turning thanks to a donation to help them buy new tools.The City of Durham Freeman have given £500 to the Recyke y’bike workshop in North Road, Durham. The shop, which has been open
A SHIPMENT container packed full of essential equipment to help injured street dogs in Sri Lanka is finally on its way, after spending more than a year stuck in a Gateshead depot.The prized medical equipment and pet supplies are en route to vet Janey
HAS she done enough? Theresa May, that is. Has she done enough to squander what every pundit, and most of the rest of us, considered a virtually unassailable lead when she triggered the general election? She’s doing her best. Opinion polls show
A MOTHER has described how charity has helped transform the life of her disabled daughter - as an appeal for money to extend its services gains momentum. Mandy Hammond said her 17-year-old daughter Chloe, who has cerebral palsy, had got vital support
ENTRIES are motoring in for the annual test of reliability and endurance for lovingly preserved knights of the road, of both four and two-wheeled varieties.But as the limit of 150 vintage and classic cars and motorcycles nears, Beamish Run organisers
A TRIO of North York Moors farms will be throwing open their gates to visitors on June 11 as part of Open Farm Sunday. Stepney Hill Farm near Scarborough, Botton Social Farm and Stonebeck Gate Farm at Little Fryup, both near Danby, will be highlighting
A BOWLING club - whose members range in age from 12 to their mid-nineties - is looking for more people to join its ranks. Northallerton Bowling Club, on South Parade in the town currently has 50 bowlers. Two years ago the club secured a £52,000 Sport
RESIDENTS renting properties in Darlington pay around 44 per cent less than the national average for tenancy deposits, figures have revealed.Throughout the borough’s DL postcode, private tenancy deposits throughout the first quarter of 2017 averaged at
A CONSTRUCTOR working on a £3m transformation of a former Victorian stable block in a historic park has created a wildlife haven to offset the company’s carbon footprint. Northallerton-based Walter Thompson Ltd won the contract to transform Central
TEAMS of gymnasts from County Durham set two world records within minutes of each other for the number of skips with a human skipping rope. Elite acrobats from Deerness Gymnastics Academy, in Ushaw Moor, near Durham City, were competing against each other
SUSTAINABILITY, recycling and the environment are themes explored in Teesside University student Jen Chapman’s final degree show.Her installation, which creatively combines use of video with imagery and garments made from recycled fabrics, is part of
MEMBERS are continuing to raise funds for the restoration of an historic church and are delving into its local history.Work on St Leonard’s Church in Thornton le Street near Northallerton is progressing well thanks to an £11,000 grant from the Heritage
ON Saturday, The Northern Echo chose to give headline space to Boris Johnson’s distorted view of Jeremy Corbyn’s about British foreign policy and terrorism (Echo, May 27) rather than to words from the speech itself. This is another example of the
JEREMY CORBYN’S position on foreign policy and terrorism is wrong. Islamic terrorism against the UK and other countries preceded any intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya. Countries, like Sweden, that have never had an interventionist policy
I GRIMACED when I witnessed Jeremy Corbyn explaining how he will resolve the world’s current problems with a handshake and a Sherbet Dab. The man is a Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut. We have just witnessed mass murder and he chooses to belittle it for
INDUSTRIAL disputes in the education and health sectors have led to the North-East topping a national table for the number of working days lost last year.While the number of days lost to industrial disputes in the region in 2016 was almost half the 30,000
ALL things quilts were celebrated at the Teesdale Quilters’ charity biennial quilting exhibition this month.The event, which was held at Gainford Village Hall on May 20 and 21, saw the walls covered in quilts made by a group of about 20 creative women
MY shopping day was spoilt recently when I spotted what I suspected was real fur trim in a shop at the market end of Bishop Auckland. Some fake fur can be mistaken for the real thing it is so well made, but careful examination convinced me I was right
GENERALLY, the measure of a really vacuous statement is to consider whether the opposite would make sense. A secondhand car dealer who put a notice on a car saying “Recommended” is hardly likely to plaster “Death Trap” across the windscreen.
A FOOTBALL team is celebrating after winning a regional college league.Bishop Auckland College beat title rivals New College Durham in the last match of the season to secure the North East Colleges’ League by six points.It was the first time they have
AT a hustings at the Odeon Cinema in Darlington on Friday, the Labour candidate Jenny Chapman agreed to resign as an MP if Labour are in government and the A&E Department at Darlington Memorial is downgraded to a walk-in centre. Perhaps Peter
DARLINGTON library is to move from its obsolete site to the Dolphin Centre. It will have better access, toilet, and refreshment facilities as well as more modern functionality. To provide these facilities on the 19th Century site would require
STAFF and residents at a Newton Aycliffe care home has been celebrating after being shortlisted for a national award.Rose Lodge Care Home has been named a Home of the Year finalist in the 2017 Maria Mallaband and Countrywide care awards.The home, which
AS a very proud North-Easterner who spent a large chunk of her student years in Manchester, I can’t express my horror at the recent terrible event, but I would re-iterate that Manchester is a welcoming and warm place peopled by strong, resilient loving
THE NHS gets a battering a lot of the time which is unfair. The recent terror attack in Manchester proves our doctors and nurses are angels in human form and deserve a million thank yous for the way they helped everyone caught up in the attack.
NO one in their right mind can condone the vicious evil and despicable act in Manchester, but I cannot help referring to Theresa May’s decision to deploy troops on the street alongside the police owing to the threat level now being classed as critical
PLANS for up to 320 homes on the outskirts of Bishop Auckland are being recommended for approval.LKA Developments is looking to build on land east of Wigdan Walls Road, at Woodhouses and the developers are seeking outline planning permission so there
NOW, don’t get me wrong. When people die before their time, it hurts. The bombing in Manchester was horrific. However, the excessive media coverage is crazy because since then an incredible flow of comment has almost stopped the world going round
THE Pease statue on High Row, at the library entrance and in the West Cemetery serve as a reminder of the huge debt Darlington owes to this family. Their legacy includes the railway, the library, Feethams cricket ground, South Park, West Cemetery
HOW dare VJ Connor state that people like myself who vote Ukip or Conservative are “poorly educated and politically unsophisticated” (HAS, May 19). Granted, I failed my 11-plus, as did John Prescott, but I was still bright enough to qualify as
PETE WINSTANLEY is baffled that the electorate allegedly likes Labour policies but dislikes its leader Jeremy Corbyn (HAS, May 23). In a parliamentary democracy, he states we are voting for Labour policy through our local MP and not for the leader
MPs, who are provided with free private healthcare, and people who have plenty of money can have treatment or operations within seven days. The rest of the population is in a different situation whereby you can die before you can receive treatment
TRIBUTES have been paid to a grandad who was killed during a tractor rally at the weekend. Robert Hanson, 64, was driving a Fordson Power as part of rally involving several other vintage tractors on Sunday. Man killed in tractor accident
THE average bag of items donated to Mind’s Middlesbrough shop is worth around £30 – £30 that could enable three people to take part in a group wellbeing session or enable a pregnant woman to access support to help her understand and manage her own perinatal
DEREK McINNES will look to make Aberdeen midfielder Jonny Hayes his first signing as Sunderland manager if he swaps the North-East of Scotland for the North-East of England later this week. McInnes is set to hold formal talks with the Sunderland
RAFAEL BENITEZ has confirmed his interest in Pepe Reina, and is keen to make the former Liverpool shot-stopper his number one as he prepares for a radical overhaul of Newcastle United’s goalkeeping department. Reina is unhappy at his current employers
IF representing her country wasn’t enough, Jessica Hall has continued an impressive start 2017 by winning her “biggest” event so far. The Bishop Auckland teenager won the prestigious Critchley Salver at Sunningdale Golf Club. She had rounds
A DANCE duo from the North-East will be pirouetting their way through a "special" performance on tonight’s live Britain’s Got Talent semi-final. Ali Rasul, 16, and Grace Durkin, 17, both students at Stockton Riverside College, will return to television
THE owners of a lost dog are offering a “substantial” reward for his safe return. Alfie the black and white spaniel went missing during a family picnic on the Weardale moors, near Stanhope, on May 28. His owner, Amy Dodd, said the one-year-old
A COATINGS company has admitted it could walk away from a £22.7bn takeover after a court rejected a shareholder group’s bid to overthrow a senior boss. PPG Industries says it may perform a U-turn over attempts to acquire expanding North-East
A ROMANTIC man proposed to his girlfriend in a hot air balloon - then it promptly crash-landed into a tree. Stephen Martin popped the question to Christine Peters in the skies over Edmonton, Canada, before the balloon got into trouble. The
WIN £1,000! We are giving readers the chance to win a grand with The Northern Echo. An entry coupon is printed in today's Northern Echo (Monday, May 30) and tokens each day this week. To validate your coupon just collect and attach the correctly
LIKE professing a taste for Marmite, or for meerkats, enjoying morris dancing is something to which many decline to admit. I love it: its eccentricity, its absurdity, its Englishness.The lady’s similarly smitten, adamant that the national rugby team should
CLAIMS a taxi driver operating in Newcastle is purposely targeting vulnerable women by locking them in his taxi are being investigated by police. In a statement, Northumbria Police said they are looking into claims that a number of passengers have
A GIRL hoping to become world champion of a popular football trading card game is set to step onto the pitch at the Champions League final. Nine-year-old Chloe Porter from Darlington became UK champion at the grand final of the 2017 Match Attax
A LABOUR candidate is considering taking legal action and another is demanding an apology after accusing their Tory rivals of misrepresenting their views on the EU referendum. Bishop Auckland candidate Helen Goodman and Sedgefield’s Phil Wilson
AN investigation has been launched after a seriously injured man was forced to rely on his friends to keep him alive during a frantic two-hour wait for an ambulance. James Hodgin suffered potentially life-threatening injuries as he walked home
IT’S what sustainability is all about; avoiding the unnecessary draining of our natural resources and maintaining the delicate ecological balance.It’s an ethos that is at the heart of Fresh Element’s approach to food and something that Peter Hunt, co-founder
A MATTER of hours into his new job, and Craig Harrison’s thoughts are turning to his squad.Appointed Hartlepool United boss on Friday evening, Harrison is busy weighing up what he already has at his disposal, while looking at who he can bring in.Following
As part of a series of features focusing on the key issues in the General Election campaign, Katie Richardson examines high education tuition fees TUITION fees have been a contentious issue for voters for years with more and more young people asking
NEWCASTLE UNITED are waiting to see if Valencia trigger their automatic buy-out clause for Eliaquim Mangala before deciding whether to pursue their own interest in the Manchester City centre-half. Mangala spent last season on loan at Valencia,
Middlesbrough are set to speak to both Garry Monk and Nigel Pearson over the next few days as their search for a new head coach hots up. Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson looks at how the two leading candidates compare in some of the key managerial
