A GREAT day for the North-East and a great day for The County pub in Aycliffe. The leaders of two of the most powerful countries in Europe popped in for a swift half or two. But as befits visiting dignitaries not necessarily used to every local custom
A INQUIRY has been launched into the management of a town's regeneration programme. South Bank Community Forum, a partnership team handling Single Regeneration Budget cash and plans for the renaissance of the town, on the edge of Middlesbrough, has launched
PRIME Minister Tony Blair forecast a bright new future for the North-East when he opened a state-of-the-art mailing centre in East Durham. And as if to endorse the Prime Minister's rosy prediction bosses at the giant £6m MetroMail House in Peterlee revealed
HEALTH Secretary Alan Milburn has vowed to investigate claims that a North-East man had his urgent heart operation cancelled five times. The Darlington MP was tackled on ITV's Dimbleby programme yesterday and asked to intervene in the heart patient's
BRYAN ROBSON was last night in managerial limbo as Middlesbrough reopened talks with Terry Venables over his proposed move to the Riverside Stadium. In a dramatic U-turn which seemed to even take Robson by surprise, Boro chairman Steve Gibson launched
SUNDERLAND'S Young Player of the Year, Gavin McCann, will be happy just to be involved in tonight's televised Premiership clash against his old club Everton at the Stadium of Light. The 22-year-old midfielder made an impressive return to first team action
A MEETING between Alan Shearer and the club surgeon will today trigger a visit to Freddy Shepherd's office, with Magpies' boss Bobby Robson desperate for cash to bolster his depleted squad. After a super rearguard performance by a makeshift Newcastle
FOURTEEN distinguished North-East journalists were honoured yesterday when their families, friends and colleagues turned out in force to plant trees in their memory. One of The Northern Echo's millennium projects last year was to help establish a community
A FEMALE prison officer has been suspended for allegedly having a fling with a man jailed for molesting a terrified pensioner. Bosses at Frankland Prison, Durham City, suspended the officer ten days ago and have launched an inquiry. The day after she
IT started as a bit of fun in the name of charity, but the Rylstone WI ladies who threw caution - and their clothes - to the wind are now taking the world by storm. The special edition 2001 Ladies of Rylstone calendar has sold hundreds of thousands of
A MAJOR environmental project has been launched to boost numbers of Britain's rarest native tree. The magnificent black poplar, once almost as common as the oak, has almost vanished from the landscape and is in danger of disappearing altogether. But Darlington
BLAYDON will fancy their chances of reaching Twickenham in the Intermediate Cup after a surprisingly easy fourth round win away to the team who won the trophy two years ago. They beat Manchester club Aldwinians 41-8 and their chief concern in the fifth
THE INSTITUTE of Financial Services has accredited a new scheme by Darlington Building Society to monitor the development of its mortgage specialists. The accreditation allows the society to mentor staff on their continuing professional development. Those
THE latest North-East attraction on the Roman Wall has been awarded two more accolades within months of opening. Segedunum Roman Fort, on North Tyneside, was named Heritage Centre of the Year and Northumbria Family Attraction of the Year by The Good Britain
TROMSO, 200 miles beyond the Arctic Circle, is about as far north as you can get without enlisting the help of some trusty huskies. It's a busy little port built on an island, with a barren backdrop which reminds you this is on the edge of things. For
FOOTBALLERS in Hartlepool could soon benefit from a £2m funding boost. The borough council has submitted a bid to the National Football Federation for money to revitalise facilities in the town. If it is successful, the money will be spent on improving
LIFEBOATMEN who braved treacherous weather conditions to rescue an elderly yachtsman are to be honoured for their heroics. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution has announced that it will honour crew members who had to use extraordinary measures by
RISING star-of-the-saddle Jodie Mogford stands on the brink of yet more big-race success aboard Ambleside (2.35) in the most valuable race of the day, the £35,000 Tote-sponsored John Hughes Memorial Chase at Chepstow. The majority of the ten-runner line-up
It's Grimm again... and it's great fun, actress Amanda Lawrence tells STEVE PRATT AMANDA Lawrence picks up a woollen bobble hat and pulls it over her head. This is her impromptu Rumplestiltskin look. On stage she wears a beard as well. "I would love to
WHATEVER theatricals say about not working with children and animals, has never really applied to the church. Suffer them, the good book says - the bairns, if not the beasties. So Jemima Ridgeway became queen for the day, and queened it magnificently.
LAND earmarked as green belt could be used as car parks for a park and ride scheme designed to reduce traffic congestion in the city of Durham. Durham City Council and Durham County Council have identified sites on the outskirts of the city that could
PAKISTAN'S multi-dimensional attack provided a late but clinical response to another encouraging display by England's batsman to leave the outcome of the second Test in the balance at the Iqbal Stadium. For the best part of two months England have been
Bobby Robson yesterday revealed how he helped keep John Gregory in a job at Aston Villa 12 months ago. Robson takes Newcastle back to Villa Park today exactly a year after a 1-0 win by the Geordies dumped Gregory right in it. The Villa boss's position
Crook Town manager Dennis Pinkney is hoping to add some much-needed strength to his side before they travel to Peterlee today. Crook suffered their worst defeat since the war when they were thrashed 10-1 at Billingham Synthonia in midweek, and now Pinkney
BEER and trains will be things on investor's minds next week as a slew of high-profile companies post their figures. It has been a busy half year for brewing and pubs group Scottish & Newcastle, after agreeing the sale of Center Parcs and Pontins,
HANDS fly skywards, faces eager, the group of eight-year-olds visiting The Northern Echo offices fight to answer questions. On the editor's wall are some of the paper's front pages, famous images framed for posterity, and the children are challenged to
HAVE you just bought a bang up-to-date computer? Does it sport the very latest Intel pentium III processor? Then I've got some bad news. It's already yesterday's technology. Stung by criticism that it held back new models until after Christmas, CPU giant
THERE'S nothing good about the morning when it's dark and cold outside. Hedgehogs and tortoises have the right idea - hibernation is just the thing when winter draws in. It's so easy to snuggle back down under the duvet. But you know you're just putting
ANGRY council tenants who believe their estate has missed out on vital regeneration cash are demanding more money for facilities. People living in the Hardwick area of Stockton claim the borough council has repeatedly ignored their needs, while ploughing
AN annual festive fundraising float will begin its tour around the Darlington area on Wednesday. Santa's Float, run by the Darlington Bondgate Round Table, is hoping to raise more than £9,000 for various charities in the area. On Wednesday, the tour visits
IN SUCCESSIVE Budgets and spending plans, the Government has given many additional millions of pounds to the National Health Service. All of it is correct; all of it is welcome. In tackling coronary heart disease and cancer, in which Britain lags desperately
VOLUNTEERS at a charity shop unearthed a literary gem when they dusted off a book which had lying around the store for months. The North-East Oxfam workers found a rare first edition copy of Virginia Woolf's second novel, Monday or Tuesday. The book,
'TIS the season to deconstruct the season's greetings of the famous . . . and yesterday William Hague's friends and foes searched for the deeper meaning behind the Tory leader's official festive greeting. But whether it represents a shepherd struggling
THERE were few people more satisfied at Victoria Park on Saturday than Mark Tinkler. The Hartlepool midfielder was determined to put one over the side he left a month ago and was instrumental in ensuring a single-goal victory. For 45 minutes he orchestrated
AN appeal has gone out for a North-East man to contact his sister in Australia who is dying from a brain tumour. Jennifer Foster has lost touch with her brother Charles, who was living in County Durham when she last heard from him. Charles Foster, 52,
Darlington midfielder Brian Atkinson scored his first Feethams goal in nearly four years to end Quakers' dismal run of results. Atkinson hadn't scored at Feethams since December 1996 - during the 1-1 draw against Leyton Orient - but he kept calm with
BILLY Elliot, the North-East film hotly tipped for an Oscar, has failed to impress European movie buffs. The tale of a youngster who defies his pit village upbringing to succeed as a dancer, in which the title role is played by Stockton teenager Jamie
A SCEPTICAL pensioner posted an ordinary pebble to a company which claimed it would polish it up - and got an emerald in return. Now Harold Longstaff, of Lyon Walk, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, is wondering if he has a back garden full of precious
SOAP Queen Denise Welch thinks a new maternity shop is just swell - and to prove it, she went along to the opening on Saturday. The star, who plays pregnant Natalie Barnes in Coronation Street, and is herself six months gone, helped launch Swell Maternity
A CHRONIC shortage of supply teachers is threatening to cause severe disruption to the education of thousands of children. Schools are now having difficulty finding last-minute replacements for teachers absent through illness or on training courses. And
PASSENGER numbers at Teesside International Airport have reached record levels, despite a series of recent setbacks. The annual report for the year to the end of March this year shows that numbers have increased by 73 per cent over the past six years.
BRYAN ROBSON last night vowed to fight on as Middlesbrough manager until the end of the season after the Teessiders' ambitious move for Terry Venables dramatically collapsed. Boro, third bottom of the Premiership with a boss whose position looks increasingly
A SECOND witness in the trial of former Southampton soccer boss David Jones broke down in the box yesterday as he told of his confusion and shame at being abused as a youth. Liverpool Crown Court heard Boy B, serving a seven-year prison term for two robberies
BRYAN ROBSON is today the most reluctant football manager in the country. Robson leads crisis club Middlesbrough into a crucial game at West Ham, knowing he is only keeping the hot-seat warm for his successor - whoever that may be. England's one-time
AN armed robber accidentally shot himself during a bungled off-licence raid. The raider was helped from the premises, in Newcastle's West End, by an accomplice, after shooting himself in the foot. He burst into the Boozbusters store wearing a stocking
POLICE have opened a "murder-style" investigation after a man was found dead in a street not far from his home. Anthony Muirhead, 25, was found on a pavement in Elgin Grove, East Stanley, County Durham, early yesterday morning. A post-mortem examination
THE crisis at Middlesbrough Football Club deepened last night after news that internationally respected coach Terry Venables will not become its new manager. Former England boss Venables had been talking to Boro over a move which would have seen him take
THE pictures of the beautiful and toned woman frollicking in the sea off the south of France and, later, embracing her new man seemed to say life was starting again for Diana, Princess of Wales. In the sun of St Tropez, she had found love with Dodi Fayed
THE North-East Ambulance Service will today launch a £1.2m appeal for a new life-saving air ambulance. The Great North Air Ambulance Appeal needs to raise about £50,000 a month over the next two years. And it can only be done with the help and generosity
SIX months after disgraced surgeon Richard Neale was struck off for botching operations, the number of patients who claim they were his victims is steadily rising. More than a dozen new complaints have been registered by solicitors handling claims ag-ainst
COMELEON plc has published its prospectus for admission to the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. Comeleon, based in Tanfield Lea, near Stanley, County Durham, is an imaging technology company targeting the rapidly developing
Q I am thinking of moving to the sun of the Canaries for my health. Will I be able to keep my Incapacity Benefit and Disability Living Allowance? A Not if your absence abroad is to be a permanent move. If it is only to be a temporary move you could get
COUNTY cup rules have scuppered Darlington Mowden Park's plans to give Jonathan Golightly his debut at Consett today. Anyone playing in the Durham Challenge Cup must have appeared at least once for the club and Golightly was unable to play for the second
Aston Villa manager John Gregory has thanked his Newcastle counterpart Bobby Robson for the support and words of advice he gave him when his job was on the line. But he doesn't believe 67-year-old Robson could put up with 15 years of managership in the
