Unusual bicycles from unicycles to tandems are needed to celebrate National Bike Week.

Clayport Library, in Durham, is holding a bike event next Saturday, June 14, between 11am and 3pm, and staff are hoping as many people as possible will turn up with bikes of all shapes and sizes. Local cycling club members will be on hand in the Durham County Council-run library to give help and advice about cycling in the area, and a workshop on basic bike maintenance will be held. There will also be a display of bicycles and equipment on display near the library in Millennium Square.

BAG IT, BIN IT: Dog owners are being asked to get poop scooping in a bid to keep the region's parks and streets free from unsightly mess. The National Canine Defence League's catchy Grab It, Bag It and Bin It motto for the fourth annual Poop Scoop Week, from June 30, hopes to encourage pet lovers to clear up after their pooches using an everyday plastic bag.

FUNDRAISING DANCE: A fundraising dance in aid of The Samaritans is being held tomorrow in Darlington Arts Centre, from 7.30pm to 11pm. Tickets for the event, featuring The Fettlers, are priced £4.50 each and are available from the Samaritans, on (01325) 488679, or at the door.

CHARITY ABSEIL: A charity abseil in aid of the Butterwick Hospice will take place from the top of St John's clock tower in Shildon, County Durham, on Saturday, June 28, from 10am to 3pm. Applicants must be at least 16. St John's Church and The Countryside Movement will also benefit from the event. Candidates who choose to abseil for their own charity will be asked to pay a fee of £20. For details, telephone (01388) 603003.

WAR STORIES: A BBC initiative launched today will allow the public to share their stories with the rest of the nation to provide a personal account of Britain at war. The electronic pages of People's War at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2 will provide a blank canvas for people to recall what they did during the Second World War.

CHOIR DATE: The University United Methodist Church Youth Choir, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the US, are performing at Darlington's Haughton Community School next Friday, June 13, at 7pm. Sixty teenagers are making the trip across the Atlantic for the show. Tickets cost £2.50, concessions £1.75, and are available from the school.

CAMPAIGN MEETING: The Sunderland Stop the War Campaign will hold a public meeting on the issues arising from the war with Iraq at Sunderland Civic Centre, from 7pm on Monday. It will be addressed by Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington and a long-standing anti-war campaigner.