A PENSIONER has thanked stallholders who held an impromptu collection for his wife after her purse was stolen in Darlington Market Square.

Harold and Jenny Applegarth, of Darlington had been watching a tea dance when they realised that Mrs Applegarth's purse containing £100 had been snatched from her handbag. Organisers alerted police and stallholders had a collection which raised more than the £100 the couple had lost.

Mr Applegarth, 81, said: "The organisers of the event were very helpful and we were very grateful to the stallholders for the money that they gave us."

PLANS SWITCH: Approved plans for an extension to a house in Tees Grange Avenue, Darlington, were inaccurate and caused the development to come too close to a boundary fence, it has been revealed. Darlington Borough Council's planning committee yesterday allowed a variation of the plans, but said guttering overhanging a neighbouring property must be cut back.

FOOTBALL CHALLENGE: Naomi Rees and Chris Wilson, both 14 and students at Haughton Community School, Darlington, have taken part in Middlesbrough Football Club's Boro Boss Project to give youngsters experience of a variety of jobs at the club's BT Cellnet Riverside Stadium.

HOSPITAL AID: The ladies' team at Blackwell Grange Golf Club, Darlington, raised almost £2,000 towards hospital equipment for breast cancer sufferers with coffee mornings, a bridge drive, and donations. The money will help to buy a £20,000 mammotone machine, which can diagnose breast cancer, for the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough.

RAMP PLANS: Darlington Borough Council's planning applications committee has approved plans for a disabled access ramp at the authority's Central House, in Northgate.

CARPET THEATRE: The Magic Carpet Theatre company presents Moon Magic, for children aged five to 11, at Darlington Arts Centre tomorrow, at 11am and 2.30pm. For tickets call (01325) 486555.

PRESENTATION NIGHT: The Ferryhill in Bloom presentation evening will be held next Thursday, at The Manor pub, at 7pm. The winners of the Ferryhill Allotment Competition will also be announced.

FARMERS' OLYMPICS: A Farmers' Olympics is being held at Hardwick Hall Hotel, Sedgefield, on Sunday, from 3pm. For more information telephone (01740) 620253.

FUNDRAISERS: St Catherine's Church, Crook, is holding a coffee morning on Saturday, from 9.30am to noon. A table-top sale is being held at the church on Saturday, August 17, from 9.30am to noon.

AFTERNOON TEA: St Stephen's Church, Willington, is offering afternoon teas every Sunday in September, from 2pm to 6pm.