A MAN was convicted of burglary after breaking into his girlfriend's home to make sure she was not cheating on him. Darlington Magistrates' Court heard that Christopher Firth, 18, had endured an evening of taunts from his girlfriend over her relationship
The blog is taking a break and, seeing as things are on the quiet side in Cockfield, I thought I might take Mrs. Blog on a little jaunt! I’ll leave you with this little gem that was e-mailed to me by Jackie Marr… Enjoy! Have you ever spoken
A MAN was airlifted to hospital after a serious collision on the A1 involving a car and a van. The incident happened on the southbound carriageway between junctions 48 and 49, near Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, just after 3pm today when a Suzuki Swift
A DRIVER who survived a head-on crash between two buses in which one man died will not face prosecution, police confirmed tonight. Jack Hall, 51, was so severely injured in the horror smash that killed fellow driver Gordon Hutchinson, that there is no
I have spent many happy hours over the years with my children, splashing around in the swimming pool at Hambleton Leisure Centre in Northallerton. It is a family-friendly pool - a place where I always felt safe as a parent. But tonight the family of
TRAVEL writer Bill Bryson is lacing up his hiking boots for a charity walk. The Durham University chancellor will join Jon Davidson and Craig Wilson to walk coast to coast in aid of cancer charities. Professor Davidson, also from Durham University,
A SHOPPING centre will host a carnival-themed fun day to conclude a month of family events. To mark the final instalment in Durham’s Prince Bishops shopping centre’s Summer Sundays programme, a carnival is being planned. Inspired by London’s Notting
DURHAM’S riverbanks have been given a clean up. The work was part of a Week of Action organised by Durham County Council’s Durham Area Action Partnership, riverside rangers and other staff. Four fixed penalties were issued to litterers, Durham Sixth
LIZARDS, snakes and cockroaches were on show at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum this week. Martyn Pinto, from Animal Story, entertained 55 children and 30 adults at the museum, in Shildon, teaching them about the animals before offering youngsters
THERE was a nautical theme to a nursery’s open day in Coundon. The Coundon and Leeholme Early Years Centre, on Victoria Lane, brought in a replica beach, complete with sand, for youngsters to play with during an open day to showcase its new extension
FOOTBALL superstar David Beckham may be a fashion icon and the darling of the gossip columns but he’s also renowned for his taste in for flash cars. With Victoria by his side he likes to cut a dash on the roads and his choice of transportation has included
THIS year marks the 50th anniversary of the day the railways changed and diesels hit the tracks. And to mark the milestone the National Railway Museum in York is offering the chance for one enthusiast to play a small part in history. The museum is asking
A SHORT story competition will help commemorate a popular journalist at a Dales show next Wednesday. Jill Neill, Richmond and Dales reporter for The Northern Echo and Darlington & Stockton Times, lost her battle against ovarian cancer in October 2008
A 17-YEAR-old boy, who died trying to save a friend after they were caught by a rip current and swept out to sea was, on an outing from a psychiatric unit, it was revealed today. James Samuel Willis, aged 17, originally from Stockton, but now
FIVE football fans were arrested last night after a match between Accrington Stanley and Newcastle United, police said. Accrington fan Daniel Cruickshank, 18, of Church Street, Accrington, Lancashire, was charged with throwing a missile on to the pitch
Would you like to share news from your town with other readers here in our community pages? Well now you can - and it's as simple as clicking on a button. We have revamped the way readers can submit stories and photos to our website. All you
A HUNDRED gallons of heating oil spilled into the River Skerne in Darlington after thieves stole the tap off a fuel tank. A kilometre long slick stretches along the Skerne from Great Burdon to the Haughton Road bridge. The Environment Agency is working
DETAILS have emerged of the thousands of pounds worth of computer and telecoms equipment given free to councillors and council employees in Darlington. Darlington Borough Council supplied 198 Blackberry portable email devices to its staff and members
A DISTRAUGHT mother is trying to come to terms with the death of her eight-year-old son who drowned in a North Yorkshire swimming pool. Police have not yet officially named the boy, but he is understood to be Kaimen Ward. The youngster
Parker has moved on from Alan Bennett’s History Boys to the open air challenge of London’s The Globe Theatre. Viv Hardwick talks to the Darlington actor about hist latest success as Hal. IT’S electrical chaos at Darlington actor Jamie Parker’s new
Months of training and Jackie Chan’s stunt team were required to turn Michael Cera into a cinema version of comic book hero Scott Pilgrim. Steve Pratt talks to him and director Edgar Wright. IS it a film? Is it a video game? Is it a comic strip animation
Brenda Blethyn, Sotigui Kouyate 87 mins ★★★ ELIZABETH and Ousmane are from different backgrounds, different places, different religions but tied together by the bombings in London on July 7, 2005. They both arrive in the capital to search
Stars: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Alison Pill, Aubrey Plaza, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman, Johnny Simmons, Mark Webber, Mae Whitman, Ellen Wong 112 mins ★★★★ PERHAPS
Stars: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist, Peter 129 mins ★★★ THE first thing to be said about The Girl Who Played With Fire is that it’s not as good as the first one, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. That would be difficult as the
Steve Pratt looks at some of the mystery surrounding the success of the films taken from the work of Swedish writer Steig Larsson. A LOT of people are surprised when they learn the name of the writer who, in the past few years, has sold more
GYM Class Heroes’ frontman releases the first single from his debut solo album, Lazarus.The track features label-mate Bruno Mars who also lent his voice to B.O.B’s global smash Nothin On You. McCoy first achieved international stardom in 2006
FESTIVAL fever is still gripping the region, with Whitby’s event still in full flow until tomorrow night, and the Streets of Folk (full details on Page 5) forming part of a big music event in Durham City this weekend, most of which is free
DURHAM’s Gala Theatre has unveiled Ben Ingles as the actor playing North Yorkshire’s most famous fictional vet for next month’s world premiere of James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small. Ingles is a graduate of both the Royal Welsh College
August Bank Holiday is boasting three days of Play, Folk and Dance as Durham makes the most of the summer holidays. Viv Hardwick reports. DURHAM’S Streets Of... series of free Summer festivals are set to fill the historic city’s streets with buskers
CD REVIEWS: The Either/Orchestra: Mood Music for Time Travellers (Accurate 3285) It’s been a while since I heard the wonderfully named Either/Orchestra but this new album, celebrating their 25th anniversary, is as enjoyable and uplifting as ever
AT the beginning of the Eighties I was introduced to the music of Moe Bandy an ex rodeo clown who through his down home traditional sounds was gaining great chart success both with single and album releases. One of his singing buddies was Joe Stampley
REVIEWS: Wagner: Gotterdammerung, Halle Orchestra, Mark Elder (Halle CDHLD7525 or CDHLM7530). Recorded live over two nights at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall this performance is a musical triumph. Lars Cleveman plays Siegfried with insight, while
Leeds Festival is another sell-out and Lauren Pyrah talks to two North-East bands who are excited to be appearing. IN typical fashion, sell-out music events Leeds and Reading are once again going against the grain this year and taking festival-goers
It’s usually four hours long, but the latest hour-long version of Hamlet, heading for the North-East, aimed at young people is just as challenging, actor Dharmesh Patel tells Viv Hardwick. IF ever a cockney geezer was going to have a ghost of a
Hot Tub Time Machine (15, 94 mins, Twentieth Century Fox, DVD £19.99/Bluray £28.99) Stars: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Chevy Chase. PARTY guy Lou (Corddry) and childhood pals Adam (Cusack) and Nick (Robinson
THE third Limetree Festival takes place at Lime Tree Farm, Grewelthorpe, North Yorkshire, from Friday to Sunday, boasting big names and regional artists from the worlds of jazz, funk and soul. Pop punk stalwarts The Blockheads top the bill,
HERE in Soapland no one should be surprised to find that Ken Barlow, Weatherfield’s longestserving resident, should have one or two unexpected children. This is, after all, a man who has been married four times, widowed twice and divorced once
DARLINGTON Borough Council has stopped its taxi voucher scheme from September 19, but you can swap to a bus pass should this be of benefit to you. Ironic, when one is unable to walk. Maybe a cyanide pill would solve all our problems, a quick and
IT seems I read every day in The Northern Echo of cases in which defendants repeatedly warrant a suspended sentence or a last chance after excuses are made for them as soon as they come to court. If you were a pensioner and failed to pay your
CLASSIFIED adverts spreading over five pages and relating to parking (Echo, Aug 24) highlight another nail in the coffin of Darlington town centre. When will someone bang the heads together of the overpaid brains in the Town Hall that to restrict
CORRESPONDENT Alistair Coe (HAS, Aug 21) can rest assured that he is not the only one who is absolutely fed up with the unremitting bias of political correspondent Rob Merrick. One would have hoped the new Government would be given some time
The Hotel Inspector (Five, 9pm) AS the grand-daughter of Lord Forte, Alex Polizzi obviously has staying power when it comes to running hotels… and, as her third series comes to an end tonight, she certainly needs it. Her final test in
RECENT proposals in the County Durham Plan to replace both County Hall and the Durham Police headquarters at Aykley Heads with a new national business centre omit to mention how much it would actually cost to demolish those buildings in the first
LISTENING to the evening news, I was horrified to hear that our donation to help the Pakistan people will be increased from £30m to £60m. How can we possibly afford this amount when our own country is in such a financial mess? Wherever is the money
RE your article, “Dr Findlay’s cash book” (Echo, Aug 23), in which Dr Stewart Findlay welcomes proposals to hand over most of the NHS budgets to GPs. Dr Findlay may regard preparing a business case as jumping through a bureaucratic hoop, but I
THE registration deadline is looming for this year’s Marie Curie Cancer Care Daffodil Schools Challenge and Mini Pots of Care fundraising activities. These are educational activities that encourage creativity and industry in young people of all
I WOULD like to congratulate David and Samantha Cameron on the birth of their daughter, who weighed in at a healthy 6lb 1oz. It is nice to see they have followed in the footsteps of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who both announced the birth weights
HAD to make another trip along the A1M from Darlington (this time to Newcastle Airport) on Monday evening and what a surprise it provided after my visit to Bamburgh on August 15 when Richard Armstrong’s letter (HAS, Aug 9) – about the mystery
HAVING read the seemingly unending controversy in Hear All Sides over an appropriate name for the proposed Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) with increasing exasperation, I feel I must put in a plea for sanity on this issue. The area bounded
WHEN is Darlington Borough Council going to realise that taxi drivers are working class people, not millionaires. It has recently cost me the neck end of £3,000 to upgrade my taxi, spend time off the road, etc, to pacify these faceless bureaucrats
FRANK Wappat who was the great voice on BBC Radio Newcastle every Sunday night, has finally quit broadcasting due to ill-health (Echo, Aug 20). Over the years Frank played wonderful records from famous artists such as Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Tony
Major Tim Brown, the only Briton to command tanks in both Gulf Wars, formed a special bond with the mighty war machine during his military life. He tells Steve Pratt about his fears for the future of the tank in warfare as a new book about his
THERE have been a few accusations of political bias made against The Northern Echo since the General Election. The suggestion from Tory and Lib Dem politicians – and it’s important to keep it in perspective because there’s been a trickle rather
GUISBOROUGH-based Swan Honda return to action this weekend for the ninth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Cadwell Park. Stuart Easton lies eighth in the overall standings, but he still has a chance of securing the
GUY Wilks is aiming for a pointsscoring finish when he returns from an injury-enforced 12-week lay-off on the Czech Rally this weekend. Despite sitting out the last three rounds of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge after fracturing two vertebrae
PICKING the best wild cards to try to win back the Ryder Cup will be the only thing on Colin Montgomerie’s mind this weekend – not where certain stars are playing. With Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald sticking to their guns –
INDIA cantered to a 105-run victory over New Zealand in Dambulla, qualifying for the Tri-Series final on the back of Virender Sehwag’s 93-ball 110. Sehwag’s knock was the standout performance on a day where ball dominated bat, as his India
AFTER months of negotiations a deal which will see Yorkshire play county cricket at Scarborough for at least the next ten-years has finally been agreed. The ceremony may have been short and sweet at North Marine Road, lasting just a couple of
JACK My Boy would appear to have everything going for him when he reports for duty at Ffos Las today. David Evans’ charge has a fine opportunity to atone for a lacklustre run at Newmarket last time by landing the feature event at the Welsh venue
PAKISTAN captain Salman Butt is backing his team to carry on defying the expectations of others as they seek a series-squaring victory against England in the fourth Test at Lord’s. Butt’s four matches in charge, since Shahid Afridi resigned his
DURHAM’S injury-plagued season looks likely to end with several players requiring operations, although the decision about Graham Onions will be taken by the England medical team. Dale Benkenstein needs a hernia operation, while Steve Harmison
ANDREW Strauss acknowledges England’s batting must improve and promises it will in the fourth Test against Pakistan at Lord’s which starts today. Collapses from both teams have become a recurring theme of a series played under unshifting cloud
FULHAM manager Mark Hughes is hoping to complete the signing of Mexico leftback Carlos Salcido before the transfer window closes. Reports last night stated that Fulham have agreed a fee with PSV Eindhoven for the 30-year-old, who played at the
Tottenham Hotspur 4 Young Boys 0 (Tottenham win 6-3 on aggregate) HARRY Redknapp dedicated Tottenham’s Champions League qualification to the White Hart Lane faithful after las night’s 4-0 thrashing of Young Boys – but the down-to-earth Spurs boss
DAVID WHEATER says Middlesbrough are ready to sacrifice entertaining supporters if it means that a Premier League return can be achieved by “winning ugly”. Boro are already out of the Carling Cup, courtesy of Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Millwall,
HE might have been part of last year’s deadline-day merry-go-round, but Michael Turner claims Sunderland’s players will spend the next five days ignoring the breaking news despite the anticipated arrival of at least one new signing. Turner joined
NISSAN'S Sunderland plant is celebrating the production launch of the all-new Juke compact sports crossover today. Juke, which goes on sale across Europe next month, aims to continue the success of Qashqai - its bigger brother - with Nissan
CHRIS Hughton is determined to keep Steven Taylor at St James’ Park despite the defender being placed on the transfer list yesterday. Newcastle progressed to the third round of the Carling Cup last night courtesy of a narrow 3-2 win over Accrington
RAF troops prepare for deployment TROOPS from the RAF Regiment have been carrying out a series of exercises in preparation for deployment in Afghanistan. More than 120 men from 34 Squadron have been simulating battlefield incidents at the Catterick
A WOMAN raising money for cancer research has renewed her efforts after a fourth member of her family was diagnosed with leukaemia. Allison White, of Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, was diagnosed with leukaemia in July last year. Having
WRITTEN complaints against the NHS in the North- East have increased at twice the rate of the rest of the country in the past financial year. Figures released by the NHS Information Centre showed that the overall number of complaints against
A MAN accused of trying to rape a prostitute walked free from court yesterday after the alleged victim seemingly declined to give evidence. For the third day in succession, the woman appeared reluctant to go to court, and the trial judge recorded
A PENSIONER and two students who jumped into a river to save a young woman have been honoured. John Davies dived in after Hayley Brown, 25, fell into the River Wear, in Durham City centre, in September last year. A retired police officer and
FIRE brigade investigators were unable to pinpoint the cause of the blaze that killed a Euro MP’s father-in-law on Christmas Eve, an inquest heard yesterday. US-born Edward Beaver, 80, lived in a basement flat at the home of his daughter, Cyndi
DURHAM Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) is to make redundancies following its takeover by a Canadian firm. DTVA, near Darlington, confirmed last night that it was in consultation with three employees. Vancouver Airport Services reached an agreement
A GROUP of apprentices left with an uncertain future when their employer went into administration have secured placements with the company’s new owner. Lotte Chemical UK (LCUK) has taken on nine apprentices at its Wilton base. The company
FILM studios Pinewood Shepperton gave its chairman Michael Grade breathing space yesterday by forecasting higher-thanexpected revenues. The group – whose chairman has faced recent calls to resign from activist investor Crystal Amber – said revenues
THE expected sale of the Priory Group, which acquired its first North-East facility in March, is going ahead. Taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which owns a majority stake in the Priory Group, is hoping to raise about £1bn from the
NORTH-EAST companies should work with Norwegian firms on North Sea decommisioning projects, an industry leader said yesterday. Brian Nixon, chief executive of Decom North Sea, was speaking at the Offshore North Sea oil and gas industry exhibition
THE region’s newest rail firm has said it remains “bullish” about its prospects – despite recording a multimillion pound loss for the second year in succession. Grand Central Railway, which operates four daily services between Sunderland and
A STEEL firm blamed falling UK demand for interim results that showed a dramatic two-thirds drop in their profits, but said the development of markets in the Middle East and India could hold the key to recovery in the longer term. Despite the
TWO suspected illegal immigrants have been arrested following a raid on an Italian restaurant. Officers from the UK Border Agency targeted Joe Rigatoni’s, in Middlesbrough, shortly after 6.30pm on Tuesday as part of a nationwide summer-clampdown
A GANG of Romanian criminals was last night behind bars for an organised scam which preyed on middle-aged women out shopping alone across the region. The three men will be deported after finishing their sentences – which a judge said he was keeping
Roman socks fashion faux pas uncovered. THEY may have been great empirebuilders, warriors and engineers, but when it came to fashion sense, the Romans may have been a little bit lacking. Evidence has come to light in North Yorkshire
A PHOTOGRAPHER from the region has been provided with a shed load of picture opportunities after a family of swallows found an unusual nesting site. Keith Taylor discovered the birds had nested around the gear mechanism of his mountain bike,
THE North-East’s passion for football holds the key to bringing the World Cup to the region in 2018, bid leaders said yesterday. Sunderland FC chairman Niall Quinn and former Newcastle United striker Peter Beardsley were among the star names
A GROUP of unicyclists riding the 160-mile Coast-to-Coast route passed through part of the region yesterday. About 20 people from all over the country are taking part in the fundraising challenge, which started in Cumbria on Tuesday, and is
A SCHEME to slow speeding motorists could be extended across the North-East. Members of the public have been manning police speed detection equipment across County Durham. The speed detection equipment is attached to an LED display that flashes
CAT owner whose three-year-old pet suffered lifethreatening injuries after it was shot with an air rifle has condemned the shooter. Family pet Angel was found crying in pain and collapsed at her owner’s home in Gallows Hill, Ripon. Owner
A COUNCIL could use emergency powers to wrest control of a troubled primary school from its governors, it has emerged. Durham County Council recently took the rare step of issuing the governing body at Coundon Primary School, near Bishop Auckland
A MOTHER who had a heart attack the night before her son’s wedding has thanked ambulance staff for saving her life – on Friday the 13th. Tina Sandilands missed her son John Holliday’s wedding, but says she is lucky to be alive. Mrs Sandilands
TWO boys died in separate swimming incidents yesterday on a day of tragedy in the region. A 17-year-old from Tyneside died after he was swept out to sea off Whitby, North Yorkshire. The holidaymaker was one of three youngsters caught
THE mother of a murdered teenager has criticised the decision by Facebook to shut down a group dedicated to exposing online paedophiles. Seventeen-year-old Ashleigh Hall, from Darlington, was killed by a man who “groomed” her on the social networking
