PAUL Collingwood continued to press his claims for a place in the England team for the second Test when he became the first Durham player to score two hundreds in a championship match yesterday. With the England squad for Edgbaston due to be announced
SHOPPING CENTRE: During the past two years, I have called on Sedgefield Borough Council to include the Festival Walk Shopping Centre in Spennymoor in the Regeneration Package. The paving is tatty and, in places, dangerous. The flat roofed, 1960s style
RESIDENTS of a Teesdale village are continuing their fight against a proposed housing development. Objections are being lodged by residents of Middleton-in-Teesdale against resubmitted plans for 27 houses and a car and coach park in Bridge Street. A similar
A CRICKET club in a Teesdale village is raising money to buy the ground it has played on for more than 125 years. Lands Cricket Club, near Cockfield, is hoping to buy the ground from the landowner, Durham County Council. The county council is selling
A PROJECT to help young people with drugs problems has received a boost of nearly £80,000. Hartlepool Young People's Drug Team (Hyped) will use the money, allocated by the council, to cover the cost of renting offices for the charity. The Hyped team was
A DARLINGTON hotel has a new name and a new manager. The New Grange Hotel has been renamed Hotel Bannatyne and John Price, 26, from Ingleton, near Darlington, is the new manager. Mr Price graduated with a hotel management degree from Sheffield's Hallam
People who live near a park in Derwentside say they have used an open space earmarked for development as a village green for over a century. However, following a lengthy campaign, their application to have it registered as a public space is expected to
TWO men involved in a late-night drunken brawl over Christmas have been spared jail. Marc Connell, 26, and Dean Bell, 19, were each given 100-hour community punishment orders and told to pay £127 court costs after they admitted using threatening behaviour
THE future of a community education service that catered for 3,500 students last year has been thrown into doubt. Ripon College announced on Wednesday that it would withdraw from the local management and delivery of the service at the end of September
The banking sector will come under close scrutiny next week with most of the major players queuing up to report on their first-half performance. HSBC will kick off a busy week on Monday with analysts predicting that it will reveal that first-half profits
MORE than 40 social services workers are celebrating after gaining nationally-recognised qualifications over the past few months. Many of the staff work directly with people in their own homes, day centres, or residential establishments. Some have gained
RECORD numbers of disabled horse riders have turned out for the Riding for the Disabled Association's Unicorn Centre Summer Show. Fifty-three people who ride at the Hemlington Centre entered many of the classes, including best turned-out, dressage, jumping
FREE home insulation has been installed in nearly 500 private properties in east Durham since the launch of a keep warm scheme for the elderly. Easington District Council has spent more than £175,000 installing free loft and cavity wall insulation, as
CALLS from Chester-le-Street schoolchildren for action to tackle Third World poverty have reached the highest level of Government. Messages for rich countries to help developing nations in Africa, where children are unable to go to school because of grinding
POLICE in north Durham suspect the same gang of criminals struck at two properties close to each other on Thursday night and are appealing to the public for information. The first house to be targeted was in Pikesyde, a cul-de-sac in Dipton, where the
RESIDENTS are celebrating after they blocked a pub's plan to extend opening hours. Neighbours said some drinkers coming out of the Endeavour Hotel, in Middlesbrough, urinate in front gardens and damage cars. Middlesbrough Council has refused a variation
A BAN on off-road vehicles using green lanes in the Yorkshire Dales has been extended. North Yorkshire County Council decided to apply the restriction on four country lanes for a further year. The ban was imposed in March last year amid fears 4x4 vehicles
EDUCATION chiefs have defended a decision to increase the price of school dinners. From September, a meal at a primary school in North Yorkshire will rise from £1.42 to £1.54. North Yorkshire County Council says this still represents good value for money
THE case for a cut in the cost of borrowing was strengthened last night by figures showing that personal debt rose at its lowest rate in more than two years last month. Growth in total net lending to individuals increased by 11.1 per cent on the previous
AS his much-publicised striker search continues to draw a blank, Newcastle manager Graeme Souness has identified Kieron Dyer as the man to solve his side's goalscoring problems. With Shola Ameobi unlikely to feature in the first month of the season because
A Grand National-winning racehorse trainer who was fined more than £50,000 for failing to pay VAT has had the charge cut by a Crown Court judge. Norman Mason was ordered to pay £54,000 by magistrates in December after accepting that three of his companies
THE police described it as their "best day yet" as all four failed London bomb suspects were arrested in armed raids yesterday. It was indeed a very good day for us all because, not only were the suspected bombers placed in custody, but no-one was hurt
THE makers of Wallace and Gromit's favourite cheese have won a number of awards at an international show. Wensleydale Creameries won 15 medals at the Nantwich International Cheese Show, which attracted 30,000 people from all over the world. Wensleydale's
All four members of a suspected suicide bomb gang were in custody last night after anti-terror police scored a major breakthrough. The three suspects who were still on the run were captured yesterday - two days after the fourth had been arrested in Birmingham
SUSPICIONS about child abduction attempts were raised again last night, after it emerged two incidents involving white vans have been reported in Darlington in the past ten days. Police moved quickly to reassure concerned parents, but reissued safety
RAILWAY bosses have demanded that action is taken against speeding on a treacherous stretch of road after a car crashed through a barrier and landed on a track - for the third time in seven days. A woman was taken to hospital for a precautionary check
Read more about Sunderland here. AS his much-publicised striker search continues to draw a blank, Newcastle manager Graeme Souness has identified Kieron Dyer as the man to solve his side's goalscoring problems. With Shola Ameobi unlikely to feature in
A MONK has been warned he is facing a prison sentence after admitting years of sexual abuse against boys. Father Gregory Carroll, 66, pleaded guilty at York Crown Court to 14 sex charges against ten boys, committed when they were under 15 years old. The
NOT for nothing did Rudyard Kipling name his most famous poem "If". In the context of Kipling's work, the single word encapsulates the inspiration and motivation that can be derived from self-empowerment and personal integrity. It hammers home the power
Old TV shows are finding a new life on DVD - and it seems we can't get enough of them. Edward and Mrs Simpson, Mr T from The A-Team and Thomas Hardy's Jude The Obscure might not seem to have much in common. But all are playing a part in proving that old
EUROPE'S biggest free airshow will go ahead in Sunderland today, despite mist and drizzle forcing the cancellation of a preview event yesterday. The 17th Sunderland Airshow, centred on the seafront at Seaburn, will take place between 10am and 6pm today
NEWCASTLE is the worst area in the country for binge-drinking, according to a study produced for the Department of Health. Newcastle is narrowly ahead of Liverpool, with almost 30 per cent of people regularly binge-drinking, and other North-East areas
DURHAM equalled their record of six championship wins in a season when Gareth Breese and Mick Lewis bowled them to a 207-run win against Somerset at Taunton yesterday. The six wins in 1999 earned a place in the inaugural division one and Durham will be
WITH the start of the Premiership season just 14 days away, Sunderland full-back Stephen Wright is ready to right a few wrongs. The former Liverpool defender is one of the few survivors from the Black Cats' last ill-fated season in the top-flight - a
Founded by the Lord God and funded by the Marchioness of Londonderry - about which enigmatic aristocrat much more shortly - the church of Christ Church, New Seaham, celebrated last Sunday the 150th anniversary of its stone laying. There'd also been a
THE young members of the Skerne Park-based Little EE's Club, in Darlington, were presented with £2,135 by the County Durham Foundation Trust. The club spent some of the money on a trip to Beamish Open Air Museum. Pictured above are the club members with
PEOPLE in Stanley are being encouraged to attend informal police surgeries to report problems. The idea from the Green Corridor Neighbourhood Partnership and Durham Constabulary is to improve community relations between officers and members of the public
A BOY was spared jail yesterday after admitting to magistrates: "I know I am on my last chance." The 15-year-old was told that if he appeared in court again he would be jailed. The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted breaching a referral
A TEENAGER who claims his family had been tormented by a group of youths assaulted one of the gang at a party. The boy, 17, claimed he had been involved in a two-year feud with several other teenagers, which boiled over at an event in the Beehive pub,
STAFF at a travel agents cast aside their uniforms and slipped into something a little more comfortable yesterday. Employees at Travelcare, in Newgate Street, Bishop Auckland, held a pyjama party, donning their nightwear and slippers. But it was not merely
RESIDENTS are being urged to give their views on how Darlington Borough Council should spend an extra £2.5m on improving roads and pavements. The council is planning to spend the money, as well as its usual road maintenance budget, on problems on roads
POLICE are to crack down on mobile phone crime following research showing 60 per cent of reported thefts were fraudulent. Last year, 3,642 mobile phones were reported stolen in North Yorkshire. The figure accounts for 5.57 per cent of all crimes. North
PEOPLE booking their holidays had a surprise when they called in to one Durham travel agents yesterday. For instead of wearing their usual smart uniforms, staff at Travelcare in North Road, Durham, came to work in their pyjamas as part of a fundraising
THE campaign to save Hurworth School has been backed by one of Darlington's biggest employers. Cummins Engines, whose Yarm Road factory borders the proposed site of the new school, described the plans as "crazy". The company employs 1,000 people and as
STUDENTS and staff at a Spennymoor school have been rewarded for promoting healthy lifestyles even before celebrity chef Jamie Oliver put it on the political agenda. Tudhoe Grange School, near Spennymoor, has been awarded a healthy schools award for reaching
YOUNGSTERS attending a summer activity camp were invited to a presentation ceremony. More than 100 school children aged ten and 11 are taking part in the camp at Peterlee Leisure Centre. And yesterday, chairwoman of Easington District Council, Joyce Maitland
RESIDENTIAL developments on Teesside could have underground recycling facilities in their grounds. Stockton Borough Council is planning to excavate land near three blocks of flats to give residents a chance to recycle their waste. The scheme would provide
PAUL Collingwood continued to press his claims for a place in the England team for the second Test when he became the first Durham player to score two hundreds in a championship match yesterday. With the England squad for Edgbaston due to be announced
A POLICE officer who resigned after making and possessing child pornography was yesterday jailed for eight months. Family man David Bright, 41, a former police constable with the Northumbria force, had pleaded guilty to 43 charges. Bright was sentenced
THE takeover of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) by two rival operators would substantially lessen competition, a regulatory body warned yesterday. The Competition Commission said it had provisionally found that a merger with either Deutsche Boerse or
Darlington's pre-season preparations ended on a winning note at Durham City last night. Adrian Webster, Akpo Sodje, skipper Matt Clarke, Stephen Thomas and Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu grabbed the goals in a comfortable 5-1 win for Quakers, with Michael McKay
GEORGE Boateng has told Middlesbrough team-mate Massimo Maccarone he needs to "get tough" if he is to succeed in the Premiership. Maccarone was a last-minute addition to the Boro squad that is currently playing in a four-team tournament on the Algarve
A POLICE officer who resigned after making and possessing child pornography was yesterday jailed for eight months. Family man David Bright, 41, a former police constable with the Northumbria force, had pleaded guilty to 43 charges. Bright was sentenced
DENNIS Hobbs is set to make his World Superbike debut next weekend after his Nvidia Yamaha team were given a wild card entry to the race at Brands Hatch. The FIM, the International Motorcycling Federation, has confirmed Nvidia's place on the grid thanks
A WOMAN who pretended she had three disabled babies to fraudulently claim £60,000-worth of benefits was jailed for 12 months yesterday in the largest case of its kind in the North-East. The 38-year-old mother-of-three admitted stealing from the Inland
OIL prices rose above $60 a barrel yesterday after an explosion at one of BP's refineries in the US. The blast happened at the company's Texas City plant on Thursday night. It is the second explosion to hit the refinery since March, when 15 people were
A TOP North-East athlete enjoyed a jog through a town centre to promote a road race next month. Morag McDonnell, the inter-counties 5,000m champion, ran along Darlington's High Row. She will be one of more than 1,000 people expected to take part in the
Old TV shows are finding a new life on DVD - and it seems we can't get enough of them. Edward and Mrs Simpson, Mr T from The A-Team and Thomas Hardy's Jude The Obscure might not seem to have much in common. But all are playing a part in proving that old
MUSIC fans mingled with drinkers in Darlington's Market Square last night to listen to a group of bands hoping to make it into the big time. The TFM Unsigned night, saw Darlington band The Fray, amongst others, appear on stage to prove they are the best
FINDING winners on the final day of Glorious Goodwood looks even more difficult than usual with the possible exception of Karen's Caper (2.30) in the Group 1 Nassau Stakes. John Gosden's high-class filly finished fourth in the 1000 Guineas, a performance
A FAVOURITE North-East television newsreader is recovering at home following an operation to remove a blood clot from his leg. Tyne Tees Television anchorman Mike Neville was allowed home from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Thursday. He will not be returning
A DOG owner was spared prison yesterday after he left his pet to starve to death. Magistrates heard how the rottweiler dog was so emaciated it could barely stand up when RSPCA inspectors were called to a house in South Church, near Bishop Auckland, County
Alan O'Brien was the hero last night as Newcastle cantered to a 4-0 victory against Hartlepool at Victoria Park. The fleet-footed wide man dazzled the Pool defence in a mesmerising opening 45 minutes of bewitching wing play. Manager Graeme Souness could
A REDISCOVERED letter has raised serious doubt that George Stephenson really deserved the title Father of the Railways. The controversial letter was sent from Stephenson to Timothy Hackworth, fellow pioneer of the world's first passenger train from Darlington
A MAN who subjected his girlfriend to months of abuse and threats has been locked up for two years. Judge Leslie Spittle also placed a restraining order on Michael Walker, 34, and warned him he could be jailed for a further five years if he approaches
TWO brothers were jailed for 15 months yesterday after admitting stealing 37 radios from parked cars. On July 8, Anthony Donaldson, 43, of Daventry Avenue, Ragworth, Stockton, and his brother, Barry, 36, of Richard Hind Walk, Stockton, pleaded guilty
THE number of first-time buyers in rural areas is in serious decline, figures reveal today. The number of people getting their foot on the property ladder is lowest in the Hambleton district, where house prices have soared. Elsewhere, the Wear Valley
