A programme has been set up to boost skills of trainees in the electronics sector. The work-based Learning for Adults programme has been created by a partnership which includes The North of England Microelectronics Institute (Nemi), the Employment Service
COUNCIL chiefs have hit back at claims that strict new standards are driving many taxi drivers out of business. A number of Hackney Carriage drivers in Darlington have contacted The Northern Echo to say they cannot afford to maintain their vehicles because
ELECTED MAYORS ONE of the more positive and striking developments following the recent tragedy in New York has been the tremendous response of the city at all levels to its difficulties. Elected mayor Rudolph Giuliani spoke with compassion and dignity
Sedgefield Borough Business Service (SBBS) has launched the Borough's Practical Guide to Starting Up in Business. The guide aims to aid individuals through the steps of starting up in business and improving their chances of success. Based on the extensive
The greatest moment in sport came at ten past three on Saturday, November 4, 1961 when George Sinclair, a polliss from South Shields or somewhere, headed past Oldham Athletic goalkeeper Johnny Bollands. It was the FA Cup first round, Shildon were in the
The greatest moment in sport came at ten past three on Saturday, November 4, 1961 when George Sinclair, a polliss from South Shields or somewhere, headed past Oldham Athletic goalkeeper Johnny Bollands. It was the FA Cup first round, Shildon were in the
A facility for schools and community groups visiting Preston Hall Museum, Eaglescliffe, opened at the weekend. The Learning Resource Room can be booked by schools, youth organisations, family learning groups and other organisations that support learning
A suspended police superintendent credited with bringing zero tolerance policing to Britain today began the defence of his career. Ray Mallon's legal team was locked in legal argument with lawyers acting for his employers, Cleveland Police, who brought
THIS column was born to be mild, the gastronomic equivalent of Walter the Softy. There are vindaloos and rogan joshes, biryanis, dansaks and healthy tikkas and, hiding somewhere in a distant corner of the menu lest someone kick sand in their face there
THE Newcastle Jesters crisis could lead to the collapse of another North-East outfit, it has been warned. While those involved in the sport across the country have had their eyes on the Jesters situation since February, awaiting the outcome of the ongoing
RESIDENTS fighting for Stanley have offered their own plan to breathe new life into its town centre. And their local council claims it is already working on a number of ideas presented by Stanley Action Group Enterprise (Sage). In a letter to Derwentside
Pressure is mounting on Stephen Byers to sack his top political adviser for sending an email within an hour of the New York terror attack, suggesting it would be a "good day" to "bury" bad news stories. Jo Moore, Special Adviser to Mr. Byers, sent the
NEWCASTLE manager Bobby Robson believes Kieron Dyer can overcome the hurt of his Euro 2000 rejection and re-emerge as the missing link in England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's World Cup crusade. Former England boss Robson yesterday insisted that £20m-rated
POLICE are appealing for help to find two thugs who tormented a pensioner. The 84-year-old woman was at home in Skippers Lane, Normanby, on Friday, when the youths forced their way into her house. "Threatening her with a knife, they dragged her around
A NUMBER of forged £5 notes have been discovered circulating in a North-East town. Over the past fortnight, about 20 of the counterfeit notes have been handed in to police in Darlington. The majority of them had been passed at off-licences. PC Jonathan
"PICTURE a Wild West ghost town, totally deserted. If Stanley was in America that is what could have become of it." Professor of social policy Fred Robinson, of Durham University, has studied extensively the post-war decline of the area's economy and
CINEMA bosses have promised film fans "no more standing waiting in the rain" with the help of a new computerised ticket system. The move aims to put an end to a sight familiar to visitors to Darlington for many years as they travel along Northgate to
WALLS covered in creepers, paint fading through neglect - there is little to suggest there is anything special about the small, four-bedroom villa. Only the presence of security guards raises an eyebrow, but even this is not uncommon in a neighbourhood
HOUSEHOLDERS across the Ryedale area are being urged to return the registration forms that ensure they get the chance to vote. Any forms which are not returned will mean that voters cannot be included in the new Register of Electors that is being published
SIXTY of the top young chess talents in the country will be heading for North Yorkshire later this month to compete for one of the biggest prizes in the British game. The Ampleforth Junior Masters, in its second year at the Catholic independent school
PEOPLE living in Hartlepool are being urged to make recycling a regular part of their weekly routine. Officials from Hartlepool Borough Council want residents across the town to make looking after the environment as commonplace as shopping for groceries
A STUDENT has been subjected to a serious assault after a night out. The 21-year-old Irishman was attacked by two men after coming out of a night club and finding himself lost on Teesside. Instead of getting on to a free shuttle bus taking revellers from
A PENSIONER choked while being spoon-fed spaghetti in the nursing home where she was a resident, an inquest heard today. Coroner John Sleightholme heard how 78-year-old Nora Cox, had difficulty swallowing, a condition common in people suffering from dementia
FAMILY and friends gathered yesterday to pay tribute to an "unforgettable character" who became an instantly recognisable face to a generation of North-Easterners. Mourners packed St Mary's and St Cuthbert's parish church, in Chester-le-Street, County
A FOOTBALL team has kicked off its second season in more than two decades in style. Trials were held earlier this year to establish a squad for the Darlington Primary Schools Town Football Team, which was resurrected after about 25 years last season.
A MAN who admitted more than 100 motoring offences was disqualified from driving for 12 months yesterday. Christopher Stuart Weir, of Cheshire Place, Bishop Auckland was before Sedgefield Magistrates, Newton Aycliffe, charged with the offences, from February
LONDON shares recovered from dramatic early losses to close almost level despite volatile trading following the attacks on Afghanistan. By the close of dealing, the FTSE 100 Index had pulled back from a 133-point slide at about 9am to close down just
STAFF at a volunteer-run museum were celebrating yesterday after attaining the status that will open the doors for more public funding. The Yorkshire Air Museum, in Elvington, near York, was set up in the early 1980s and has since become a major attraction
A GIRLS' soccer team is on the winning trail after storming through unbeaten in a six-a-side football festival. A squad of ten year seven girls, from Sunnydale Comprehensive School, Shildon, beat off stiff competition from schoolgirl teams throughout
volunteers threw themselves off a building at the weekend to raise money for charity. The abseil at Darlington's Memorial Hospital was organised by the Royal National Institute for the Blind, and 170 people took part. Among them was Zoe Moran who works
ANOTHER North Yorkshire school has taken an important step towards special status after securing the financial backing required from the local community. Richmond School had to raise £50,000 in pledges by last Friday to clear the first major hurdle on
NO indignity is too much for Redcar's own 'Mr Endurance' when it comes to raising money for a good cause. Ron Gordon has swallowed 400 maggots, topped off with rag and lug worms, to raise £800 for charity; been covered from head to toe - save his knee
NORTH-EAST journalist Yvonne Ridley was finally a free woman last night after the under-fire Taliban released her from captivity. Her parents Allan and Joyce Ridley prepared to celebrate as Ms Ridley, 43, was pictured on Pakistani television after crossing
A POLICE chief's four year bid to clear his name is set to take a new twist today. Suspended Detective Superintendent Ray Mallon, former head of Middlesbrough CID, faces 14 disciplinary charges arising out of the long running Operation Lancet, anti police
THE mother of a young North-East man killed in a street brawl on Saturday, was today due to scoop an award for services to a local neighbourhood watch scheme. A murder investigation was launched yesterday after the death of Phillip McGibbon, 25, who was
THE regional director of the Government agency One NorthEast visited a regeneration project in Sunderland to check on its progress. Dr Bob Dobbie visited the Back on the Map area in the city's East End and Hendon to learn more about some of the projects
A FAMILY Bible was one of the only possessions to survive a raging fire which gutted a flat. A power cut meant 39-year-old Karen Torgerson had to read her Bible by candlelight at her home in Washington, Wearside, and fell asleep with the flame still burning
NEWCASTLE manager Bobby Robson believes Kieron Dyer can overcome the hurt of his Euro 2000 rejection and re-emerge as the missing link in England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's World Cup crusade. Former England boss Robson yesterday insisted that £20m-rated
THE little girl who touched North-East hearts is safely back on British soil. Hannah Maxwell-Jones, from Nunthorpe, in Middlesbrough, touched down at Teesside Airport just hours before attacks were launched on Afghanistan. The toddler has been at the
SUNDERLAND transfer target Trevor Sinclair turned up the heat on Premiership basement-dwellers West Ham United yesterday by asking for a transfer. And Wearside boss Peter Reid, who has had a bid of around £6m turned down for the England B international
MIDDLESBROUGH boss Steve McClaren will have to start the bidding at £8m to land Derby County's England midfielder Seth Johnson. Since he took charge of Boro in the summer, former Derby first-team coach McClaren has been keeping close tabs on 22-year-old
A PROGRAMME of events aimed to boost mental health awareness in Redcar and Cleveland takes place this week. The events have been organised by the Redcar and Cleveland Mental Health Promotion Partnership, as part of MindOut's national campaign Stop the
BANK on Bacchanalia (3.00) to capture the feature event of the afternoon at Catterick, the £8,000 Tote Exacta Fillies' Nursery. Les Eyre has taken the extra precaution of snapping up champion jockey elect Kieren Fallon to ride the selection, a tremendously
TEMPORARY traffic lights will be in use in Redcar as of next Monday, because of essential gas maintenance work. The lights will be in Corporation Road, as 800 metres of gas main is replaced between the junction of Mersey Road and the junction of West
I HAVE enjoyed the great privilege of being able to share my thoughts with you in this newspaper every week for the last ten years. I have written on a hundred and more topics: some light-hearted, many routine and occasionally momentous - such as the
A RADICAL overhaul of ward boundaries, with the loss of several councillors, is about to take place in a Teesside borough. Following a decision by Middlesbrough Borough Council to go ahead with the shake-up, it is expected to back the creation of a working
SUNDERLAND goal-ace Kevin Phillips fears he has played his last game for England, writes FRANK JOHNSON. While the 28-year-old striker applauded England's nail-biting, last-ditch qualification for the World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea, he admitted
A second night of air strikes was unleashed against Afghanistan as Tony Blair warned last night that the US and its allies in the war against terrorism were in for a "long haul" struggle. With anti-aircraft fire reported again over the Afghan capital
IT is five years since the future of Bishop Auckland Football Club was hanging by a thread. But when the crunch came, readers of The Northern Echo stepped into save the team - a founder member of the Football League - from certain bankruptcy. Now the
THIS column was born to be mild, the gastronomic equivalent of Walter the Softy. There are vindaloos and rogan joshes, biryanis, dansaks and healthy tikkas and, hiding somewhere in a distant corner of the menu lest someone kick sand in their face there
Hard-working vets have helped farmers battling against foot-and-mouth disease make "important steps on the long road back to normality", a Government official said today. Farmers in northern England today received a boost as some restrictions on animal
YOUNGSTERS have been displaying their artistic tendencies - with a bit of help from the professionals. Rural Arts North Yorkshire, which is based at Thirsk, called in artist Margaret Murphy to help youngsters from Haxby and Wigginton, near York, complete
After throwing away the chance of taking all three points from Friday night's encounter at Luton Town, Darlington manager Gary Bennett has lamented his side's inability to kill off the opposition. With some tough fixtures awaiting, including Saturday's
After throwing away the chance of taking all three points from Friday night's encounter at Luton Town, Darlington manager Gary Bennett has lamented his side's inability to kill off the opposition. With some tough fixtures awaiting, including Saturday's
THE family of freed journalist Yvonne Ridley celebrated her release with champagne, her mother said this morning. Joyce Ridley, 74, said she spoke to Yvonne by telephone last night, after her release by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. "I'm so happy
I HAVE enjoyed the great privilege of being able to share my thoughts with you in this newspaper every week for the last ten years. I have written on a hundred and more topics: some light-hearted, many routine and occasionally momentous - such as the
A BUSINESSMAN has been ordered to move a trailer which planning officers claim has turned a village centre into an eyesore. Brent Stephenson has been given two weeks by Teesdale District Council to shift a trailer from land near Central Buildings, in
A PARTY of Russian visitors have included Whitby's new £6m sewage works on their list of must-see places, alongside the famous Abbey and museum. The delegation from Balaclava are spending several days in the town and took a tour of the Broomfield Farm
A MAN has been left fighting for his life, following a double stabbing. The 34-year-old lost so much blood as a result of the attack near Middlesbrough town centre, he had to be given an emergency blood transfusion. He is reported to be "critical but
A MURDER investigation has been launched after a North-East father-of-three died almost two years after he was attacked. Kevin Pharoah, 49, who developed epilepsy after being beaten in a pub in January last year, suffered a fit and was found dead last
CHRIS Turner is calling for an improvement in concentration to lift Hartlepool United from the foot of Division Three. Pool lost 2-1 at Rushden on Friday night and 24 hours later were dumped to the foot of the table as both Carlisle and Exeter won. Pool's
A POLICE officer who admitted threatening his wife and making nuisance phone calls will not face an internal investigation, it was revealed today. North Yorkshire Police have accepted the resignation of PC Arthur Swaine, who first offered to quit after
A WOMAN convicted last year of causing unnecessary suffering to a cat failed to persuade magistrates to allow her to keep pets again, yesterday. Janice Lawson - formerly known as Banthorpe - was fined £400 last August when a Siamese cat she owned was
A NUMBER of off licences are being targeted by police in a drive to call time on under-age drinking. Police say anti-social behaviour by teenagers is often fuelled by drink bought from off licences - and the force intends to cut off their supply. Particular
MAKING maths fun was the aim of a special fair in Stockton, at the weekend. The fair organiser Stockton Borough Council, said the event at the University of Durham Stockton Campus, was "a free feast of mathematical fun for parents, teachers and children
PEOPLE are being urged to submit nominations for sports awards before Friday. Middlesbrough Borough Council is searching for the best young sports personality, best coach and best team, for its Middlesbrough Sports Personality of the Year awards. Winners
A TEENAGER was subjected to a sex attack by two men as she walked home after a night out with friends. The 17-year-old was forced to the ground and sexually assaulted after being confronted by the men in Cheltenham Crescent, Harrogate, North Yorkshire
A NEWTON Aycliffe man has won an award for gaining the highest marks in naval training. Gary Stott, 20, completed his training at HMS Raleigh and at the passing out parade received the Owen Cup for his achievements in the final examination during the
CHRIS Turner is calling for an improvement in concentration to lift Hartlepool United from the foot of Division Three. Pool lost 2-1 at Rushden on Friday night and 24 hours later were dumped to the foot of the table as both Carlisle and Exeter won. Pool's
A PILOT died when his light aircraft plunged to earth minutes after a radio warning that a door was open on his plane, an inquest heard yesterday. Retired company boss Brian McClelland had taken off from Sherburn Aero Club, near Selby, North Yorkshire
POLICE arrested more than 30 people after targeting problem streets at the weekend. Cleveland officers staged Operation Hawk in response to a high rate of offending in parts of Middlesbrough during October, each year. They stopped more than 400 people
A MOTHER who was left feeling like a "freak" after the botched forceps delivery of her second child, launched a legal battle for compensation yesterday. Jill Allen suffered serious physical and emotional injury after the birth of Kieran in October 1996
A NORTH-East engineer, who supervised the raising of Russian submarine the Kursk, was "over the moon" last night at the operation's success. A team of 30 divers, led by Malcolm Dailey, of Norton, Stockton, finally saw the Kursk rise clear of the seabed
PRESENT, the National Association for the Education for Sick Children, is holding a roadshow in Durham City on Thursday. It will provide parents with information about the education opportunities available for youngsters unable to attend school because
POLICE are anxious to trace the address of their latest slippery suspect - a red snake which is in their custody. The reptile, thought to be either a rat snake or a corn snake, turned up at a house in Hemlington, Middlesbrough, whose owner was startled
A pig farmer whose animals were among the first to be infected in the foot-and-mouth crisis has denied 22 charges relating to the disease. Robert Waugh, 56, who operated from Burnside Farm, Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, pleaded not guilty at Tynedale
A HOST of celebrities join-ed in a special charity golf tournament in the North-East. Tim Healy, star of Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Brian Johnson, of AC/DC, and Oxo Dad Mike Redfern were among the faces seen at the Ramside Hall Hotel Golf Club, at Carrville
POLICE have renewed appeals for help from the public in their hunt for a rapist. The man struck in the village of Middleton-St-George, near Darlington, six months ago, pouncing on his 30-year-old victim as she made her way home following a night out.
THEY emerged into the crisp morning and looked around their town, knowing war had visited them again, trying to figure out how. Even for the citizens of Kabul, accustomed to misery and uncertainty and crumbled lives, this was a difficult day. ''I don't
SUNDERLAND transfer target Trevor Sinclair turned up the heat on Premiership basement-dwellers West Ham United yesterday by asking for a transfer. And Wearside boss Peter Reid, who has had a bid of around £6m turned down for the England B international
MIDDLESBROUGH boss Steve McClaren will have to start the bidding at £8m to land Derby County's England midfielder Seth Johnson. Since he took charge of Boro in the summer, former Derby first-team coach McClaren has been keeping close tabs on 22-year-old
PASSENGER numbers on a North Yorkshire bus route have risen by 2,200 in just three months. People travelling between Stokesley and Northallerton leapt from just more than 1,600 in April to 3,800 in July, according to research carried out by North Yorkshire
Aspiring artists are being urged to enter a competition with the theme of winter. Prizes in the Bishop Auckland Discovery Centre competition will be awarded in a ceremony on December 15. Entries should arrive at the centre, at 29 Market Place, Bishop
IT is five years since the future of Bishop Auckland Football Club was hanging by a thread. But when the crunch came, readers of The Northern Echo stepped into save the team - a founder member of the Football League - from certain bankruptcy. Now the
DETECTIVES believe a spate of burglaries in Darlington at the weekend is an "unusual rise" in figures. A total of 15 attempted or successful burglaries were reported to police in the town between Friday morning and Sunday night, which officers have described
VILLAGE residents have been urged to complain to the council after claims that long-awaited road repairs have left the area in a worse condition. A petition was sent to Darlington Borough Council earlier this year from Hurworth residents, calling for
A ROW has broken out over plans by a waste management company to site rubbish skips yards from a riverside caravan park. Caravan owners have been joined by residents at Wolsingham, Weardale, in signing a petition which urges Durham County Council to veto
FAMILY and friends gathered yesterday to pay tribute to an "unforgettable character" who became an instantly recognisable face to a generation of North-Easterners. Mourners packed St Mary's and St Cuthbert's parish church, in Chester-le-Street, County
