FUEL TAX THE Labour Government would have us believe that the current disgraceful level of taxation on fuel is for our own benefit, in its contention that it reduces energy consumption. Last week my wife bought a bottle of water on a Liverpool-Sunderland
clean-up crusaders are pull-ing on canine costumes to give their campaign some bite. Emphasising the need to keep Middlesbrough spotless, a number of district council public protection officials are handing out packs of free poop scoops to dog owners,
A CAMPAIGN to give a town its own secondary school is a step nearer to achieving its goal. Stockton Borough Council's cabinet is this week expected to rubber-stamp a plan showing that a 600-place school for 11 to 16-year-olds at Ingleby Barwick is "viable
A YARM musician is helping to trumpet the news about this year's Proms in the Park. Robert Lambert, a student engineer with BP Amoco CATS at Seal Sands, agrees that Proms in the Park 2000 will hit the right note with this year's audience. The CATS gas
TWINS Jess and Alex Eddie are proving a powerful partnership in the junior rowing world. The sisters, separated by 22 minutes at birth, have shared a passion for rowing since a friend introduced them to the amateur club in Durham as 11-year-olds. Now
A FAMILY learning scheme organised by three primary schools has been praised as a shining example of how such a group should be run. The accolades were for the programme's organisers at St Helen Auckland, Close House and Woodhouse Close primay schools
POLICE fear a lack of road safety measures could lead to an accident in the Weardale village of Stanhope, during the annual visit of a funfair. Durham police believe it is only a matter of time before there is a serious accident at the funfair, run in
A NORTH-EAST theatre company's latest production looks set to get off to a flying start. South Shields' Amateur Operatic Society presentation of Scrooge will include three roles which will be very much up in the air. The company is busy rehearsing for
SOME new residents have moved into a picturesque North Yorlkshire village - and they are giving the local birds a bit of a fright. However, the wacky newcomers will only be there until early next month - much to the relief of the local crow population
VILLAGE protestors are banking on people power to halt a scheme they claim will bring danger to their community. West Rainton Parish Housing Action Group stepped up its campaign at the weekend to block an executive housing development and new traffic
A DRAMATIC display will celebrate the completion of a £10m clean-up scheme which has transformed East Durham's coastline. Thousands of people are expected to take up the free invitation to a light and firework display which will be staged along 18 miles
ONE of the North's most prestigious amateur drama competitions, Sedgefield Festival of One Act Plays, is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Festival secretary Norma Neal is confident that the future of the amateur stage in the North-East is assured
CAMPAIGNERS are making a final bid to prevent a radio mast being erected in the heart of one of North Yorkshire's most spectacular landscapes. North York Moors National Park members will decide today whether to allow BT to build a ten-metre high mast
THE hundreds of North-East businessmen and women who see the new Premiership football season as one of the key perks of their business should be aware that the taxman is taking a keener than ever interest in their sporting hobbies. All of the North-East's
FEARS are growing for a missing Durham City pensioner after a search of the area from where he disappeared proved fruitless. George Harding, 83, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, went missing more than a week ago from his home in Geoffrey Avenue,
NEW research suggests historians may have got it wrong about the Dark Ages of British history. Far from being a period when men and women were more interested in making war than love, the Dark Ages were an enlightened period where some woman carried spears
On the familiar ground that it never rains but it pours, things have been pretty stormy for our dear old friend Charlie Walker, the Demon Donkey Dropper of Eryholme. Eryholme's a dot of a place by the Tees - right by the Tees - about five miles south
A COUNCIL has been applauded for making life easier for disabled people in the town. Workers at Darlington Borough Council recently installed the last tarmac ramp which link kerbs with the road. About 100 ramps have been fitted in the town centre to make
IF Lesley Williamson had a motto, it would be Progress through Passion. The director of operations at Durham County Cricket Club in Chester-le-Street believes that you have to be passionate about your work to succeed - whatever you do. And passionate
A NURSE who accidentally scalded a mentally-handicapped patient to death has been allowed to return to work. But the woman has been disciplined and moved to a non-nursing role after the tragedy at Prudhoe Hospital, Northumberland. Meanwhile, Northgate
COMMUNITY leaders in Derwentside have outlined how they will use more than £2.3m in government funding to improve the district. The Single Regeneration Funding secured by the district council will attract more cash and forms part of a total funding package
A TOWN is marking the millennium with a real bang. A fireworks display is planned as a spectacular finale to a family fun day, organised by Middlesbrough Borough Council, in the town's Albert Park on Friday. The theme of the celebration is earth, wind
A PARISH council chairman has claimed there "isn't a hope in hell" of the Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton railway line being reopened. The comments of Councillor Rowly Curtis, chairman of Littlethorpe Parish Council, near Ripon, came as moves to reinstate
A SPECIAL constable has been praised after rescuing a teenager who had gone over the top of a weir and was trapped in dangerous currents. Steve Linfoot was with his two young sons at Chester-le-Street's Riverside park at about 3.30pm when he spotted PC
THE alarm is sounded, a plane is due to touch down at Newcastle Airport, its human cargo potentially lethal to mankind. Waiting on the runway is a cavalcade of ambulances, police cars and men and women in strange space suits. An equally strange contraption
