MAYOR of Middlesbrough, Ray Mallon, will reopen a health centre vacated by doctors and revamped at a cost of £125,000 as a mental health resource centre, on Friday.

Staff who were previously based in offices above a fish and chip shop say the Lakeside centre at Hemlington, Middlesbrough, has made a tremendous difference to both workers and patients.

OFFICIAL OPENING: A funeral home is being unveiled in Stockton on Friday. The home, in Norton Road, has been converted from the former Carlton Garage into a £900,000 facility, with three chapels of rest, a private interview room and a function suite. The building will be the headquarters for the Co-op's funeral business in the Stockton area, which also has homes in the town's Durham Road, as well as in Billingham.

ECZEMA GROUP: A talk on nutrition and skin will be given at a meeting of Teesside Eczema Support Group tonight, between 6pm and 7pm. They meet at the dermatology outpatient department at the James Cook University Hospital, Marton Road, Middlesbrough. For more information, call (01642) 854722.

LIFE SAVING: The saving of 1,306 lives off the North Yorkshire coast is to be celebrated. The men and women of Whitby RNLI lifeboat service will mark the station's 200th anniversary in the town at a thanksgiving service on Sunday. The Whitby lifeboatmen have received five gold, 14 silver and 16 bronze medals for gallantry over the years. The service will be held at St Mary's Church at 2.30pm.

SPORTS AWARD: A Middlesbrough school has been awarded £2,270 to spend on rugby coaching, equipment and transport. Pupils from years seven, eight and nine at Newlands Secondary School, Saltersgill Avenue, will benefit.

FIREWORKS DISPLAY: A firework display will take place at Asda supermarket in South Bank, Middlesbrough, next Wednesday. The event, at 8pm, will feature fairground rides, a raffle and hot food. All proceeds will go to Zoe's Place baby hospice in Normanby.

New amusements: Hartlepool Borough Council has received a planning application to change the use of the butchers shop on The Front, Seaton Carew into an amusement arcade.