A father of two walked out of a wrecked and mangled building with only minor injuries, in February 2009.

Adrian Horsley, 43, was working inside his car body shop in Tod Point Road, Warrenby, near Redcar when a lorry ploughed into the side of the two-storey garage.

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He was taken to The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, with breathing problems and injuries to his legs and spine.

He was sent home only hours later after doctors confirmed he had escaped serious injury.

His family said he was lucky to be alive, but said his livelihood was in ruins.

Firefighters and police were called to the scene, at about 5.30pm on Friday, after the supermarket lorry hit the garage wall while reversing.

Mr Horsley, a champion rally driver, was hit in the back by falling bricks.

Hundreds of people gathered on February 16, 2009, to mark the centenary of one of the region's deadliest pit disasters.

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Chill winds blew across the former pit head in Stanley, County Durham, where a marquee had been put up over the memorial colliery wheel.

At 3.45pm, the time the explosion tore through West Stanley Colliery on February 16, 1909, the bell at St Andrew's Church tolled 168 times – once for each of the men and boys who died.

During the service, which was organised by Derwentside District Council, bugles from the South Shields branch of the Durham Light Infantry Association played the Last Post.

Council leader Councillor Alex Watson said: "The people of Stanley do not want to forget their past. They want to remember it.

"Stanley owes its very existence to the mining industry, but in 1909 health and safety was not a high priority."

Pupils at a school in the region raised money for people in the developing world by selling heart-shaped lollies containing Valentine's Day messages.

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Pupils at Hurworth School Maths and Computing College set up a delivery service allowing students to send the lollies to friends.

Pupils were charged 50p for each lolly, to be donated to national charity WaterAid, which helps people in developing countries access clean water and sanitation.

About 400 lollies were sold, raising £200 for the charity.