Betting giant Ladbrokes today walked away from a second planned takeover in the space of six months, aimed at giving it a foothold in the growing "in-play" betting market. The firm's chief executive Richard Glynn said the abandoned approach for rival
Steel giant Tata is to invest £2m in its Hartlepool tube mills following growing demand for its products from renewable energy firms. The steel firm is to establish a central supply base for steel tubular sections to be used in the fabrication of wind
X-FACTOR reject Amelia Lily said her elimination from the show felt "like having your heart ripped out". The 16-year-old student from Nunthorpe, near Middlesbrough, who broke down on Sunday's live show when mentor Kelly Rowland dropped her, said it had
A YOUNGSTER who suffered head injuries after being involved in a hit and run accident remains in a stable condition in hospital. The five-year-old boy was hurt after being struck by a car on Sydenham Road, Hartlepool, just before 9pm on Sunday
A CHILDREN’S adventure play park was completely destroyed in an arson attack over the weekend. A wooden fortress structure was burnt to the ground in the incident during the early hours of last Saturday at the Valley Gardens in Harrogate. Eight local
A FAMILY-friendly variety show is to be staged to benefit the armed forces. The Salute to Our Local Heroes show will be staged at the Gala Theatre, in Durham City, on Friday, November 4. There will be singing, dancing, magic and illusion, circus acts
A HOSPICE is holding a first-of-its-kind new fundraiser this weekend. St Cuthbert’s Hospice, in Durham City, will invite residents and supporters to tour its newly refurbished grounds as part of its Hospice Harvest event. There will also be plants and
COMEDIAN Mark Watson will perform in the North-East this week, following a special request from his loyal fans. Mr Watson, a regular on TV’s Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News For You and Mock the Week, decided to allow fans to dictate where
England manager Fabio Capello is supposed to be on a managerial tightrope -- and one of the contenders should a vacancy ever materialise could be Bishop Auckland manager Colin Myers. Myers, who is the manager of the successful New Durham
TWO Tees Valley businesses were hours away from being homeless until swift action by a business support team helped to put a roof over their heads. Sign Art and Class Fundraising, neighbours in a Redcar business unit, were shocked when they arrived
A PRINTING firm is targeting national growth after it moved into larger premises and recruited new staff. Lifestyle Printing has taken on a new a web developer and a studio designer who will work from the firms new premises on Hutton Close Business
JUMPING the gun is an increasing temptation in the age of 24-hour news. And the way the Daily Mail shot itself in the foot by jumping the gun when the Amanda Knox verdict was announced in an Italian court last week has raised interesting questions
PEOPLE who have no job need the care of the welfare state while they find work, but if they do not try hard enough to find a job in the eyes of the Government their benefit is cut. No benefit means no way to pay bills or shop in the local economy
THE party conference season is over for another year. The remarkably mild autumn meant the conferences at Birmingham(Lib Dems), Liverpool (Labour) and Manchester (Conservatives) were filled with more hot air than usual. First up were the
THE annual firework display held in Bishop Auckland for more than 25 years has become a victim of Durham County Council cuts. It gave many thousands of children and adults great pleasure, kept the hospital accident and emergency department quieter
HALLOWEEN is nearly upon us once again, and I found it a pleasure to read Stuart Arnold’s article about the region’s haunted pubs (Echo, Oct 5). I’ve attended two ghost hunts at The Busby Stoop, near Thirsk, with Northern Ghost Investigations.
I WAS saddened to read about the death of Steve Jobs, the modern-day genius who cofounded Apple in the back of a Californian garage (Echo, Oct 7). Under his stewardship, Apple has given the world the iMac computer, the iPod music player, the
HUMAN rights are the inviolable conditions that must be provided by any decent individual to another. Those rights are not conditional on the recipient being deserving or even grateful. The grant of human rights to another is an expression of
WHILE having sympathy for the family of murdered rapist Mitchell Dean Harrison, the statement that he didn’t deserve to die gave me pause for thought (Echo, Oct 4). Whether death is “deserved” or not has been debated through courts and Parliament
TODAY is as big a day for David Cameron as it is for Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary whose career hangs in the balance over the access he has allowed a friend to state meetings. Dr Fox’s businessman friend, Adam Werritty, has been styling himself
I WOULD like to thank Daz Crame for his very kind remarks, made in response to my letter requesting information about the SS Strathaird taking troops from Brest to Plymouth, in June 1940 (HAS, Oct 7). Can I assure Mr Crame that, had he been a
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling was once regarded as a quiet man of politics, but his new book is making a bit of a noise. He chats to Steve Pratt ahead of an appearance at the Durham Book Festival. "YES and no," says former Chancellor
AN ambitious bid to see a North Yorkshire river reclaim its crown as one of the country’s top salmon fisheries has won liquid backing. A famous brewery has created a new seasonal beer to commemorate its support of environmental project to bring wild
CASH and jewellery worth thousands of pounds was stolen during a sneak-in burglary at a busy village pub. The thief crept into the living accommodation at the Rose and Crown in Sutton-on-the-Forest, near Easingwold, while the pub was open. The jewellery
ALMOST 2,000 youngsters enjoyed vital lessons in life at the annual Crucial crew sessions held over the last two weeks at RAF Leeming. Organised by police and hosted at the base for the past 18 years, Crucial Crew is an interactive child safety event
PRIME Minister David Cameron today defended Defence Secretary Liam Fox, who is at the centre of a storm of allegations relating to his links with close friend Adam Werritty. Mr Cameron, who spoke to the minister by phone yesterday, said Dr Fox had given
DOZENS of telephone poles have been erected without warning along one of the most scenic roads in North Yorkshire, to the dismay of local residents who say their view has been spoiled. The 22 poles have been put up along Hurgill Road, between Marske
MEMBERS of neighbouring communities joined forces to show their love for two different parks. A shared project to link two Darlington community parks reached a successful fruition at the weekend after four years' work. Community partnership members
A PATIENT, who has been registered with the same doctor's surgery since her birth, officially opened the practice's renovated centre at the weekend. Marion Gomersall, 77, was asked to cut the ribbon at the £750,000 renovation of Whinfield Surgery,
A RESCUE dog that used to run with a triathlon athlete has found a new training partner in a rescue centre volunteer. Army officer Jan Pilgrim is to run two marathons within a week to raise money for Border Collie Rescue, which has its headquarters
A SET of triplets and a Canadian girl visiting her family were among the prizewinners in a library's summer competition. A presentation was made in Darlington's Crown Street library on Saturday to the winners of two summer holiday competitions held
BARRY Robson is in contention for a surprise start when Scotland play their most important game for more than four years tomorrow evening. Scotland travel to Alicante to face Spain in their final European Championships qualifier knowing they must match
STEVE Bruce insists he remains the right man to turn Sunderland's fortunes around despite continued speculation that his job is at risk. Following a week of major boardroom upheaval at the Stadium of Light, a number of yesterday's newspapers suggested
PETER Lovenkrands has hailed Newcastle's strong team spirit as one of the key factors behind their early-season success, and claimed he was never worried about an adverse reaction to the loss of the likes of Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton this summer. Last
HAS there been a more embarrassing 24 hours to be a supporter of English sport? Probably. After all, it's not as though underachievement is anything new. But even by the shoddy standards we've learned to set for ourselves, the efforts of England's
THE formbook went out of the window for the North-East's National League teams on Saturday. Blaydon lost 31-18 away to struggling Birmingham and Solihull, Tynedale followed two successive home defeats by winning at Macclesfield, and Westoe's
A STANDOUT performance from the Durham Wildcats' Ralph Bucci could not stop them losing on the road to the Glasgow Rocks 75-70. Bucci, who scored the only double-double of the night - with 24 points and 10 rebounds - was unable to help his team cross
TOMMY Hill said he did not realise he had won the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship until well after he had crossed the line. That is understandable, though, when you consider the margin between he and rival, John Hopkins, at Brands
Darlington 35 Alnwick 7 THE arrival of Australian No 8 Kris Ward and the return to action of newly-wed Richard Snowball gave Darlington the impetus to brush aside previously unbeaten Alnwick. Ward has scored two tries in both of his
Saracens 25 Newcastle Falcons 5 ALAN TAIT is convinced that the improved second-half performance against Saracens will be the turning point for Newcastle Falcons. The Aviva Premiership bottom side lost 25-5 at Vicarage Road, but Saracens did
Martin Johnson has been backed to continue in his job by the acting chief executive of the Rugby Football Union - before an official review into England's World Cup failure has even begun. England crashed out of the tournament on Saturday with
WORLD-renowned fashion designer Bruce Oldfield will help a group of style conscious teenagers create their dream looks for prom night. Around a dozen pupils from Tudhoe Grange and Spennymoor Schools, in County Durham, will ditch off-the-rail
A 13-YEAR-OLD girl who faces an agonising decision about a cancer gene when she is 18 has begun using her singing talent for cancer relief charities. Amelia Cockburn, of Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, regional finalist in the prestigious Open Mic
THREE girls hope to give a voice to villages that could be left without public transport by campaigning against proposed bus cuts. Caitlin Brennan, Anna Renfrew and Anisha Harris were horrified last week when Arriva announced plans to withdraw
A CAMPAIGN has been launched to combat the stigma surrounding Army veterans suffering mental health problems. In a survey carried out by mental health charity Combat Stress, 81 per cent of veterans said they felt ashamed or embarrassed about their mental
DAMAGE estimated at £10,000 was discovered when police arrested a suspected burglar and searched his rented home. Mark Duffie had left the property in Stockton an uninhabitable shell by pulling up floorboards and taking down ceilings.
A NORTH-East football fan has urged the BBC to rethink possible plans to cut back on radio commentaries, declaring them ‘a lifeline’ for some supporters. Rob Nichols, editor of Middlesbrough Football Club fanzine Fly to the Moon, has said any
A FATHER-to-be who stabbed a barman in the back with a steak knife, leaving him with life-threatening injuries, has been jailed for five-and-a-half years. Stephen Rogers cut the man twice on his back - once close to his spine - leaving two
MORE details are emerging over plans to turn a North-East castle into a Church of England centre of excellence for art and Christian history. The Rothschild Foundation has pledged £1m to kickstart a project to "restore" Auckland Castle, in
A MUSEUM which remembers one of the region’s most famous Army regiments is asking the public to get behind an ambitious £1m refurbishment plan. The Green Howards Museum, in Richmond, North Yorkshire, which houses artefacts important to the
CAMPAIGNERS re-enacting the Jarrow March have hit back at claims that they “are not fit to walk in the footsteps” of the original marchers. The walkers, who are demanding a programme of job creation, set off from Tyneside a week ago and are
A FORMER school caretaker who planned to burn his neighbours with a crude napalm bomb after his house was egged has issued a plea for clemency from behind bars. Nicholas Smith, 53, is currently in prison awaiting sentence after a jury convicted
Bath City 2 Darlington 0 Bewildered Darlington supporters must be wondering if it can get any worse, and until Raj Singh backed Mark Cooper yesterday, they were questioning how much longer he was going to last as manager. His team have
After Darlington suffered a 2-0 defeat at Bath City on Saturday, Michael Brough made it clear that the players are responsible, and not manager Mark Cooper, for the poor start to the season. He completed his first 90 minutes since 2010 after
POLICE and politicians have demanded tougher laws to crush the illegal trade in stolen scrap metal causing misery across the region. The calls come as a specialist team of police set up to crack down on metal thieves makes ten arrests in its first week
Darlington's embattled boss Mark Cooper has been handed a huge boost with chairman Raj Singh announcing: Changing the manager now is not the answer. Saturday's humiliating defeat at Bath City, who recorded their first win of the season against a lacklustre
NOBBY Solano could miss the next few Hartlepool United games after hobbling off with a hamstring strain in yesterday's thumping at Notts County. Pools went down 3-0 and the midfielder was forced off in the second-half after stretching to make a pass.
