A 47-year-old man from Normanby suffered severe facial injuries and bruising after he was assaulted by a gang of four youths in Normanby High Street, on Saturday, at 10.50pm. One of the males is described as white, 18 years old and 6ft. He wore a long-sleeved light blue shirt with dark stripes on the sleeves and a light coloured cap. Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident and anyone with information is asked to contact South Bank CID on (01642) 326326.

Jobs chance: An urgent hunt is on for people in Hartlepool to fill more than 25 vacancies for permanent jobs at companies in the town. The search is being spearheaded by Hartlepool Borough Council's Jobs Build project, which helps local employers to fill vacancies. Anyone who has previous factory or machine-operating experience, or can learn quickly, is asked to get in touch. Vacancies include full and part-time positions. For more information contact John Brown on (01429) 284086.

Cheque presentation: Students from the University of Teesside will hand over a cheque for £1,000 for a new breast reconstruction service at the University Hospital of North Tees, Stockton. They will present the cheque to Colm Hennessey, a consultant breast surgeon at the hospital this afternoon. The students organised a charity night at Oxbridge Social Club, Stockton, as part of their degree in leisure management.

New apartments: Stockton Borough planning members have agreed to plans to convert first floor offices in Norton High Street into four apartments. The offices were previously used by an insurance company and the ground floor is occupied by a public library.

Noisy day: Stockton Borough Council will be raising awareness of the impact of noise as part of Noise Action Day on Wednesday. The focus of the day will be on disturbance from domestic intruder alarms and there will be a display of information at Stockton market outside the town hall, from 10am to 3pm. The number of complaints to the council has increased from 60 in 2000 to 91 in 2001.

Clean up: Street wardens in Middlesbrough took part in a litter pick and general tidy-up in the town's Linthorpe Cemetery yesterday.