WYN Construction is adding 20 more staff to its 60-strong team, thanks to a £1.4m contract. The project, for ground working at the new DSS building in Longbenton, North Tyneside, will include construction of ground floor foundations, basement, under-floor
HE may be a former Prime Minister and a passionate cricket supporter, but there was one problem with John Major's invitation to open a new stand at Headingley - he wasn't born in Yorkshire. Now, after protests from several Yorkshire and England stars
THE man accused of subjecting a village to a 12-year hate mail campaign told police he believed someone was trying to "fit him up", a court heard yesterday. Dr James Forster claimed he had received 12 of the letters and said his house was bugged and under
THE director o f an after-school care charity is behind bars after admitting having sex with a 14-year-old girl. Phil Hemmans, head of the Julie Graham Children's Charity, had sex with the youngster about 20 times. He was only found out when the girl's
A NORTH-EAST man has been given two life sentences following a serious stabbing incident. Stefan Paul Lynas, 25, was jailed by Teesside Crown Court earlier this week after he pleaded guilty to two offences of wounding with intent, following an incident
THE best thing about Killhope is that it is not a pretty, pretty place. This is not history through rose-coloured spectacles but history in wellies and hard hats. And it's much more fun. Once one of the biggest lead mines in the country and now an award-winning
Paralympic athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson is expecting her first child, it emerged on Saturday. The wheelchair-bound four times Olympic Gold medallist has revealed she is expecting a child in February next year. Mrs Grey-Thompson, from Redcar, Teesside,
COUNCILLORS have agreed to donate £10,000 towards a long-running campaign to repair a bridge. The condition of the 136-year-old Myton Bridge, which spans the River Swale near Helperby, near Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, has deteriorated rapidly in recent
CONSERVATIONISTS have lost their fight to stop a store in an historic market place having a video screen in its window. A planning inspector has torn up a planning enforcement notice that Durham City Council issued against national record store chain
BUSINESSES clamouring for a better aid package in the wake of foot-and-mouth disease, have been given an answer by the regional development agency. Yorkshire Forward has pledged to pump £4m of its own reserves into a recovery programme - on top of the
A FORMER Horsewoman of the Year could be ordered to carry out community work after reducing a horse to just "skin and bone" through neglect. Ordering a pre-sentence report at Teesside Magistrates Court yesterday, Chairman of the Bench Stephan Willers
REVIEWS: Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends. Format: PlayStation CD-ROM. Publisher: UbiSoft. £29.99 EVER since a silver air balloon crashed in a quiet part of New Mexico during a storm in 1947 and sparked an amazing UFO scare, Roswell has
Little bridesmaid Sophie Graham - mowed down and left for dead in a horrific hit and run - has finally gone home after making a miraculous recovery. Doctors warned five-year-old Sophie's parents, Mark and Andrea, that she may not pull through following
SIR George Gilbert Scott, an architect of whom even the unreconstructed may have heard, was responsible for the Albert Memorial and for the magnificent St Pancras railway station, restored (it is said) most of England's cathedrals and designed handsome
Autumn flowering bulbs are appearing in shops and garden centres now. These have a very short period of dormancy and should be planted as soon as possible. Autumn crocus are excellent for naturalising in grass and will reproduce freely, while colchicums
UPBEAT Chris Turner is backing Ritchie Humphreys to make a big impression in Division Three next season. The former Sheffield Wednesday man opened his Hartlepool United scoring account in Thursday's 3-0 friendly win at Gateshead and Turner believes there
DARLINGTON boss Gary Bennett believes young midfielder Mark Convery has a bright future. Convery, who arrived at Feethams last season, is only 20 but he is showing signs of developing into a winger who can torment opposing defences. And Bennett, who takes
A CATHOLIC priest who committed a series of sex crimes against a 12-year-old boy was last night starting a five-year jail sentence. Father William Jacks, 49, who lives in Darlington, systematically abused the boy over four years. Jacks, a former secretary
A SERIES of youth shelters will be set up to give youngsters somewhere to meet with each other. There are plans for three shelters for Ferryhill, County Durham - at Dean Bank, King George V playing field, and Surtees playing field, in Ferryhill Station
POWERHOUSE Retail has saved 139 jobs in the North-East by taking over ten ScottishPower stores. The Cambridge-based group has acquired 99 ScottishPower stores, securing the jobs of more than 1,500 people. ScottishPower is moving out of retail to concentrate
Q My wife and I both get Attendance Allowance of £37 a week. Apart from this, our weekly income is £207, which includes a War Pension. Can we have our council tax of £607.44 a year reduced? A If no one else lives with you and no one gets Invalid Care
A PRESSURE group is pressing Westminster to come clean on the findings of a safety study of one of the region's most dangerous roads. In 1998, the Government confirmed it would be researching the possibility of upgrading the A66 between Scotch Corner
THE Northern Ireland peace process has severe problems. It is distasteful to see convicted murderers back on the streets causing strife. It is distasteful to see men with shadowy pasts like Martin McGuinness in such respectable positions of power. It
Letters from The Northern Echo FOOT-AND-MOUTH THE Government seems intent on blaming farmers for spreading FMD. Many papers on July 29 had full reports of a farmer who was offered an infected sheep's carcass. Remember, the farmer turned the offer down
MARTIN Love passed 1,000 championship runs for the season as he and Jimmy Daley carried Durham to a seven-wicket win at Kidderminster on Sunday. The second win of the season halted a run of three defeats in four games but probably comes too late to raise
BIDDERS for the second biggest rail franchise in the region, are being forced to wait months to see who will win control of the network. Transport secretary Stephen Byers was due to declare a winner for the Trans-Pennine Express contract before he jetted
ANGRY directors of a disabled taxi service say it will have to cease operating because of new licencing laws. Charles Smith, finance director of Darlington Dial A Ride, received a letter from Darlington Borough Council yesterday (Fri) afternoon, which
LOCAL authorities last night vowed to fight Government contingency plans to re-open foot-and-mouth burial sites this autumn. The proposals, revealed by The Northern Echo this week, have now been passed on to Durham County Council, Wear Valley District
SUMMONED by a frantic phone call, they arrive at the bar to find two men fighting. Pulling the protagonists apart, the gang then starts systematically to beat one of the men up. As the victim lapses into unconsciousness, and the beating shows no sign
A BATTLE of the buyouts is heating up as at least two attempts to save Cammell Laird's operations have been made. Meanwhile, the former boss of the shipbuilder's operations at South Bank, on the Tees, is still hopeful that his bid for the yard will be
I RECENTLY wrote about the type of starting stalls used on our courses and have also heard other trainers complaining about a lack of stalls handlers. I must agree with them that there is a lack of handlers, especially with 20 runners or more. Most stalls
