NURSERY LEADS WAY FORWARD : A new private nursery in the North-East has been hailed as a forerunner in the field. The £500,000 Ashfield Nursery, in Joicey Road, Gateshead, features nursery school, early learning centre and also provides facilities for an out-of-school club. It was created after refurbish-ment of a former teachers' training centre. Gateshead's Mayor, Councillor Joseph Hattam, opened the building. He said the project, developed by businessman Stan Henry, was the way ahead for nursery school provision in both the region and further afield.

MEALS FOR ONE: A cooking course for single people, offering the chance to learn or improve skills, will be held on Thursdays, from 7pm to 9pm, at the North Lodge site of the Park View Community Association, in Church Chare, Chester-le-Street.

PASSPORT PLUNGE: A dozen passport office workers from Durham abseiled from Sunderland's Wearmouth Bridge yesterday. Staff from the Milburngate house complex, including the Passport Service's deputy regional manager, Ann Underwood, and officer Liz Waghorn, who went blindfolded, took part in the event, raising £1,400 for the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

BUNGALOW BLAZE: A suspected chip pan fire caused substantial damage to a bungalow in Barnard Avenue, Ludworth, near Durham, in the early hours of Saturday. The lone male householder escaped unhurt, but the property suffered smoke and fire damage.

WILDLIFE TALK: Wildlife broadcaster Steve Leonard will present the Tom Dunn Memorial Lecture in the council chamber at County Hall, Durham, on Wednesday November 21, at 7pm. Too Close for Comfort - Who Needs Comfort? follows his BBC series Ultimate Killers. Tickets costing £5 are available from the trust's Rainton Meadows headquarters, at Chilton Moor, Houghton-le-Spring, DH4 6PU.

BORDER RAID: Durham's Mayor, councillor George Cowper, hopes to bring back further accolades for the city when he attends the Britain in Bloom national awards presentation at Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries, Scotland, on Wednesday. Durham has featured among the award winners in small city categories in recent years and hosted the 2000 awards ceremony.

CHURCH TEA: Parkinson Memorial Methodist Church in Sherburn Village, near Durham, will hold a coffee morning on Saturday, from 10am to 11.30am. It hosts a slide evening, Northern Focus, by David Everett, on Monday next week, at 7pm. Admission is £1, including a broth supper. Proceeds from both events go towards church building funds.

BETH'S KNITWEAR: Hand-crafted designer knitwear by textiles craftswoman Beth Hunter have gone on show in the Discovery Centre, at Seaton Holme visitor centre, in Hall Walks, Easington Village, County Durham. It is open from Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm.