Archive
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Rural crime crackdown promised
EXTRA cash for police forces will lead to more bobbies on the beat, senior officers pledged last week. The Home Office revealed the breakdown of where £15m for rural policing would be spent, with about £1m earmarked for North Yorkshire and £124,000 for
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Dragon boat crew fired up for challenge
A TRIO of athletes are making great strides in a new sporting challenge. Ian Spence, Tracy Dodds and Clive Mitchell, all members of Durham's Three Rivers Serpents dragon boat racing crew, have channelled their athletic skills in a new direction. They
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Councillor faces sex charges
CHILD sex charges against a leading Labour Party activist were brought before magistrates last week. Martyn Locklin, 40, is a Sedgefield borough councillor and a town councillor in Newton Aycliffe. Coun Locklin, from Newton Aycliffe, is charged with rape
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Gadget Man - 22 July 2000
SURFING the net using a palmtop computer is pretty smart but Gadget lovers have long wished for a single piece of equipment that would do away with all those annoying cables. In America, PDA owners can choose the lovely palm computing platform with a
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Three arrested over scuffle with refugee
A REFUGEE has been hurt in a scuffle in the North-East. Cleveland Police are satisfied the attack on an Iraqi asylum seeker on Teesside was not racially motivated. But the scuffle, in Pym Street, South Bank, near Middlesbrough, revealed a communications
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Villagers' 60-year wait may be over
villagers are delighted to hear they could benefit from the £180bn Government scheme to give the UK a transport system worthy of the twenty-first century. The first proposal for a Chilton bypass dates back to 1939 and the tiny village has long been beset
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Cash sought to fund new chest clinic
SOUTH Durham Health Care NHS Trust is bidding for more than £100,000 of Government cash to create a specialised urgent chest pain service. The clinic, which would cover both Darlington Memorial and Bishop Auckland General Hospitals, would aim to cut cardiac
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Mum at large - A whisker too far
WHEN your baby grows a beard, then you know you must be getting old... Smaller Son grew the beard at Easter to celebrate the end of his compulsory school career. It was an impressive effort for a 16-year-old - looked rather splendidly Viking-like - but
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Prices at the markets
BARNARD CASTLE. - Tues. Fwd: 65 cattle. Cow & calf: Lim to £525 TG Brown & Son; AA to £505 GR&SF Wearmouth; Char to £410 P&J Coupland; Herefd to £405 TG Brown & Son. Feeding bulls. - Lim: £470 JS Luck & Son; £440, £435, £430, £425
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Scheme aids long-term unemployed
JOBLESS people from the South Bank and Grangetown areas of Middlesbrough are taking part in a safety training scheme linked to the Job Connect project, a back-to-work initiative. The scheme, funded by the South Bank and Grangetown Single Regeneration
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Action urged as report reveals shameful record of racial abuse in the workplace
RACIST abuse in the region's workplace is both widespread and serious, with many black and Asian workers suffering appalling levels of verbal and sometimes physical attacks, according to a report by the TUC. The report, Exposing Racism at Work, is the
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Centre plans to track rail history
An appeal has been launched to find railway memorabilia for a special exhibition. Bishop Auckland Discovery Centre is planning an exhibition on people's personal memories of the railways in the Wear Valley district. The display will be launched on August
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Scent of scandal and all that jazz
LET me apologise now to the couple I saw kissing so passionately at an open-air jazz picnic at the weekend. Because I am about to expose them - or at least their scandalous behaviour - to 200,000 readers of The Northern Echo. If either of them is reading
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Barry celebrates Pit Stop success
BARRY Stephenson, of the Darlington-based Quakers Run-ning Club, won the inaugural Harrisons Sports Challenge Trophy at Croft Autodrome by winning the Pit Stop race. Barry, 18, completed the 10k course in 32 minutes 31 seconds, just beating Michael Lamb
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Prices at the markets
BARNARD CASTLE. - Tues. Fwd: 65 cattle. Cow & calf: Lim to £525 TG Brown & Son; AA to £505 GR&SF Wearmouth; Char to £410 P&J Coupland; Herefd to £405 TG Brown & Son. Feeding bulls. - Lim: £470 JS Luck & Son; £440, £435, £430, £425
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College equipment is a lifesaver
A COMMUNITY COLLEGE is equipped to save lives after being one of three organisations in the country to receive resuscitation equipment. King James Community College in Bishop Auckland has been awarded a defibrillator, worth about £2,500 by the British
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Cross-town route may take 20 years
DARLINGTON'S cross-town route may not be completed for another 20 years, it has been revealed. Darlington Borough Council was told by the Government last week that money for the latest part of the scheme would be available as part of its £180bn transport
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The shame of our region's forgotten railway heritage
A BRIDGE over the River Skerne is considered so historic that it is featured on the back of the £5 notes that pass through millions of hands every day. Over that bridge, 175 years ago, ran the world's first public passenger steam-powered railway. But
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Salvaging our tarnished jewels
IMAGINE if America could boast of having given birth to a development which changed the world. Wouldn't it be a jewel in its tourism crown? Of course it would. Here in the North-East, we can make exactly that boast - we have the world's first public passenger
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Standing Up for drunken teenagers
Dear Euan, I SYMPATHISE with you because I too, when I was about your age, ended up face down and very queasy after a disordered night out. I was 16 and growing up - or failing to grow up - in Armley, Leeds. Every Saturday night staff at the local swimming
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Gazza - A flickering talent that is on the fade
GAZZA'S gone. It wasn't a shock, just a shame. The truth is that Gazza failed to establish himself at Middlesbrough. The talent he once had in abundance only flickered and that was never enough considering the price the club was paying. His close personal
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Manufacturers bring down confidence levels
BUSINESS confidence in the troubled manufacturing sector is falling at the fastest rate for 18 months, according to the Confederation of British Industry. In its quarterly survey of industrial trends, the CBI said both business confidence and the optimism
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Community joy as centre work begins
IT was champagne all round as Jubilee Fields estate watched the first turf being cut for its community centre. Rachel Fuller, seven, was only a baby when the campaign to build a hall for the Shildon community began. With a spade almost as big as herself
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Mum and daughter chalk up success
IT was a double celebration for the Raine family when mum Rosilyn and daughter Alison graduated as teachers on the same day. Rosilyn, 48, has been awarded a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in business education, and Alison, 23, has achieved
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Families slam homes closure
RELATIVES of people living in five doomed residential homes for the elderly in Darlington have spoken out against the closures. Families are unhappy that Darlington Borough Council did not listen to their views when it decided to press ahead with the
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Programme takes an unusual approach
THE Cells Programme, run by DHP Enterprise and funded by Business Link County Durham, takes a somewhat unusual approach to setting up new businesses. By using psychometric testing it 'matches' high calibre individuals into business teams to research and
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Knife threat man bailed
A martial arts instructor refused to be deterred from making a citizen's arrest when he was threatened with violence and had a knife held to his neck and face, a court heard yesterday. Stephen Browne, who also works as a nightclub bouncer, maintained
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Reid seals £3.5m Arca deal
Sunderland's lengthy pursuit of teenage wonderkid Julio Arca finally ended in success yesterday. Manager Peter Reid completed the £3.5m signing of 19-year-old Arca, who he spotted playing in an under-21 international against England last season. Leeds
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Campaign launched to wipe out killer weed
A COUNTRYSIDE killer is being targeted in a campaign. Ragwort is one of the most frequent causes of plant poisoning of livestock and can prove fatal, causing irreversible liver damage in horses, cattle and sheep. Hambleton District Council is urging landowners
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Tough test for Sharon
YOUNG swimmer Sharon Read is heading for uncharted waters with an appearance in a national championship. The 15-year-old came second in the national championships of her native South Africa when she was ten, but next month competes for the first time
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Lifeline for youngsters with conversion of empty building
A CLOSED-DOWN Co-op building which was once the commercial heart of an East Durham village looks set for an expensive new lease of life. And the move can't come soon enough for the young people of Haswell who have long complained about the lack of amenities
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Protest over no-jury courts decision
A NORTH-EAST woman who claims terrorists forced her husband to take part in Northern Ireland's biggest robbery has attacked a decision to continue using non-jury courts in the province. Janice Winward is angry that the Government has decided to keep the
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Warrant for driving case man's arrest
MAGISTRATES have issued a warrant for the arrest of a man who said he could not reach court because he was stuck in Edinburgh. Andrew Sharpe, 28, had previously telephoned court officials at Harrogate to say he could not appear at earlier hearings because
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Residents urged to vote for football legend as freeman
TWO councillors are pushing for a second football legend to be made a freeman of the borough of Redcar and Cleveland. The late Middlesbrough and England football legend Wilf Mannion, and Redcar MP Mo Mowlam are the only two to have received the honour
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Blaze heroes are honoured
A COMMUNITY has honoured three fire heroes who tried in vain to save a grandmother and three little boys. Police officers Marty Hayman and Simon Cowan braved ferocious heat and flames at the house in Holly Hill, Shildon, where 47-year-old Sheila Humphrey
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Pupils' plea fails to save school
A PUPILS' plea to Prime Minister Tony Blair has failed to persuade his Education Secretary to save their school. A shake-up in Spennymoor means that North Road Junior and Bessemer Park Nursery and Infant schools will be replaced in 2002 by a single primary
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Business unite to improve local economy
Newton Aycliffe-based Tolwood Ltd, manufacturers of metal assemblies and fasteners to a number of international car makers, recently hosted the first in a programme of Best Practice Exchange/ Company Visits for members of Sedge-field Borough Business
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Burma jail man waits for appeal
A DEMOCRACY campaigner sentenced to 17 years in a Burmese prison is waiting to hear if the country's High Court will hear his appeal. James Mawdsley, 27, is fighting for his own freedom, having faced the wrath of authorities in Burma because of his efforts
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£350,000 art centre ready for opening
A REDUNDANT kitchen factory and shop have been transformed into an art studio and exhibition centre. The £350,000 project in Saltburn is part of the Rural Challenge Programme, and has been funded by the Arts Council, European Structural Funds and One
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Camra real ale festival gets under way
THE first pints will be pulled tonight at Wear Valley's Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) Beer Festival at Bishop Auckland Town Hall. The Alan Bell Band with Roland Hindmarch and Dave Hardy plays at tonight's folk night. Tomorrow's jazz night features Lewis
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Calling the call centres to account
IN THE old days, before call centres as we know them existed, all the information about Northern Electric customers was stored in "chip bags". When you rang Neeb with a query about your bill, a "runner" would speed down the office, rifle through a pile
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Dad at large - No business like show business
BACK to the rabbits...It was the week of the village fete. We go every year, but this time it was special. There were stalls, bouncy castles, miniature train rides and a line dancing display among the attractions. But it was the pet competition which
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In the picture - Come in Pam, your time is up
PEGGY Snow passed away on Sunday. Her family gathered round her hospital bedside as she lay unconscious. They switched off the life support machine when she was declared brain dead. The funeral takes place in Skelthwaite next Sunday. Millions are expected
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Raising concerns about crime
RESIDENTS worried about crime and disorder will be able to take their problems to police and housing officials under a new scheme. Northumbria Police and Sunderland City Council are launching a new service as an experiment in the Washington area. People
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Memorial service for rugby stalwart
A MEMORIAL service took place this week for a stalwart of rugby union at university and county level in Durham. Hartley B Elliott, a former player, referee to international standard, and club and county administrator, died in hospital in Sunderland earlier
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Trapped sheep rescued from quarry ledge
RSPCA inspector Ian Jackson literally swung into action when he was forced to abseil down a disused quarry to rescue a trapped sheep. The sheep had slipped about 70ft down the quarry at Bollihope, near Frosterley, and ended up on a ledge where it had
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Ten people due in court on drugs offences
TEN people are due to reappear before magistrates today, Thursday, charged with offences relating to the supply of heroin. The ten originally appeared before Sedgefield Magistrates Court last Thursday, when they were remanded in custody until today. They
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Tavern's seating plans raise concerns
COUNCILLORS plan to visit a pub before deciding whether to call time on its plan for outside seating. Scottish and Newcastle Breweries wants to put seats and tables outside the Market Tavern in Durham's Market Place. But the city's police are objecting
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Schools cash in on lottery fund
FOUR Shildon schools are in the money after picking up £76,000 from the National Lottery's New Opportunities Fund. The cash for out-of-school opportunities for youngsters has been awarded to Sunnydale Comprehensive, Timothy Hackworth Primary, St John's
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Doctor's plan under scrutiny
A PROPOSED new doctor's surgery could create traffic chaos for residents, it has been claimed. David Evans, who lives in Park Lane, Darlington, believes the plans, which have been submitted to Darlington Borough Council, will overload nearby streets.
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Police seek help from mystery man
A MYSTERY man who may have unwittingly walked within a few feet of a body last week is being urged to contact police. Security cameras in Coundon have picked up the image of a man walking near the back garden of the Miner's Arms, in Collingwood Street
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Long wait for centre is over
IT WAS champagne all round as residents of Jubilee Fields estate in Shildon watched the first turf being cut for their long-awaited community centre. Seven-year-old Rachel Fuller was only a baby when the campaign to build a hall for the Shildon community
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Cobbler carries on with protest
COBBLER Tony Martin has struck another blow in his battle with officialdom. The Durham City shoe repairer had papered the window of his Claypath shop with press cuttings on the troubles of the city council. Last week he learned he was not to be prosecuted
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Aid for victims
CHERNOBYL AID: Malcolm and Veronica Gibson, of Hope Street, Crook, are again hosting people affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Ukraine. Staying with them are 43-year-old Svitlana Shuelava, 20-year-old Anna Savitskaya, and 13-year-old Yuliya
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Parish is pulling out all the stops
Parishioners at St Columba's in Topcliffe, near Thirsk, have undertaken the painstaking task of cleaning and reassembling their new church organ, rescued from a demolished church. And when the jigsaw of wood and metal fits together again it will be music
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Media training plans criticised
PLANS to give leading Durham County councillors media training have been branded a waste of public money. The council's Executive Committee has approved proposals to teach a total of 50 people - in-cluding officers and committee chairman and vice-chairmen
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How readers are helping Leah's leprosy work
A CHARITY worker, who is one of the few Western women to work with leprosy victims, is almost half way to collecting enough cash to set up a special clinic in India. Since former sufferer Leah Pattison's remarkable story appeared in The Northern Echo,
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On the Fringe of fame
DISABLED actors are heading to the Edinburgh Fringe to perform a specially-written murder mystery musical. But Derwentside-based SNUG (Special Needs Unity Group) will be showcasing the production for local audiences. The group, made up of able-bodied
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School takes the honours at gala
YOUNG swimmers made a splash to take the medals in an inaugural schools competition. The eight-strong team at Applegarth Primary beat off competition from 14 other schools in the Northallerton area to take the title in the Northallerton Swimming Gala.
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Why George has done football a favour
'NOW that's not very politically correct," a friend said to me this week when he learnt of George Reynolds' latest wheeze of telling the fans exactly what each of his Darlington footballers earned. A peculiar turn of phrase, I thought, to describe a peculiar
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Police open new station
POLICE are hoping a new station will hail the 'dawn of a new era' for a community plagued by vandalism. A mini police station was officially opened on Tuesday on a blighted estate at St Helen Auckland, in the hope that it will resolve problems for the
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Newspaper wins praise
THE campaign to get Richard Neale struck off was launched two years before he was suspended by the GMC. But that the campaign was founded at all owes much to The Northern Echo, the Advertiser's sister paper, says campaign group chairman Sheila Wright-Hogeland
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Developers discover hospital underworld
HISTORIANS believe the discovery of subterranean passageways and rooms on the site of a former Victorian mental hospital should be thoroughly investigated. Contractors demolishing Winterton Hospital in Sedgefield stumbled across the underground labyrinth
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Cricket competition winners announced
WINNERS of a special spot the ball competition have been announced by Durham County Cricket Club. The contest was held to raise funds for the county's benefit year appeal and tied in with the recent one-day internationals staged at Chester-le-Street's
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Durham City Ladies set for league debut
A SUCCESSFUL Durham women's football team is taking a step up into the 'big league' in the North-East after outgrowing its previous competition. Durham City Ladies FC makes its debut in the Women's Northern League when the new season kicks-in August.
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North-East riders get chance of show glory
RIDERS will bring horses and ponies from all over the North-East to take part in the Summerhill summer show, in Hartlepool. The show, which will take place on Sunday, August 6, at a site off Catcote Road, has a wide range of show categories for both young
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Town's tribute to its miners
A FORMER mining community has paid tribute to hundreds of its men and boys who lost their lives working in the coal industry. In April 1882, 37 miners died in an explosion at Tudhoe Colliery, near Spennymoor. A cemetery in Spennymoor already has a memorial
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Tourist office to open seven days a week
DURHAM City's Tourist Information Centre in the Market Place is to open seven days a week after doubling its staff to eight. The new recruits - Philippa Miller, Margaret Thompson, Helen Raisbeck and Michelle Hancock - began duty last weekend, which was
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Police put brakes on car crime
POLICE are hailing a crackdown on car crime in the Durham and Chester-le-Street area a success. But they are calling on drivers to do more to curb the number of offences by taking basic security measures. Officers taking part in Operation Oceana have
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£4m rail boost is only a start
A RAIL town's dream of winning back its place in the history of steam was yesterday given formal backing by the National Lottery. The great news comes in the week The Northern Echo has launched a campaign to properly celebrate the North-East's railway
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Failures who find fame and fortune
THE brave volunteers who agreed to take part in Channel 4's fly-on-the-wall Big Brother show must have dreamed of finding fame. For 24 hours a day, their every move inside the sealed house is being recorded. Excerpts are being broadcast on TV and millions
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Robson to hold crisis talks with Ziege
Bryan Robson will today make a desperate effort to persuade Christian Ziege to honour the four-year contract he signed with Middlesbrough last year. Robson will plead with the German to turn his back on the chance to play in Europe with big-spending Liverpool
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Phillips injury blow rocks Reid's plans
England striker Kevin Phillips was at the centre of an injury scare before the second match of Sunderland's continental tour last night. Phillips, expected to play after missing Sunday's match at Le Havre, was sent back to Sunderland for treatment on
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Warship renews friendship with city
THE CREW of Durham's adopted warship was busy making up for lost time, renewing acquaintances in the city last weekend. Operational duties prevented HMS Invincible from making goodwill visits for four years, so the latest short stay, berthed in the River
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Cash demand for surgeon's ex-patients
THE VICTIMS of disgraced surgeon Richard Neale have called on the hospital which employed him to compensate his former patients. Neale, 52, from Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, was struck off the medical register on Tuesday for serious professional misconduct
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Crowley has chance to crown comeback on King
LEADING conditional jockey Jim Crowley takes another vital step forward on the comeback trail at Sedgefield today aboard Milan King (2.20) in the opening Summer Time Handicap Hurdle. After a brilliant start to last season, when he could hardly put a foot
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Off-road vehicles may be banned from moors and dales
OFF-ROAD drivers could be banned from the North Yorks Moors and North Yorkshire Dales under proposals aimed at protecting the environment. Concern about the extent of damage to some of England's most scenic countryside caused by four-wheel drive vehicles
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My leap for life from the Concorde fireball
Concorde disaster survivor Alice Brooking last night relived the horror of the fireball which almost claimed her life. The 21-year-old Cambridge University student jumped to safety from a hotel destroyed by the doomed airliner on which all 109 passengers
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Fire safety speeded up
A NEW scheme to speed up the installation of smoke detectors in council houses has been launched. The deal between Richmondshire District Council and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service will result in alarms being installed over a two year period,
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MP calls for one-stop advice shop
REDCAR and Cleveland people could soon have a one-stop shop to give them legal and community advice. Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Ashok Kumar is calling for action from the local council, the citizens' advice bureau and solicitors in the
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Concern over hostel proposal
PEOPLE in a Durham village are worried about plans to turn a former nursing home into a hostel for asylum seekers. A planning application to change the use of the Appletree Nursing Home, in Frederick Street North, Meadowfield, has been lodged with Durham
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Betts is back but it's still no go for Harmison
DURHAM expect to have Melvyn Betts back for the match against Somerset starting at the Riverside tomorrow, but Steve Harmison is still not fit. For the moment, Durham are still hoping rest will cure Harmison's shin problem and there are no thoughts that
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Age is no barrier for brave Wes
WHEN many people his age are thinking of easing into their comfortable slippers, pensioner Wes Clayton is donning his cycling shoes. The 66-year-old former joiner, from Houghton-le-Spring, has the kind of record at big events that Daley Thompson would
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Secret Mi6 past of child porn accused
A CIVILIAN computer expert charged with downloading child pornography while working at a police headquarters revealed yesterday that he is a former MI6 agent. Alan Coates claims his work for Cleveland Police - which now includes the bugging of police
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Site aims to help drivers win fuel war
A CAMPAIGN to help stop fuel prices escalating has shown that motorists in the region are paying some of the lowest petrol prices in the country. An agreement was signed earlier this week between Boycott-the-pumps.com and PetrolBusters.com to give motorists
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Motorbike fun day organised by police
POLICE have organised a motorcycle extravaganza aimed at everyone from experienced bikers to children. Bike Wise 2000 takes place at Durham Police headquarters, in Aykley Heads, Durham, on Sunday, August 13. There will be demonstrations by world-class
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Ruth has the drive to succeed
IN the 21st century business world, where equal opportunities are rightly commonplace, there are industries where a woman's presence still causes whispers and stares. But Ruth Lowrie decided from a very early age her interests were engines and motors.
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Pensioner raises alert over scam
TRADING standards chiefs have issued a warning over a circular which promises £5,000 in return for payment of a £20 cheque. The circular, from a Dutch company, was sent to a County Durham pensioner, who delivered it to The Northern Echo. It states that
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Firms unite to improve local economy
Newton Aycliffe-based Tolwood Ltd, manufacturers of metal assemblies and fasteners to a number of international car makers, recently hosted the first in a programme of Best Practice Exchange/ Company Visits for members of Sedge-field Borough Business
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Retirement is my true vocation
THE sun shone upon the righteous, and upon the rest of us perchance. The village was verdant, its gardens thrown open to the public and to persuasion, though their excellence was beyond argument. "It's good country muck in't soil that does it," someone
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Murder jail sentence appeal fails
A man jailed for life for killing a pensioner who died of pneumonia after a break-in at his home, failed in an Appeal Court bid to challenge his murder conviction. Gary Andrew Thompson, 43, of Kirkdale Green, Rye Hill, Newcastle, was convicted at Newcastle
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Enforcement of minimum wage urged
ENFORCEMENT of the minimum wage should be improved because of the methods being used by some employers to avoid paying the statutory rate, according to a report published today. Research by the Citizens' Advice Bureau in Tyne and Wear showed that one
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Mum at large - Sorry if I smell a bit
YOU'LL have to excuse me if I smell a bit strange. Blame it on the boys. Being the mother of sons, I thought there'd be things I'd never experience - borrowing of clothes, sharing of shampoos, oils, conditioners. Fat chance. Years ago, when they were
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Troubled A19 viaduct sees more repairs
KING CONE is back just when motorists thought it was safe to get back on the A19. With the railway industry it was always the wrong kind of leaves on the track. With the A19 Tees Viaduct, at Middlesbrough, Teesside, the problem is de-icing salt put on
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Battling Blair is good for the country
THERE have been suggestions that Tony Blair is in crisis, a man under pressure. But I cannot recall a Prime Minister who has taken so much on at once. Education, health, law and order, transport and Northern Ireland, how many other premiers have put so
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Flood-damaged bridge repairs are on target
ENGINEERS are now working seven days a week on an operation to rebuild an historic bridge. The team working to restore the 150-year-old Mercury Bridge at Richmond is carrying out an extensive piling operation to carry the steel supports that will eventually
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Residents fear fires will end in death
POLICE are to take action to prevent youths setting fire to derelict properties on a Darlington estate. Empty houses on Firth Moor estate have been targeted by young arsonists over the past couple of weeks. It has led to safety concerns among residents
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Fell rescuers save lost dog
A FAMILY has been reunited with its lost dog after sterling work by the Swaledale Fell Rescue Organisation. Duke, a springer spaniel, had been underground for more than 100 hours after falling 10ft down a shaft in a deep gorge. He went missing last week
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Media training 'waste of cash'
PLANS to give leading Durham County councillors media training have been branded a waste of public money. The council's executive committee has approved proposals to teach a total of 50 people - including officers and committee chairmen and vice-chairmen
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Live music and food on offer at real ale festival
FINE ALES, fresh food and entertainment are on offer at the four-day Wear Valley's CAMRA Beer Festival in Bishop Auckland Town Hall which started last night. Beers include a specially brewed Festival Special from the Darwin Brewery at Crook. Live bands
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Safety chiefs issue tyre warning
DANGEROUS second-hand tyres on sale throughout North Yorkshire could cause a fatal accident, motorists have been warned. The warning follows a survey by trading standards officers into the sale of part-worn tyres, which revealed that 40 per cent failed
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Bankrupt financial worker 'incompetent, not criminal'
A WOMAN who started a financial services company with the help of a starter pack costing only £120, and then her own website, failed to reveal in newspaper adverts that she was bankrupt. However, Marilyn Saville, 53, of Foxberry, Bramble Court, Sherburn
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Army instructor 'bullied' schoolboy cadets at camp
An Army instructor bullied and humiliated a group of schoolboy soldiers for ten days during a cadet training camp, a court heard. The youngsters were allegedly left battered and in tears after the campaign of severe discipline at the hands of Colour Sergeant
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History study gets cash boost
A STUDY of the North-East's history has been handed £886,000 by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB). The universities of Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside are setting up the AHRB Centre for North-East England History. It
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Residents win fight to prevent takeaway
PLANS to turn a shop in an east Cleveland village into a hot food takeaway have been turned down by councillors. The proposed takeaway in High Street, Skelton, would have opened from 4pm until 11.30pm, seven days a week, and would have created two jobs
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Reaction to pills led to boy's death
POLICE have warned of the dangers of prescription drugs following an inquest into the death of a 15-year-old boy who suffered a fatal allergic reaction to anti-depressant tablets. An inquest at Durham County Hall this week heard how Steven Dawson suffered
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Jury in child porn trial told of phone taps
A former assistant chief constable of Cleveland Police yesterday told a court that internal telephone extensions were secretly bugged and calls logged at force headquarters as part of internal investigations into officers. The disclosure by David Earnshaw
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Children say their farewells to playgroup
A PLAYGROUP that has been forced to close after more than 20 years threw a party to mark its last day. Volunteers held a teddy bears' picnic and tea party for the remaining children who attend the Northlands playgroup in Darlington. Elaine Wilson said
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Contaminated drugs fear as heroin claims two lives
POLICE fear a batch of contaminated heroin could be circulating in the North-East, after two deaths on Tyneside. Both deaths are believed to be heroin-related and detectives are investigating whether they were caused by contaminated drugs. Northumbria
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Keeping the lid on the monster
THERE cannot be a parent in the country who, in the past two weeks, has not felt the urge to reach out and clutch their young children close as they watched them racing ahead on their bikes through the park, lingering for a few moments on their own over
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Being a Parent is not an exact science
A MOTHER'S place is in the wrong. And fathers don't fare much better. It's been a bad month for parents. Mothers were banned from the inner sanctum at Wimbledon. Fifteen-year-old maths prodigy Sufiah Yusof disppeared from Oxford and seemed bent on blackening
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Approval for flats expected
PLANS for 30 new flats to be built near the centre of Bishop Auckland were expected to be given the go-ahead last night. Wear Valley District Council's officers were recommending the proposals for land at North Bondgate and High Bondgate are approved
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Hospitals receive cash boost
A HEALTH trust has been awarded just under half a million pounds as part of its drive to cut hospital waiting times and im-prove services. The South Durham Health Care NHS Trust's has been given £462,000 from the Department of Health's modernisation fund
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Call for bullying to be made illegal
A WOMAN is calling for the Government to make bullying in the workplace illegal. Gill Hetherington has written to Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett, urging him to change the law. She believes that thousands of people are being bullied
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Programme takes an unusual approach
THE Cells Programme, run by DHP Enterprise and funded by Business Link County Durham, takes a somewhat unusual approach to setting up new businesses. By using psychometric testing it 'matches' high calibre individuals into business teams to research and
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Sister bids an emotional farewell
A Darlington primary school held an afternoon of fun last week to say goodbye to the nun who has been its headteacher for the past 12 years. The next day Sister Joan Conroy enjoyed another party, this time an emotional farewell from St Augustine's parishioners
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In the picture - Burnside's back on the case
DETECTIVE Chief Inspector Frank Burnside is back, but with a difference. He's quit the Sun Hill cop shop he inhabited in ITV's The Bill and is pounding a new beat. He has his own series called - what else? - Burnside. "Television's toughest and most uncompromising
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Mechanic fits the bill with ease
IN the twenty-first century business world where equal opportunities are rightly in place, there are some careers where a woman's presence still produces a second glance. Ruth Lawrie decided from an early age that her interest was in engines and vehicles
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In the picture - Meet Puttnam the educator
OSCAR-WINNING film producer Lord Puttnam was quite honest about it. If anybody had told him ten years ago that he'd be standing in the Miners Institute in Newcastle as chairman of the UK's General Teaching Council and a member of the legislature of the
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University expects to be full up
DURHAM University expects to buck the recent national trend and have 'no room at the inn' on campus in the coming academic year. Places at Durham are, as usual, heavily over-subscribed for the term starting in October. Officials expect 'house full' signs
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Estate gets extra police presence
POLICE are hoping a mini-station, housing six officers, will improve a community. People on a St Helen Auckland council estate have worked alongside police to produce an antidote to rowdy behaviour and vandalism that blighted the area. It was decided
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Railway event is steaming ahead
A celebration of the region's railway heritage will take place in Darlington this year, despite the collapse of the planned Millennium Cavalcade of Steam. Thousands were left disappointed when it was announced that the Rail 2000 event had folded earlier
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Police action to combat estate fire-raisers
POLICE are to take action to prevent youths setting fires on a Darlington housing estate after a second blaze in 24 hours. Empty houses on the town's Firth Moor estate have been targeted by young arsonists over the past couple of weeks. It has led to
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Poet Laureate in spotlight
POET Laureate Andrew Motion will be performing a new version of a classic work as part of an international festival tonight. The poet will take part in a candlelit concert at St Wilfrid's Church in Harrogate in an adaptation of Haydn's Seven Last Words
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Boy died after fatal reaction to drug
POLICE have warned of the dangers of prescription drugs after a 15-year-old boy suffered a fatal allergic reaction to anti-depressant tablets. An inquest at Durham County Hall yesterday heard how Steven Dawson suffered an extreme allergic reaction after
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Early entry deadline passes for run
ATHLETES can still take part in this year's Darlington 10km Road Run, despite the passing of the early entry deadline. Late entry fees of £8 for club members and £9 for unattached runners apply until the start of the event on August 13. The run is accompanied
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No headpine
A HIGH-ranking detective plans to take part in a 200-mile charity trip around Ireland. The days of a bobby on a bicycle have long since passed, but Detective Chief Inspector Paul Green, of the County Durham force, will be using pedal power when he embarks
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Attack and theft of bike denied
A MAN kicked out at a schoolboy outside a Crown Court building and rode off on his bicycle. The boy and his friends were using their bicycles and skateboards outside the court building in Middlesbrough, Teesside, in April, when Mark Clark approached them
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Council's media training criticised
PLANS to give leading Durham county councillors media training have been branded a waste of public money. The council's executive committee has approved plans to teach 50 people - including officers and committee chairman and vice-chairmen - how to respond
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Teacher takes up new role at old school
IT was a case of 31 not out for a deputy headteacher when he retired last week. Dave Watson arrived at Darlington's Hummersknott School as head of biology in 1969 and eventually became head of science. In 1976, he was appointed to the role of deputy headteacher
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Child safety drive sparks backlash
A LOCAL authority has been accused of hypocrisy over its campaign urging youngsters to use seat belts. Durham County Council's 'belt-up' campaign aims to cut deaths among children travelling in cars through a series of hard-hitting radio commercials.
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Lock him up, say surgeon's victims
VICTIMS of disgraced gynaecologist Richard Neale are calling for him to be jailed. Twenty-nine women died under his care while he worked as a surgeon at The Friarage Hospital, Northallerton. Mr Neale, from Boroughbridge, this week faces being struck off
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Week in Westminster
IT may be 'billion-pound Blair' this week but, oh dear, the cash hasn't filtered down to poor old Billy Hague yet. I refer to a telephone call late on Thursday evening to The Northern Echo's Westminster office. ''Is that Brendan Carlin?" asked the operator
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Fast progress on £800,000 centre
WORK is forging ahead on an £800,000 community centre to open up a range of opportunities to families on a Hartlepool estate. The steel frame of the building, which is being put up on land between the back of Hindpool Close and the railway embankment
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Paradise is just a small step away
SIX weeks ago, when it was impossible to walk 15 yards without a stick and a stop for breath, a holy grail arose amid the small print on page 17. Amongst the Co Durham environmental awards for landmarks like the Cathedral, the Market Cross in Barnard
