Sometimes it can be hard to understand people from Cockfield, as a lot of us have the ‘Teesdale Twang’, things often get lost in translation. Although our accent seems to be softening with time, the real ’Fell Men’ (A man born and bred in Cockfield
FUNDING has been secured to convert a disused children’s home into a new £526,000 centre which aims to provide a one-stop shop for families. Plans for a long-awaited Sure Start Centre in Darlington’s Haughton area have been submitted to Darlington
IT was full steam ahead for some of the North-East’s global residents as they were granted British citizenship at a ceremony conducted at a railway museum. Darlington Railway Museum - Head of Steam held a citizenship ceremony for the first time ever
PRESSURE is mounting on Darlington Borough Council to change its policy on combating speeding motorists in rural villages. As reported last week, Sadberge Parish Council was told it would not be allowed to purchase and operate a speed indicator sign
A REWARD is on offer for the return of a piece of equipment which fell from a vintage motorbike. Wallace Holmes is desperate to find the tool box, which fell from his 1912 Rudge TT bike while he was preparing it for a charity run at the end of last
LITTLE money may be redeemed from a former nursing home administrator who stole thousands of pounds of residents’ money. Brenda Allen, now 45, took £5,900 belonging to four residents at Abigail Lodge Nursing Home, in Consett, County Durham,
A MONTHLY farmers’ market staged in Durham city centre has won a recognised quality ‘kite mark’. The National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association (FARMA) has awarded official certification for the market, which takes place every third Thursday of
RESIDENTS will come together this weekend to clean up their communities. Members of the community in Blackhill, Benfieldside, Bridgehill and Shotley Bridge will take to the streets on Saturday to collect litter and generally tidy up the area. The clean-up
UNIVERSITY students who have made a difference to local community groups are to be honoured at a ceremony tomorrow. Durham University’s annual Student Community Action awards evening - nicknamed the oSCArs - takes place in the Howlands Buidling, at Josephine
Tomorrow's edition of The Northern Echo will be dominated by the trial of Peter Chapman, the Facebook murderer, who killed 17-year-old Darlington student Ashleigh Hall. National newspapers will almost certainly lead also lead their front
ASHLEIGH Hall's mother said more should have been done to monitor her daughter's murderer after he was released from prison. Speaking outside Teesside Crown Court, Andrea Hall said: "Them sort of people should be tagged and they should be kept
A NEW worker will help young people discover alternative options to alcohol in Teesdale. YMCA Barnard Castle have appointed Natasha Bree who has filled the post of alcohol worker. Miss Bree will be devising a number of programmes including
TWO female betting shop attendants were threatened at knife point and locked in a back room when two men raided a bookmakers. The robbers struck at the Coral shop, in Durham Road, Chilton, County Durham, at around 7.30pm on Friday night. One man entered
A HISTORIC street lined with 15th century buildings in the region has been crowned as Britain’s most picturesque street. Voters on the Google Street View Awards competition awarded the title to the Shambles, in York, yesterday. More than 11,000 people
CONVICTED sex offender Peter Chapman, 33, was today sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 35 years after admitting the kidnap, rape and murder of teenager Ashleigh Hall. Chapman, 33, changed his plea to guilty this morning
SMOKERS trying to quit the habit are being urged to accept help in stubbing out their cigarettes for good. Wednesday is national No Smoking Day and the North Yorkshire Stop Smoking Service is encouraging smokers to finally clean up their act
A HEROIN addict who stabbed a ''defenceless'' North-East student to death in a bungled burglary was today jailed for a minimum of 26 years. Prolific burglar Gareth Brear, 31, pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to the murder of 20-year-old Joe Cook in
THE artistic talents of great-grandmother Margaret McKay are being showcased at the Civic Centre in Northallerton. The 76-year-old has been painting for 40 years - and her first paintings of roses and a cat are now on display al0ng with her
Seaham Golf Club will be celebrating its centenary in 2011 and one of the events being arranged is a Centenary Open Texas Scramble, when exciting special sponsored prizes will be being played for. This year there are two qualifying open
LORRIES are to be permanently banned from overtaking during the daytime on two stretches of a busy motorway. The ban is to come into force on the A1(M) in County Durham from March 31, following an 18-month trial which the Highways Agency claims led to
DRUGS with an estimated street value of more than £19,000 were seized during a series of raids on homes in East Durham, it has been revealed. Ten people were also arrested during a week-long multi-agency crackdown on crime, anti-social behaviour and
OLDER motorists who want to improve their driving skills and take the stress out of journeys are being offered help. Drivers aged 50 and above are being encouraged to attend a free roadshow on Saturday (MARCH 13) at the primary School at Croft-on-Tees
THE fire and rescue service in North Yorkshire is trying to recruit more part-time firefighters in the Masham area. A special awareness event is being held at the fire station in Masham on March 17 2010 from 4pm to 9pm. Organiser Ian Perkins said: "
A MAN will this afternoon be sentenced for the kidnap, rape and murder of Darlington teenager Ashleigh Hall. Peter Chapman, 33, changed his plea to guilty this morning on the day he was due to face trial at Teesside Crown Court. Peter
IT emerged after his guilty pleas that Peter Chapman - who was brought up by his grandparents in Stockton-on-Tees, Teesside, has a long history of sexual offending. In 1992, aged 15, he was the subject of a sexual assault investigation and
WEIGHTY ISSUES As Lucy planned her wedding She knew she must lose weight If she was to wear a wedding gown And fit through the old church gate. Quite a catch was Trevor Ball She’d do anything to keep him Even if that meant dieting And joining
SEX offender Peter Chapman, 33, today admitted at Teesside Crown Court the kidnap, rape and murder of teenager Ashleigh Hall. Ashleigh's mother, Andrea Hall, broke down in tears as he made the guilty pleas. Chapman, a registered sex
Magician Matthew Dowden turned his back on the law to take up a stage career. But he’s not averse to a spot of ‘theft’, he tells Steve Pratt. Before you alert the police, I should point out that he does it for a living – as a magician.
About a thousand films about coal mining have been restored and are going on show. Steve Pratt looks at the footage of an industry often fraught with danger but sometimes lightened by humour. FROM industrial conflict to pit disasters – films about
AN inquiry into the 1,700 job losses at the mothballed Corus steelworks has this morning been published. The report by a commitee of MPs is urging the company to re-open Teesside Cast Products at Redcar as soon as steel prices rise.
A BRITISH soldier has been killed in an explosion while on foot patrol in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said today. The soldier, from 1 Rifles, died following the blast near the Sangin district of Helmand Province yesterday afternoon. His family
HOW many readers have noticed of late that when people are greeting members of the Royal Family they are there cheering and waving little Union Jacks on sticks with the flag upside down? These must be made abroad or just stuck together quickly
RE your letters on the above subject (HAS, March 4). On a recent motorway trip we overtook a car, cruising in the middle lane, driven by a young woman who was texting. As a passenger I was able to get a clear view and was dumbfounded. There was
PRIOR to the London premier of The Shouting Men, Warren Llambias, co-writer, producer and star of the movie, was quoted as saying to sports writers: “I know you all hate my dad, but come and see the film in any case.” Warren’s father is
A Band For Britain (BBC2, 9pm); Women (BBC4, 9pm) THIRTY years ago, there were more than 35,000 registered brass bands playing in all four corners of the UK. Today, only 700 remain. This alarming decline shows no sign of abating, but
ON TV last week we saw Communities Secretary John Denham, specially flown in from London, being hauled around Darlington Town Centre by council officials and some of his Labour chums. And what did they show him, as a symbol of Darlington’s
SPENNYMOOR has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs during the past decade from factories which also employed workers from surrounding villages. My petition calling for special help for the area is still open. However, I need a sharp influx of
THIS present Labour Government spent 700-plus hours of parliamentary time to bring in an imperfect law banning hunting with dogs. If that time had instead been used debating and considering an energy policy for this country we would not now be
I WAS pleased to attend the recent public meeting about late-hours licensing in Durham City, which was called by our MP, Roberta Blackman-Woods (Echo, March 1). I am really glad we have an MP who sees it as part of her job to organise these public
I LIVE in South-East England, but was born and bred in Sunderland. I was able, via satellite TV, to watch the BBC Inside Out programme which featured Sunderland city councillor Peter Maddison’s efforts to bring the remains of the City of Adelaide
OFTEN remembered for the wrong reasons, Michael Foot was nevertheless revered for those things that have been important in the history of the Labour movement – reforming and radical with a rigorous desire for change. He fought against injustice
WHEN performers take to the stage, they run the risk of a bad review. It comes with the territory. And some reviews can be really bad. Dancing On Ice judge Jason Gardiner attracted 443 complaints when he condemned a performance by former swimming
I SEE from the media that even Tory “deputy leader” William Hague has been kept in the dark over the millions Lord Ashcroft hasn’t paid in British tax. He must be livid after going on record saying that Michael Ashcroft would be a British citizen
Bestselling writer Joanna Trollope walked the streets of the North-East researching her latest novel. She tells Steve Pratt why she came North and why she finds the term Aga saga patronising. "YOU know, I was just about to give you a gold star for
WEST Auckland manager Peter Dixon says there’s no pressure on his players as they continued their escape from relegation with a 3-0 home win over Ashington. Four wins from their last six games have lifted West from bottom to third bottom, seven
NORTON manager Conrad Hillerby admitted his side weren’t good enough to cause an FA Carlsberg Vase quarter-final upset at Barwell. Norton’s finest Vase campaign ended when they conceded three second half goals, and Hillerby admitted: “We huffed
HARTLEPOOL are not out of the woods yet but they have every chance of avoiding the wooden spoon after romping to a five-goal win at Silksworth. The visitors, now eight points ahead of bottom-of-thetable Willington, scored twice in the opening
FOOTBALL captivates the hearts and minds of many of us. Growing up there have been heroes and villains, all of whom manage to grab the headlines. But for some it is for all the wrong reasons. Controversy has a habit of being the dominant feature
LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez will warn his players against complacency when they face Wigan tonight by pointing to December’s defeat at Portsmouth. Having beaten the Latics three days previously, the Reds travelled to Fratton Park to face
Wolves 0 Manchester United 1 PAUL SCHOLES breathed a sigh of relief after finally notching his 100th Premier League goal – now he can look ahead to far more important honours. Once a prolific scorer, Scholes found the net for the 98th time in
IN the ODI against Bangladesh played on Sunday, February 28, Paul Collingwood reached another milestone in his international career when he took his 100th catch in ODIs. He thus joined a select group of players who have scored 1,000 runs, taken
IF ENGLAND expect to succeed in the World Cup it’s about time that the John Terry-Wayne Bridge saga was put to bed (excuse the pun). The moralists have made a crisis out of a mundane situation that is threatening a country’s football ambitions
TO THOSE 1,500 loyal Darlington supporters it now looks as though as George Reynolds was right. He stated “We’ll be in the Premier League in five years.” Looks he got it right, but it will be the Blue Square Premier. Feethams is gone, as are
ANOTHER sporting week goes by and the headlines have a familiar ring to them. Michael Owen has done a hamstring and is out for the season. Not exactly a new story. Yet another South Africaborn cricketer has scored a century for England. Allan
QPR’S new manager Neil Warnock made an impressive start with a 3-1 win over promotion- chasing West Brom at Loftus Road. Warnock, who quit Crystal Palace to join QPR last week, looked on as goals from Jay Simpson, Matt Connolly and Akos Buzsaky
Arsenal 3 Burnley 1 ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger believes Theo Walcott has shown he is far from a soft touch. The Gunners forward produced the perfect response to his critics after a subdued display in the midweek international against Egypt, with
STEVE BRUCE will attempt to make Portsmouth loanee Jamie O’Hara his first summer signing provided Sunderland retain their Premier League status this season. Bruce signed seven players last summer, and the Black Cats boss expects to be similarly
DANNY COYNE has admitted the club’s lack of a cutting edge in front of goal is proving costly in their ambition to finish the season in a play-off place. Middlesbrough have scored only once from open play in the last five matches and the club
DARLINGTON manager Steve Staunton has received the backing of chairman Raj Singh, who has asked supporters to show patience. Saturday’s home defeat by Torquay was Quakers’ fifth in a row and means a miraculous effort is required if relegation
WITH Roy O’Donovan’s hattrick stealing the limelight on Saturday, Chris Turner had words of praise for Adam Boyd. The striker set up two of O’Donovan’s three goals as the pair quickly hit it off in their third game together. It was Hartlepool
Reading 2 Aston Villa 4 ASTON Villa manager Martin O’Neill challenged John Carew to build on his matchwinning hat-trick as Villa came from 2-0 down to dump Reading out of the FA Cup in a thrilling 4-2 quarter-final win. Villa looked hungover
Portsmouth 2 Birmingham 0 PORTSMOUTH veteran Hermann Hreidarsson ranks this season’s magical FA Cup run as a greater achievement than winning the competition two years ago. Hreidarsson was one of three survivors from the 2008 team who helped
A MAN is going on trial this morning for the rape and murder of Ashleigh Hall, from Darlington. The body of childcare student Ashleigh, 17, was found dumped in a farmer's field near Sedgefield, County Durham, in October, after she had gone
JONAS GUTIERREZ believes Newcastle will be back in the Premier League if they win their five remaining home games. Saturday’s 6-1 rout of Barnsley left the Magpies eight points clear of secondplaced Nottingham Forest, with a game in hand, and
POLICE would like to speak to these men in connection with an alleged shoplifting. A police spokesman said two men entered the Co-op store in Middle Street, Blackhall, at 7.30pm on Saturday December 5 last year. They both selected items from the
Chelsea 2 Stoke City 0 CHELSEA’S assistant coach Ray Wilkins hailed controversial captain John Terry as exceptional after the Blues overcame stubborn Stoke in the quarter-finals of FA Cup. Goals from Frank Lampard and Terry gave Chelsea a place
It was hard not to have been impressed by Merrqaad’s debut third at Kempton and he can get off the mark in the lingfieldpark. co.uk Maiden Stakes. A handsome chestnut by Haafhd, Marcus Tregoning’s youngster really took the eye in the preliminaries
DARLINGTON Mowden Park coach Pete Taylor was full of praise for captain and hooker Howie Murray following Saturday’s 19-8 win away to Sheffield Tigers. “Howie led from the front with his work-rate and ballcarrying,” said Taylor, who was also
Newcastle Falcons 13 Bath 17 NEWCASTLE’S hopes of a rare double over Bath disappeared as the visitors scored two second-half tries to come back from 10-5 down and win 17-13 at Kingston Park. The game ended in controversy with the referee blowing
Tynedale 55 Wharfedale 18 WHARFEDALE fans saw the trip to Corbridge as a pleasant day out, to what they consider the second most picturesque ground in the country. It turned rather sour in a one-sided second half, however. Coming from both sets
BRITISH tennis hit a new low yesterday with defeat by Lithuania in the Davis Cup. After James Ward’s loss to Ricardas Berankis, the result came down to the last singles rubber between Dan Evans and Laurynas Grigelis. The 18-year-old Lithuanian
AFTER three tours of duty with England, James Tredwell finally got the chance to take centre-stage yesterday. But he predicted the out-ofform Kevin Pietersen would soon be regaining the spotlight. Tredwell travelled to New Zealand with the one-day
MORE than 400 staff working mainly on IT contracts for the Department for Work and Pensions, as well as the Ministry of Defence and American car maker General Motors, will begin a 48-hour strike today. The staff are employed by Hewlett Packard
ENTREPRENEURS who can make a difference to the future of the regional economy and whose businesses have the potential to thrive are today urged to enter the third year of the If We Can, You Can challenge. The challenge, which has seen hundreds
A FINANCIAL advisor at Ellis Bates’ Harrogate office has gained chartered financial planner status. Anthony Roberts is one of only 2,000 chartered financial planners in the UK. Achieved by professional development and assessment through the
A COUNTY Durham estate agency has become the first firm in the region to take on an apprentice under a new initiative. Robinsons’ branch in Chester-le- Street has employed 17-year-old Yasmin Lazaro under the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (
A CHURCH has celebrated the official opening of its new home – in a multimillion pound business and conference centre. Members of the Xcel Church, in Newton Aycliffe, gathered on Saturday as one of the church’s key figures, Glyn Greenow, cut
AN engineering firm is to create 200 jobs, doubling its workforce, after securing hundreds of millions of pounds of advance orders for its technology for reducing truck emissions. County Durham based GT Group said a further 200 jobs at its plants
TENS of thousands of pounds could be spent on key services if a council slashes its magazine budget, according to opposition councillors. Liberal Democrat and Conservative members of Durham County Council have called for money-saving cuts
Hartlepool United 3 Southend United 0 SINCE emerging as the League of Ireland’s brightest talent in 2007, things haven’t gone according to plan for Roy O’Donovan. His big money move from Cork City to Sunderland failed to take off, as
Cardiff City 1 Middlesbrough 0 YOU’VE seen your best players sold and your team turn a promising start to the season into a mid-table berth with the play-offs an outside bet at best. With that on their plates Middlesbrough fans may think they
Newcastle 6 Barnsley 1 IN the Marvel comic book series, Spiderman’s greatest asset is his ability to ascend buildings and surfaces that cannot be climbed by mere mortals. Little wonder, then, that Jonas Gutierrez has made the moniker his own.
YORKSHIRE pudding makers could win the same protection afforded to Champagne and Parma ham producers to stop rivals from outside the county cashing in on the famous name, a regional food group says. The Sunday roast favourite could win European
A CHARITY will host a wedding fair for future brides and grooms planning their big day on a budget while supporting an overseas aid appeal. The British Red Cross shop, in Spennymoor, County Durham, is appealing for wedding clothes and accessories
VILLAGE children have helped compile an award-winning film record of one of the region’s shrinking rural communities. Pupils at Cotherstone Primary School, in Teesdale, County Durham, contributed to the film about hill farming, which was honoured
THE Government is creating an information vacuum over the Jon Venables case which the tabloid press is filling with its increasingly lurid speculation. When Venables was recalled to prison for breaching his licence, the speculation was that he
A COUPLE who raised £35,500 by taking more than 100 teddy bears to the Arctic Circle are to hold a reunion event. Heather Thompson and her husband, Geoff, will raise funds for St Teresa’s Hospice, Darlington, and the town’s branch of the MS
JAMES BULGER killer Jon Venables was recalled to prison on suspicion of child porn offences, using drugs and fears he had revealed his new identity, it was alleged yesterday. The claims about the 27- year-old convicted murderer, made in the
CAMPAIGNERS have called for a national debate about wind farms ahead of the General Election, during a conference in the North-East. Experts from a range of disciplines issued a number of warnings against wind farms at WindConf Conference 2010
A TEAM of retained firefighters will have a new base after plans to rebuild a station in the centre of Skelton were approved. People living nearby had raised concerns about parking and safety issues, but Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council’s planning
NEIGHBOURS are rallying around a widower after he found out the man who killed his wife had won an appeal to shorten his prison sentence. James Sugden’s wife, Elizabeth, was killed after she was hit by a motorbike being ridden at about 75mph by
CANNONS that have not been used since the Battle of Trafalgar were fired yesterday to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the death of one of Britain’s greatest naval heroes. Admiral Lord Collingwood took command of the British fleet during
VOLUNTEERS helped members of a conservation charity begin their final year of tree planting in a community woodland. The event, staged by the Woodland Trust, was held in White Hill Woods, near the former mining community of Easington Lane,
POLICE mounted another search of the River Wear in the hunt for missing Leanne Chambers at the weekend. Ms Chambers, 30, disappeared from the home she shares with Steven Crossland, in The Anchorage, Chester-le- Street, on February 23. Mr Crossland
THE head greenkeeper of an exclusive golf club who stored thousands of pounds worth of cocaine in his shed has been jailed for two-and-ahalf years. Stephen Russell, 33, was caught with more than £4,000- worth of the Class A drug when police raided
A POLICEMAN wants to find the original owner of a piece of force history after he recently purchased an engraved stirrup clock. Sergeant Tim Brown, of Hartlepool’s neighbourhood police team, came across the clock on an online auction site and
A FORMER airman who systematically abused a schoolboy has been jailed for eight years after a judge heard he has shown no remorse. Colin Hobby is said to have no understanding of how his vile actions more than two decades ago ruined the life of
A FATHER has expressed his shame after two boys – aged eight and nine – were spoken to by police investigating a suspected arson attack that destroyed a doctors’ surgery. Calling himself “So So Sorry, of Spennymoor”, the father of one of the
A FLAT has been seriously damaged by fire. Firefighters were called to the first floor property at The Wynd, Pelton, near Stanley, County Durham, at 9.31pm on Sunday night. Four breathing apparatus were in use with the flat said to be
