A COMMUNITY newspaper is helping people keep in touch with events from their previous villages after winning a computer.

The Nub is produced by a group of volunteers for people in the former pit villages of New Brancepeth, Ushaw Moor and Bearpark.

The group has been awarded an Internet-ready personal computer under the BT Community Connections scheme.

Tricia Smullen, The Nub's designer, said the machine had enabled the group to put the newspaper on the Internet through The Northern Echo's Communigate website for local organisations.

She said it was already proving popular with people who had moved away from the area, but wanted to keep in touch with events in their former home.

She said that the award would help ensure the future of the newspaper, which has had funding problems in the past.

The site can be visited at www.communigate.co.uk/ne/nub.

Women from the group have written a play, Passengers, with help from local author Kitty Fitzgerald.

It will be performed during the Durham Literature Festival on Monday, at 7.30pm in Durham Clayport Library, part of the Millennium City complex. Admission is free.

The play is set on the 48 bus, which travels from New Brancepeth through Ushaw Moor and Bearpark to Durham.