It is perhaps fitting that, in the week that Ascot moved to York, a long awaited episcopal handicap should end with a long-odds outsider coming up on the rails at the last to take the title to general applause. The appointment of Dr John Sentamu, the
ONCE more to the land of her father's, Blessed Serendipity for once seeming not to have packed her red spotted handkerchief and tagged, talismanically, along. Though we combed the Milford and West Wales Mercury, the Narberth and Whitland Observer and
A PENSIONER starved herself to death after apparently living in squalor for months, despite being in a warden monitored flat. The body of Marjorie Birtwhistle, 79, was found lying under a filthy quilt on a settee in her flat, in Carey Close, Newport,
Tim Henman last night admitted he had struggled to overcome his ''incompetence'' after scraping into the second round at Wimbledon. Henman recovered from two sets down to beat Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 3-6 6-7 6-4 7-5 6-2 after three hours 31 minutes
A MOTHER who disappeared on a sunshine holiday leaving her three children with a 15-year-old babysitter, is upset and has tried to fly home early, according to a friend. These pictures show Kelly Ann Piggford, from Darlington, enjoying a second week of
MICHAEL Bridges has pledged to prove Mick McCarthy wrong by battling his way back into first-team contention at the Stadium of Light, writes Scott Wilson. The North Shields-born striker, who joined the Black Cats for a second time last September, was
A GROUP of volunteers are preparing to go live with a project designed to provide emergency medical aid in their community. Twelve "first responders" have been receiving training from ambulance service paramedic Pete Shaw, in Melsonby, near Richmond,
PARENTS furious at the relocation of one of the region's leading schools last night staged their biggest public protest yet against the proposal. More than 200 villagers marched through Hurworth, near Darlington, to demonstrate against the impending loss
THE region's council tenants help pay the bill for London's crumbling housing stock under unfair funding rules that must be scrapped, a report says. The independent Audit Commission attacked a complex cross-subsidy system for penalising local authorities
Holby City (BBC1) THERE was a time when hospital dramas revolved around illness. Whether it was horrific injuries or mystery diseases, it was all about the patient. Naturally, this could only go on for so long. There are only so many ways that limbs can
A PENSIONER starved herself to death after apparently living in squalor for months, despite staying in a warden monitored flat. The body of Marjorie Birtwhistle, 79, was found lying under a filthy quilt on a settee in her Middlesbrough flat on New Year's
TROUBLED supermarket group Morrisons appeased investors after unveiling a boardroom overhaul yesterday. The Bradford-based chain announced the appointment of three new non-executive directors, with the promise of more to come. The company came under increasing
THE creator of TV shows Hollyoaks, Grange Hill and Brookside last night sold his production company to a rival. Phil Redmond, who founded Mersey Television with his wife, Alexis, 23 years ago, sold the business to All3Media, the company behind the Richard
EXPORT opportunities to the US state of Virginia will be showcased to North-East firms next week. A delegation from Virginia will be in the region to meet businesses and demonstrate what the US state can offer to investors. It will include information
A COUNCIL has ended a four-week feud over rubbish in West Auckland. Residents in Copeland Road and Edith Terrace had not had their wheelie bins emptied for a month after refusing to comply with Wear Valley District Council's orders to leave them at the
TODDLERS will be able to revel in messy activities this week to mark SureStart Month. Painting, sticky playdough mud, gloop and craft activities will keep youngsters happy at the family fun day in Thornaby. The session will be held on Friday at the Thornaby
A GROUP of volunteers are preparing to go live with a project designed to provide emergency medical aid in their community. Twelve "first responders" have been receiving training from ambulance service paramedic Pete Shaw, in Melsonby, near Richmond,
A SCHOOL has forged links with a North-East university in an attempt to figure out ways to make maths fun. Pupils from Hurworth School, Darlington, are working with maths lecturers and undergraduates from Sunderland University to present the subject in
HOSPITAL patients are enjoying the summer sunshine following the complete refurbishment of their garden area. Situated in a small courtyard area within the mental health unit of the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, the garden provides patients with
THE stepson of a man who died minutes after breaking up a fight said last night: "He was trying to protect me." Silas Hickman died of heart failure after breaking up a scuffle outside the house of his partner and 18-year-old stepson, Daniel Farnell, in
MORE than 200 budding Steve Harmisons and Kevin Pietersons took part in a cricket event in Bishop Auckland yesterday. Twenty-four teams from primary schools across Wear Valley competed in a Kwik Cricket tournament at Bishop Auckland Cricket Club. Coach
A CONTROVERSIAL homes plan which prompted objections about possible traffic chaos was approved yesterday. People living near the site of the proposed development in Newton Aycliffe are worried that extra vehicles generated by 34 new homes will block the
A SCHOOL in Durham has swept the board at a construction competition New College Durham won four out of the five sections that it entered in the North-East regional heat of the Skillbuild competition. It is a national event promoting excellence among
A CAMPAIGN to raise awareness of new office space in Darlington has been launched. Darlington Advantage will be aiming to highlight the benefits of locating a new business in the town. Darlington Borough Council and Tees Valley Regeneration have joined
POLICE are trying to track down two men who may be able to assist with their inquiries into the theft of two mobile phones. The theft took place three months ago - on March 25 - from the Argos catalogue store in Northallerton's High Street. The men asked
RESIDENTS living near chemical plants are being invited to a meeting attended by some of the world's leading activists on pollution. Hartlepool Friends of the Earth and Impact has organised the meeting to take place in Redcar tomorrow to raise awareness
MEMBERS of a family-run shopping empire will be reunited today to launch an exhibition celebrating a retail phenomenon. Selling everything but food, Doggarts branches throughout the old County Durham area were a popular place for families to furnish their
Admiral Horatio Nelson has been spared from an embarrassing defeat - just before the 200th anniversary of his greatest victory. Regulars were stunned when told his name was to be removed from their village pub, the Lord Nelson at Gainford near Barnard
WIGAN ATHLETIC have earmarked Middlesbrough striker Szilard Nemeth as the man to spearhead their Premiership survival bid. The Latics are on the look out for fresh faces and manager Paul Jewell is armed with a £20m transfer fund having gained promotion
WAR: You have given much prominence to Reg Keys, whose son was killed in Iraq and who stood against Tony Blair in Sedgefield in the General Election. Did The Northern Echo give prominence to a young officer, Lt Anthony Prestridge, who was killed on Bowes
A CHILDREN'S hospice that cares for terminally-ill youngsters across the region has allayed fears it is in crisis after a £150,000 hole in its budget emerged. Bosses at Butterwick Children's Hospice said it had launched a fundraising campaign to make
Holby City (BBC1) - There was a time when hospital dramas revolved around illness. Whether it was horrific injuries or mystery diseases, it was all about the patient. Naturally, this could only go on for so long. There are only so many ways that limbs
A prank to make Tom Cruise feel small did nothing to dampen his dignity. MAYBE Tom Cruise could change the world. Or at least the bit of it that involves cheap and nasty television programmes that trade on other people's discomfiture and embarrassment
A FAMILY GP who fraudulently obtained prescription drugs to feed his addiction to powerful painkillers has been barred from working as a medic outside the NHS. Dr Robin Wade was sentenced on Monday at Teesside Crown Court after admitting four counts of
THERE are clear differences of opinion over the disturbing case of Marjorie Birtwhistle, the 79-year-old who starved herself to death in a warden-monitored flat. As far as Teesside coroner Michael Sheffield is concerned, Mrs Birtwhistle was a victim of
A prank to make Tom Cruise feel small did nothing to dampen his dignity. MAYBE Tom Cruise could change the world. Or at least the bit of it that involves cheap and nasty television programmes that trade on other people's discomfiture and embarrassment
ONCE more to the land of her father's, Blessed Serendipity for once seeming not to have packed her red spotted handkerchief and tagged, talismanically, along. Though we combed the Milford and West Wales Mercury, the Narberth and Whitland Observer and
FINAL plans have been submitted for a £200m chemical plant on Teesside. US group Huntsman is asking Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council for planning permission to build the world's largest polyethylene plant at Wilton. The factory is expected to create
FINAL plans have been submitted for a £200m chemical plant on Teesside. US group Huntsman is asking Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council for planning permission to build the world's largest polyethylene plant at Wilton. The factory is expected to create
THE UK's largest engineering consultants is to take on 25 more staff in the North-East, after celebrating a strong rise in profits. Atkins, which employs 350 workers across the region, saw pre-tax profits leap 31 per cent from £56.2m to £73.6m. The jump
A FAST-growing supply firm is recruiting more staff as it prepares to break the £3m turnover mark. Propeller, based in Peterlee, County Durham, has seen turnover increase eight-fold, from £35,000 when it was founded in 2001, to an estimated £3m this year
TRIBUTES have been paid to a retired senior Durham University lecturer who has died. Dr Geoff Endean was known as a world authority on ball lightning and published papers on cosmology. He died last Wednesday after years of suffering from progressive supranuclear
A PARK will regain its key community role today when it re-opens its gates after a £1.8m facelift. First opened in 1929 as a Miners Welfare Ground, Horden Welfare Park had fallen into disrepair over the years. But in February last year, a comprehensive
THE following cases were heard by South Durham magistrates sitting in Darlington yesterday: l Andrew Broderick, of Westgarth Terrace, Darlington, faces 16 charges of making indecent photographs of children and one count of possessing child pornography
ONE of Darlington's longest-serving headteachers will retire after nearly 40 years' service to education. Margaret Cunningham, head of Harrowgate Hill Infant School, is stepping down at the end of the summer term. She began her career at Firthmoor Infant
TWO new staff have joined an accountancy firm in Darlington. Tom Brindle and Caroline Allen have joined Clive Owen & Co LLP. Mr Brindle joins the practice as an audit senior and will assist some of the firm's larger incorporated clients with year-end
A MAN who had spent a week behind bars for a crime he denied committing was bailed by a court yesterday after his partner supported his story. Michael David Richmond had been remanded to Hull Prison last Tuesday by Harrogate magistrates after he had pleaded
A TEAM of shoe shop assistants are tightening their laces to prepare for a charity race. Ten colleagues from Emotion Shoes, based in Thornaby, Teesside, have been sponsored to compete in Cancer Research UK's Race for Life this weekend. The crew, who will
A VILLAGE will come to a halt this weekend as the annual summer carnival takes to the streets. Esh Winning Summer Carnival takes place on Saturday, with the parade setting off from Our Lady Queen of Martyrs School at 12.45pm. Led by Bearpark and Esh Colliery
A TREASURE hunt with a difference takes place on the riverbanks of Durham today. Although there is no pot of gold to be found, the "treasure" that hunters will attempt to pinpoint are a collection of 25 contemporary bird boxes dotted around the wooded
A PROJECT which specialises in helping women in education has a double reason to celebrate. The Bridge Women's Education and Support Project, based in Chester-le-Street, has received an outstanding report from Government inspectors in the same week as
VISITORS to a cemetery are benefiting from improved facilities thanks to the efforts of a group of adults with learning disabilities. The group members have become involved in a project to renovate wooden benches at Stranton Cemetery, Hartlepool, and
COMPLETING a coast-to-coast challenge on horseback proved to be a hairy ride for two sisters. Janine and Gail Smith have raised more than £1,000 for the autistic and young people's charity, Daisy Chain, by riding more than 200 miles from St Bees Head,
A WOMAN who stored amphetamines and cannabis at her home on behalf of her brother has been spared a jail sentence. Teesside Crown Court heard that more than £3,000 worth of drugs along with scales and £865 cash were recovered by police from the home of
HUNDREDS of schoolchildren are being taught valuable life lessons during Child Safety Week. Throughout this week, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's road safety team is presenting Guisborough pupils with roadside pedestrian awareness training. Spike
POLICE are preparing for their biggest crowd control test yet at Durham's Riverside cricket ground in Chester-le-Street. A sell-out crowd of 16,000 - a record for the ground - will attend tomorrow's England v Australia day-night international in the NatWest
COUNCIL tenants in Teesdale are going to be balloted on whether they want their homes transferred to a housing association. Consultation on the proposal has been completed and the majority of tenants are in favour of the transfer of almost 900 houses.
AN elderly couple said they have had £10,000 worth of property stolen from their farm because of the route of a footpath. Thornton and Pat Mitcalfe are applying to have a public footpath diverted away from Kirk View Farm at Mickleton, near Barnard Castle
STAFF at an airbase are busy preparing for a charity concert next month. RAF Linton-on-Ouse, near York, is holding a Gala on the Green on Friday, July 1, to raise money for local charities and celebrate the 60th anniversaries of VE and VJ Day. The RAF
A bullock caused chaos in a town centre yesterday when it ran away from a cattle market and charged into a jewellery shop. It crashed into a display cabinet and knocked over dozens of pieces of jewellery in the Ice Designs shop, in Galgate, Barnard Castle
Tomorrow, Prince William will graduate from St Andrews University and bring to an end four years of study. But it will also mean an end to a four year "agreement" with the Press not to intrude on his private life. Nick Morrison looks at what the future
A TEACHING union has blasted a report which followed the conviction of a 12-year-old boy for raping a teacher. The report by Gateshead Area Child Protection Committee (ACPC), released yesterday, recognised the boy was a real threat to "young and vulnerable
birmingham city supremo David Sullivan has revealed that Newcastle United's Lee Bowyer turned down the chance to sign for Blues because he feared being attacked. The Midlands club were hopeful of persuading the controversial midfielder to change his mind
RILEY BOYS, sporting a first time visor, fits the bill very nicely for this afternoon's Carlisle Bell. Always a competitive heat, this year's renewal is no exception with a maximum-allowed 17 runners going to post. Traditional wisdom implies that a high
POLICE are hunting a driver who attempted to abduct a teenager as she walked to school. The 14-year-old girl was walking along Dunston Road in the West Park area of Hartlepool on Monday morning when she was approached by a man in a white van. He drove
CONCERNS have been raised over the decision by the head of a council's planning department to quit his job to work for a solicitors' firm. An MP has echoed worries that the move, by Steve Barker, head of planning at Stockton Borough Council, to join Blackett
MIKE Hussey last night pinpointed Durham team-mate Steve Harmison as the biggest danger to Australia's hopes of turning their summer around at Riverside tomorrow. Hussey has been one of Australia's few success stories this summer, scoring an unbeaten
GARY Scott is the surprise member of a Wearside quartet in Durham's squad for the opening Twenty20 Cup match at Derby this evening, writes Tim Wellock. Almost four years after his only first team appearance, against the same opponents in a championship
