NO one can accuse the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee of being reckless. Its cautious approach since 1997 has helped deliver steady economic growth and the lowest inflation rates for more than a generation. However, such a satisfactory outcome
POLICE are urgently trying to trace a pensioner who left a North-East hospital without warning amid fears that he could die without further treatment. Charles Dickens, 69, was being cared for at Darlington Memorial Hospital when he walked out without
A PUB says it is being forced to alter its menu to cater for more exotic tastes as its customers ditch traditional English fare. The Brinkburn pub, in Darlington, County Durham, has just launched a new menu to respond to changes in the nation's eating
TWO robbers who mugged a taxi driver left him lying injured in the road. The cabbie picked up the two men from outside the Zanzibar nightclub, on Stockton High Street, in the early hours yesterday. A Cleveland Police spokesman said: "A short while later
JUGGLING with figures took on a new meaning for bright youngsters attending a special maths master class on Teesside at the weekend. Colin Wright expertly juggled balls for his Teesside-wide audience of 12 and 13-year-olds at the University of Teesside
A NORTH-EAST environmental group has been accused of scaremongering after naming potential plutonium waste dump sites. The Green Party on Teesside is criticised by the boss of Cleveland Potash for suggesting in a report out today that Boulby mine, in
A WOMAN has written to The Northern Echo in a bid to track down her County Durham relatives. Cynthia White, of Ringwood, near Bournemouth, has a number of letters written by Tom and Lizzie Adams, of Bishop Auckland, to her maternal grandmother, Lizzie's
THE Shell Technology Enterprise Programme (Step), which organises undergraduate work placements, has teamed up with the Department of Trade and Industry to launch a £1.4m initiative designed to tackle the chronic lack of skilled graduates taking up careers
A SPECIALIST nurse has been appointed to improve the treatment of people with osteoporosis, or brittle bone disease. Denise Elliott will also identify people at risk of developing the disease in her new role with the Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary
SNOW failed to put a damper on Durham's Chinese New Year Festival yesterday. Organisers were forced to move planned open-air performances of traditional Chinese dance and music inside the town hall as the weather made a stage erected in the Market Place
HERE'S a horrible tale. Last Friday I walked down to our parish church of St Michael's, happily contemplating the festival I was about to celebrate: the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. All through the service I was distracted by a young
A building society is trying a new way of reaching potential customers. Not only is Darlington Building Society advertising on radio, it is buying sets to give away to ensure as many people as possible hear its marketing message. The company is working
CHILDREN swapped the classroom for the boardroom to take part in an industry workshop. More than 100 students from schools across Teesside took part in the Entrepreneurship Masterclass, at the BT Cellnet Riverside Stadium on Friday. Run by Young Enterprise
A NORTH-EAST training company has signed a groundbreaking agreement with its opposite number in the United Arab Emirates. Teesside International Training Consortium (TITC) is a group of six Teesside-based training companies, including Redcar and Cleveland
CONCERN is growing for the welfare of a missing 32-year-old man. Peter Sean Leek, of Linshiels Road, Ingleby Barwick, was last seen driving away from the Portrack area of Stockton, in his blue Vauxhall Nova, on the afternoon of Saturday, January 28. The
LOCKERBIE JUSTICE of sorts is seen to have been done regarding the Lockerbie disaster. It is right that terrorist individuals or states are brought to account but why are those who bombed Tripoli or an aspirin factory in Sudan still at liberty or those
IN all probability, Redcar would still be a quaint North-East fishing village if it hadn't been for the arrival of the steel industry at the beginning of the last century. The landscape was changed forever when the huge blast furnaces and massive mills
PRIME Minister Tony Blair last night signalled an aid package for Teesside if Corus goes ahead with massive job cuts. But Downing Street and Labour MPs are now hoping that the steel unions can persuade the company to step back from axing more than 1,000
Hollywood couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are to separate after 11 years of marriage, a spokesman for the pair announced last night. The couple, who were widely believed to have one of the happiest marriages in showbusiness, said they had taken the
NOT many racehorses are revelling in the spell of extremely wet weather, but Cherry Tart (2.50) is proving an exception to the rule, bidding to notch her second success within the space of a week at Carlisle. Heavy ground is essential for the Cheshire-trained
COUNCIL services in part of the region are to be available at the touch of a button or the click of a mouse within the next two years. A scheme is expected to start in the Hambleton District Council area of North Yorkshire, which should see services electronically
EDUCATION chiefs in County Durham are to get £900,000 in government cash to create the classrooms of the future. The county's education authority submitted a bid to the Department for Education and Employment to build the high-tech "learning zones". The
Darlington last night appointed former Feethams favourite and Hartlepool United boss Mick Tait as assistant manager. Tait's arrival heralded a reshuffle behind the scenes at Feethams, with Jimmy Montgomery, who was appointed assistant to Gary Bennett
TRANSFER-listed Newcastle United defender Alain Goma has been sidelined for six weeks with a broken hand. The French centre-back suffered the injury in United's 3-1 defeat at Chelsea six days ago and is not expected to play again until Middlesbrough visit
SHOWBIZ is full of stars who have gone under the surgeon's knife in the pursuit of physical perfection. But has an overweight rabbit ever before had cosmetic surgery? Poor Tallulah wasn't a happy bunny because she was so overweight. So a vet suggested
A COUNTY'S schools have received a cash injection as part of a council upgrade and repair programme. Government announcements that more cash is available for schools has allowed Durham County Council to draw up a further programme of works. The authority
TERRITORIAL soldiers from throughout Cleveland were honoured at a presentation night. The Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Colonel The Lord Guisborough, visited the 104 Pioneer Squadron Royal Logistics Corps at the Hollis VC Armoury, in Coulby Newham
TRACY Willett's life is taking a new direction at the age of 40. She is quitting her desk job as a clerk, to take on the role of trouble shooter, patrolling the streets of a Teesside community as the UK's first woman community safety warden. She will
Even in Tow Law they reckoned it was bad out, which, translated, means that it was utterly monstrous. You could hardly see the snow for the fog. The club secretary, who lives in Darlington, had struggled as far as West Auckland before doing a U-turn of
THE specialist skills of Cleveland Search and Rescue Team were called on yesterday after a woman fell and injured her leg while out rambling. The 62-year-old, from Stockton, who has not been named, was with fellow members of Stockton Ramblers when she
A MARATHON wheelchair push between two football club grounds looks likely to raise about £3,000 for charity. Friends Paul Hodgson and Ian Carter came up with the idea of the push, from Darlington's Feethams ground to York City's Bootham Crescent. They
A PENSIONER is appealing to the public to help him find his long-lost pal. Jack Higham, 71, has not seen Frederick Bulmer, originally of Annfield Plain, near Stanley, County Durham, since the mid-1960s. Mr Higham gave Mr Bulmer a temporary home when they
METROPOLITAN Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens had a lucky escape when he was forced to crash-land his plane at Newcastle Airport. It's the second time that the senior police chief has had a brush with death as he has also had a miraculous mid-air
A PAINTING by a young boy is to be seen all over the world, as interest in Gateshead's Millennium Bridge continues to grow. A competition asked people to photograph, paint or draw the 850-tonne bridge, which became an overnight landmark when it arrived
CHILDREN on a unique music project have become the latest to go online thanks to The Northern Echo's CommuniGate scheme. The Amicus project is a partnership between pupils at Beaumont Hill and Skerne Park primary schools in Darlington. Margaret Severi
A WOMAN was in a critical condition in hospital last night following a crash near Bishop Auckland, in County Durham. The accident happened on the A68 at Toft Hill outside the Wear View Diner at 12.45pm on Saturday lunchtime. The woman, who has not been
TOP athletes will head for Durham later this month to take part in the View From National English Cross County Championships. The city is expected to host more than 6,000 runners at the event, which is in its 125th year. Durham City Council chief executive
RESIDENTS are to have a hands-on involvement in the regeneration of their town. Spennymoor Town Forum has backed the setting up of three branch groups to oversee the transformation of the town centre, in particular, to deal with the worrying number of
Like the signs of a storm, or a profile of Ms Vanessa Feltz, this column is not difficult to recognise. Barry Dowson seemed to have cracked it straight away. "Either that or he's a nervous wreck," suggested Garry Gibson, former chairman of Hartlepool
A historic event has been marked at Darlington's Harrowgate Hill Infant School. To celebrate its 99th anniversary on Friday, pupils were asked to dress up. With the help of parents, life in the classroom took on a different look. Boys dressed in short
THREE teenagers have been selected to speak on behalf of the youth of County Durham. The trio will be among a dozen North-East teenagers, who have been selected to represent the region in the first UK Youth Parliament, in London, at the end of the month
CHILDREN'S charity Barnados needs carers in Durham and befrienders in Darlington. They are wanted for a project to provide help to families where a child has an illness or disability. Barnados' Shared Care North-East help children and young people to
TINY Joshua Wilkinson-Martin and his great uncle Joe Thornton have both beaten the odds to overcome heart problems. Joshua, four months, was a surprise addition to the family when he was born on November 12 last year, weighing just 2lbs 2ozs. Mother Lisa
AFTER 42 years underground and aged 74, a former miner and my constituent, Ken Herdman, is now trapped on the ground floor of his small home in the former pit village of Seven Sisters. On the damp Welsh valley morning when I visited him, he talked fitfully
VISITORS to Rose Severs' house are left in no doubt about her great passion in life - as they pick their way through the penguins. For 13 years, she has been unable to resist the tuxedoed gents of the bird world. She and her husband, David, share their
A CHURCH has embarked on the biggest restoration programme in its history to mark a special anniversary. St James the Great parish church, Albert Hill, Darlington, celebrates the 125th year of its dedication in August. A rolling programme of improvements
TWO teenage girls missing from home since Friday may have gone to a party in Red House, Sunderland, police said last night. Officers said they were becoming "increasingly concerned" for the girls' welfare. Lorraine Harland, 16, left her home in Middle
A FORMER Home Office minister who set up many of Labour's anti-crime schemes visited a Chester-le-Street initiative. Alum Michael MP dropped in at the award-winning Avenues Resource Centre on Friday, to see how it is operating. The centre brings together
NEEDY children received a boost when they met their Newcastle United heroes. The youngsters, who had been deprived, abused, or were suffering from serious illnesses, chatted to the players at their Chester-le-Street training ground. The children, all
The latest sports news from the Darlington & Stockton Times will be updated here every Friday. You can also read the latest farming news from the paper online in the farming section of this website. Opinion and Features can be found in our Features
A TOWN which won the accolade "Environment City" is poised to make a U-turn over its green transport plans. Green bus routes are to be dropped from a strategy plan - just two weeks before the blueprint is submitted to the executive of Middlesbrough Borough
The latest news from the Darlington & Stockton Times will be updated here every Friday. You can also read the latest farming news from the paper online in the farming section of this website. Opinion and Features can be found in our Features section
A YOUNG dog is in need of some puppy love after its owners became too busy to look after him. Midge - pictured making friends with from left, Bronwyn and Margaret Suddes and Sam Hall - is a one-year-old whippet cross, described by staff at the National
STAFF at one of Wearside's biggest stores are on their guard against thieves after completing specialist security training. The Crime Free Zone scheme has helped Savacentre staff increase their awareness of security issues through workshops, security
The latest news from the Darlington & Stockton Times will be updated here every Friday. You can also read the latest farming news from the paper online in the farming section of this website. Opinion and Features can be found in our Features section
GNER and Railtrack revealed last night that the line closures which have plagued the railways since the Hatfield disaster are finally over. The announcement came as a new timetable bringing faster trains on the East Coast main line came into force - and
LABOUR signalled a new bid last night to come to the aid of ex-miners crippled with chest disease, amid growing anger that many are dying before they can win the compensation they deserve. More than 18,000 former pitmen across the North-East have applied
Julio Arca is flying back from South America to offer Sunderland a welcome boost in their Champions League bid, writes JACK LESLIE. The winger has been out of the country for a month helping Argentina finish second behind Brazil in the South American
CROATIAN ace Alen Boksic is gearing up for a crack at glory with Middlesbrough. The 31-year-old striker looks to have finally rid himself of the injury problems which plagued him in his early months on Teesside. Boksic has spelled out his desire to fire
LAST week's question about the Blue Stone in Sherburn village provoked a number of interesting responses. A: IN answer to your question on the Sherburn Blue Stone. I was born in Sherburn in 1935 in Smith Street. The Blue Stone was a meeting point in the
BUSINESSES in the North-East will soon be a click away from the most complete online service listing commercial property available for sale or lease in the region. Seven leading commercial agencies have joined forces with national listings website egpropertylink.com
BAYWATCH, British-style, comes to Teesside tomorrow. But Pamela Anderson and hunks in trunks will be conspicuous by their absence from talks to discuss beach lifeguards. Redcar is hosting the first meeting of the National Beach Safety Council, made up
