Archive
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Miners' leader to hit out at Blair
A NORTH-EAST miners' leader delivers a gala day rebuke to Prime Minister Tony Blair today. Regional National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) general secretary Dave Hopper criticised the "deceitful way" Mr Blair justified the Iraq war, in his 2003 Durham Miners
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Plaque remembers former Echo editor
THE second editor of The Northern Echo has been commemorated with a plaque outside his former home in London. Plaques in New York, London, Northumberland and Darlington already pay tribute to the achievements of William Thomas Stead. Now another has been
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Guisborough have to get by without key pair
Leaders Guisborough will be without two of their most reliable players when they meet Richmondshire at Fountains Garth this afternoon. David Towse, arguably one of the most successful and economical bowlers in the league, and long-serving Gary Bolton
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Police bravery honour
TWO police officers have been honoured for their bravery by Prime Minister Tony Blair. Sergeant Sue Robinson and PC Gary Coulson, of Durham Police, were among 45 officers from England and Wales whose bravery earned them nomination for awards. Sgt Robinson
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Philippines adventure for Rachael
A BEAUTY therapist is preparing to travel to the Philippines to carry out voluntary work with children. Rachael Jackson, 18, who lives in Barnard Castle, has been accepted by the International Teams organisation to spend a year doing unpaid voluntary
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Cyclists on tribute charity marathon
TWO cyclists are making a four-day bike ride in memory of a friend who died from cancer. The chairman of Wear Valley Development Association, Anthony Walters, and Planarch Design town planning consultant John Lavender are planning to cover 200 miles on
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Councils in bid to keep CAB office
TWO councils have vowed to work together to keep an advice and information service in Spennymoor town centre when it is forced to relocate. The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) will be asked to leave its present base in Spennymoor Town Hall within six months
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Activities on offer during school break
A NEWTON Aycliffe school is running two free weeks of arts activities during the summer holidays. The first week of the initiative at Greenfield School runs from Monday, July 19, to Friday, July 23. Moving Images is a five-day dance and visual arts project
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Grief led son to take his own life
A MAN who could not come to terms with the death of his parents eight years ago took his own life, an inquest heard. Colin Marley, 43, of Ennerdale Grove, West Auckland, was found dead at his home on July 14 last year. His brother, Michael John Marley
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Weather could play a role at the top
The uncertainty of the weather and the possibility of important games being washed out could see a change at the top by tomorrow night, with only eight points separating the three leading clubs. A double programme with 40 points at stake opens up opportunities
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Centre gets off to a Sure Start
TWO-YEAR-OLD Owen Milburn celebrated his birthday in style yesterday by officially opening a £738,000 centre for families and children. Owen, whose mum Adele has been among a group of parents who have helped plan the design and construction of the West
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Food store plan likely to be rejected following protests
RESIDENTS who objected to plans for a supermarket near their homes look set to win their battle. An 82-name petition and ten letters of objection have been sent to Hartlepool Borough Council protesting about proposals for a discount foodstore, with 138
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High praise for walkers
A GROUP promoting walking as a way of keeping healthy has won a national award. Hambleton Strollers has been awarded three hearts in the Quality Mark Accreditation scheme, part of the Walking the Way to Health Initiative run by the Countryside Agency
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Modern post office to be given an old-style makeover
WORK is under way on the first building to undergo a traditional makeover in a conservation area in north Durham. The post office, in the Annfield Plain Conservation Area in West Road, is taking on a new look - thanks to a Heritage Economic Regeneration
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Firms pay for growth with credit cards
MORE than one in four small businesses in the region are relying on credit cards to fund expansion because bank loans are too much trouble, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said yesterday. The FSB, launching a survey of its members called Barriers
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Black Caps star ready for Fell debut
Gateshead Fell hope to finally parade their new overseas player when they face reigning champions South Northumberland at Gosforth. They began the season with Australian Marcus North and when he was seconded to Durham County, another Aussie, Trent Kelly
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Waste firm offers two-day promise over complaints
A North Yorkshire waste management firm has pledged to improve its complaints handling process during the next 12 months. Yorwaste, which took over responsibility for waste management from North Yorkshire County Council in 1993, is aiming to respond to
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Narrow lead for Murton
Murton defend a slender one point lead over Silksworth when they host mid-table Castle Eden this afternoon. Although the visitors have won only three games, they have lost just once confirming that they are not an easy side to beat. Murton field their
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Sacriston hope rain holds off
AFTER three weeks of inclement weather, Sacriston need their game at Ashington to go ahead. They are 47 points behind leaders Tynedale and if they are to have any chance of catching up, must beat Ashington. Sacriston are at full-strength and, having lost
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Residents prepare to fight for future of open spaces
RESIDENTS are to oppose a developer over the future of two open spaces. Public inquiries will be held into whether the Blue Heaps and the Top of the Park, in Consett, should be registered as village greens. Both sites were sold by Derwentside College
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New look is old look for revitalised gardens
THE Italian Gardens in Saltburn Valley are being given a facelift to help recreate their original Victorian layout. More than 750 plants are being put in, intricate Buxus hedging is being reinstalled, decorative gravel renewed, new bollards introduced
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School's poetic pupils praised
PRIMARY school youngsters have been named among the top fundraisers in the country. Durham Lane Primary School, in Eaglescliffe, has been named as Teesside's top fundraising school for its participation in Words Worth Reading, an attempt to break the
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Entries sought for contest
APPLICATION forms are now available for an annual gardening competition. Entry for the Loftus Town and Villages In Bloom competition in east Cleveland is free. There are three categories - best front garden, best rear garden, and best window box, hanging
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North-East town short-changed on grants
A GOVERNMENT office has admitted it got its sums wrong - costing a North-East council more than £2m in lost grants. Middlesbrough Council argued that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) had under estimated the town's population, leading to a reduced
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Awards for exporters
A FARMER who set up a dog lovers' website and turned it into a successful business was honoured at the North-East Export awards last night. Mandy Bainbridge, who runs Colliewobbles, a website that offers a range of mail order gifts for Border Collie and
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Blair unscathed by damning Iraq report
TONY BLAIR was last night bolstered by a scathing US report blaming intelligence failings, not political pressure, for errors over Iraq. The future of the CIA was called into question by the devastating conclusions of the Senate Intelligence Committee
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First journey is for you, John
WHEN the first regular passenger train for 50 years steams out of a rural station next weekend, it will carry a tribute to a steam stalwart who died without seeing his dream of reopening a redundant line fulfilled. Retired milkman John Woods was one of
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Now it really is cheaper to go Dutch
IT'S 5.30am. Leeds Bradford airport. Jet2.com fly twice a day to Amsterdam. Because of the timings, you can have a full day in Amsterdam with plenty of time to enjoy the city. Best of all, prices start from £1, before taxes. Yes £1 - daft isn't it? So
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Beating drugs the cubic way
A NORTH-EAST learning mentor is getting to the square root of innovation with his entry into this year's Spirit of Innovation Awards. Chris Williams, 33, of North Shields, North Tyneside, has created a drugs information aid in the form of a Rubik's Cube
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Boost your libido with Aunty Mo
A FORMER North-East MP has switched careers from party politics to bedroom politics after taking up the role of a sex agony aunt. Former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam, who represented the Redcar constituency between 1987 and 2001, has joined Zoo
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Fire brigade under threat over budget
A NORTH-EAST fire brigade could face budget cuts next year after falling foul of the Government over its council tax increase. The County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service will not be capped this year for breaking the Government's order for
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Graham is Quakers' top target
DARLINGTON manager David Hodgson will step up his search for a new striker next week with Middlesbrough's Danny Graham at the top of his summer shopping list, writes LEE HALL. Despite Boro boss Steve McClaren's intentions to nurture the promising 19-year-old
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Bernard 'not being forced out'
NEWCASTLE have sought to play down suggestions they are forcing Olivier Bernard out of the club. The French full-back, who is about to enter the final year of his current United deal, has claimed that the club have failed to offer him a new contract.
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Band has its big chance after win
A NORTH-EAST rock band is about to release their first album after winning The Northern Echo's music competition. Stone Coda, from Darlington, will release their CD next month after spending months working on the project at Sanity Multimedia Studios,
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How Wesley won the day
LIKE many more discerning folk, John Wesley seemed to be awfully fond of Osmotherley - stone built and solitary at the foot of the North Yorkshire moors - and Ossie, in turn, liked him. The great traveller, said to have covered more than 5,000 miles a
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Friends finally meet after 62 years of letter-writing
IT has taken 62 years and more than 500 letters, but lifelong pen-friends Helen Bowron and Beverley Bradley have finally met. Despite living 12,000 miles apart, the two women have built up a friendship over the years which has stood the test of time.
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Smuggler fails in court bid to reclaim birds
A parrot breeder who has served a jail term for smuggling rare macaws into Britain has failed in a High Court bid to get back 39 of his beloved birds. Harry Sissen, 65, of Cornhill Farm, East Cowton, Northallerton, claimed Customs and Excise's seizure
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Sporting way to help unite young and old
THE drive to get more people taking exercise has moved another step forward through an initiative aiming to bridge the gap between generations. Age Concern in County Durham has teamed up with the Wear Valley Sport Action Zone to unite older people and
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Support service set up to help job seekers
A SERVICE has been set up in Newton Aycliffe to help unemployed people from the western part of the town find jobs. Linda Hind will be available to offer an individually tailored job hunting support service in the Neighbourhood Management Resource office
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Success for Cleveland
CLEVELAND, the North-East's smallest athletics county, were the region's most successful team at the opening day of the English Schools Championships at Gateshead International Stadium, with six individual qualifiers for today's finals. The brightest
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Furniture retailer plans expansion
A NORTH-East furniture retailer is to expand nationwide next year. DP Furniture Express, formerly Durham Pine, hopes to become one of the top furniture retailers in the country. The group said it planned to float on the stock marketnext year to fund acquisitions
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Mother's anger after medicine bottle mix-up
A MOTHER claims a chemist's blunder could have killed her baby. A pharmacy has admitted it may have accidentally contaminated medicine for 18-month-old Zach Simpson with methadone, the drug used to treat heroin addicts. Zach's mother, Jayne Simpson, 26
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Council in lowest ten for pupil spend
One of the region's council is among the bottom ten local authorities in the country in terms of what it spends on each primary school child, according to a study. North Yorkshire County Council spends £2,157 per pupil each year, according to an analysis
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City pool lifesavers honoured by society
TWO Durham lifeguards who help others to learn how to save lives are to be honoured for their work. Jonny Gwynne and David Walker, who work at the city's swimming pool, are both members of the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS). They will be presented with
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Customs: We'll seize boats visiting offshore off-licence
CUSTOMS officials last night threatened to seize boats travelling to an offshore off-licence anchored 13 miles out in the North Sea. Customs and Excise officials have already launched an investigation into Philip Berriman's maritime business venture off
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Customs: We'll seize boats visiting offshore off-licence
CUSTOMS officials last night threatened to seize boats travelling to an offshore off-licence anchored 13 miles out in the North Sea. Customs and Excise officials have already launched an investigation into Philip Berriman's maritime business venture off
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Boro can live with the best, says Hasselbaink
ONE of the most momentous weeks in Middlesbrough's history came to a close last night, with new signing Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink insisting he had joined "one of the best squads in the Premiership". The Dutch international has signed a two-year deal with
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Reviving Saturday night Fever
This is a repeat of an In The Picture feature first "broadcast" several years ago. An updated repeat in fact, as the TV people say when they want to pass off a re-run as a new programme. Viewers, as well as this column, have been moaning about the poor
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Synod to vote on wedding reforms
CHURCH leaders meet today to decide whether or not couples should be allowed to marry in the church of their choice. The issue has split opinion, with some people fearing that picturesque churches will be booked up and less attractive, ones overlooked
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Boro can live with the best, says Hasselbaink
ONE of the most momentous weeks in Middlesbrough's history came to a close last night, with new signing Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink insisting he had joined "one of the best squads in the Premiership". The Dutch international has signed a two-year deal with
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PC denies sex acts in front of children
A policeman committed a sex act in front of groups of girls, some as young as 11, while he held a pornographic magazine, a court heard. PC Lee Doggett, 24, denied nine charges relating to five separate allegations last July in Cramlington, Northumberland
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Blair unscathed by damning Iraq report
TONY BLAIR was last night bolstered by a scathing US report blaming intelligence failings, not political pressure, for errors over Iraq. The future of the CIA was called into question by the devastating conclusions of the Senate Intelligence Committee
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Fare dodgers to be named and shamed
THE company behind a key North-East rail link is planning a name-and-shame campaign to catch fare dodgers. TransPennine Express, which operates trains between Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, York, Darlington and Newcastle, has a policy of "buy before you
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Three-legged sammy left behind
A THREE-LEGGED cat that has used up one of its nine lives is looking for a home. Five-year-old Sammy has been at The Blue Cross Animal Sanctuary, in Topcliffe, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, for two months. When his owner died earlier this year, he and
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Premiership order upset by Boro spending spree
THERE was a time when the arrival of three internationals on Teesside could only have meant that a charter flight had landed at the airport. Not anymore. While most of the Premiership squabble over the odds and ends on offer this summer, Middlesbrough
