Archive

  • Organisers ready for a busy show

    A BUMPER turn-out is expected at Cleveland Show today. Organisers are conservatively estimating that 15,000 visitors will converge on the Stewart Park showground, in Middlesbrough. Entries are up in almost every show section and secretary Margaret Dale

  • award puts young sportswear model Christina on cloud nine

    A TEENAGE sportswear model received a birthday surprise when she was crowned July's Darlington Young Sportswinner. Christina Fossheim already holds the title of Miss Milano Sportswear, and graces the pages of the company's 2000 catalogue. But this week

  • Villagers fear asylum seekers will use hostel

    PEOPLE in a County Durham village fear a former nursing home will be turned into a hostel for asylum seekers. A planning application to change the use of the Appletree Nursing Home, in Frederick Street North, Meadowfield, has been lodged with Durham City

  • Surgeon left clips floating inside me

    A VICTIM of disgraced gynaecologist Richard Neale has spoken of her years of pain after he botched an operation to sterilise her. Barbara Bracchi is calling on the authorities to make sure that Neale - nicknamed The Butcher - is never allowed to operate

  • 'Difficult day' as head quits

    IT WAS an emotional day for North-East headteacher Tim Gunn yesterday when he finally left his "hectic" £31,000-a-year primary school post for life in the slow lane. Staff and pupils at Wolsingham Primary School in County Durham bade a fond farewell to

  • Pupils celebrate car dealer grant

    PUPILS at a Durham school are celebrating after winning cash in a car dealer's environmental awards. Framwellgate School has been given £300 from Mill Volvo's Practical Environmental Projects scheme. The money will be used by the Movement Schools Group

  • Two arrested after £8,000 drugs swoop

    TWO people have been arrested and drugs with a street value of nearly £8,000, seized during raids on Teesside. About 750 Ecstasy tablets and 40 grams of amphetamines were recovered from a house in the Park Terrace area of Thornaby. Minutes later, police

  • Primary school children create their own website

    DISTANCE is no hurdle to keeping abreast with school news, including the sports day results. With help from teacher Darren Gamble, pupils at Normanby Primary School, Middlesbrough, have created their own worldwide website. Brian Robinson, computer manager

  • Neale campaigners condemn medical -conspiracy of silence'

    CAMPAIGNERS who battled to get Richard Neale suspended and ultimately struck off want to know why none of the gynaecologist's colleagues blew the whistle on him. During a ten-year career at The Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton. the consultant caused

  • Open verdict on inmate's death

    AN inquest jury has returned an open verdict on a paedophile who died in a prison van. Mark Holmes, 24, of South Shields, died while being transferred from Acklington Prison, Northumberland, to Durham Prison last May. He was convicted at Newcastle Crown

  • Council takes roads cash plea to the top

    A COUNCIL is to write to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott asking for money to improve the condition of roads in its area. Sedgefield District Council, in County Durham, wants some of the £180bn cash injection for local transport announced this week

  • Man found dead at favourite walk

    A man was found dead on rocks 350ft below his favourite cliffside walk, an inquest was told yesterday. Redundant steelworker Alan Cheney, 53, loved the walk over Huntcliffe, from Saltburn towards Skinngrove, east Cleveland. Elizabeth Holliday, his girlfriend

  • Double helping of good news for worried farmers

    FARMERS in North Yorkshire concerned about their industry's current plight were given two pieces of good news when they met a top Euro MP yesterday. Edward McMillan-Scott told farmers that the European Commission had agreed two key decisions to help the

  • Tearaway brothers banned from town

    TWO tearaway schoolboy brothers, aged 12 and 13, have become the youngest in Britain to be banned from a town centre under anti-hooligan laws. The pair, dubbed the "Brothers Grim" have been responsible for a string of physical and verbal attacks on pensioners

  • New cross town route will aid tourism and commerce

    THE building of Darlington's long-awaited cross town route will have added tourism and commercial benefits, it has been revealed. The scheme, now named the Darlington Eastern Transport Corridor, is finally set to become a reality after the Government

  • Met chief praises policing scheme

    EFFORTS to put community policing at the heart of Sedgefield, in County Durham, have been hailed as a success by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens. Sir John, in Sedgefield yesterday to launch the borough's Community Care Force Centre,

  • Northern pride shines in the Dome

    Scores of North-East schoolchildren stepped into the spotlight yesterday to give the performance of their lives in front of an audience at the Millennium Dome. The youngsters, from Stockton, Teesside, headed for London as the winners of more than 200

  • Phillips aiming to be the top of the shots again

    Kevin Phillips has warned the country's top defenders that they can expect another Premiership grilling this season. Sunderland hotshot Phillips accepts that his cover is blown after taking English football by storm. But the bad news for stoppers is that

  • Long-serving teachers call it a day

    A DEPUTY headteacher retired yesterday after 31 years at the same school. Dave Watson arrived at Darlington's Hummersknott Comprehensive School as head of biology in 1969 and later became head of science. He was appointed deputy headteacher in 1976. Headteacher

  • Women run out at stadium of light after club snaps up top team

    PROFESSIONAL women's soccer moved a step closer in the North-East yesterday with the relaunch of Sunderland AFC Women. The event follows the controversial acquisition of the Kestrels, who topped the AXA FA Women's Premier League Northern Division last

  • Wallace and Gromit creamery's saviours

    WHEN television duo Wallace and Gromit first sang the praises of Wensleydale cheese, animator Nick Park can barely have realised the influence of those words. Now, the clay duo are being hailed as the saviours of the Dales village of Hawes, in North Yorkshire

  • Knockout hospice effort

    A HOSPICE stages its own version of It's a Knockout tomorrow. The St Teresa's Hospice Knockout 2000 is the biggest competition yet, with teams from all over Darlington competing in the challenge. The event, sponsored by Darlington Operatic Society, takes

  • Labour holds by-election seat to stop slide

    LABOUR held on to a Teesside seat in a council by-election, yesterday. The party which saw its overwhelming majority on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council whittled away in last year's local government elections, has kept Teesville, Labour. A by-election

  • 'Stay indoors' asthma warning

    A HEALTH warning was issued last night after danger levels of chemicals were recorded in the North-East's air. Ozone and dust levels breached national safety limits over Teesside. Asthmatics are being advised to stay at home until the alert is over, joggers

  • Why music fan was bowled over a year ahead

    music lover Marie Blackett was so keen to see her favourite diva in a charity concert that she booked a pair of up-market seats - a year in advance. Opera singer Lesley Garrett is due to play the outdoor show at Durham County Cricket Club's ground on

  • Walkers step up for valley trek

    MORE than 4,500 walkers will be descending on the village of Wolsingham for the Great North Walk tomorrow. People of all ages and from all walks of life will be taking a step in the right direction for the eight-mile ramble from Wolsingham Recreation

  • RSPCA ends sheep's quarry ledge ordeal

    RSPCA inspector Ian Jackson literally swung into action yesterday when he was forced to abseil down a disused quarry to rescue a trapped sheep. The sheep had slipped 70ft down the quarry at Bollihope, near Frosterley, in the Wear Valley, and had been

  • Event strings together world's best guitarists

    SOME of the world's top guitarists are in the region for a major guitar festival that began last night. The Customs International Guitar Festival, which is being held at the Customs House, South Shields, opened with a concert by John Renbourn and Tony

  • Go ahead for store development on edge of city

    ENVIRONMENT Secretary John Prescott has given the go-ahead for a store development on the outskirts of Durham. Durham City Council approved plans by Tesco to build at Dragonville, Gilesgate Moor, in May but had to refer the scheme to Mr Prescott because

  • Scheme gives a natural cure for water pollution

    A PROJECT to breathe new life into a stream once polluted by minewater was unveiled yesterday. Durham North Labour MP Giles Radice opened the Coal Authority's £230,000 minewater treatment scheme, at Edmondsley, near Chester-le-Street. The Cong Burn, a

  • Marinelli's mixed fortunes

    Argentinian Carlos Marinelli experienced the highs and lows of football as Middlesbrough bowed out of the North Riding Senior Cup last night, beaten in a penalty shoot out by Conference League Scarborough at the McCain Stadium. It took Middlesbrough's

  • Pensioners given a treat

    A DARLINGTON school opened its doors to a group of pensioners this week. Elderly people from Darlington were entertained by girls from Polam's lower sixth form, after invitations for the Sunshine Party were distributed by Darlington Town Mission. The

  • Local golfer bids for glory

    A COUNTY Durham golfer is driving for success in a national competition. The Marie Curie Queen Mother's Cup is organised by Marie Curie Cancer Care and sponsored by McEwan's. David Bowman, a toolmaker from Weardale Street, Spennymoor, has reached the

  • Missing patient 'could be armed'

    POLICE are becoming increasingly concerned for the welfare of a mental patient who may be armed and dangerous. The public is urged by Cleveland Police to report any sightings of missing middle-aged David Robertson - but not to approach him. The long-haired

  • Scooting about on police business

    PC HEATHER Bilton has hit the headlines with her new vehicle. Emblazoned with florescent police markings and blue flashing light, I must admit my Vespa paled a bit against her dynamic little bike, a 50cc Honda moped. From a distance, the moped - with

  • Police issue alert over replica guns

    Gun-toting children have been warned that they are putting themselves in the firing line by taking fake guns onto the streets. Armed police swooped on a house in Sunderland this week in the latest on a spate of replica firearms incidents. And a senior

  • Durham are undone by Lancashire's spin doctors

    IT WAS always a fair bet that Lancashire's superiority in spin bowling would prove decisive in an intriguing tussle with Durham at Old Trafford. But the modern infatuation with staying positive contributed to Durham's troubles as Jon Lewis and Paul Collingwood

  • Flame will signal the start of festival

    THE Millennium Flame will light up the celebrations of an East Durham town next weekend. Seaham is holding its Millennium Summer Festival on Sunday, July 30, and is hoping for an attandance of about 12,000 people. The Millennium Flame, which was lit at

  • Metcalfe's words of warning

    Ushaw Moor are second in the table but much-respected official Peter Metcalfe reckons the league is not as strong as it used to be. "Losing Hetton Lyons to the Durham Senior League was a big blow. They are a good club and are doing exceptionally well

  • Red-hot show by star Burn

    There has been only one talking point at Sacriston this week after Paul Burn's performance against Burnopfield last weekend when he scored an unbeaten 131 and took seven wickets for just five runs. Sacriston are hoping for another five-star performance

  • Maximum return for Yorkshire

    Yorkshire swept aside Somerset by an innings and six runs at Scarborough yesterday to end a sequence of two defeats and a draw in their last three matches and consolidate their position in the top three of the Championship table. The victory would have

  • Street name mystery solved

    A WOMAN has travelled from the other side of the world to solve the mystery of a street name in Consett. Patricia O'Sullivan, from Queensland, Australia, knew her father's family came from a street called Turn Coats Row, in the Blackhill area of the town

  • £500,000 Plan to breathe new life into old mill

    AN old water mill could be given a new lease of life through a £500,000 conservation scheme. The mill at Gayle, near Hawes, in the Yorkshire Dales, is considered by heritage experts to be of national importance, but its famous turbine last turned 15 years

  • Northern pride shines in the Dome

    Scores of North-East schoolchildren stepped into the spotlight yesterday to give the performance of their lives in front of an audience at the Millennium Dome. The youngsters, from Stockton, Teesside, headed for London as the winners of more than 200

  • Wrecking of rare birds' nest angers naturalists

    Naturalists are angry because they believe two of England's rarest birds of prey have been killed and their nest destroyed. Bird-lovers watching over the hen harriers' nest, which contained eggs, say its destruction is "catastrophic". The nest, in Tarset

  • Call centre boom as Blurb Direct looks to create 1,000 new jobs

    THE region's booming call centre industry was welcoming the latest addition to its fold with a new operation set to create 1000 new jobs. Blurb Direct Ltd, a specialist in providing third party call centres, is utilising a new centralised exchange system

  • How the burger boys' night out turned into a bull run

    FOUR burger-eating pals bit off more than they could chew when their car collided with a bull with a bad attitude as they returned home from a trip to McDonald's. The four, who suffered minor injuries, were unable to escape after their car had collided

  • Estate fund will help care workers

    THE estate of a North-East widow has been used to create a bursary fund for family support and care workers. Ann Coleman, who lived in Gosforth, Newcastle, left £10,000 to the Rainbow Trust Children's Charity. Money from her estate has already been used

  • Motorcyclist dies after hitting tree

    A COMMUNITY has been shaken by the death of a teenager after his motorbike crashed into a tree. Kevin Wright, 18, of Kitchen Avenue, Bishop Auckland, was riding the trial bike with another teenager on Bishop Auckland Technical College playing fields when