AS an ambassador for the Butterwick Hospice, I'd been kept closely informed in recent months about the deterioration in the health of founder Mary Butterwick.

So, when the call came on Wednesday evening to confirm that Mary had passed away peacefully at 91, we were well prepared to pay due tribute to an incredible woman whose legacy will live on for generations.

And what a life story Mary's is. Lots of people talk about what needs to be done but Mary did a lot more than talk. When her husband John died of a brain tumour in 1979, she sold her own house to establish a day care centre for very ill people in his memory. That was the beginning of the Butterwick Hospice movement and I will always be proud of The Northern Echo's involvement in one of the region's most respected charities.

Back in 1997, the North-East lacked a hospice for children so, when Princess Diana died, we launched an appeal in her memory to support the building of the Butterwick Children's Hospice. It was a case of cashing in on a tragedy – but for an extremely good cause.

I last spoke to Mary in NOvember last year when the Countess of Wessex visited the Butterwick Hospice in Stockton to open a pioneering specialist facility for young adults with life-limiting illnesses.

By then, Mary was already frail and in a wheelchair. She took my hand and whispered: "I'm ready to go now – I'm tired and I've had enough. We haven't done badly though, have we?"

No, Mary, you didn't do badly at all. Rest in peace.

IT shouldn't need spelling out that last week's closure of Teesside's steelworks, with the loss of 1,700 jobs, is devastatingly important news.

The announcement by SSI was so important, in terms of the economic and social impact on a large part of the North-East, that The Northern Echo devoted both its front and back pages to it, along with another seven pages inside. The area's other local newspaper, the Evening Gazette, produced similarly comprehensive and passionate coverage.

But what of our national papers? How important did they consider the death of an historic North-East industry, the end of hundreds of family livelihoods, and the shattering blow to the local community? "Not very" is the sad answer.

The momentous news only warranted mentions on on the front pages of two national newspapers – the Daily Star managed a couple of page one paragraphs pointing to a page lead on Page 4, and the I newspaper had a paragraph on its front page, with a lead story on Page 11. Coverage in the rest was as follows...

Daily Mail: A downpage story on Page 21, beneath a page lead focusing on inner-turmoil in the Conservative Party over the rights and wrongs of free schools.

The Sun: Four paragraphs on Page 2, cross-referencing to a lead story on its City page, way back on Page 41. The front page was reserved for an attack on the "red planet" Labour Party.

Daily Mirror (the paper my Teesside steelworker dad always carried in his bait-bag): A lead story on Page 8, although I quite liked the headline: "Lights off at the Northern Powerhouse."

Daily Telegraph: A measly single column story in its business section. I missed it on my first scan of the paper.

Independent: A lead story on Page 18.

Guardian: A lead story on Page 14:

Daily Express: A lead story on Page 2.

Financial Times: A lead story on Page 4.

At best underwhelming, at worst pretty pathetic, and a failure to understand the consequences of what is happening in part of the United Kingdom.

Imagine if a 150-year-old industry in the Home Counties was being consigned to the scrapheap, with 1,700 jobs axed. I respectfully suggest the national press might find it would have different priorities.

Thank goodness for local papers.

THE theft of an African grey parrot from a house in Middlesbrough found its way into The Northern Echo last week and we reported that one of the bird's favourite phrases is "Hello fat girl".

Wouldn't it be poetic justice if the burglar took the parrot home to his wife and he got a good slap when it opened its beak?