Kate Winslet's opening answers don't indicate a full and frank conversation is likely. "No and no," she says with emphatic brevity, dealing with the prospect of a career as a singer, and of making an album following her top ten chart success. Short, sharp
A conference to raise awareness of domestic violence was held in County Durham yesterday. Delegates from across the region, including representatives from social services, the police, health services, the probation service and education, gathered at Durham
Slack defending again cost Darlington dear as they sank to a 4-2 defeat at promotion chasing Mansfield. Ex-Newcastle striker David Kelly opened the scoring after just 80 seconds when he tapped home a deflected shot and 20 minutes later Mansfield doubled
NEWCASTLE United skipper Alan Shearer believes Kevin Keegan's influence at the club is still paying dividends more than five years after he quit St James' Park. Keegan is back at St. James' Park tomorrow with his Manchester City side for the FA Cup fifth
THE tour guide warned us in advance. "Anything can happen on the next part of the walk," he said, as we moved from the prosperous City of London into the seedier East End. We were walking in the footsteps of Jack the Ripper, the infamous serial killer
HARTLEPOOL United have allowed out-of-favour striker Anth Lormor to join Third Division rivals Shrewsbury Town on a month's loan. Lormor has been unable to force his way into manager Chris Turner's first team and has not started a game since the 2-1 defeat
HOPES have been raised that four public toilets in remote tourist spots can be kept open. Members of the North York Moors National Park Authority have agreed to take on the freehold and management of the toilets at Aislaby, Commondale, Egton and Westerdale
A single, second-half goal from Lee Nogan brought Hartlepool United's third defeat in 15 outings. York's former Darlington striker Lee Nogan netted the only goal, volleying in from eight yards on 67 minutes. Pool , though, had their chances and Mark Tinkler
A SCHOOL'S bid to raise £25,000 by the end of the month has gained its MP's support. Health Secretary Alan Milburn, who represents Darlington, is backing Longfield School's attempt to become a specialist sports college. To bid for the special status the
A LITTLE boy is having a monster time after winning a supermarket competition. Tommy Hall, seven, from Darlington was chosen as the winner of a prize draw held at the town's Asda store. The draw was organised to mark the release of the children's film
HOMEOWNERS are facing a significant rise in the cost of policing on top of huge rises in council tax, it was announced yesterday. At a meeting of the Durham Police Authority, members agreed to raise the police precept - the amount it claims from taxpayers
PATIENTS have moved into a £1m community hospital built in the grounds of a Victorian sanatorium. As well as offering long-term and respite care for elderly and convalescent patients, the hospital at Horn Hall, in Stanhope, also has a physiotherapy team
Kate Winslet's opening answers don't indicate a full and frank conversation is likely. "No and no," she says with emphatic brevity, dealing with the prospect of a career as a singer, and of making an album following her top ten chart success. Short, sharp
ENVIRONMENTAL enthusiasts are being encouraged to visit the University of Durham, Stockton campus to find out more about Portrack Marsh. Portrack Marsh, on the north bank of the Tees, close to the Tees Barrage, has a mix of pools, ponds, reed beds and
WITH the Winter Olympics under way, North-East skiing enthusiasts are being given a cut-price chance to take to the slopes. Silksworth Ski Centre, in Sunderland, is offering a cut-price ski pass to coincide with the winter games. The £20 pass will give
A POLICE chief convicted of urinating against the Lithuanian presidential palace is facing defeat as he bids to launch an appeal. Chief Superintendent Kevin Pitt, of Cleveland police, was forced to resign in embarrassment over the gaffe, which was caught
AN undertaker has been arrested by police investigating allegations that he faked his own death. Funeral director Chris-topher Westcott owns Durham City-based Cathedral Funeral Services, which has several premises around the region. It is understood that
A 21-YEAR-OLD who was killed when he lost control of a stolen car had been banned from driving only weeks earlier after a 125mph police chase, The Northern Echo can reveal. David Nowlin died when the Vauxhall Nova he was driving skidded off the road and
Controversial spin doctor Jo Moore and Transport Department Press Chief Martin Sixsmith last night paid the price for their bitter feuding as both quit their jobs. Transport Secretary Stephen Byers announced he had accepted their resignations after being
A scheme to spread the scope of education has been given a boost which will allow it to be launched in two months' time. The Ripon City Partnership has approved spending more than £241,000 on a "virtual college" for the city. The funds, from the Single
A NORTH-East council is offering helpful hints for those planning to celebrate the Queen's golden jubilee with a street party. The guidelines have been drawn up by Sunderland City Council, after it received a number of applications for outdoor parties
This month, sometime, Mike Neville celebrates 40 years in regional broadcasting. He recalls how he went from a rep actor to become the face of Tyne Tees Television. Steve Pratt reports. WHEN Mike Neville complained that his watch gained five seconds,
A FORMER soldier turned bus driver is on target for success, after turning his hobby into a business. Keen archer Dennis Brown has established Castle Longbows, with help from the North-East of England Business and Innovation Centre's (BIC) Business Start
SURVEY work carried out along the East Coast has revealed increasing evidence that otters are heading for the sea in search of food. The information has been compiled by naturalist Laura Winter, who works as a technician at Malton School, in North Yorkshire
FOR the second year running, The Northern Echo's Superbrain is teacher Dave Tucker. Dave and his wife, Janet, of Aycliffe Village, County Durham, and friends pooled brainpower and were the only entrants in this year's long-running trivia quiz to score
POLICE are hunting a thug who sprayed a police officer and rival soccer fans with CS gas. The incidents happened as violence erupted at the Middlesbrough and Leeds match last Saturday, which led to 15 people being arrested. Superintendent Graham Strange
BUSINESS leaders have paid tribute to Gunter Stiller who set up one of the region's largest road haulage companies. Mr Stiller died on his 77th birthday, at his home in Grangeside, Darlington. In 1954, the former PoW entered the transport industry and
HOTELS group De Vere, hard hit since the September 11 attacks on the US, has posted an improvement in turnover as people treated themselves to holidays over Christmas. De Vere, of Warrington, which owns Northumberland's Slaley Hall Hotel, has suffered
A computer facility for disabled people has been launched in the heart of Newcastle. Based at the Stamp Exchange, in Westgate Road, the IT Training Centre features a range of specially-adapted equipment such as software for visually impaired people. It
SUNDERLAND angrily denied a report yesterday that they are prepared to sell their England star Kevin Phillips. Speculation is mounting that the Wearside club might be forced to part company with their ace striker this summer, with Championship contenders
STAFF from a Teesside health trust were encouraged to leave their desks and step out at lunchtime for a Valentine's Heart Walk. The walk, organised by Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, was part of a healthy eating and lifestyle campaign called
A MAN who was badly injured in a car crash last week has died. Edward Sharp, 23, suffered critical injuries when his car collided with a pick-up truck. He had been driving on Long Lane, between Todhills and Binchester, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham
NICKY HENDERSON'S marvellous record at Ascot appears all set to continue courtesy of Tiutchev, bidding to repeat his victory of 12 months ago in the Ritz Club Chase. Henderson's horses invariably peak at this stage of the season - an ominous sign for
A FAMILY-RUN butcher's shop has been praised in a national magazine after a reporter visited the shop. Dirk Pittaway butchers, in Borough Road, Darlington, featured in the latest copy of the Shooting Times, and was praised for the variety of game on sale
THE achievements of 100 youngsters from the region will be celebrated at the first Positive Young People's awards next month. The young people have all been nominated for the awards, which mark achievements in the community by people under the age of
THE fallout from Operation Lancet and the resignation of former CID chief Ray Mallon was continuing last night with new claim and counter-claim. Cleveland Police Federation revealed it was taking legal advice over Chief Constable Barry Shaw's "empire
PAVING specialist Sharcon has invested £100,000 in new products, as it looks to expand into new markets. The Shildon, County Durham, business has worked with experts from Sedgefield Borough Business Service (SBBS) on a plan to boost its development. Graham
DELIVERY was the word on everyone's lips after Labour's second landslide victory last June. Even Tony Blair agreed that it was time to deliver. Eight months on, the Government is embroiled in one row over spin and another, the Mittal affair dubbed Steelgate
A YOUNG father who died after his first injection of heroin could have been saved if his friends had called an ambulance, an inquest heard yesterday. Paul Mann, of Keir Hardie Crescent, South Bank, Middlesbrough, took a cocktail of drink and drugs on
HIGHWAYS bosses are taking important steps to help improve a notorious accident blackspot. Thirteen months after Jamie Sanders, of Northallerton, was killed while trying to run across the A64 at Bilbrough Top, signs have been erected warning motorists
A CONGREGATION member, who was among 40 people trapped in a church, has praised fire officers for their efforts to free them. The worshippers, at Kingdom Hall, Seaham, County Durham, were at an evening service on Thursday when youths snapped a padlock
Middlesbrough booked their place in the last eight of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Blackburn on Saturday. In a lacklustre game which attracted little over 20,000, Boro defender Ugo Ehiogu headed home the all-important winner in the 87th minute shortly
Injury-ravaged Darlington travel to Mansfield today hoping to avoid defeat against a side third in the table. But with most of the first choice defence unavailable, it's going to be a very tough task. Just when it seemed the injury crisis had peaked,
NEATLY headlined "Diocese advertises parish job with a catch", last week's Church Times carried a story about attempts to bait a new Vicar for the churches at Gainford and Winston, alongside the Tees between Darlington and Barnard Castle. The "catch"
THE mother of a five-year-old who was murdered 14 years ago has vowed to continue her fight to keep her daughter's killer behind bars. Margaret Lowther suffocated in a pool of mud while her cousin, John Johnston, then 17, raped her on a gypsy campsite
CONCERN is growing for two teenage girls who went missing in the same North-East town last weekend. Claire Louise Smith, 13, was last seen on Saturday, February 9, when she left her home in the North Road area of Darlington to go swimming. She is 5ft
FORMER railway colleagues were reunited after nearly 20 years when they were given the keys to the doors of adjoining bungalows. William Baldry and Joe Harker, who left Shildon Wagon Works before it closed, in 1984, have found themselves living next door
DRINKERS have been testing the water and the beer at this week's Beer in the Bath festival. Pressed Rat and Warthog and Tomintoul Nessie are some of the unusual ales that have been sipped during this year's real ale festival in Bishop Auckland. Kegs of
RSPCA inspectors are monitoring the condition of a horse tethered near Darlington town centre, after receiving 70 calls from concerned members of the public. The horse is tethered in a field off Albert Road and residents in the area expressed concern
NEATLY headlined "Diocese advertises parish job with a catch", last week's Church Times carried a story about attempts to bait a new Vicar for the churches at Gainford and Winston, alongside the Tees between Darlington and Barnard Castle. The "catch"
A MULTI-MILLION pound overhaul is being considered for one of the region's hospitals. A set of wooden wards built during the Second World War were torn down by the local health trust last year and a £3.5m three-storey building had been planned to replace
RETURNING goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has declared himself fit to face Blackburn Rovers today but he is by no means guaranteed his place in Middlesbrough's starting line-up. At the start of the season Schwarzer was Boro's automatic choice between the posts
BANKING concern Lloyds TSB has revealed plans to axe 5,000 jobs as it reported an eight per cent slide in profits over the past year. The group said the jobs would go this year, mainly from its central and support areas, although 2,000 jobs would be created
DARLINGTON Football Club says it has not authorised anyone to sell advertising for a proposed town map. A trader, who does not want to be named, says he was approached by a man selling advertising for a fold-out map of the town centre. The shopkeeper
A MAN whose break-up with his wife led to him flashing at schoolgirls while wearing her knickers was freed from prison on appeal, yesterday. Michael Croney, 35, haunted the streets of Guildford, Surrey, committing sex acts in front of girls aged ten to
THE region has taken a step closer to becoming the recycling capital of the UK, following commissioning of a £300,000 plant to turn scrap wood into fuel pellets. The plant, at Premier Waste Management's Coxhoe recycling centre in County Durham, can produce
OVERGROWN, windswept, hidden from view, the graves of the 168 men and boys of the North-East's biggest ever pit disaster lay almost forgotten. Forgotten until the day a few locals took some photographs to the church yard and worked out where the men they
GLOWING tributes were paid yesterday to Sid Weighell, the inspirational rail union boss, staunch opponent of the militant left and former professional footballer. The moderate leader of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) for seven years, and a firm
A SEVERELY disabled man said yesterday he was devastated after thieves ransacked his home and made off with his treasured football programmes and personal computer. Raiders broke into the ground-floor flat of cerebral palsy sufferer John Robinson, 38,
HEALTH watchdogs are offering an extra opportunity for people to comment on hospital services. The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) is reviewing the South Durham Health Care Trust, which runs Bishop Auckland General and the Memorial Hospital, in
A TODDLER saved the lives of his sleeping family by raising the alarm as fire ripped through their home. Three-year-old Connor Clark woke his mother and father, Susan, 26, and Russell, 30 - and then led sisters Simone, nine, and Tyler, who is one, from
A CAMPAIGN to allow a family of Macedonian refugees to stay in the North-East moves to London on Monday. The Dimitrievski family have been living in Redcar, east Cleveland, for the past 18 months, but have been told they must return to their homeland
HOMEOWNERS are facing a significant rise in the cost of policing on top of huge rises in council tax, it was announced yesterday. At a meeting of the Durham Police Authority, members agreed to raise the police precept - the amount it claims from taxpayers
A MAN was cleared yesterday of raping a drunken Teesside University student. Quantity surveyor Bahadar Kalsi, 39, was accused of raping the woman at her Middlesbrough home on her 21st birthday. She alleged Kalsi crept into her bed as she was sleeping
A WOMAN who discovered a distant relative died on HMS Hood is appealing for information about him. Carol Rogan, of Blackpool, Lancashire, believes her father's cousin, John Carr, was on the warship when it was sunk by the Bismark in 1941. Mr Carr was
NORTH-EAST workers who lost their jobs after the closure of two shipyards were awarded less than £2,000 each by an industrial tribunal yesterday. The tribunal, in Newcastle, found that Cammell Laird Shipbuilders and receivers PricewaterhouseCooper failed
WORKERS at a strike-hit dump truck factory were ordered home yesterday - and told not to bother coming in on Monday. Bosses told 150 workers at the Caterpillar plant, in Peterlee, County Durham, to leave without warning. A letter was also issued by managing
Letters from The Northern Echo COUNCIL TAX DURHAM County Council is to increase its council tax by 14.8 per cent and Sedgefield Borough by an estimated 12.5 per cent, at a time when inflation levels are approximately two per cent. If the final Sedgefield
business leaders will meet this month to discuss the next phase of a city's development. As part of Sunderland City Council's Fresh Thinking strategy, key players in the region have been invited to attend the event at the newly- renovated Exchange Building
YOUNGSTERS in schools in the Redcar area could soon be given the chance to learn judo thanks to club funding. Redcar Judo Club received a grant from the National Lottery's Awards for All scheme which will allow members to take the sport into schools.
A LOCOMOTIVE preservation group has found a new home in the North-East after almost four years of searching. And the first locomotive to be worked on at the Darlington site will be one which was built just down the road. The North-Eastern Locomotive Preservation
SCARBOROUGH and Whitby have each been nominated in the Safeway Excellence for England Awards run by the English Tourism Council. Peter Dahl, director of tourism, said both towns had seen major investment in upgrading their holiday attractions and removing
HEALTH watchdogs are offering an extra opportunity for people to comment on hospital services. The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) is reviewing the South Durham Health Care Trust, which runs Bishop Auckland General and the Memorial Hospital, in
A NORTH-EAST city is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Following the failure of earlier bids for city status, Sunderland was named a city on Valentine's Day, 1992. With the largest population between Edinburgh and Leeds, many argued that it had long
