TEN years ago this week, hundreds of twitchers had travelled from across the country in the hope of catching a glimpse of a rare visitor to these shores.

The white-throated robin, more often found breeding from Turkey to Afghanistan and wintering in East Africa, was seen near the bowling green on the Headland, in Hartlepool.

It was believed the species had only been seen in this country three times, with its first sighting in the North-East.

The bird was trapped and ringed before being released onto the bowling green, where the female put on a show for the avid bird-spotters.

People were still turning up to try to catch sight of the bird.

At one stage, they were taking turns to climb onto the roof of a van to see it in the rear of a house.

Also this week, on the day Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to increase spending on the NHS, a North-East hospital trust announced an emergency package of spending cuts totalling £22m.

Simon Pleydell, then chief executive of South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundations Trust, also revealed yesterday that, despite Government promises to ring-fence NHS spending, his trust had started that financial year £6m worse off than the previous year.

Mr Pleydell, who ran the 1,160-bed James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, and the 180-bed Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, said the trust was having to slam the brakes on spending in order to hit Government efficiency targets at the time

Meanwhile, the new owner of a house once occupied by comedian Stan Laurel and his family had spoken of his joy at buying the modest terraced property.

Property investor Phil Carrick bought the house in Princes Street, Bishop Auckland, where Stan lived with his parents while a baby, for an undisclosed sum after it failed to sell at auction.

Mr Carrick, who was originally from Forest Hall, Tyneside, but now lives in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, has a portfolio of rental properties in the North-East.

He initially planned to refurbish the house and sell it.