James Walshaw is a natural goalscorer and Darlington did well to beat a number of others for his signature, says manager Mark Cooper. The striker moved to The Northern Echo Arena this summer having established himself as a regular scorer in
The highly-productive Darlington youth team are preparing for what they hope will be another successful season, but they are in desperate need of a sponsor. Craig Liddle’s under-18s team last year reached the final of the Youth Alliance League
Darlington striker Michael Smith is on trial at Premier League club Stoke City. The 19-year-old has joined last season’s FA Cup finalists for a two-week period in which he is hoping to impress the Potters. Smith is currently with Stoke
Once upon a time in the days before mobile phones and the internet, indeed in an era when nobody could ever have imagined legislation such as The Shared Parental Orders Bill, an old family lawyer told me: “Don’t be fooled. If God had wanted parents to
A BUSINESSMAN from the North-East has tonight been found not guilty of the murder of a Moroccan man on the holiday island of Tenerife. Stephen Johnson, 56, of Hettton-le-Hole, east Durham, had always denied involvement in the January 2008 incident
A PENSIONER from the North-East was airlifted to hospital this afternoon after being trapped in her car for an hour following an accident on the A66 in Cumbria. The 73-year-old driver was freed by firefighters and flown to North Tees Hospital
SIX new eco-homes are being built on the site of a disused petrol station. Work has already begun on cleaning up the land at Swainby, North Yorkshire in preparation for the new affordable homes by Endeavour Housing Association. The semi-detached properties
TWO small North Yorkshire councils that have saved £1.8m by sharing services have presented their work to a national audience. Hambleton and Richmond District Councils began merging services in 2009 as a means of cost-cutting and now has a single chief
AN artist has brought his folk-inspired exhibition, White Horses and Unquiet Graves, to North Yorkshire. Ripon is currently hosting Jonny Hannah’s solo debut exhibition in the north of England. His exhibition of paintings, linocuts, screen prints,
ASDA is set to open a new North Yorkshire store in a half a million pound investment. The current Netto store, near Malton train station, is set to close on August 6 and be taken over by the supermarket giant. Malton and Norton currently has a total
MIDDLESBROUGH striker Kris Boyd has joined Turkish Super Lig l side Eskisehirspor after having his Boro contract cancelled by mutual agreement.The 27-year-old is understood to have signed a three-year deal, having agreed personal terms and passed a medical
PRISONERS have been released from hospital after the security van they were travelling in overturned earlier this week. A total of nine inmates were being transferred from HMP Hull to other jails when the vehicle was involved in a collision at rush hour
TWO nurses have received a mentoring award for the support they have given student nurses. The nurses from the A&E department at Northallerton’s Friarage Hospital received the award for way they have taught and mentored student nurses. Kim Connolly
A PRIMARY school where three children have lost a father in Afghanistan is hoping to win a contest that will help them create a peaceful outdoor memory garden. About 65 per cent of children from Le Cateau Community Primary School, Catterick Garrison,
A PILOT sports event for young athletes has been hailed a success by its organisers. North Yorkshire has been running one of nine School Games projects in the country this year, ahead of it being rolled out nationally next year. It is hoped the School
A POPULAR town centre restaurant has been told it must install toilets for the disabled if it wants to expand. Darlington Borough Council's planning committee gave permission for the Tapas Bar, in Bondgate, to extend into the shop next door, a former
A VILLAGE pub is holding its annual cider festival to raise money for good causes. Fourteen traditional ciders and perrys from all over the country will be available for drinkers to sample at the sixth annual festival hosted by the Crown Inn, at Manfield
A CYCLIST had to endure the mud and rain at this year's Glastonbury festival after travelling 350 miles by bike to get there. Rob Brown, from Darlington, took to his cycle after seeing an advert for the International Childcare Trust in the Big Issue
REVIEWS to adult social care spending means disabled people will be "hurt twice" by cuts, a local support group has warned. Gordon Pybus, the chairman of Darlington Association on Disability, says the council is contravening government guidance by
A PIZZA shop worker got so drunk he needed hospital treatment then kicked a nurse who was treating him, a court heard yesterday. Ahmed Fetehalla Abdul Ali said he had accidentally struck the staff nurse in the stomach as he was flailing about to try
A CHARITY football day takes place on Saturday to raise money for a club ripped apart by the Japanese tsunami. Northern Leagues United is an initiative to generate funds for Japanese side Cobaltore Onagawa which was hit by the tsunami in April where
A BULLY who stole a teenager's BMX bike after punching him in the face was yesterday jailed for two years. As he rode off, Carl Foley warned his victim's friend: "If you ring the police, I'll come back and drop you as well." Foley, 20, floored
VANDALS and arsonists are being targeted after blighting the lives of a Teesside community. Police and council chiefs plan to stamp out the problems after being granted a two-month dispersal order covering The Closes estate, in Redcar. The order
YOUNGSTERS in Teesside are being given the chance to give two police horses official names. Cleveland Police horses Alf and Reg go by their stable names, but they need official names for operational duties and special events. Entrants must be
A MAN threatened a foreign student with an axe before stealing his laptop computer and phone, a court heard. Jonathan Joseph Robinson was yesterday jailed for four years after the robbery, which followed a 14-hour drinking binge. Robinson, 24,
CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save a leisure centre threatened with closure have called a public meeting to discuss their next move. Sherburn Leisure Centre, near Durham City, is one of three being recommended to close in the autumn as part of cost-cutting
AN artistic youngster has secured her place in the doodle hall of fame after proving a big hit in a charity competition. Staff and pupils at Huntcliff School, in Saltburn, were challenged to submit an entry into the annual National Doodle Day competition
Dalton (near Richmond) village are serving afternoon tea on Sunday July 17th from 3pm until 6pm. There will be tea, scones and cream, cake and sandwiches, all for £6 per person, in aid of Village Hall funds.
The Press Complaints Commission has issued a statement in response to criticism from the Prime Minister this morning. Here's the statement in full. "The Press Complaints Commission has noted the Prime Minister's statement today. We welcome that
A LORRY driver is in hospital and part of the A1 is closed following a road traffic accident this morning. At about 10.30am two lorries crashed near Darlington, between junction 59 and 60 of the northbound carrigeway of the motorway. A police spokesman
SHE’S a fluffy bundle of mischief - and she’s causing havoc in the life of Sophie Abbott. The barn owl chick is only about five-and-a-half-weeks old and is currently being raised by 21-year-old Sophie at her home. The captive-bred youngster - known
THE cost of meals for primary school children in North Yorkshire is to be pegged - in an effort to help financially hard-pressed families. The price of a school dinner is to be frozen at £2.10 a day - but the county council has pledged that, despite
The Good Cook (BBC1, 7.30pm) Love Your Garden (ITV1, 8pm) Danger: Diggers at Work (Five, 8pm) FOR those of you who don’t know one end of a grater from another, or who can’t even prepare a salad without burning it, help always seems to be at hand
TWO sisters will today open a champagne and cocktail bar they hope will become one of Durham City’s most fashionable venues. Whisky River, in the Prince Bishops Shopping Centre, which will create six jobs, has been set up by Kate and Hollie Shepherd
A CARD-making workshop is taking place in Byers Green this weekend. The event is being held at the village hall, on Sunday, from 10am to 3.30pm. Entry is £10, including materials, and participants should bring their own lunch. For information
The first qualifying round draw of the FA Carlsberg Vase has thrown up a really juicy tie. Local derbies are always inevitable at this stage, but there won't be many bigger ones than the tie between STL Second Division champions Newton Aycliffe and neighbours
BEING nice to people can be terribly tiring – as anyone who’s ever been to a boring party knows all too well. Being nice to people when you can’t even have too much to drink, ignore the bores, or stuff your face on all the canapes, is even more
The FA appears to have taken regionalisation to a fine degree, every game that affects a Northern League club in the extra preliminary round is an all Northern League affair. All first division clubs, plus every Second Division club down to Birtley,
I am aghast that Kelsay Donkin was not imprisoned having been found guilty of a public order offence during which she shouted “bang, bang” behind PC Rathband, the police officer who lost his sight in an attack by Raoul Moat (Echo June 30). Here
RE Christopher Wardell’s memories of Wimpy (HAS, July 1). I also enjoyed Wimpy burgers, as did my wife and young son, but we frequented the one on Bondgate, in Darlington, a few doors before Pattinsons Photographic Shop. They were produced on
RE. Eileen Stockton’s letter about Bishop Auckland Market Place and the filthy state of the town (HAS, June 9). Unfortunately, she was spoton. The town is disgusting. Every street is full of grass and weeds and the gutters are filled to the top
I WAS interested to read in the Mike Amos column (Echo, June 29) that he had been sent a letter which first appeared in The Daily Telegraph and was signed by the Reverend Peter Mullen. The letter was about toilet euphemisms and it reminded me
WE know it was wrong. We know it was wicked. The question is what can we do about it? Faced with a multi-national as mighty as the Murdoch media empire, the citizen feels powerless. But there are things we can insist that should be done on our behalf
AS I suspected, quite some time ago, the Labour Party got it wrong by selecting the wrong Miliband for the leader’s job. The speech Ed made about public sector pensions was copied from Nick Clegg – who was repeating exactly what David Cameron
I HAVE campaigned against door-to-door money lenders and will continue to do so. They target poorer areas, encourage debt and charge outrageously high interest rates but the activity of utility companies is almost as bad. Yesterday a representative
I HAVE a belt from Marks and Spencer which was made in China. We cannot compete with the cheap labour in other countries. Things could change with immigration at its peak in our country. Our country could soon be run by foreign firms using cheap
ONE thing you shouldn’t do is headline the letters page Hear All Sides. To me, that’s a lie – you have to be a member of an exclusive club called Wardell’s Page. If you need proof, read Dave Cook’s letter (HAS, June 9) in which he went further
DAVID CAMERON blithely states we will remove all our combat soldiers from Afghanistan by 2015 – just before a possible election. Does he not realise he is condemning more of our young men to die in the deserts of Afghanistan before then? The
A PUBLIC boycott of the News of the World, in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, was inevitable. A slump in sales this weekend, coupled with a rash of advertising withdrawals, would have sent a very clear message that such deplorable practices
The News of the World is to close after this weekend’s issue, Nigel Burton looks back on its 168-year history and how it ended with a bang, not with a whimper. THE end of the World is nigh. But who would have thought it would be the end of the News
RE Norman Wall’s letter about circus animals (HAS, June 27). He repeats a lot of the stuff about hunting and shooting which attracts considerable support. I wonder how many of the complainants own one of the most vicious of killers – the domestic
FORMER Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson was arrested today on suspicion of phone hacking and corruption. The 43-year-old ex-editor of the News of the World was held at a south London police station this morning, sources said
A 17-YEAR-OLD who admitted killing a student in a North Yorkshire market town following a night out has been jailed for three years. Thomas Watson, of Woodhouse Road, Guisborough, appeared at Leeds Crown Court this morning over the death of Daniel Crowther
AN EMOTIONAL Ricky Hatton admitted that the twoyear wait to call time on his career drove him ‘‘insane’’. Hatton held back the tears in London as he finally announced his decision to hang up his gloves more than two years after his last fight.
PRIME Minister David Cameron today promised action to "get to the bottom" of the phone hacking scandal but said it was not just about the press but about the police and "about how politics works too". Mr Cameron spoke out as as shockwaves from the scandal
LEWIS Hamilton and Jenson Button both believe Sebastian Vettel will never dominate Formula One as Michael Schumacher did last decade. For five years Schumacher was virtually unstoppable, claiming five successive titles from 2000 to 2004 with Ferrari
MILLIONS of British Gas customers are to face higher utility bills after the company said it is putting up the price of both gas and electricity. Gas prices will rise by an average of 18 per cent and electricity bills by an average of 16 per
THE last time Lee Westwood won the week before the Open he went to Royal Birkdale as joint favourite with Tiger Woods and appeared to run out of gas. But, 13 years on from his two closing rounds of 78 there, Westwood could well have a chance
Nottingham Forest have made an approach to Newcastle for winger Wayne Routledge. New Forest boss Steve McClaren is keen to add the 26-year-old midfielder to his squad for next season's npower Championship promotion push. Routledge, who
BOLTON Wanderers are understood to have rekindled their interest in Middlesbrough defender Rhys Williams – and the Trotters want Seb Hines too. Owen Coyle is an admirer of Williams, who played in a number of positions last season during Boro’
Vaughan will follow Manchester United pair Wes Brown and John O'Shea, who both signed for the Black Cats yesterday. Gibson had been expected to be the most likely of the United trio to join Sunderland, but the signing of creative midfielder
Yorkshire fended off competition from a division one rival to secure the services of Jacques Rudolph for the last six County Championship matches of the season. The 30-year-old returns to Headingley in time for the Roses meeting against Lancashire on
NOBBY Solano might have captured the headlines, and Colin Nish was the main striking target, but the capture of two prospects at Hartlepool United should not be overlooked according to Mick Wadsworth. James Poole and Nathan Luscombe moved
ORGANISATIONS in the North-East have been fined almost £50,000 for failing to display the European Union logo, triggering calls for the practice to be scrapped. Both the One North East development agency and North Tyneside Council fell foul of
POLICE say they take breaches of the Data Protection Act seriously after a survey claimed to show the extent to which confidential police databases are abused. The survey, on behalf of Big Brother Watch, which is a campaigning arm of the Taxpayers
A FORMER RAF corporal, left disabled after years of being exposed to toxic chemicals, is in line for a substantial compensation payout from the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Shaun Wood, of Northallerton, North Yorkshire, suffers symptoms similar
A WAR widow who received a national award for helping forces families deal with bereavement last night welcomed the closure of the News of the World. Mother-of-two Karen Upton, of Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, was speaking after allegations
A DRUNKEN yob who could have blinded a grandmother with her stiletto shoe heel during an attack walked free from court yesterday. Amy Beaumont was given a suspended prison sentence after a judge heard that she has a twoyear- old son to care
THE News of the World was sacrificed yesterday after a series of increasingly damaging allegations left its reputation in tatters. And last night it was being reported its former editor, Andy Coulson, will be arrested this morning as the police
DURHAM are expecting their biggest crowd of the season for this evening's Friends Life t20 match against Yorkshire, with almost 6,000 tickets sold in advance for what has been dubbed Emirates Day. Free Emirates caps will be handed out at the gate and
HIGH street banks will be "held to account" over promises they made to the North-East's small firms yesterday, a leading regional business figure said. James Ramsbotham, chief executive of North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC), was speaking as Financial
YOUNGSTERS facing a workless future are to be sent rock climbing as part of an innovative programme to get 500 Tees Valley neets into work or training. Welfare to work specialists Pertemps People Development Group (PPDG) has been awarded a two and a
A WINDOW company has bought the brand name of a long-standing conservatory maker that went into administration. Hertfordshire-based double glazing company Everest has bought the Darlington-based Amdega brand for an undisclosed sum, and is now trading
THREE men could be jailed after botched attempts to kill a dog. The female lurcher was left with a broken neck and stab wounds from a potato peeler after attempts by Andrew Painter and Kevin Varty to put it down when it fractured a hind leg
PLANS to extract 2.5m tonnes of sand and gravel could result in the materials being transported on a heritage railway line. Sherburn Stone proposes to create a quarry at Low Harperley, between Crook and Wolsingham, to extract sand and gravel
A TOWN mayor has been banned from the majority of the pubs in the area where he lives after a row with a landlord took another twist. Teesdale Pub Watch yesterday confirmed it had imposed a 12-month ban on Councillor Tony Cooke, mayor of Barnard
THREE trialists joined Mark Cooper’s four new signings in Darlington’s first day of pre-season training yesterday. Cooper is giving trials to four players, three of which were with Quakers yesterday while Ryan Bowman will try to impress today
Forthcoming friendlines in the region. Saturday July 9th Ashington v Eyemouth, Billingham Synthonia v Wolviston, Birtley v Ryton and Crawcrook United , Edinburgh v Bishop Auckland, Gateshead Rutherford v Thornaby (12.00), Gateshead v Huddersfield, Hebburn
A series of coffee mornings to which children are invited to "stay and play" is being held at Ravensworth Village Hall. Starting on Friday 29th July parents/carers are invited to come along to the village hall for a chat and coffee while their children
