SHOPPERS in a town were stunned after axe-wielding robbers staged a daytime raid on a Northallerton jewellery store. The robbery happened just after 4pm yesterday at Bradleys The Jewellers, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, while the town was
A JUBILANT team of schoolboys from Hartlepool sailed across the North Sea and tasted some Dutch delight to savour for the rest of their lives. The Hartlepool Schools Under-15s stunned their rivals in Holland by returning to the North-East with
A MENTAL health lawyer at a North-East firm has been shortlisted for a national award. Mike Bishop, partner at David Gray Solicitors, is set to find out on Tuesday if he has been named mental health lawyer of the year at the 10th Legal Aid Lawyer of
HUNDREDS of villagers have signed a petition calling for their “lifeline” bus service to be reinstated after its axing left them with a walk of almost a mile to their nearest stop. More than 150 residents of Brafferton have signed the petition
A MOTHER and her partially sighted son are taking part in the Race for Life to raise funds to help tackle cancer, which claimed the life of a relative Carol Scott, of Spennymoor, County Durham, and her son, Jack, ten, are taking part in the Race for Life
A HEARTLESS thief has stolen a cashbox holding nearly £700 from a charity which helps families with low incomes. The crook struck at the County Durham Furniture Help Scheme and stole £680. Christopher Palmer, managing director of the charity based at
THE widow of a football league and youth club founder has paid tribute to the man who first wooed her by exchanging insults. John Littlejohns, known to friends as Jacky and family as Jack, died while being driven to hospital by his son on Thursday
VOLUNTEERS have been honoured for their efforts at an awards night. The celebration was held in Middleton-in-Teesdale as part of Volunteer Week. Michele Armstrong, chief executive of 2D, Voluntary and Community Support, who compered the event
AN EXHIBITION by one of the country’s leading artists opens in the region tomorrow. In his display Working Lives, David Venables explores the industrial heritage of the North-East in scenes featuring miners, shipyard workers, housewives and fisherwomen
A DELICATE operation has taken place to free a double-decker bus that became wedged under an overpass roof. The Arriva bus crashed into part of the Cornmill shopping centre, in Darlington, at about 4pm, causing delays for motorists. Eyewitnesses
RIDING the wave of new bands breaking out of Brooklyn, Friends’ post-punk and dirty disco debut album seems to be heavily influenced by ESG (1980s New York girl group), Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O, American disco scenester Arthur Russell and British
DESPITE having been around for the best part of ten years, Oregon electro-band The Chromatics only broke into the public consciousness last year, after the pulsating Tick Of The Clock featured prominently on the Drive soundtrack and on a variety
This CD tie-in to Harry Belafonte’s autobiography My Song and the documentary Sing Your Song is a collection of his favourite songs and runs in chronological order to show his musical development over the years. Initially known for introducing
PUNK priestess Patti Smith shows no signs of slowing down with her 11th studio album, her first album of original music for eight years. Bringing in a band of performers which includes her children Jesse and Jackson, as well as long-time collaborators
IT’S been eight years since the Kaiser Chiefs – Ricky Wilson, Andrew ‘Whitey’ White, Simon Rix, Nick ‘Peanut’ Baines and Nick Hodgson – burst into the charts with hits such as Oh My God, Ruby and I Predict A Riot. The Leeds group’s top 16
A COUPLE have won £96,527 on the lottery twice - after accidentally buying two tickets. John Ord, 52, picked up a ticket at a newsagent's near his Gateshead home, not knowing wife Karen, 44, had bought one from a local post office the same day. The
LIVE Theatre director Max Roberts has teamed up with Steve Marmion from London’s Soho Theatre to produce something that’s certainly very different. Written by a range of established and emerging playwrights, as well as comedians and incorporating
A MULTI-MILLION pound investment in a North-East engineering company has created ten jobs, safeguarded another 60 and helped kickstart expansion. Cordell Group, which has seven sites in the region, including its head office, secured the funding
Marks & Spencer has claimed it has become the first major retailer to go completely carbon neutral, five years after launching its sustainability project Plan A. All M&S-operated stores, offices, warehouses and delivery fleets in the UK and
TWO organic producers have joined forces to offer doorstep deliveries of household essentials. Acorn Dairy has teamed up with Piercebridge Organics to meet the increasing demand for deliveries of eggs. Piercebridge Farm, on the border of North
HIGH street chain Clinton Cards’ remaining stores were bought by a US greetings card firm yesterday, saving 397 stores and 4,500 jobs. Ohio-based American Greetings, which was one of Clinton’s biggest suppliers before it collapsed into administration
I WISH Mike Amos every success in trying to banish bad language from non-league football grounds in a bid to make them family-friendly (Echo, June 6). I disagree with his comment that it doesn’t really matter if players and managers swear at Premier
CONGRATULATIONS to the campaigners of Rockingham Drive, Bishop Auckland, for a successful campaign resulting in the installation of “speed tables” on the road which runs through their estate. Pressure from local residents has obliged local government
FUNNY things families – endlessly adaptable, a bit like magic putty. The best families are adept at changing shape – covering up for those who have gone, stretching to absorb newcomers. The strange new girlfriend morphs into the dutiful daughter-in-law
"EXERCISE no help for depression”, was the headline that caught my eye this week. As someone who loves to keep fit and spends a lot of time encouraging others to do the same, you can imagine that I was a bit worried. The truth, as always with these
RECENTLY, my wife bought a tin of biscuits from a local supermarket because she thought it it would look neat on the kitchen worktop. We thought they were from Scotland because of the attractive tartan decoration, the photograph of a Scottish
CUTS in spending will have an adverse impact on the police’s ability to prevent and detect crime. Cuts will reduce the number of officers we have in case of a summer of strikes, protest marches and possible riots. Defence cuts, which are behind
IT did not take long for the usual style of Darlington Borough Council to shine through once a few feathers had been ruffled (HAS, June 1). Councillor Nick Wallis’s comments carefully avoided the question as to where the finance for the wheelie
THE Marie Curie Darlington fundraising group would like to thank all the kind and generous people who have bought a daffodil pin during the Great Daffodil Appeal this year. Our thanks go especially to the 58 volunteers, including members of Darlington
REGARDINGthe closure of the public toilets outside Darlington indoor market (Echo, May 31), there are other public toilets in the Cornmill Centre. On the rare occasions I use a public lavatory, it baffles me as to why some folks leave their phone
MY stomach has just returned to normal after enduring the truly vomitous, fawning, creepy, full cream sycophancy the BBC ladled in full measure on to its coverage of this event. To add insult to injury, I also watched the Jubilee Concert which
EURO 2012 starts today and seldom can there have been a major sporting event which has been met with such low expectations. It is a mere hors d’oeuvres before the main course of the London Olympics, which follow next month. Overshadowed by the
I AGREE with Emma Thomas, (HAS, May 31), particularly about drivers using mobile phones. Is the law ever enforced; how often do you hear of someone being prosecuted for this offence? When I see them I want to stop them and ask how they would
Two Africans have documented life on a tough, tight-knit North-East estate over the past ten years, a time refugees came to make up 25 per cent of the estate. Chris Webber found out how, contrary to their expections, they were ultimately welcomed
No play was possible on the final day of Durham's County Championship match against Warwickshire at Chester-le-Street, denying the hosts the chance of their first win of the season. They were 227 ahead with three wickets standing in their second innings
Friends have paid tribute to a young boy was found hanged yesterday. The boy, named locally as Keiran Stott, 14, was found dead at an address in Droitwich Avenue, Stockton. Police were called to the property at 12.30pm yesterday after
A MAN tasered by police after stabbing his dog to death snapped following the death of his wife, neighbours said last night. Horrified residents were woken by the spaniel’s screams shortly after 6am yesterday. They could only watch powerless as
REFEREE Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli will take charge of England’s European Championship opener against France on Monday. The 40-year-old, who has officiated in Serie A for 10 years, oversaw the Europa League final between England boss Roy
STEWART DOWNING is adamant he will be stronger because of the criticism he has endured during an ‘‘up and down’’ debut campaign for Liverpool. Downing has been identified as one of the negatives from a tumultuous campaign for the Merseyside
DARLINGTON continued their squad rebuilding last night when they swooped for four more players, including twins. Amar Purewal and Arjun Purewal, formerly of Durham City, were two of the latest arrivals which all come from Northern League clubs
PAUL GASCOIGNE is backing his fellow former Newcastle favourite Andy Carroll to hit form for England at Euro 2012. With Wayne Rooney suspended, Liverpool’s £35million man is in contention to lead England’s attack against France in Donetsk when
It's really disappointing today to see a letter sent out by Darlington Borough Council criticising The Northern Echo's coverage of a proposal for a supermarket in the town centre. Chris McEwan, Cabinet Member for Economy & Regeneration, has
A POLICE chief is getting on his bike to visit all major stations in his force area tomorrow. Setting off from force headquarters, at Aykley Heads, at 6am, Durham Chief Constable Jon Stoddart will cycle with 15 volunteer police officers and civilian
A MAN was yesterday jailed for adopting his brother’s identity to claim his benefits while he was on the run abroad. Ryan Burn, 33, purported to be his older brother, Rory, and even changed the address the benefits were to be sent, to enable him
POLICE are hunting a man who verbally abused and threatened a member of staff at a railway station. Police are calling for the public’s help to trace the man who threatened a member of staff at Darlington railway station after they asked him to
THE Government yesterday confirmed that historic Army units would be scrapped to save money, renewing fears that one of the region’s famous infantry battalions could go. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the Army would in the future rely
Burglars caused a gas leak whilst attempting to steal the boiler from The Station pub, in Station Road, St Helen Auckland between 9.30am and 4.30pm on Tuesday, June 5. PC Gareth Hodgson, of Durham Police, said it is believed all rooms had been
BUSINESS leaders in the region have branded Government plans to introduce piecemeal safety schemes on sections of the A1 and A66 as “ridiculous”. The Highways Agency has confirmed there are no plans to resurrect its £300m plan to build a motorway
A PENSIONER has hit out at the county council after bin men refused to take extra rubbish generated from a Diamond Jubilee party. Sheila Tock held a party for about 80 family and friends of members of Witton-le-Wear WI on Monday to mark the Queen’s
HUNDREDS of youngsters have been taking part in a sports project to encourage them to be more active this week. Pupils from ten schools in the Bishop Auckland area have been trying out a number of sports, dance and gymnastics at the eighth consecutive
DURHAM Police's plans to build a £15m headquarters said to be vital to its future have won the backing of councillors. Despite facing a 20 per cent grant cut between last year and 2015, Durham Police wants to use some of its financial reserves
GYPSIES and travellers from across Europe have taken over a small Northern town for an annual event dubbed “the Mecca” for the travelling community. Queues had already formed to get into Appleby Horse Fair, in Cumbria, when the event officially
A TEENAGER has admitted brutally attacking a ten-year-old girl whose disappearance from her home led to a major police search operation. The 16-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, appeared at Teesside Crown Court yesterday
A DARLINGTON charity that gives out free books is appealing for local people to volunteer their time – and to donate their unwanted page turners. The Books For Free shop, in Bondgate, Darlington, will take books that are destined for landfill
MATT Kilgallon will stay to fight for his place at Sunderland despite interest from Championship side Leeds United. Leeds boss Neil Warnock had been hoping to make a bid for Kilgallon this summer, having previously worked with the centre-half
Friday, June 8 Here we go then. After weeks of waiting, finally the action begins. Still, enough about the poker tournament in Andy Carroll's bedroom, apparently there's some football tournament going on as well. Only joking. I managed
A HOLIDAYMAKER was in a critical condition last night after being trampled by cows as he walked along a public footpath with his wife. Despite being seriously injured, the 46-year-old man managed to climb over a nearby wall style before collapsing
NEW details have emerged about a £38m plan to revamp Stockton's rundown high street. However, The Northern Echo can reveal that an extra £2m is needed for the ongoing refurbishment of the oncederelict Globe Theatre, a key project in the renaissance
MULTI-MILLION pound plans have been unveiled to secure and create up to 800 jobs by building offices and leisure facilities on the site of a former ice rink in Durham City . A business consortium wants £27m invested in redeveloping the Freeman
IT is an indication of just how highly regarded Newcastle United's scouting system is that the man at the forefront of it has been handed an eight-year contract. Such a deal will take Graham Carr, the experienced and much-travelled chief scout
THERE might be a lack of European Tour golf in the North-East but there was plenty of quality on show when former Ryder Cup golfer Mark James turned out at De Vere Slaley Hall yesterday. James is leading the way as the ISPS Handa PGA Seniors
POLAND vs GREECE (Group A, 5pm, BBC One) LIKELY LINE-UPS Poland (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Piszczek, Jodlowiec, Perquis, Wawrzniak; Dudka, Polanski; Blaszcykowski, Obraniak, Mierzejewski; Lewandowski. Greece (4-5-1): Tzorvas; Torosidis
EXPORTS from the North-East have continued to hit unprecedented levels, boosted by the manufacturing sector. In the period January to March 2012, ours was one of three English regions to show record growth, with the value of goods from the
THE North-East energy industry could be set to benefit from a partnership between the UK and Norway aimed at creating jobs and securing affordable power supplies for decades. Prime Minister David Cameron and his Norwegian counterpart Jens Stoltenberg
THE heavens opened and soaked the fans in a continuous torrent of rain – but they ignored the weather to enjoy a thrilling show when Coldplay appeared at the Stadium of Light last night. In fact, some thought the rain improved the experience
