FIVE weeks ago Middlesbrough were a club in crisis. Fast forward to Saturday March 5 and three successive league victories have all but guaranteed Premiership survival. The club are two wins from an FA Cup final appearance and on Thursday, Boro have a
Today marks the start of Fairtrade fortnight, when ethical trading will top the agenda, but what exactly is this - and who does it help? Women's Editor Sarah Foster asks Cristina Talens, a woman at the coal face. IT was as a student in Leeds that Cristina
Joe Calzaghe defied injury to produce one of the greatest performances of all time by a British boxer and unify the world super-middleweight titles in Manchester. Calzaghe annihilated America's IBF champion and supposed next big thing Jeff Lacy, flooring
A BEMUSED Mick McCarthy last night admitted he could not excuse the "ridiculous" handball that led to the dismissal of Sunderland skipper Gary Breen in the latter stages of yesterday's 2-1 defeat to Manchester City. And, as he bemoaned the litany of "
Crook Town have a glorious history and this year's FA Vase run presented an opportunity for the team of 2006 to become local heroes for a new generation. At the start of the season chances of the Vase being Crook's first piece of silverware for 40 years
ALAN SHEARER knows when it will be time to hang up his boots, and time on an illustrious playing career is fast approaching. But after spending three games on the sidelines through injury he was relieved to return to Newcastle United's starting line-up
A NORTH-EAST MP who persuaded the Government to improve treatment guidelines for young heart patients has reacted angrily to news that most of the NHS is ignoring the advice. A year ago, Stockton South MP Dari Taylor was celebrating after the Government
DURHAM City will be hoping centre Richard Stanley was their only casualty from Saturday's 22-12 home win against Alnwick as they prepare to visit Beverley. They need to overhaul the East Yorkshire club, who are just above them in second place in North
LAST week marked the start of Lent, a 40-day period in which Christians abstain from something dear to them to reaffirm their faith. Sunderland are likely to have relinquished their Premiership status by the time Easter Day arrives but, on the evidence
The region's first-ever magnetic resonance research centre opened its doors today, paving the way for new treatments for illnesses like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. The key feature of the 5m Newcastle University Centre for Magnetic Resonance Studies
POLICE in the region have launched a crackdown on football-related offences to weed out potential troublemakers before this summer's World Cup. The initiative, which has been cautiously welcomed by supporters groups, emerged after four North-East supporters
DIRECTOR Roger Donaldson admits that last time he and Anthony Hopkins worked together on a movie they fought like cat and dog. "He was difficult, I was difficult. I was young and very demanding. Neither of us was going to give any quarter to the other
TWO managers, two clubs suffering from different fortunes, two strikers told the tale. But while Steve Bruce and Birmingham City were suffering with Emile Heskey at his weak and woeful worst, Steve McClaren and Middlesbrough had Mark Viduka. And that
ALAN SHEARER knows when it will be time to hang up his boots, and time on an illustrious playing career is fast approaching. But after spending three games on the sidelines through injury he was relieved to return to Newcastle United's starting line-up
BIRD hides have been built by Northumbrian Water at two of its reservoirs in the North-East. The company has spent £12,000 on hides at Kielder Water and Whittle Dene Reservoir, both in Northumberland. The Kielder facility is especially good for spotting
THE ruling Liberal Democrat group on Durham City Council has won a regeneration award from party chiefs. They received the Regeneration and Culture Liberal Democrat Council Group of the Year accolade, at the spring conference, in Harrogate, from new national
A CHARITY is holding an event to show people with mental illness the help it can give them to enable them to find work. The Shaw Trust, which runs a project that gives support to 124 sufferers in County Durham, will hold the free Road to Recovery event
A SCHEME has been launched to turn school pupils into sports ambassadors, to spread the word among other youngsters. Workshops are being held at the University of Teesside, at Middlesbrough, for 14 to 16-year-olds, led by professional athletes. Organisers
A BOXING club from Bishop Auckland has got into the ring with the Army, after securing a sponsorship deal. JJ Boxing Club, based at the town's Four Clocks Centre, has received funding for training tops for all of its 144 members, after providing training
A WEBSITE has been launched to showcase local artists. Arts in Richmond provides an online home for the town's painters and writers. The site includes information on exhibitions and galleries, as well as offering practical and technical advice. Among
TWELVE church schools are to get grants totalling £1,162,000 in the next financial year to carry out improvements. The biggest scheme, costing £290,000 is at All Saints CofE School, Kirkby Overblow, which aims to improve cramped conditions. A report to
residents are being asked to give their views on plans to provide improved accommodation for people with learning disabilities. The future of the Greenbank Unit, in Darlington, which provides respite and residential care for people with learning disability
RESIDENTS on a derelict housing estate are to hold a candlelit vigil this week to raise awareness about poor lighting and infestations of rats around their homes. The families still living in the condemned St Hilda's area of Middlesbrough claimed they
A WOMAN was recovering in hospital last night after suffering hypothermia when she fell through the ice into a frozen pond. The woman, who is in her 50s, is believed to have gone onto the ice in pursuit of her dog, but the ice cracked, plunging her into
THE Heritage Lottery Fund has given £25,200 towards the restoration of the Esh Winning Colliery Banner. The 1940s icon, which features Durham NUM's headquarters on one side and a miner and coal owner shaking hands before an angel on the other, has been
A meeting which could determine the fate of planned new North-East train services will be held today. The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) will host a hearing at the request of GNER, at which rival railway company Grand Central is expected to be present
AS far as Glenn Roeder is concerned, nothing has changed. He continues to claim he only expects to be Newcastle United's manager on a temporary basis while chairman Freddy Shepherd searches the globe for a permanent boss. But, having extended an unbeaten
POLICE investigating a murder they believe may have been racially-motivated said they had received a disappointing response from the public. Lee Phipps was white, but he and his mother, Barbara Yusuf-Porter, whose father came from Somalia, claimed to
NO DOUBT Kendal will muster greater resistance on their own pitch when Mowden Park go there next Saturday, but the Cumbrians might also find themselves up against a stronger team. With Tim Visser available after suspension and players like fly half Anthony
DAVID Milliband may well be right. Suggestions that Tessa Jowell's separation from her husband was orchestrated by Alistair Campbell may indeed be rubbish. It may simply be the case that the marriage - under intense pressure because of David Mills' peculiar
A COMMUNITY transport scheme is celebrating after winning funding to cover its costs for the next two years. The European Regional Development Fund is giving £87,773 to East Durham Community Transport. This follows the group getting £78,822 from the Coalfields
Sunderland have sacked manager Mick McCarthy after three years in charge on Wearside. With the Black Cats rooted to the foot of the Premiership table with just ten points from 28 matches, the board terminated McCarthy's contract after a brief meeting
A DRIVING instructor accused of groping a teenage pupil claimed she was flirtatious in previous lessons. Neil Hopper said he asked the 18-year-old student to tone down her behaviour. The 37-year-old married father-of-three was giving evidence on the second
Parkinson (ITV1) Dancing On Ice (ITV1) Planet Earth (BBC1) ONCE upon a time a Prime Minster appearing on Parkinson would have been a big deal, a TV event equivalent to the Queen and Prince Charles doing The Generation Game. These days viewers are more
ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have turned to magic to halt quarrying in the area around an ancient monument. A spell published on a message board run by campaign group Timewatch claims to cause financial difficulties for commercial land developers. The group
HOUSE prices in the region are expected to be among the highest risers in the country this year. Prices are expected to rise by up to nine per cent as buyers return to the market place. Experts believe a combination of low interest rates, attractive mortgages
POP duo The Pet Shop Boys are to play a concert at the Swan Hunter shipyard on Tyneside with the Northern Sinfonia. Neil Tennant, who was born in North Shields, North Tyneside, and Chris Lowe will perform a new soundtrack to the 1925 film Battleship Potemkin
TALKS are to resume over moves to submit a new bid for £24m in Government funding to help restore a North-East theatre to its former glory. Stockton Borough Council, management company Riverside Leisure and residents' action group the Billingham Partnership
PAUL Stephenson's Hartlepool United squad is being boosted with the return of Joel Porter and Hugh Robertson. And the Pool boss also has Michael Proctor available after the former Sunderland striker bagged a hat-trick in last week's friendly win at Gretna
POLICE in the region have launched a crackdown on football-related offences to weed out potential troublemakers before this summer's World Cup. The initiative, which has been cautiously welcomed by supporters groups, emerged after four North-East supporters
The brain of a toddler killed by a babysitter is to be finally returned to his family after an agonising 18 month wait. Kyle Fisher's brain was removed in an autopsy and then, following the conviction of Suzanne Holdsworth for murder, retained by her
A MAYOR is calling for more businesses to apply a smoking ban on their premises. With one person dying every day in Middlesbrough from smoking-related illnesses, Mayor Ray Mallon says that, just as smokers have the right to choose whether to light up,
A SCHEME that aims to provide the very best in services and support for young people in Hartlepool is expected to be approved next month Hartlepool Borough Council has carried out borough-wide consultation on the Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP
A BID to pull down a small Edwardian property and replace it with a five-bedroomed detached house has been rejected by councillors. Members had been strongly recommended to refuse the application at the junction of Leadhall Lane and Byways, Harrogate,
A TEENAGE karate ace has set his sights on competing at the 2012 Olympics. Aaron Swales, 18, of Sydall's Way, Catterick Village, won gold in only his second competition last month. He was runner-up in his first competition last year. The brown belt, a
AN operation to clean up a town estate has been hailed a success. Residents and councillors have praised the Sedgefield Community Safety Partnership for its efforts in the four-week operation in the Jubilee area of Shildon. The action, which took place
CHURCHES in North Yorkshire have been signed up to help during a future emergency. North Yorkshire County Council has invited Church of England and Methodist churches to help prepare a community emergency plan. The plan covers the area near Thirsk hit
A FAMILY has been devastated by the theft of a disabled women's motability vehicle in a burglary - only a week after it was delivered. In the early hours of Wednesday a thief forced open a window at the rear of a house in Ashdown Way, Billingham, Teesside
BUDDING actors received rave reviews when they took to the stage in pantomime. Youngsters involved in the Fishburn Pantomime Project performed Sleeping Beauty to packed audiences over six nights at Fishburn Youth and Community Centre. The panto helped
POLICE in Crook say a week-long crackdown on drunken and rowdy behaviour by teenagers has been warmly welcomed by local people. Operation Cosmo saw police and community support officers join forces with staff from Durham County Council's trading standards
HEALTH chiefs' plans to close a ward for elderly patients could sound the death knell for a small community hospital. The County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals Trust is to carry out consultations on shutting the 20-bed Holmside Ward at South Moor
A COMMUNITY transport scheme is celebrating after winning funding to cover its costs for the next two years. The European Regional Development Fund is giving £87,773 to East Durham Community Transport. This follows the group getting £78,822 from the Coalfields
THE group behind plans for a new children's play park is pleased with the response to a consultation day. The EQUal Partnership wants to create the area in Langley Park, which will be called Sir Bobby Robson Park, after the former Newcastle United manager
AFTER descending from 10,300ft, travelling at up to 136mph, 83-year-old George Hodgson landed safely and declared his first parachute jump to be magic. "I would do it again, but I'd make sure I had warmer gloves on. "It was very cold up there," said the
WHEN Mark Viduka last started a game for Middlesbrough the day almost ended in a bout of fisticuffs between the striker and a home supporter in the Riverside car park. His latest showing on Teesside didn't result in anything as acrimonious but he did
Pam Gems, one of the country's leading playwrights, sees the world premier of her new play at York this month. She talks to Steve Pratt about motherhood, feminism and writing her first play when she was eight. AS a girl, Pam Gems would queue up at the
DAVID HODGSON may have been left frustrated by the weekend's freeze, but the Darlington manager was able to draw some positives from Saturday's postponement at Rochdale. Quakers are now eight points adrift of a play-off place after six of 12 games in
WORKERS are prepared to spend longer commuting in their cars so they can return home to an idyllic village life. But that is having an effect on property prices. The phenomenon, which is having an effect on house prices in the Yorkshire Dales, came under
