VOLUNTEERS are needed to work in Cancer Research UK shops throughout the region.

Cancer Research UK is the largest charity in the country after the merger of the Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. The organisation has an annual budget of £130m, almost entirely funded by public donations. It is in need of more volunteers to raise more funds in its shops.

Anyone with up to four hours to spare is required at shops in Darlington, Durham and Redcar. For more details, contact (01325) 288782, 0191-384 8260 or (01642) 498539.

MARINA FESTIVAL: The Hartlepool Marina Festival begins today. The event will feature a fun fair and face painting on Jackson's Landing, and will run until Easter Monday, opening each day between 10am and 6pm. Organiser Paul Furnhouse said the annual festival was ideal for families.

CINEMA REOPENS: The Palace Cinema, in Malton, North Yorkshire, is to reopen after four years. The cinema could open in May after former broadcast engineer Jeremy Powell stepped in to save the building. Renovation work will include the installation of an improved sound system.

Flower bus: The annual spectacle of thousands of wild daffodils at Farndale, on the North York Moors, will be more accessible this year. A shuttle bus will be operating this weekend and on Sundays until the end of April. It will run every 15 minutes from Hutton-le-Hole car park.

GUIDED WALKS: A new guide to walks in County Durham during April, May and June has been published. The guide, available in public venues throughout the county, contains details of guided walks graded easy, medium and hard. For more details contact Durham County Council's countryside section on 0191-3834144.

Charity ball: The Community Foundation is holding a charity ball at Newcastle Racecourse on Friday, July 5 to raise money for the Tiny Lives Fund, which helps the premature baby unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle. Tickets cost £40 each and tables of 12 can be bought at a reduced price of £400. For details and tickets contact 0191-222 0945.

MUSEUM EXHIBIT: A rare jade wine cup has just gone on display at a Durham museum. The dark green 15th Century nephrite cup was given as a gift to the Oriental Museum, University of Durham.