SUNDERLAND AFC plans to fulfil its obligation to build a footpath linking the Stadium of Light to one of the two nearby stations on the newly-extended Metro rail network.

Planning permission granted for the North Stand expansion in June 1999 required the club to develop a path to the Stadium stop, which opened in March as part of the £100m Metro extension to Sunderland. The club is awaiting the results of a survey to gain information over the position of signalling and electrical equipment on the trackside before it can draw up designs for the quarter-of-a-mile path.

COFFEE MORNING: A fundraising coffee morning will feature a sale of bric-a-brac, books and odds and ends at The Institute, Church Street, Durham, tomorrow, from 10.30am to noon. Proceeds will be split between St Oswald's Guides and research into Alzheimer's disease.

STATESIDE SOUNDS: A visiting choir from the Deep South of the US is performing in the North-East this week. The Burnt Hickory Youth Choir, from Georgia, can be heard in an open air concert at the community centre in Fencehouses, near Chester-le-Street, tomorrow, at 6.30pm; at a Party in the Park at Sunderland's Mowbray Park, on Saturday, at 3pm; and later at the city's Minster church, at 7.30pm.

TEAM SOUGHT: Teams are invited to enter a police-run five-a-side football tournament to be staged in Horden, County Durham, on Saturday, July 20. Applications forms are available at police stations in the Easington district, with teams required at under-12, 14 and 16 level, from the east Durham area. Forms must be returned by Saturday.

SHOW STOPPERS: Popular songs from the Great American Songbook will be performed by Chester-le-Street Civic Choir, in a concert at the town's Parish Centre, Church Chare, on Saturday. Music America begins at 7.30pm, with tickets costing £3.50. Further details are available from Alison Keers, on 0191-388 7108.

HEAD HANDOVER: A headteacher who loved his school so much he bought it, is retiring next week after more than 50 years. Jeff Johnson joined Argyle House in Thornhill Park, Sunderland, as a pupil in 1949 and returned in 1966 to teach maths. He was so impressed by what he saw he brought it two years later. Now Jeff Johnson will be leaving the 225-pupil school in the hands of his two sons, Neil and Chris, who both teach there.

ASSERTIVENESS COURSE: Bridge Women's Education and Support Centre in North Durham will be running an assertiveness course at its centre at 1 High Chare, Chester-le-Street. The sessions run on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9.30am to 2.30pm, from tomorrow to July 18.