A NORTH-EAST county has been singled out as the top performing probation area in the country. County Durham's probation service came top in a league of 42 areas which compared performance with national standards. Professor Robert Williams, chairman of
A NORTH-EAST company has provided the Northern Ireland Office and the Police Service of Northern Ireland with an external confidential call line for staff to report wrongdoing in the workplace. The contract to provide the service has been won by Safecall
AS I write this I can see my fingers moving over the white computer keyboard. I cringe as I catch glimpses of the encrusted coating of brown dirt. If I try and type faster, maybe I won't notice it as much. It's not all bad though. It does remind me that
DURING the past week I have been out digging holes in my local village green. I haven't been on a destructive trail of mindless vandalism, or fruitlessly searching for gold. I've been helping to plant a tree of memory, dedicated to a local inhabitant.
MY wife once packed a bag, put the dog on its lead and announced she was leaving home... all because she never thought she'd pass her driving test. That's how serious life becomes when you're the sweaty-palmed learner wrestling with the rules of the road
THE brother of Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy has vowed to change his ways for the sake of his sister's music career. Unemployed Andrew Tweedy, 22, has been exposed as a glue-sniffing thug, bringing trouble for his 19-year-old sister. Yesterday, he announ-ced
Housing plans which spark-ed public protests in North Yorkshire look set to be given the go-ahead next week. Hambleton District Council's development control committee is being recommended to grant planning permission to build 19 houses and 24 flats on
FUNDRAISERS are gearing up for the highlight of their campaign with the help of a bright yellow car. Throughout this month, Marie Curie Cancer Care is holding its national Daffodil Campaign, supported by Yellow Pages, to raise money for the free home
A FISH and chip shop has landed a prime catch by winning a national quality award. The Golden Fry, in West Road, Annfield Plain, is one of only 500 UK fish and chip shops to be recognised with the Seafish Friers Quality Award. Owners Pam and Dave Nagra
SURGERIES promoting pension and benefits take-up for the over-60s are being held in east Durham. Easington District Council is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to run surgeries for local residents. The next surgeries will be held from
A MOTHER who fought years of depression ended her life when she walked in front of a train, an inquest heard. Yvonne Mary Reed was struck down by an empty passenger train at Northallerton station, North Yorkshire, in the early morning of Wednesday, September
COD has been taken off a staff canteen menu in an eco-friendly move. Durham County Council said that because North Sea cod stocks had dwindled and the fish was more expensive to buy, it had been replaced with the more common pollock to keep down the cost
CAN it really be nearly 12 months since Pop Idol loser Jessica Garlick suffered the indignity of not winning the Eurovision Song Contest? She somehow managed a smile and talked of "my great year" as she joined the guests for Song For Europe (BBC1, Sunday
YOU don't get to be named Preacher of the Year by The Times, as the Rev Paul Walker once was, without knowing how to grab a congregation by the coat collar of its consciousness. There can nonetheless have been no more dramatic nor more emotional pronouncements
A SCHEME to improve literacy skills among nursery children has been launched. The Talk Talk project is to run in four nurseries in the Hendon and East End areas of Sunderland. The project provides each child with an activity bag containing a book, toy
Soldiers parted from their loved ones by the military build-up in the Gulf can send messages home thanks to a service launched by their radio station. Catterick's Garrison Radio has opened phone, text message and e-mail centres. Those serving in the Middle
BY the time I rounded the corner, history had been airbrushed and there was only a clean driving line through the sand to show for the unimaginable horror that had happened a few hours earlier. Although the deaths had occured a couple of hundred yards
POLICE homed in on a pub last night in a bid to discover clues to the whereabouts of a missing student. Craig Hetherington, 22, from Guisborough, east Cleveland, was last seen almost two weeks ago near the Corner House pub, Middles- brough, in the early
TEENAGERS who got hooked on fishing through a nationally-acclaimed police scheme will join star demonstrators at an angling fair. The four, aged from 15 to 18, are all graduates of Durham Police's award-winning Get Hooked on Fishing project, set up in
Time marches on and we approach mid-March again. It's a time in the countryside for Mad March Hares who stand on their hind feet and have a boxing match. Eventually they quit and disappear in opposite directions, living to fight another day. Would that
