A POLICE crackdown on troublesome teenagers resulted in the seizure of a large haul of alcohol and letters being sent to dozens of parents. In a bid to rid the streets of gangs of youths indulging in anti-social behaviour Sedgefield police launched Operation
THREE options have emerged from the debate on the future of traffic management in Richmond. However, none of them will be implemented until the public have had a chance to comment. North Yorkshire County Council has spent much of the year considering
Scores of North-East children who attend schools outside their catchment areas may lose their bus passes. Parents have to reapply for a concessionary seat every year if their children do not attend the nearest, available school. Durham County Council
IT is decades since the damage was caused and the reason for it may never be known, but work has finally begun on restoring one of the region's great monuments. The imposing memorial to the seventh Earl of Carlisle is 110ft tall and was built by public
A HOMEOWNER received the fright of her life yesterday when a stolen car smashed into her home as she slept upstairs. Susan Baron's living room was wrecked when the high performance Jaguar came to a halt next to her coffee table. Mrs Baron, 50, said: "
AROUND 300 youngsters are busy rehearsing for two giant jubilee concerts being staged next week. Pupils from Belmont Comprehensive School and its feeder primary schools including West Rainton, Pittington, Ludworth and Sherburn Village, practised their
IT HAS BEEN found that northern rail company GNER has the worst punctuation in the country. In a report released by the Strategic Rail Authority today it has been found that GNER has the lowest percentage of trains arriving on time. In the report taken
IT was 1977 - the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. A little boy stood, shyly, in the fancy dress parade, resplendent in a glittering pearly king outfit alongside the pirates, wizards, witches, princesses... oh, and a Hilda Ogden. The pearly king's
A LONG-forgotten footballer has cast a shadow over a North-Eastern goalkeeper's claim to be Britain's first black player. For generations, football experts have accepted that Darlington and Newcastle goalkeeper Arthur Wharton - given the politically incorrect
A seaside outing ended in terror for a schoolboy when he was shot by a gang of youths armed with an air rifle as he played among the sand dunes. The ten-year-old boy, who was left writhing in agony after being shot in the knee, needed surgery to have
A NEW fertility centre which could help hundreds of childless couples in the region is being considered for the North-east. The private Woodlands Hospital in Darlington is looking to set up an in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) facility at its site, with the
JON Massey is 41 and a loser in love. His last girlfriend left his life 11 years ago. "If I held up one finger for every woman I've kissed, you'd think it was a rude gesture," he admitted as the experts contemplated giving him a makeover and finding him
PLANS have been announced for Durham's first commercial radio station under a scheme to expand the number of stations nationwide. While local groups have been petitioning the Radio Authority to grant the city its own station for several years, it has
MANICURES, video games, table football, massages and a free bar are all part of a day's work for staff at a marketing company. Rocket Science, in Middlesbrough, is one of only a handful of companies in the UK to specialise in marketing analytics, the
CHILDREN celebrated the Queen's golden jubilee yesterday by making their own regal costumes. A workshop at Darlington's Arts Centre was part of a programme of activities being run for children aged from four to seven, to mark the golden jubilee. Twenty
A SCHOOLGIRL enjoyed a double celebration by winning a roller skating championships on her birthday. Katie Beth Lodge of Eade Close, Newton Aycliffe, was crowned the British Youth Free Roller Skating Champion on her 16th birthday at the British Federation
To coincide with the World Cup, Asda is inviting shoppers to take part in a table football challenge at its Bishop Auckland store on Friday. The store champion, who scores ten goals in the quickest time, will win a £50 voucher and could go on to compete
THE first ever Mathematics Challenge for schools in the Darlington borough will be held later this month. Beaumont Hill Special School and seven comprehensive schools in the town are taking part. Each will send a team of four year nine pupils - two boys
DRIVERS behaving badly - including those who shave and use mobile phones on the move - are being targeted by police in the Harrogate area. A recent purge on the A61 Leeds Road, which carries about 25,000 vehicles a day, brought a string of fixed penalty
A CONFERENCE focusing on the future shape of a city's housing is being held today. The event, the first since Sunderland City Council's housing was restructured, brings together housing associations, private landlords, residents, voluntary sector agencies
America's 3-2 victory against well-fancied Portugal yesterday will go down in history as one of the biggest World Cup shocks. Incredibly they led 3-1 at half-time thanks to goals from John O'Brien, an own goal from Jorge Costa, and Brian McBride, with
PEOPLE living in east Durham have the chance to air their views at an area forum next week. Organised by Easington District Council, the meeting is open to anyone living in the northern sector of the community. Councillors and officers, together with
IT is fanciful to expect public services not to keep asking the Government for more money. So, despite the extra investment promised for our schools, it is predictable that headteachers are not happy with their lot. That their plea for more comes as the
A HELICOPTER crash which resulted in three soldiers being taken to hospital was down to human error. The accident happened in February last year when the RAF helicopter came down in North Yorkshire. The crew of the Lynx helicopter suffered minor injuries
A FAITHFUL dog may have gone without food and water for five days while it guarded the body of its dead master. Police officers found Buster with the body of his 60-year-old owner when they forced their way into a Hartlepool home. Officers broke into
A FORMER mayor who wants the authorities to use health and safety legislation against disgraced surgeon Richard Neale has vowed to fight on after officials ruled out an inquiry. John Bacon, who was mayor of Northallerton in 1983, believes the Health and
LIFEBOATMEN have criticised the "thoughtlessness'' of a family who left a child's clothes on a beach, triggering a full-scale air and sea rescue search. The Teesmouth all-weather lifeboat and Redcar inshore lifeboat were launched after the discovery of
She was homeless at the age of 13 and an amputee at 25, but for North-East born model Heather Mills life looks set for a fairytale ending when she marries Sir Paul McCartney, as Women's Editor Christen Pears reports. WHEN Sir Paul McCartney and Heather
TOP dance act Kosheen are joining the line-up for a charity concert. The group will be appearing at the first Galaxy Out There concert, at Gateshead International Stadium, on June 29, which aims to raise a six figure sum for The Prince's Trust. Other
INDUSTRIAL sites in the region are leading the way in a competition designed to celebrate companies which encourage wildlife on their land. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and quarry company Hanson are running Bird Challenge 2002, which targets
YOUNGSTERS strode out yesterday to raise money for an educational charity. I-CAN works with children aged from four to 19 who have speech and language difficulties. It is backed by the Rainbow of Hope campaign run by retailer Marks and Spencer. More than
A LONG-RUNNING dispute over the destiny of rare birds was back before the courts yesterday. North Yorkshire breeder Harry Sissen was convicted of smuggling parrots into the UK by a judge at Newcastle Crown Court in April, 2000. Mr Sissen was jailed, and
HOW proud I am to be British. While there have been some people who predict the end of our monarchy, hundreds of thousands of people turned out to celebrate the Queen's special day throughout the United Kingdom. In various cities and towns, British people
FEARS of England fans running amok in the World Cup city of Sapporo, where England play Argentina tomorrow are "rather unwarranted", the British officer leading the operation to assist the Japanese said yesterday. ''We are aware there are still some local
RESIDENTS of Sedgefield borough have been invited to join in a picnic and bicycle ride as part of the countywide "On Yer Bike" scheme. Families are particularly welcome to join in the event, billed as a day full of fun, discovery, fresh air and exercise
A PATIENTS' watchdog is to gauge public opinion over plans to charge for bedside telephones and television at a North-East hospital. South Durham NHS Trust has agreed to a private company, Patientline, installing the equipment at Darlington Memorial Hospital
CHILDREN have celebrated the Queen's Golden Jubilee in style by dressing up for a party on Tuesday. Community Access Point organised the event at Brickgarth, Easington Lane, County Durham, to enable local children to join with the community to mark the
CHILDREN celebrated the Queen's golden jubilee yesterday by making their own regal costumes. A workshop at Darlington's Arts Centre was part of a programme of activities being run for children aged from four to seven, to mark the golden jubilee. Twenty
Youngsters are being rewarded for their good behaviour. The treats are being organised by a group usually associated with working with unruly youngsters. The Teesside Justice Support Project has joined forces with the Peat Rigg Development Centre, at
A mother-of-three has raised thousands of pounds for charity by shaving off her waist- length hair just hours before beginning chemotherapy. Jill Parlett, 37, was diagnosed with breast cancer on May 17 and begins a course of chemotherapy today. Last night
Firefighters were called to a blaze at an unoccupied house in Hartlepool. Two crews tackled the fire in Sheriff Street just before 3pm on Tuesday and used one hose reel and breathing apparatus. There were no injuries, but the property suffered smoke and
DRAMA students are playing super sleuths as part of a venue's jubilee celebrations. Students from Newcastle College are taking on the roles of Detective Inspector Gadget, suspects Frank and Eddie and top notch scientists, for the play Murder at Dude's
TWO NORTH-East councils have been shortlisted to win two of only three national awards being made to security-minded local authorities. Sunderland City Council is in the running for an award from Alarm, the national forum for risk management, for its
A professor of computing and maths has put the University of Teesside in the spotlight. Alan Clements, from Acklam, Middlesbrough, who pilots light aircraft in his spare time, has been judged one of the top lecturers in Britain for the third year running
TALENTED singers are being sought for the chorus of a new musical. The show, Carrying David, tells the story of boxer Glenn McCrory, from Annfield Plain, County Durham, who went on to become a world champion. His life is seen through the eyes of his foster
SEDGEFIELD Police have appointed a new member of staff to co-ordinate Neighbourhood Watch schemes throughout the borough. Sarah Norman, 24, will oversee all current schemes and try to encourage new projects. She said: "Part of my role is to try and establish
ENGINEERING firms are expected to cut 90,000 jobs this year as the industry faces a "long, slow climb" out of recession, a report has claimed. Traditional industries, such as metals and mechanical engineering, are still in decline and output and orders
GASES business BOC is set to buy the industrial gases assets of Enron Teesside Operations Limited (Etol). The deal involves the acquisition of about 28 miles of pipelines and compression facilities used for delivering oxygen and nitrogen directly to customers
POLICE and countryside campaigners say they are concerned over the actions by a new militant pro-hunting group which has daubed political graffiti along road sides. The anonymous activists have sprayed slogans across scores of bridges and motorway signs
THE recovery in the manufacturing industry suffered a setback in May, with a survey showing a slower rate of growth in the month. Retail sales also slowed significantly last month, a second survey reveals. The survey of manufacturing from the Chartered
A MOTHER is fighting to overturn a council's transport policy after her daughter was refused a place on the school bus. Because her daughter Katie, 12, had always attended Roman Catholic schools, Carol Stoker, of Urpeth Grange, Chester-le-Street, wanted
BUSINESS Confidence is on the rise, despite the gloomy economic picture. According to research from Barclays Bank, business start-ups increased for the second quarter in a row, over the past three months. The Barclays Small Business Survey for Quarter
GARDEN experts are to get the chance to follow in the footsteps of green fingered gurus such as Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock. York production company NMTV is searching for the next generation of makeover specialists to star in a new television
STUDENT Leanne Martin has spent three weeks working in a Polish orphanage. The 20-year-old Darlington College of Technology student, who is studying for a vocational A-Level in health and social care, worked with children and carers at an orphanage in
AN officer has been appointed to lead regeneration efforts in a North-East city. Phil Barrett, 48, has been named as Sunderland City Council's first director of development and regeneration in a re-organisation of the authority that has seen nine departments
STAFF from a famous tearoom took part in a cycling challenge to celebrate the Golden Jubilee. Matt Elliot and Oliver Mantle, from Bettys in Harrogate, took to a tandem and pedalled 150 miles around the county. The marathon challenge took in the Bettys
FITNESS TRAINING: Abdominal attack sessions, using boxing type circuit training, and bums-of-steel exercise sessions are held in the Washington Millennium Centre. For further details call Jayne Alderson on 0191 219 3881. GLASS ART: David Manuel is holding
COMMUNITY projects in east Cleveland have been boosted by grants. Saltburn, Marske and New Marske Parish Council has given Saltburn Improvement Company £1,000 towards an educational area in a multi-purpose seafront building. Saltburn, Cricket, Bowls and
A CAMPAIGN to encourage walking has been launched in Guisborough. Healthy Stepping is the first in a series of healthy initiatives proposed for the Redcar and Cleveland and Middlesbrough areas. The campaign aims to promote walking as an enjoyable activity
A FOOTBALL legend is to open a revamped cricket, bowls and tennis club. Jack Charlton will open the facilities at the Saltburn club on Sunday. The £700,000 revamp means the club, in Marske Mill Lane, has new changing rooms for cricketers, a stand-alone
RESEARCH conducted in the region has revealed that one of the biggest threats facing young hedgehogs is attack by dogs. Toni Bunnell, a Mammal Society member and biological sciences lecturer at the University of Hull, studied 168 of the animals brought
AN event aimed at improving the Tees Valley's support network for ethnic minorities has been held in Middlesbrough. It was organised by Business Link with Middlesbrough Council, Stockton Borough Council, the Stockton International Family Centre and the
A NOVICE cyclist has raised £250 from a 17-mile charity ride - despite being only eight years old. Sophie McKenna, of Ouston, near Chester-le-Street, had only ever ridden her bike around the streets before embarking on the trip in aid of St Cuthbert's
FOOTBALL fans in the North-East will not miss out on the World Cup action while on their travels, thanks to DFDS Seaways. The North Sea's cruise ferry company is broadcasting all matches live on its routes from Newcastle to Northern Europe and Scandinavia
A SCHEME targeting speeding motorists at accident blackspots will start in County Durham today. Following the success of "soft" anti-speeding measures by Durham Constabulary in reducing the number of accidents by 40 per cent, the force has pledged to
PLANS have been announced for Durham City's first commercial radio station under a scheme to expand the number operating nationwide. The Radio Authority has advertised the licence and written to several groups inviting them to bid to broadcast on the
SHOPPERS in Darlington could soon be welcomed by a uniformed town 'ranger' who will give directions, reunite lost children with their parents and hand out information. The ranger, complete with a baseball cap identifying him or her, could be made a permanent
Tenor David Curry has cancelled his appearance in St Oswald's Church at Sowerby, Thirsk on Saturday June 15. The Sowerby Music concert will go ahead with Swedish soprano Eva Kallberg. Tickets are £5 or £6 on the door or from White Rose Books and Hambleton
RURAL Ryedale in North Yorkshire needs more affordable housing to encourage its younger generation to stay in the area, says a new report on housing. It follows a survey on the housing needs of the area by the North York Moors National Park Authority,
PARENTS are being warned of the dangers to children of swimming in rivers as the holiday season begins. The Environment Agency is asking parents to make sure children stay away from flood defence structures, especially weirs and sluices, as they can be
COMMUTERS are being urged to leave their cars behind and "leg it" to work this month. Employers are also encouraged to join a growing band of people who are walking or cycling to work for Leg It Day on June 13. Staff from Durham County Council, the Land
THE nation may have spent the long holiday weekend celebrating the Queen's Golden Jubilee, but some communities have decided to wait a little longer to pay tribute to her 50-year reign. The ancient church of St Agatha, at Easby, will be hosting a Festival
Defending champions France kept their World Cup dreams alive after they were held to the tournaments first goalless draw against Uruguay in Busan. The French were reduced to ten men when Thierry Henry was dismissed for a two-footed tackle on Marcelo Romero
TRANSFORMING a bleak field into an attractive safe haven for youngsters has proved to be child's play. And it is also a dream come true for schoolgirl Amy Scott who put pen to paper, setting out her wish list for the recreation ground next to Redcar fire
THE new chief executive of the Tees Valley Urban Regeneration Company has set himself world class targets. Glaswegian Joe Docherty, 32, has been chosen as the man to lead the regeneration of the Tees Valley over the next decade. His main aim will be to
POLICE in East Cleveland have seized drugs worth £20,000. Officers from the Langbaugh drugs unit made the discovery after a raid on a house in Redcar just after five o'clock yesterday afternoon. Police recovered cannabis resin with a street value of over
CANCER patients in the region should become the first in the world to benefit from a new family of drugs before the year is out, it was revealed last night. Scientists at the recently formed Northern Institute for Cancer Research had hoped to start clinical
CHILDREN at a Darlington school raised more than £1,000 in a sponsored penalty shoot-out. As part of Darlington FC's football in the community scheme, St John's Primary School took part in a training course organised by the club. At the end of the session
DOUBT hangs over the future of Ushaw College, near Durham, the only training centre for would-be Roman Catholic priests in the North of England. St Cuthbert's College, better known as Ushaw College, could be forced to close under proposals outlined by
IT was 1977 - the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. A little boy stood, shyly, in the fancy dress parade, resplendent in a glittering pearly king outfit alongside the pirates, wizards, witches, princesses... oh, and a Hilda Ogden. The pearly king's
ROMAN KING will relish the rain-softened surface in the Showcase Handicap at Haydock this afternoon. The ground cannot be deep enough for Mary Reveley's son of Sadler's Wells, a runaway winner of a similarly competitive handicap at Epsom just over a year
POP legend Sir Paul McCartney and his fiancee, Heather Mills, were last night continuing to outfox the world's paparazzi only days away from their expected marriage. The wedding of the year between the former Beatle and the North-East-born model has set
THOUSANDS of teachers may lose their jobs next year as schools face a funding crisis, headteachers warned last night. Support staff, such as classroom assistants, may also face redundancy unless the Government increases education funding. They also claim
COUNTY Durham commuters are urged to leave their cars behind and 'leg it' to work this month. Employers are urged to join the band of workers who are walking or cycling to work for Leg It Day on June 13. Staff from Durham County Council, the Land Registry
POLICE in County Durham claim their soft anti-speeding tactics have been vindicated after the Government announced plans to copy them. Four years ago, Durham Constabulary rejected fixed speed cameras in favour of targeting hot spots with cameras mounted
FIT for a queen - that is what judges thought of the winning float in a town carnival held to celebrate the Queen's golden jubilee. Eldon Lane Primary School, Bishop Auckland, scooped the best dressed float cup at Shildon carnival at the weekend. Headteacher
PLANS to build two care homes in Darlington would provide an extra 120 beds for elderly people. If the scheme is approved, a 60-bed care home will be built at Hundens Park and the council-owned Winton House, in I'Anson Street, will be converted into another
STUDENT Leanne Martin has spent three weeks working in a Polish orphanage. The 20-year-old Darlington College of Technology student, who is studying for a vocational A-Level in health and social care, worked with children and carers at an orphanage in
A SEARCH to find a flower to symbolise County Durham starts today. Durham County Council wants people to come up with suggestions of flowers as part of a nationwide project to bring together a floral bouquet of Britain. The County Flowers project is an
AN animal sanctuary has been inundated with kittens, all in need of loving new homes. Eleven kittens, from two litters, were recently brought into the National Animal Sanctuary Support League headquarters in Darlington. They are being looked after by
THREE new associations for ex-National Servicemen, which have already recruited hundreds of members, are planning to hold regular reunions. The National Service Associations, which has branches for the RAF, Royal Navy and Army, are hoping to recruit more
TWO North-East councils have been short-listed to win two of only three national awards being made to security-minded local authorities. Middlesbrough is in line for an award from Alarm, the national forum for risk management, for its protection plan
A DARLINGTON landlord has decorated his pub in red, white and blue to join in the nation's celebrations. The Lascelles pub, in Fenby Avenue, is awash with flags to mark both the Queen's golden jubilee and the England football team's participation in the
A DAY student at one of the country's top public schools has won an Arkwright Scholarship for flair and originality in engineering design. Oliver Mankowski, a student at Ampleforth College, who lives in the village with his parents, Andrew and Vivienne
A SHEEP has been hacked to death with an axe on a North-East farm. Two other sheep were found with wounds to their heads and body. The sick attacks are the latest in a string of raids on the same farm near Guisborough, east Cleveland. Cleveland Police
THEY may be from a small County Durham town but a five-a-side team have been crowned champions of England. Consett Juniors Under 12s have beaten opposition from London, Manchester and Merseyside to become the national champions. "The club is extremely
POLICE, a coroner's officer and a doctor had to be taken by lifeboat to a tanker out at sea to investigate a man's death. The 58-year-old crewman had been found dead in his bunk on the Norwegian registered tanker Rand Grid, anchored off the Redcar coast
AN animal sanctuary has been inundated with kittens, all in need of loving new homes. Eleven kittens, from two litters, were recently brought into the National Animal Sanctuary Support League headquarters in Darlington. They are being looked after by
A FOOTBALL-LOVING councillor who won tickets for yesterday's Ireland versus Germany game has sent a postcard to the folks back home - via The Northern Echo. Michael Malone, deputy leader at Derwentside District Council, won tickets to the game and tomorrow's
TODAY is the day music fans and acts from across the region have been waiting for. The Northern Echo's Big Chance concert will see five of the best unsigned pop and rock acts battle it out in the competition, run by the paper's website, Revolution. Fans
POLICE have appealed for witnesses to help with an investigation into an horrific road crash in which a teenager was killed. Karl Sutcliffe died when the Peugeot 309 he was driving collided with a marked police vehicle on the A689 Coundon bypass, near
As if pedalling more than 11,000 kilometres was not enough, Andrew Hay also had to endure a volatile political and religious situation in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the invasion of Afghanistan. Julia Breen reports. "NO bicycle.
There will be a service of rededication in the Church of St Mary the Less, the chapel of St John's College, Durham, today at 12.45pm. The service will be led by the Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend Michael Turnbull. The chapel has been refurbished
A SEARCH to find a flower to symbolise County Durham begins today. Durham County Council is asking people to come up with suggestions of flowers as part of a national project to bring together a floral bouquet of Britain. The County Flowers project, part
A THEATRE stage was dwarfed by giant fruit and flowers for the start of a popular children's show yesterday. The objects are props used in a production of the children's tale The Borrowers, which is at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle until Saturday. To
WORK has started on a supermarket and library in Trimdon. North Eastern and Cumbrian Co-op is to build a 2,500 sq ft store on the former library site in Church Road. A small replacement library will be built as part of the development. The £750,000 store
WORLD Cup fever Shamrock-style hit the region yesterday as the Republic of Ireland faced mighty Germany. Irish fans across the region filled local pubs and bars to see the crunch Group E qualifier in Japan being screened live on TV at lunchtime. And they
Three people were injured during a fight in the Eivissa nightclub in South Shields at about 6.20pm on Monday. A 47-year-old woman, who was cut several times during the brawl, and a 38-year-old man, who also had cuts, were still in South Tyneside General
FORMER Olympic athlete Brendan Foster has sold his sportswear brand, View From, to retailer Marks and Spencer. As part of the deal M&S will sell the brand exclusively in its stores from September 2. M&S said the brand would be endorsed and worn
CALL Centre and marketing company 2Touch has taken on nine former Dewhirst staff to fill telesales and customer service vacancies for its growing Virgin Energy contract. The recruits lost their jobs when the clothing company closed earlier this year.
A convicted art crook has been employed by two wealthy aristocrats to retrieve stolen masterpieces worth £6m. David Duddin served nine years for handling a £400,000 Rembrandt, stolen in a robbery on the Earl of Pembroke's country estate. But he has now
A PRISON officer threatened to "blow away" a female typist with a rifle in a twisted campaign to win her affections, a tribunal heard. Rebecca Byrne said Durham Prison health and safety officer John Wilson made comments which she interpreted as a threat
PARENTS concerned about a new school have been invited to have their say about the plans. The Vardy Foundation, backers of a new city academy to be built in south Middlesbrough, is to set up a parents' consultative group to help shape the new school.
FOUR of the high street's biggest names are to launch a joint loyalty scheme. Supermarket chain Sainsbury, department store group Debenhams, oil company BP and Barclaycard are hoping to sign up half of all UK households with the initiative. The Nectar
A NEW course celebrating the cream of the region's writers is being run at a North-East university. Dr Richard Terry, an English lecturer at Sunderland University, has set up the course giving an insight into the lives and works of North-East and Cumbrian
THE North-East's only school for dyslexic children is celebrating its 25th anniversary and inviting former pupils to attend a silver jubilee party. Nunnykirk Centre for Dyslexia, in Netherwitton near Morpeth, was established in 1977 to help children across
AN exhibit from a controversial show featuring preserved human corpses will arrive in Newcastle next week. The Body Worlds exhibition features flayed human bodies which have been preserved using a technique called plastination, which was invented by Professor
A NATURE enthusiast has expressed fear that breeding birds and animals are being disturbed while a woodland is cleared. About 1,000 acres of trees are being felled at Wellhope and Killhope, in a 20-year programme by Weardale Estates. Frank Beddard, who
A 32-year-old man appeared in court yesterday accused of kidnapping and indecently assaulting a woman. John Lomas, of Glossop, Derbyshire, was remanded in custody by magistrates in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The woman, who cannot be named for legal
IN an attempt to reduce the level of unpaid fines, County Durham Magistrates Courts Committee has introduced new methods to catch defaulters. The committee has contracted a specialist enforcement company to ensure that fine collection is carried out.
ONE group of people guaranteed not to be short of words at a birthday knees up yesterday was the Cleveland Scrabble Club. It was the club's 20th anniversary and one of those raising a glass to its future was 50-year-old Mrs Pauline Johnson, one of the
BASIL Noble, of whom it is with great affection remarked that he is a man of "enthusiasms", hosted, with his wife Joan, a coffee morning on Tuesday to mark the golden jubilee. Admission was free upon production of a picture of Her Majesty clipped from
YOUNGSTERS armed with papier mache got stuck in to a workshop to create a spectacular vision of Hartlepool's maritime history. Fishing boats, crashing waves and sea dragons all featured in their 20ft-long collage at the Museum of Hartlepool, at the town's
The Irish just cannot keep the name Keane out of the headlines. But this time it was Robbie, rather than rebel Roy, who stole the limelight for all the right reasons, aided by a typical headed assist from Sunderland's Niall Quinn, a late substitute. The
SOME of the region's most experienced and skilled bell ringers rang out peals to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee over the bank holiday weekend. Bells were rung in cities, towns and villages to coincide with local celebrations, special church services
POLICE are calling for the scrapping of a bus lane which has provoked several road-rage incidents. Officers have catalogued a list of near misses, "inappropriate driving'' and road-rage incidents along Eaglescliffe's quarter-of-a-mile green corridor.
FIREFIGHTERS in the region are gearing up to travel to London for a rally to highlight their campaign for better pay. Coachloads of fire crews from the North-East and North Yorkshire will be travelling to the capital on Tuesday, as they call for pay to
DARLINGTON'S uniformed wardens have launched a series of early morning operations to crack down on dog fouling in the town centre. The campaign was launched last week after wardens received complaints of dog fouling in the town centre and the Denes area
Massimo Maccarone will reject overtures from Serie A's elite to sign for Middlesbrough tomorrow, his agent promised last night. The Italian, who made his Azzurri debut against England in March but missed out on the World Cup squad, is due at the Riverside
A SEARCH to find a flower to symbolise County Durham starts today. Durham County Council wants people to come up with suggestions of flowers as part of a nationwide project to bring together a floral bouquet of Britain. The County Flowers project is an
RAIL operator Arriva Trains Northern has restored its full timetable in the region. The move marks the end of the company's temporary timetable, which involved some trains being replaced with bus services, and coincides with the introduction of the summer
A TEAM of eight street wardens will begin patrolling the Byker area of Newcastle today. The Newcastle City Council scheme aims to tackle anti-social behaviour and improve the environment. The wardens will patrol every day from 2pm to 10pm to give people
THE girls of Harrogate Ladies' College Radio Society are no strangers to reaching for the stars. From the comfort of their classroom they have chatted over the airwaves to astronauts and cosmonauts orbiting the earth in Mir and the Space Shuttle, and
ROYAL streaker Brynn Reed is making a dash for stardom by releasing a single called Rude Britannia. Pop band drummer Brynn shocked the nation when he streaked in front of the Queen during a visit to the North-East last month. The 27-year-old was sacked
Fun Run: The annual Yarm Fun Run, organised by Yarm District Lions Club in conjunction with Conyers School, takes place on Sunday, July 7. The three-and-a-quarter mile run, for all ages, will start from Conyers School at 1pm and finish at Snaith Field
DOZENS of yellow balloons were released last week to herald the shake-up of a charity that helps 17,000 victims of crime every year in County Durham. Victim Support offers support to witnesses and victims of crime by helping them to regain their confidence
HARDSHIP is on the increase in Scarborough's old town and harbourside area. The St Mary's Social Action centre says in its annual report that poverty levels are rising in Castle Ward. Chief executive Trevor King said much of the change was due to the
A NORTH Yorkshire Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) will be using National Volunteers' Week to launch a hunt for recruits. Across the UK, 21 million people spend an average of four hours every week volunteering. A handful more could make a real difference
WHILE many people may be thinking of jetting off for their summer holidays, thoughts at Middlesbrough Theatre have already turned to this year's pantomime. Following the success of Dick Whittington last year, Middlesbrough Council and Extravaganza Productions
To coincide with the World Cup, Asda is inviting shoppers to take part in a table football challenge at its Bishop Auckland store on Friday. The store champion, who scores ten goals in the quickest time, will win a £50 voucher and could go on to compete
A MURDER inquiry is underway this morning into the death of a 33-year-old man killed by a violent attack in his home. According to Durham Police, unemployed Stephen Hunter was found dead on the living room floor of the ground floor flat where he lived
