A ROBOT was the cause of an unusual call-out for the emergency services this evening. Firefighters responded to a York University smoke alarm which was activated at just before 6pm. The alarm came from the university's Heslington East Campus, which
Midnight heralded in the Chinese New Year. With hundreds of lanterns, fireworks and beating drums, the celebrations can be an impressive spectacle. Moreover the animal symbols for each year are distinctive and can on occasions influence even
HARTLEPOOL United have offered to visit Darlington to play a fund-raising game in aid of the striken Quakers. Pools chief executive Russ Green revealed that Pools last week made an approach to the Quakers with a view to organising a friendly for their
A MAJOR search in the Scottish Highlands is continuing for a North Yorkshire climber who has not been seen since Thursday. Northern Constabulary said Grant Cunliffe, from Skipton, walked into Corrour Bothy in the Larig Ghru pass area of the
THOUSANDS of residents have spoken out against council plans to close six tips. Durham County Council’s consultation on closing six of its 15 household waste recycling centres closed on Friday. A council spokeswoman said it had received 770 online comments
AN author of popular children's fiction will visit a town's libraries to entertain more than 200 children. Tom Palmer, author of the popular children's series Football Academy and Foul Play will visit Grove Hill, North Ormesby and Berwick Hills libraries
A COUPLE who lost their daughter when she was four days old have raised £16,000 in her memory for the neonatal unit that tried to save her. Maisie Hope Nellis was born on October 5 weighing 5lb 13oz. She was born full-term, but the umbilical cord
A TOWN'S shopping centre is rolling out the red carpet to welcome a flagship department store next week. Music, theatre and characters will greet shoppers for the launch of the 35,000sq ft BHS store at Middleton Grange Shopping Centre, in Hartlepool
HIDDEN treasures dating back to the 18th century have been unearthed by a museum undergoing a £7m redevelopment. New light has been shed on several artefacts after staff at Preston Hall Museum and Park's began in depth research into its vast collection
ART created by a former soldier has gone on display at Darlington Arts Centre. Julie Macbean's first exhibition, called Torrent, uses weather as its inspiration. Her work uses a variety of methods, including ink, digital images and painting.
A COUNCIL is being urged to think bigger over plans to extend a bus lane. Durham County Council traffic chiefs are considering lengthening a city centre-bound bus lane on the A181 through Gilesgate, Durham City, to the junction with Sherburn Road.
A MAN was this afternoon jailed for ten years after being found guilty of the kidnap and manslaughter of a suspected thief. Lee Woodier, 25, was convicted of playing a part in the killing of 45-year-old John Newton, from Redcar, in March last year.
BILL BARTLE asks if there is any difference between two bull terriers tearing a pregnant badger apart, which is barbaric and abhorrent, and a pack of hounds tearing a fox apart (HAS, Jan 16). There is none. When we are overrun by some species,
THE spectre of Maggie Thatcher has been revived by the new film, The Iron Lady. Some people have said, “Good ol’ Maggie”, others have been closer to the truth. The Falklands conflict was her one saving grace as she showed that the bulldog does
THE extension of the leisure centre in Crook was not many years old and now the council has spent a few thousand pounds demolishing it. The council is going to spend £500,000 on refurbishment of the Elite Hall in Crook, a 100-year-old building
FIRST CUP OF TEA First cup of tea of the day The smell of new mown hay Song of a bird in a tree Crashing waves of the sea Taste of fresh baked bread The wonders of my Dad’s shed A baby’s first little chuckle Leather belt with silver
Mrs Brown’s Boys (BBC1, 9.30pm) Skins (E4, 10pm) Party Paramedics (C4, 10pm) BRENDAN O’CARROLL probably never thought he would look so good in lipstick, hair rollers and stockings so saggy they make those anonymous legs in the Tom and Jerry cartoons
AS I write this column, I have no idea what fate has in store for Darlington Football Club. I hope there is a happy ending but I’ve been around long enough to know there may easily not be. Whatever happens, I will never forget the events of last
NEARLY 6,000 people showed they cared about saving Darlington Football Club on Saturday. Some travelled five hours or more to be there and, despite the fact that they were rattling round in a 27,500-seater stadium, they created a fantastic atmosphere
Darlington Arts Centre is under threat of closure. Darlington for Culture chairman Nick Brewster makes an impassioned plea to keep the centre. I BELIEVE that the arts are not an optional extra. For me, the arts are an essential ingredient to
AFTER reading Christopher Wardell’s letter (HAS, Jan 17), I must point out to him that Maplins didn’t really exist. To find a yellowcoat, he’ll be more successful getting in touch with the BBC costume department. While doing so, Mr Wardell, you
A CHILDREN'S outdoor activity centre manager who pretended to be a woman in order to be accepted as a member of a nudist website which encourage child abuse was jailed for four years today. Jonathan Garner-Harris, a deputy director of the Marrick
THE TYNE-WEAR derby between Newcastle United and Sunderland has been switched to be broadcast on television. Initially slated for Saturday, March 3, the fixture will now take place a day later at 12pm and will be on ESPN. Newcastle's match with Arsenal
ONE of the region’s steepest roads is expected to be closed until mid-afternoon, after a lorry shed a load of steel girders. The incident happened on the A170 Sutton Bank, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, at about 9.45am today. A blue DAF articulated
PUPILS donned their dancing shoes in front a sell-out audience in Bishop Auckland. More than 100 youngsters aged 11 to 16 performed in the dance extravaganza at Bishop Barrington School on Thursday, which featured 30 routines from a range of styles,
Two of the Northern League title contenders have been drawn together in the FA Vase last 16. Whitley Bay, the winners of the Vase for the last three seasons, have been drawn at home to West Auckland, who are playing at this stage for the first
COUNCILLORS are calling for affordable homes to be given priority over social housing in a new housing development in Barnard Castle. Developers Taylor Wimpey are proposing to build 114 new houses, with at least two bedrooms each, on land in Darlington
A CYCLIST has died after a collision with a HGV on the A19 near Wolviston. Long delays are being experienced following the incident between the A689 and A1087. The A19 Southbound was closed and police are at the scene. It is affecting
BURGLARS used a stolen digger to remove a cash machine from a supermarket during an early-hours ram-raid in a sleepy market town. Thieves struck at the Co-op store, in Park Street, Masham, North Yorkshire, shortly before 3am this morning.
THERE'S an old saying in football that defence is the best form of attack and for the most part of this season Middlesbrough had successfully adopted such a policy. Without being among the most prolific teams in the Championship, a defensive
TONY MOWBRAY has reminded Middlesbrough fans there is no money available to reinforce his squad after slipping to a third successive defeat in the Championship. It is the first time under his management that Boro have lost three league matches
SPENDING on NHS weight-loss surgery in the North-East has soared over the past three years – providing more evidence of the region’s growing obesity problem. Figures supplied by the City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust – the region
A rainbow spanned the skies, the grey clouds parted and the band struck up The Great Escape. Lauren Pyrah from Saturday’s Darlington game. THE symbols of hope were all there on Saturday afternoon. An arch of colours across the sky, Darlington
A BEAT bobby who came within inches of losing his life in a frenzied attack by a paranoid schizophrenic has resisted calls for all police officers to be armed. PC John Wood and colleague PC Carl Wood were repeatedly stabbed with a sharpened
A decade after a remote dale was dealt a bitter jobs blow, its isolated communities still wait for a rescue operation to take shape. Catherine Priestley reports. TEN years ago today, Lafarge UK announced it was to shut its Blue Circle cement works
A COMMUNITY is being asked to get behind plans to turn Darlington FC into a club that is owned and run by fans, by helping to raise £500,000 by Saturday. The rescue plan, which will enable fans to take over and run the club as a community interest
Aaron Brown admits he has made a gamble by turning down a contract offer at another Conference club and returning to Darlington. He was Quakers' man of the match in their defeat to Fleetwood Town on Saturday, just days after deciding to leave due to
SUNDERLAND manager Martin O'Neill has reiterated his desire to keep Craig Gardner at the club and admitted the homesick midfielder has been unlucky not to start more games since he arrived on Wearside. Gardner hit a sumptuous 25-yard volley
NEALE Cooper hailed his "mountain men" after his Hartlepool United players secured a point at Sheffield Wednesday. Pools stood up to the physical test at Hillsborough to earn a 2-2, thanks to Antony Sweeney's late leveller. Three weeks
ALAN Pardew remains confident he will land a new centre-half before the transfer window closes in eight days time, but the Newcastle United manager is having to compile a list of alternatives to his preferred long-term targets. Pardew flew to Tenerife
WHEN Alan Pardew granted his Newcastle United players a mid-season break, perhaps he should have spelled out that it was not to start at four o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Tenerife, where the Magpies squad find themselves this morning at a
NEARLY half of all businesses in the North-East will not increase employees' wages in 2012, a survey by the North-East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) has revealed. The NECC said 48 per cent of companies it surveyed said they would not be changing
A COLLEGE tutor jailed for downloading indecent images of children has failed in his bid to quash a court order banning him from having contact with children. Father-of-two Albert Adderley – who also took part in an online conversation about
A LEADING North-East heart specialist insists there is a “compelling case” to change the rules so the NHS will pay for implantable heart pumps to be installed as an alternative to transplants. Professor Stephan Schueler, from the Freeman Hospital
A TEENAGER who threatened two police community support officers (PCSOs) with a knife before throwing it at one of them has been jailed for three years. Ryan Preston – branded a menace to society by his own barrister – was told by a judge: “
AN airfield used by both an air ambulance service and high-profile jockeys will be the focus of a public inquiry – for the second time in a year. Hambleton District Council has announced a Government planning inspector will hear evidence about
THE lucky winners of The Northern Echo’s Win A Wedding competition tied the knot in style at the weekend. After two decades together, Karl Wheeler and Christine Smith finally said “I do” during a dream ceremony on Saturday. And their
A PRISON officer stabbed by a convicted killer who was later cleared by a jury will call for a retrial when he visits Parliament today. Craig Wylde suffered lifethreatening injuries after he and two fellow guards at Frankland Prison, near Durham
A PLAN will be thrashed out this morning for crisis-hit Darlington Football Club to be owned and run by the local community. Darlington MP Jenny Chapman will discuss the plan with administrator Harvey Madden this morning before chairing a meeting
Proud and unbowed, the message was clear: Darlo will never die. It was chanted loud and clear by supporters on Saturday, representing the defiance of a club and its town as football united to celebrate a club that refused to disappear. Three days after
Marc Bridge-Wilkinson has explained how he ended up having to spend two hours in the reception of a Lincoln Travelodge on Friday so that he could play for Darlington at the weekend. Quakers' players had to sign new paperwork after they were
IT is often the case that under a new manager a struggling squad can be transformed in the blink of an eye. Players, who looked like they had forgotten how to win a game, were short of self-belief and struggling to show their quality can all
IT'S a while since Hartlepool United returned from Hillsborough with anything other than a defeat. In the nine years since Pools won a Carling Cup tie at Sheffield Wednesday, they have lost five times and never looked like breaking that duck
STOCKTON'S hopes of a trip to Twickenham were dashed when Ilkley scored with the last play of the game to secure a dramatic 25-20 win at Station Road in the Northern Intermediate Cup. With the scores tied at 20-20, a final spell of Ilkley pressure resulted
POLICE believe two separate incidents in which a car was set alight and a fire started in a flat may be linked. A Ford Fiesta was set on fire in Eddison Way, Hemlington, near Middlesbrough, at about 11.15pm on Saturday night. Hours later
