SHOPPING in a North-East town will be a new experience from this weekend when a revamped town centre is unveiled.

The £26m Regent Walk shopping centre, in Redcar, will be opened by the town's former MP, Mo Mowlam, on Friday. The 23-shop mall is the centrepiece of town centre work which includes link roads and a pedestrianised High Street. The centre has been built by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Teesland Group, Sir Robert McAlpine and regional development agency One NorthEast.

CLEANING AWARDS: Newcastle Airport has made a final shortlist of five UK businesses nominated for a top cleaning award, after judges visited the site and inspected the high standards achieved by Mitie Cleaning (North) Ltd. Almost 50 businesses submitted entries under the transportation section of the Kimberley Clarke Golden Service Award. The awards ceremony will be held at London's Savoy Hotel on Friday.

ANIMAL WELFARE: Stuart Dodsworth, curator of reptiles at the Reptile Trust in Burnopfield, County Durham, has reached the finals of the BBC Animal Awards 2002 for outstanding animal welfare or conservation of a species. Mr Dodsworth and the work he does will be shown on Country File on November 24. The awards ceremony will be held in London on December 1.

MONEY RAISED: This year's Northumbria Police Pro-Am Charity Golf Tournament at Matfen Hall raised £10,000 for the North of England Children's Cancer Research Fund, based at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. Presenting the cheque, Pro-Am committee chairman Assistant Chief Constable Paul Leighton said: "Once again the generosity of people in the North-East has shone through."

HOSPITAL SERVICE: A service of remembrance and thanksgiving for babies who died before, or soon after, birth takes place in Darlington Memorial Hospital's chapel on Sunday, at 3pm.

WATCHING US: Photographs taken by American personnel working at a US spy base in North Yorkshire are to go on show at a Harrogate gallery. Staff were encouraged to capture their favourite places in the UK on film and the best go on show at the Mercer Gallery from Friday. More information on opening times can be obtained on (01423) 556188.

BRIDGE CLOSURE: Scarborough's Middleham Bridge will be closed from Sunday. The A6108 will be shut from the south end of the bridge northwards to the junction with Low Lane to allow engineers to remove a cattle grid and carry out an inspection of the carriageway. Diversions will be signposted, and the work is expected to last until next Thursday.

FOUNDATION STONE: The Archbishop of York laid the foundation stone for a learning centre at the Lord Mayor's Walk campus of the city's St John College. Dr David Hope was given a view of progress on the multi-million pound project, to be completed next summer. Facilities in the building will include a sports hall, fitness suite, and lecture and seminar rooms.