DEVELOPERS could be offered land in return for building classrooms at a Durham school. Plans to amalgamate Durham Johnston School's lower and upper sections are being investigated by officials at Durham County Council. The council is trying to determine
THE independent directors of troubled personal injury specialist Claims Direct have "reluctantly" advised shareholders to accept founder Tony Sullman's £19.4m hostile bid for the group. Mr Sullman and former chief executive Colin Poole launched their
SEDGEFIELD Town Council has said farewell to police Sergeant Barry Anderson, who is leaving the village after four years. To show appreciation for his work, the town's Deputy Mayor, Councillor Ian Sutherland, presented him with a limited edition print
HARROGATE has taken a significant step towards a permanent bus station - with the district's bus operator confirming the acquisition of the site from developers, Scottish Widows. The issue has been a problem of the local authority since deregulation in
A FORMER North Yorkshire county councillor and ex-leader of the Tory group on the City of York Council has died at the age of 74, after a long illness. Andrew Armstrong, an honorary alderman of the city, served on the council from its launch in 1996 to
MOBILE phone owners are being warned to keep on their guard after two people had their handsets snatched as they walked down the street making calls. The incidents happened within yards of each other in Darlington town centre, and it is thought the same
Letters from The Northern Echo SCARBOROUGH HAVING twice visited the resort recently, I must say that Scarborough is not the same place I visited years earlier. Everything seems much dearer. Two ladies in our party were charged 65p each for a cup of tea
LIKE the Windmill Theatre - which never closed - this column strives quite hard to put on a weekly show, and under sometimes difficult circumstances. Wearing another hat, for example, we were due at 10.15am last Sunday to leave with Wolviston Cricket
THE father of a brilliant young doctor who vanished without trace almost four years ago, has died without discovering his son's fate. Professor David Choyce, 82, died peacefully at home in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, after a long battle with cancer. A leading
VISITORS to a North-East museum will be able to pick up bargain books and Northumbrian crafts this weekend. Bede's World, at Jarrow, is holding a book and craft fair with demonstrations by some of Northumbria's best craft experts, including woodturning
POLICE divers were still searching the River Tyne last night for a missing man. He was among a group of three who fled from police by jumping into an inflatable boat, which collided with a Royal Naval Reserve training vessel. Northumbria Police said the
A YEAR of setbacks for one of the region's most impressive medieval castles has not stopped it turning a new page in its prestigious history. Raby Castle, near Staindrop, County Durham, has endured a difficult time since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth
Darlington can consider themselves very unlucky not to have come away from Roots Hall with three points after losing to 10-men Southend. The home side were reduced to 10 men on 37 minutes when Damon Searle was shown a straight red card after tangling
ONE of the region's top attractions is demanding action from the European Union to end the practice of shark-finning. The Scarborough Sea Life Centre and Marine Sanctuary has joined forces with the conservation charity, the Shark Trust, in making its
NORTHUMBRIA police is urging women who may be thinking of joining the force to try a day's familiarisation course. The recruiting department wants potential candidates to see for themselves what the recruitment and selection process entails before they
A MOTHER and her teenage son had a narrow escape when fire tore through their home in the early hours of yesterday. The pair managed to flee through thick smoke from their burning home, wearing only their nightclothes. But their home in Nosterfield, near
LIKE the Windmill Theatre - which never closed - this column strives quite hard to put on a weekly show, and under sometimes difficult circumstances. Wearing another hat, for example, we were due at 10.15am last Sunday to leave with Wolviston Cricket
A UNIVERSITY is launching a range of courses to attract hundreds of extra students. From next month, Teesside University will run additional full-time courses as well as courses in computing, business, science, performing arts, health and law. For the
SMALL charities will share in a windfall of more than £7,500, thanks to the Rotary Club and North-East businesses. Seaburn Rotary Club, near Sunderland, teamed up with Storey Carpets and other companies to organise a raffle in aid of 25 charities in the
THE Jurassic age roared back to life yesterday as dinosaurs and erupting volcanoes took over a seaside resort. The Dinosaur Coast Garden Pride exhibition has created a floral prehistoric scene on the seafront at Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Six animated
ROBERT LEE has told Newcastle United fans to prepare for a throwback to the Keegan years when Laurent Robert makes his debut today against Athletic Bilbao at St. James' Park. On the eve of his testimonial clash with the Spaniards, midfielder Lee predicted
Walks writer Mark Reid has had to turn to the urban landscape as the foot-and-mouth crisis retains its stranglehold on the countryside. He has published a new book on town trails in North Yorkshire in an effort to continue to develop and write about sustainable
TOURISM staff in Darlington are celebrating after an increase in business has seen them buck regional trends. The latest figures released by Information Darlington, the town's tourist information centre, show that the number of inquiries made at the Horsemarket
THE grief-stricken family of a father-of-two who died the victim of a drunken game are appealing for his killer's sentence to be extended. Alfred Welch, 21, of Harris Street, Darlington, was jailed for three years last month after admitting the manslaughter
MANUFACTURING firm Deepdale Solutions has opened its doors to new opportunities thanks to training with the North-East Chamber of Commerce. The Thirsk company manufactures and installs aluminium curtain walling, doors and windows for the construction
A 12-YEAR-OLD North-East girl has won the title of Britain's Brainiest Kid. Laura Hibbert, who lives in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, defeated 23 other junior brainboxes to win the televised contest. The schoolgirl beat of hundreds of entries from
REVIEWS:Traditionally, summer is something of a fallow period for video games enthusiasts. Publishers prefer to save their AAA-titles for Christmas assuming, not without good reason, that gamers would prefer to spend hot summer days burning burgers on
THE death of a man at a notorious suicide spot is not being treated as suspicious. A 43-year-old local man was found under the Hownsgill Viaduct, at Hamsterley Mill, near Consett, by a police search team at 8pm, on Thursday. Police were alerted by the
A GALLERY will celebrate the opening of Gateshead Millennium Bridge next month with an exhibition of photographs of another landmark bridge. The Tyne Bridge, which has become the symbol of the North-East, was opened by King George V in 1928. Although
CLEVELAND Police Authority last night pledged to help Ray Mallon in the costly battle to clear his name - after the suspended detective decided to quit. Detective Superintendent Mallon said he was stepping down because he could not afford to defend himself
A BUS pull is being organised to send a sick child to Disney World. Three-year-old Megan Lockey, of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, has cancer and is undergoing intensive chemotherapy. A friend of her family, Joyce Stowson, also of Bishop Auckland has
A FARMER has condemned thieves who he says have risked spreading foot-and-mouth in the country's main hotspot by stealing disinfectant equipment. Jonathan Fairburn said the thieves had put his farm, in the bio-security fortress area, in North Yorkshire
A HOUSING development is to be built on land once used as an auction mart in an east Durham village. Acorn Residential won outline planning permission to build a mix of 83 semi and detached houses in Haswell, between Durham and Peterlee. The near eight-acre
A CRICKET club gala is expected to attract record crowds tomorrow. Saltburn Cricket Club family gala attracts more than 5,000 visitors, and organisers say they are expecting big crowds this year because it is held at the same time as the Saltburn Folk
TWO new branches of the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) are to open in the region. The groups, in Darlington and Stockton, are being created to encourage people to get involved in the protection of the environment in the region and further afield. The
BUS company bosses are acting to ensure a misunderstanding which saw a mother charged for her three-year-old boy on a bus is not repeated. Ellen Davidson took the three youngest of her six children on Stagecoach's 20 service on Thursday, returning from
A PHARMACEUTICAL industry service company is planning new headquarters in Barnard Castle. Honeyman Associates plans to build its new HQ on the town's Harmire Enterprise Park, and is in negotiations with regional development agency One NorthEast over the
FOR the second time in just over a year the England and Wales Cricket Board wasted around £500 yesterday by sending pitch inspector Raman Subba Row to Chester-le-Street. As on the previous occasion, he was able to watch the better batsmen playing comfortably
DON'T forget to back Time To Remember (4.15) in the Northern Echo Handicap at Redcar tomorrow. There's been a magnificent entry to the race we're sponsoring with a total of no less than 24 runners due to face the starter. Of course such a huge field does
POLICE used Rat on a Rat tip-offs to raid eight houses for drugs in County Durham yesterday. Officers in Chester-le-Street arrested five men, aged between 18 and 38, on drugs charges after early morning raids in nearby Chester West, Pelton, Grange Villa
POLICE have urged residents to take care of their keys following a spate of letterbox burglaries in Chester-le-Street, Wearside. Detective Sergeant Max Newby said there had been an increasing number of thefts of top-of-the-range cars and burglaries in
LARGE photographs of a murder victim have been pasted up across a neighbourhood in a bid to jog people's memories. They show market trader Kalvant Singh, who fell to his death from a window in Middlesbrough, on Monday, both with and without a turban.
DARLINGTON Football Club chairman George Reynolds will today mark the first official milestone for his multi-million pound football stadium. Mr Reynolds will open the stadium's visitors' centre at 10am this morning. And the multi-millionaire boss has
DURHAM bowler Simon Brown has launched the Government's summer drink-drive campaign. The side's first international Test cricketer attended the regional launch yesterday at the Riverside ground, Chester-le-Street, during Durham's match against Derbyshire
people planning to make the annual pilgrimage to Our Lady of Mount Grace at Osmotherley, near Northallerton, on Sunday are invited to a "town-instead-of-country" site because of foot-and-mouth. The annual outdoor mass to mark the feast of the Assumption
VOLUNTEERS have been getting their hands dirty cleaning up a North-East heritage site. Durham Cathedral is one of several around the country hosting young people on a working holiday as part of the Cathedral Camps project. The volunteers are spending
DOOR and window lock supplier Grorud Industries has won a major contract to supply Everest Commercial Windows. The Consett company, part of the Assa Abloy Group, will be supplying Everest with more than 200 reversible hinges every week from its County
THE first of the spring flowering bulbs arrive in garden centres and shops this week. Amongst the most popular are the prepared hyacinths for early planting. For most spring flowering subjects such an early start is not critical. It is only if you are
THE former assistant manageress of a seafront pub-restaurant has appeared in court accused of stealing £150,000 from the premises. Kara Joy Kennedy, 29, of Harperley Drive, Sunderland, is charged with theft over a seven-year period up to last June, when
REVIEWS: Traditionally, summer is something of a fallow period for video games enthusiasts. Publishers prefer to save their AAA-titles for Christmas assuming, not without good reason, that gamers would prefer to spend hot summer days burning burgers on
A MAN who cultivated cannabis plants to ease his wife's arthritis escaped punishment at Teesside Crown Court yesterday. But the judge warned him that if he is ever caught doing it again, he will almost certainly be sent to prison. Malcolm Jennison, 52
THIS week the British Horseracing Board announced a record number of fixtures for 2002, but only one Sunday less, leaving 19. Saturday night racing has always been popular, but with so much Sunday racing, Saturday nights are lost. There are 192 continuous
AN international festival starts today on Teesside. Billingham Folklore Festival starts at 1.45pm with a parade and concert. Groups from all corners of the globe will perform their traditional music and dance from today until next Saturday. Performances
A RAIL company boss has hit back at claims by North Yorkshire parish councillors that children are being "herded like cattle" on to school trains. The Danby group parish council, which covers a wide area of the Esk Valley, in the North York Moors National
A POPULAR drama group is aiming to take the stage with its latest production after only a week of rehearsal. The Durham Youth Musical Theatre Company, which attracts young talent from all over the county, is staging the musical comedy The Little Shop
A NORTH-EAST council has invited Hollywood action star Sylvester Stallone to their town. National newspaper reports claimed yesterday that Sly had written to Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council urging it to save the multi-storey car park, which featured
POLICE have reissued an appeal for information after a teenage gunman tried to rob a woman at a bus stop. The attack happened on Wednesday, at about 11pm, at the junction of Salters Lane South and Salters Avenue, Darlington. The woman was returning home
THIS week the British Horseracing Board announced a record number of fixtures for 2002, but only one Sunday less, leaving 19. Saturday night racing has always been popular, but with so much Sunday racing, Saturday nights are lost. There are 192 continuous
MOUNTAIN bikes are on offer for the first boy and girl past the winning post in a charity fun run at Shildon's Jubilee Fields on Sunday, August 26. The 2.8 mile run, to raise money for the Butterwick Hospice at Bishop Auckland, starts at Shildon Stadium
IF Great Britain and Ireland are to retain this afternoon's Shergar Cup, Johhny Murtagh seems certain to play a crucial role in keeping the silverware on home territory. The Ascot showpiece features six ten-runner races matching the top jockeys from Great
HARTLEPOOL United were rocked last night by the news that the Mill House stand at Victoria Park will not be open for this afternoon's Division Three opener with Mansfield Town. The Safety Advisory Committee decided the stand was unsafe after their final
TRIBUTES have been paid to the three men killed in a blast at a North-East power station. Andrew Sherwood, 36, and Darren Higgins, 28, died instantly in the explosion at the Enron power station, Wilton, Teesside, on Wednesday. Lawrence Paul Surtees, 40
TRADING standards officers seized pirate and pornographic videos being sold from a market trader's stall at a car boot sale. More than 100 tapes and DVDs were confiscated from the stall operated by David Ames, in a supermarket car park in Park Lane, Sunderland
ONE of the region's most popular classic car rallies takes place this weekend. The eighth annual Kirk-leatham Rally is being staged at Kirkleatham Museum, Redcar, from 10am to 5pm today and tomorrow. More than 250 vintage vehicles, including cars, tractors
INTRODUCTION of a high-tech police communications system has been delayed for almost a year because of the foot-and-mouth crisis. Durham Constabulary, as other forces across the country, is planning to replace its old analogue radio network with a digital
A 13-year-old is in hospital with serious head injuries following a road accident. The youngster was struck by a van in Joicey Terrace, Tanfield Lea, near Stanley, County Durham, on Thursday afternoon. The boy, from Tanfield, was taken to Newcastle General
THE Coal Authority is looking to reduce the money it spends preventing mine water pollution in the North-East. It is discussing proposals with Durham County Council and the Environment Agency that would cut the annual £1m bill - without harming the environment
MEMBERS of the public will get a birds eye view of a town when an historic clock tower opens for tours for the first time. The Clock Tower, in Darlington's Market Place, is being opened up to the public as part of the town's Heritage Open Days, next month
NORTHERN Ireland Secretary John Reid yesterday gave the Province a chance to salvage the fragile peace process. His decision to suspend the Assembly was the only alternative to wholesale abandonment of the Good Friday Agreement. It is to be hoped that
VIOLENT scenes of fighting, bullying and smashing up cells in a North-East prison are in danger of escalating out of control, says a report. A grim picture of life inside Castington Young Offenders' Institution, in Northumberland, is depicted in research
A TREE which has stood at the centre of a village community for two centuries is to be cut down because it is riddled with disease. The 200-year-old green beech, at the centre of Acklam, Middlesbrough, was branded unsafe after a visit by inspectors from
A LIFELONG love of speed keeps racing grandmother Annie Templeton young at heart. And the step-grandmother is champing at the bit to compete in the Toca tour at Croft Circuit near Darlington today. The 50-year-old Yorkshire-born business woman, who jointly
A TEENAGER has been warned that he could be locked up if he continues to misbehave. John Robert Thomas Grimes, 16, had a two-year Anti-Social Behaviour Order imposed on him by Sedgefield Magistrates. It followed an application from Sedgefield Borough
