TWO community stalwarts have been appointed non-executive directors of South Durham Health Care NHS Trust.

Phil Graham, of New Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, and Agnes Armstrong, of Spennymoor, take up their posts today.

Mr Graham, who works for Royal Mail, has been a Durham County Councillor since 1991 and is branch secretary for the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

He was recently appointed to the Labour Party's parliamentary panel, supported by the CWU, and was formerly a non-executive director of Bishop Auckland Hospitals NHS Trust.

Until her retirement in 1999, Mrs Armstrong had worked for the NHS for 43 years, spending the last 18 years working as a community midwife in Spennymoor. She is a member of Sedgefield Borough Council and secretary of the Labour Party branch