Archive

  • Big Cats roar loud at the Pride

    Sunderland duo Stephen Elliott and Neill Collins stood tall as the Black Cats kept pace with the Championship's top two with a hard fought, but deserved victory at Pride Park. The Republic of Ireland international scored one goal and set up the other

  • McCarthy full of praise for defensive stand-ins

    MICK McCARTHY was delighted with his inexperienced back four after they gave a colossal performance in yesterday's 2-0 away victory at Derby County. The Sunderland boss was without both skipper Gary Breen and Scottish international Steve Caldwell for

  • Wrecks to be towed away free

    DUMPED cars that blight the region's neighbourhoods and countryside will be moved free of charge for the next fortnight. Sixteen councils in the North-East and North Yorkshire have signed up to an amnesty launched by Keep Britain Tidy to clear up the

  • Young Quakers take title

    Despite being held to a 1-1 draw at second-bottom Bradford City on Saturday, Darlington's youth team clinched the title with three games to spare. Challengers Scunthorpe United had to win both of their remaining games and hope Quakers dropped points,

  • Dean to face church court

    A SENIOR clergyman will go before a church court later this year to face 22 charges of misconduct. John Methuen, Dean of Ripon, in North Yorkshire, was suspended from his duties in September after formal complaints about his behaviour were laid before

  • Wearside League: RA are held but maintain four-point gap

    There is no change at the top of the table after the three leading sides drew. Darlington RA still enjoy a four-point advantage over Stokesley SC. They shared the points in a 2-2 draw with third-placed Coxhoe Athletic. James Chapman headed RA into the

  • Police hail 16 per cent drop in crime

    POLICE in Darlington are hailing the success of initiatives to tackle crime after figures showed a 16 per cent overall reduction in the past year. Community Safety Sergeant Paul Robinson said: "It's been a really dramatic turnaround, which we think is

  • Team claims kit prize

    A DARLINGTON school has won a free football kit for its under-14s team. Pupils at Eastbourne School were given the prize, worth more than £300, as a reward for reaching the fourth round of the 4 Aces cup, a national tournament organised by the English

  • Cubs' tribute to troop leaders

    A CUB scout group has planted 5,000 snowdrop bulbs in memory of two scout leaders who died last year. The wetland site, on playing fields in Heighington, near Darlington, was chosen for the memorial to Natasha Wilson and Andrew Muckley. Both scout leaders

  • We'd tell you about it but our lips are sealed

    YOUNGSTERS practised staying silent yesterday as they prepared for a national charity effort. The 38 pupils at East Cowton Primary School, near Darlington, will be among those taking part in the Big Hush in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief on January 28

  • Consulates come together under one roof

    THE consular offices of France and Germany have been brought together under one roof to provide improved services in the North-East. Based at the Regent Centre, in Newcastle, the joint consulate will serve people in an area between Berwick, Kendal and

  • Charity offers refuge for homeless on winter nights

    LIVING on the streets is hard, but when the temperature hits freezing point, it becomes a matter of life and death. Shelter is all-important for homeless people in the winter months. Finding it, however, can be a problem. Step forward First Stop Darlington

  • Pensioner drowns in River Wear

    A PENSIONER died yesterday after drowning in the River Wear. The 65-year-old man, who has not been named but who comes from South Yorkshire, was seen going into the river by a water bailiff shortly after 12.20pm yesterday lunchtime. The incident sparked

  • Vote for me, pleads Laura

    A SINGER is urging fans across the North-East to vote for her so she can go through to the next stage of TV talent show Stars In Their Eyes. Laura Tallentire, 23, of Annfield Plain, County Durham, was runner-up in Saturday's show, appearing as Sharleen

  • Equality worker is awarded £63,000 payout

    AN Asian worker at a racial equality centre has won £63,000 in compensation after her boss forced her to cook him fish curries and chapattis. Shakila Ali took Jamiel Bux, the director of the North-East Centre for Diversity and Racial Equality, to a tribunal

  • Angling club's application

    THE Association of Teesside and District Anglers has applied to Darlington Borough Council for planning permission to erect ten disabled angling platforms at a North-East site. The application is for land next to Bishopton Mill, Bishopton, near Darlington

  • Unlucky Ehiogu hit by further injury woe

    MIDDLESBROUGH'S injury nightmare took a turn for the worse last night when it emerged Ugo Ehiogu is facing yet another spell on the sidelines. The former England centre-back made his Premiership comeback yesterday after being ruled out with knee and calf

  • Bully Boy Big Brother

    It was maybe no surprise that academic and self-confessed anarchist Germaine Greer did not last long in the Celebrity Big Brother house. I am sure I wasn't the only one surprised to see her take part in the game show which has become synonymous with D-list

  • Truants warned they will be caught in new operation

    POLICE are joining forces with education chiefs in a crackdown on truants. Sacriston and Pelton, and the main shopping areas of Chester-le-Street, will be designated truancy-free action zones from Friday. The zones will be flooded with posters, leaflets

  • Salvation Army centre reopens

    THE rebuilt and refurbished Salvation Army building in Stockton was reopened on Saturday. Chief secretary of the Salvation Army for the UK, Lieutenant Colonel Vic Poke, performed the ceremony at the building in Palmerston Street and led an evening service

  • Youngsters champion recycle cause

    MORE than a thousand junior recycling champions entered an art poster competition as part of a council's drive to improve the environment. To celebrate the winning entries, Chester-le-Street District Council has arranged for the posters to be displayed

  • Council to debate ban on smoking

    SMOKING could be banned in council-owned buildings in Derwentside. The health scrutiny panel of Derwentside District Council wants to see smoking forbidden in all municipal buildings. Councillors have cited health concerns for the proposal. In the area

  • Classes on how to cope

    A FREE training course is available to help people cope with the effects of alcohol or drugs. Making Sense Of It - Drugs, Alcohol and Health is being co-ordinated by Drugs North-East, Open College Network and the County Durham Drug and Alcohol Action

  • Centre given project award

    STAFF and service users at the Shinwell Centre, in Peterlee, have been presented with an award by Sunderland University to mark the completion of a computer software development project. The day centre teamed up with the university to develop software

  • Patients warned over end of blue light ambulances for all

    AMBULANCE service chiefs have warned the public aboutsignificant changes to the way 999 calls are handled. Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service (Tenyas) will no longer be obliged to send 'blue light' ambulances to all 999 calls under changes

  • Project will ensure youngsters get a sure start in life

    PLANS for a new centre aimed at providing a community with quality child care took a step closer to fruition. A ground-breaking ceremony was held at the site of the Bullion Lane SureStart Children's Centre to celebrate the beginning of building work.

  • Protestors prepare for final battle in row over hall

    VILLAGERS are preparing for the final hurdle in their long-running battle to prevent a former stately home being used as a school for children with learning difficulties. At a planning meeting last month, councillors voted against the scheme near Knaresborough

  • Accent on voices in new survey

    MOST people in the region change their accent depending on who they are talking to, according to a survey. The BBC poll found that four out of five people in the North-East and Cumbria vary their accent while three out of five wish they could change how

  • Course to examine addiction problems

    A FREE training course is available to people who have lived with someone experiencing a problem with alcohol or drugs. Making Sense Of It - Drugs, Alcohol and Health is co-ordinated by Drugs North-East Open College Network and the County Durham Drug

  • Accent on voices in new survey

    MOST people in the region change their accent depending on who they are talking to, according to a survey. The BBC poll found that four out of five people in the North-East and Cumbria vary their accent while three out of five wish they could change how

  • Church counts cost of the gales

    A LAST-minute clean-up by parishioners helped a church reopen for services at the weekend, seven days after gales brought one of four pinnacles on the tower crashing down through the roof. When Our Lady and St Cuthbert's RC Church, in Crook, County Durham

  • Boy admits raping teacher

    A 12-year-old schoolboy raped his teacher and then stole her car to drive off in, a court heard today. The boy, now aged 13, admitted rape and theft when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court today. No details of the incidents were outlined at the hearing

  • Brain-damaged boy receives compensation

    A boy who was severely brain damaged when he was knocked from his tricycle as a toddler has won £1.75 million compensation. George Currie has required constant care after he was knocked from his tricycle by a taxi and left with a severe brain injury in

  • Success for actors

    YOUNG actors rose to the challenge of a Theatre Sports contest, impressing the judges in the pilot for what could become a national event. Edward Cole, Joseph Robson, Tom Burton, Mick Gent and Jay Smith, from south Durham theatre groups Jackass and The

  • North honoured in Best of British awards

    YORK has been named Britain's top city in a magazine's Best of British awards competition. The tourism awards followed voting by readers of Period Living and Traditional Homes magazine. The magazine, which features tips on decorating and restoring traditional

  • Faith, charity and Hope

    As the Archbishop of York leaves his post after nine years, Peter Mullen looks at a new biography of a man who rose from his working class roots to high church office and back again. David Hope was baptised with Wakefield tap water out of a Yorkshire

  • Ambulance team to reduce the number of 999 callouts

    AMBULANCE service chiefs are warning the public of important changes in the way 999 calls are handled. From April, the Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service (Tenyas) will no longer have to send emergency ambulances to all 999 calls. "Category

  • Robbed of his wartime love

    THIEVES have robbed a war hero of his only picture of the love of his life. For nearly 60 years, 86-year-old bachelor Gordon Lee kept his priceless photo of Josie Godleit in his wallet and carried it with him everywhere he went. She was the love of his

  • Can Shearer be tempted to carry on and break record?

    HAVING written off his hopes of reaching Jackie Milburn's Newcastle United goalscoring record last week, every goal Alan Shearer scores between now and the end of the season will do his retirement plans no good whatsoever. The 16 needed to equal the Gallowgate

  • George still laying down the law

    IT was 1943, and George Todd was getting a bit fed up with watching wartime football at Feethams. "Why not try this refereeing lark?" suggested a fellow sufferer. George did. "I'd played football long enough but didn't know anything about the rules, of

  • It's no child's play for Caprice

    Three Celebs And A Baby (Five); A Good Man... Is Hard To Find (BBC2): If nothing else, Three Celebs And A Baby showed that it wouldn't be advisable to ask glamour model and actress Caprice to babysit. Over the five days she took care of little Murray,

  • Laid-off staff working for free to preserve rail dream

    STAFF laid off by troubled private railway are working for nothing to help get the line back on track. Nine of the 30 employees sent home when administrators took over the Weardale Railway, in County Durham, are giving up their time to help rescue the

  • Boumsong is eager for time to gel with partner Bramble

    NEW signing Jean-Alain Boumsong believes his partnership with Titus Bramble will provide a platform for future Newcastle successes - if they are given enough time to gel. It was the second successive game Graeme Souness chose to use the pair as his first

  • Another chance for Henman to make his mark in history

    Tim Henman enters the year's first Grand Slam event with high hopes. Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson looks at his chances in Australia. ANOTHER year, another last chance for Tim Henman. The date might change but, with the first Grand Slam of 2005 just

  • The touchy-feely approach to pantomime fun

    PANTOMIME stars brought the sounds and feels of the theatre to a group of visually-impaired youngsters. Steve Arnott, who plays Hook, and Leslie Mackin, who plays Mrs Darling, in the tale of Peter Pan, at Darlington Civic Theatre, met the children before

  • UniBond League: Bishops adrift at the bottom

    Bishop Auckland manager Brian Honour admitted that his side deserved nothing in a 4-0 defeat at Burscough on Saturday. Bishops are still bottom of the table, and they are now five points from safety following Frickley's second successive win. Honour said

  • Hunt for driver after six rabbits are dumped

    SIX rabbits could have died in the recent freeze after they were thrown from a car. Animal charity the RSPCA is trying to trace the people who dumped two adult rabbits and their four babies on High Road, Middlestone, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham

  • Wrecks to be towed away free

    DUMPED cars that blight the region's neighbourhoods and countryside will be moved free of charge for the next fortnight. Sixteen councils in the North-East and North Yorkshire have signed up to an amnesty launched by Keep Britain Tidy to clear up the

  • Town hair salon staff do their bit for tsunami disaster appeal

    HAIRDRESSERS at a North-East salon gave up their free time at the weekend to raise money for the tsunami appeal. Workers at the Sizou hair studio, in North Road, Darlington, opened yesterday offering customers manicures and hair braiding. Face-painting

  • History is made as Falcons progress

    Australian full-back Matt Burke made a dramatic return from injury to propel Newcastle through to their first Heineken Cup quarter-final. The ex-Wallaby, who passed a late fitness test on his injured knee, kicked four goals and scored the match-winning

  • 'I felt and looked different... so I stopped eating'

    A new survey on body image reveals a quarter of young girls have suffered from an eating disorder by the time they reach 14. Zoe Gordon, who was 12 years old when she first developed anorexia, and her mum, Helen, speak to Women's Editor Lindsay Jennings

  • Work ethic is key to the fans love for Wainwright

    Every team, good or bad, has its fans' favourites and Darlington are no different. Among the supporters' players of choice is Neil Wainwright. An unrelenting determination and the knack of scoring the occasional goal will always be enough to satisfy the

  • Sunderland halt the charge

    A YOUNG Sunderland trio ended Morpeth Harriers' hopes of a hat-trick of victories in yesterday's 22nd Durham Cathedral Cross Country Relays - and salt was rubbed into the wound when the Northumbrian A team was disqualified after a change-over mix-up.

  • Warning of candle risk after blaze

    FIREFIGHTERS have warned householders to be vigilant when using candles in the home following a blaze at the weekend. Firefighters from Newton Aycliffe and Bishop Auckland, in County Durham, attended the fire in Fenhall Green, Newton Aycliffe, on Friday

  • Shock as couple's bodies found

    PEOPLE in a remote hamlet yesterday spoke of their shock after the bodies of a man and his wife were found. Police were called to a semi-detached house in Northmoor, just outside the village of Wykeham, near Scarborough, North Yorkshire, on Friday night

  • Pacific visitor's trip subject of exhibition

    THE first Pacific islander to visit Britain is at the centre of an exhibition at the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, Middlesbrough. The exhibition details how islander Omai travelled to England in the 1770s on Captain Cook's second voyage, and how he

  • Boss may change formation

    NEALE Cooper won't rule out a switch in formation for his Hartlepool United side. Pool started with a 3-5-2 line-up at Torquay on Saturday, but it was only in reverting to a 4-4-2 set-up that they looked comfortable. Second-half goals from Joel Porter

  • Ferguson in the thick of things as battling Boro share spoils

    A TWENTY man scuffle at the Riverside Stadium highlighted exactly what finishing fourth in the Premiership means to Middlesbrough and Everton as they scrapped to share the spoils yesterday. Boro looked on course to leapfrog fifth-placed Liverpool and

  • Wilks all set for big test

    GUY Wilks has admitted to being a Christmas humbug after the festive period prevented him from getting behind the wheel of a car. The Darlington rally driver cannot wait to get the new season underway as he and his Suzuki colleagues embark on their biggest

  • The difficult art of dressing up

    As we all witnessed last week, turning up to a party wearing the wrong outfit can be excruciating and difficult to live down. A lot of the fancy dress parties I've been to have left me with egg on my face but I had a sense of schadenfreude when I dressed

  • Gang robs with false cash machine fronts

    A violent gang of criminals is operating a sophisticated con using false cash machine fronts. The same gang are thought to be responsible for three incidents of false fronts being placed over Barclays Bank uncovered by members of the public in Teesside

  • Pilot scheme is just the job for would-be staff

    A PILOT scheme to help more North-East jobseekers find work has been launched. The Candidate Bank is a national project being tested in the region. An initiative from Jobcentre Plus, it aims to set up a database matching people looking for work with employees

  • Ambulance team to reduce the number of 999 callouts

    AMBULANCE service chiefs are warning the public of important changes in the way 999 calls are handled. From April, the Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service (Tenyas) will no longer have to send emergency ambulances to all 999 calls. "Category

  • Shock as couple's bodies are found

    PEOPLE in a remote hamlet yesterday spoke of their shock after the bodies of a man and his wife were found. Police were called to a semi-detached house in Northmoor, just outside the village of Wykeham, near Scarborough, North Yorkshire, on Friday night

  • In-form Clarke playing for his future

    DAVID HODGSON believes the impressive form of Matt Clarke will leave the defender with no shortage of takers at the end of the season - and going by recent performances Darlington will lead the queue. Clarke is out of contract in the summer and a number

  • Artist backs plan to help young people

    A CAMPAIGN encouraging youngsters to be more enterprising has won the backing of a North artist. Effie Burns, 30, of Scarborough, is supporting the Drop the T campaign run by regional development agency One NorthEast. The artist established her business

  • Families' fears over alleygates scheme

    RESIDENTS have questioned the proposed installation of more than 140 alleygates designed to cut crime and anti-social behaviour. When the plans for the £650,000 scheme were unveiled in Middlesbrough, people were baffled by the omission of some of the

  • Climax to season promises plenty for in-form Pool

    NEALE Cooper believes Hartlepool United are a team who will get better as the season progresses. Eight games unbeaten, Pool are tucked up in fifth position in League One and, with their away malaise put to bed, Cooper's talk is justified. In reaching

  • Church counts cost of the gales

    A LAST-minute clean-up by parishioners helped a church reopen for services at the weekend, seven days after gales brought one of four pinnacles on the tower crashing down through the roof. When Our Lady and St Cuthbert's RC Church, in Crook, County Durham

  • 17-year-old Jennifer buys shop

    A TEENAGE girl liked her Saturday job so much she took over the company. Jennifer Willis, 17, has taken over the popular Sandwich Venue, in the Spencer Market Hall, in the Castlegate Centre, Stockton. Jennifer, who lives with her parents in nearby Norton

  • Children's cancer linked to pollution

    ALARMING research suggests that most childhood cancers are probably caused by exposure to pollution while babies are still in the womb. A study carried out by scientists at Birmingham University found that children born within a 1km radius of an emissions

  • Delegation supports games bid

    A DELEGATION from the North-East will be in London today to promote the bid to bring the Olympics to Britain in 2012. A conference backing the bid takes place at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. Tim Cantle-Jones, of the Regional Sports Board,

  • Fitness tycoon to challenge plan rejection

    FITNESS tycoon Duncan Bannatyne is appealing against planners' rejection of a proposed housing development. Last September, Darlington Borough Council turned down an application from Bannatyne Fitness to develop land off Haughton Road, in the town, for

  • Runner, 72, in race tragedy

    AN elderly man died yesterday shortly after running a relay race. Bob Liddle, 72, had finished the last leg of the veterans relay race at the Durham Cathedral Relays championship, in Durham, when he collapsed on the riverbank. The married father-of-two

  • Meetings scrapped in row over plan

    MEETINGS to consult the public over controversial plans for a medical centre have been postponed. The Durham Dales Primary Care Trust (PCT) angered Wear Valley District Council by claiming that the authority had earmarked part of a recreation area in

  • Survey studies religious education

    A SURVEY has found that a number of schools in Darlington are allowing children to opt out of religious education. Darlington Borough Council's standing advisory committee on religious education wrote to headteachers to find out the number of pupils who

  • Delegation supports games bid

    A DELEGATION from the North-East will be in London today to promote the bid to bring the Olympics to Britain in 2012. A conference backing the bid takes place at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. Tim Cantle-Jones, of the Regional Sports Board,

  • Centre repairs are continuing

    WORK is continuing to repair Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's education development centre at Guisborough, which was closed after it suffered damage in strong winds last weekend. The council's partner, Jarvis, has almost completed roof repairs,

  • Vehicle crashes into tree

    A WOMAN was taken to hospital as a precaution after a car crashed into a tree near Yarm. The passengers in the Peugeot 206 managed to escape before the car caught fire. The accident took place just before 12.30am on Saturday, on the A67 at Kirklevington

  • Comment from The Northern Echo: Deep-rooted drinking habits

    IN a free society, we ought to be able to drink alcohol when we like, and pubs and clubs ought to be able to open and close when they like. It is a liberal culture that exists and thrives across most of Europe, where violence and loutish behaviour caused

  • Protest delays decision on houses

    COUNCILLORS have deferred a decision on proposals to build 79 houses in Derwentside. The plan was to create two, three, four and five-bedroomed homes on land south-west of Knitsley Gardens, in Templetown, Consett. Derwentside District Council's development

  • Times-a-changing for artists

    A GROUP of artists who met at university have unveiled an exhibition. Palatinart, named after Durham University's palatinate purple logo, is holding an exhibition at The Lamplight Arts Centre, in Front Street, Stanley. Winds of Change features work from

  • Archbishop bids farewell to assume life of parish priest

    THE second most senior clergyman in the country stepped down at the weekend to become a parish priest. A service was held for the outgoing Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, at the city's minster on Saturday. He told 3,000 worshippers, clerics and local

  • Award for a crime-free year

    A BISHOP Auckland supermarket is the first in County Durham to land an award for having a crime-free car park. The town's Asda store has been presented with the Park Mark award under an initiative led by the Association of Chief Police Officers. Since

  • Reward offered as vandals wreck trees

    A BUSINESSMAN has offered a £500 reward after 27 newly-planted cherry trees were vandalised in one of North Yorkshire's best known areas. People walking across The Stray, Harrogate's 200-acre grassland, could not believe the widespread damage caused at

  • Football fans urged to help charities

    FOOTBALL fans are being urged to help local charities. Followers of Middlesbrough Football Club can play their part by recycling unwanted mobile phones to raise money for the Rotary Children's Fund and the club's chosen charity, Teesside Hospice. Paul

  • Team wins £300 worth of equipment

    A MIDDLESBROUGH school team's impressive performance in a national football tournament won the pupils £300 worth of Umbro kit. Acklam Grange School under-14s team reached the fourth round of the 4 Aces Cup, a national under-14s tournament organised by

  • Scheme to breathe new life into 'wasted' areas of town

    A plan for Bishop Auckland could see major developments on town centre sites. Consultants working for Wear Valley District Council have picked out areas for regeneration, including the Market Place, North Bondgate, Forebondgate and Finkle Street and the

  • Quiz teams back charity fund

    PUB quiz teams have donated almost £800 to the Richmond Meet. The £783 was raised by teams which attend the Monday quiz night at the Unicorn, in Newbiggin, Richmond. It was donated to the Meet's charity fund, which is used to help local groups and individuals

  • Garden leprechaun ornaments stolen

    THE search for two 15in green leprechaun ornaments has begun after they were stolen from a garden. Mary Cook, 60, of Huntley Road, Hartlepool, said they were stolen from her garden between January 5 and January 12. She said: "I am disabled so I do not

  • Centre given project award

    STAFF and service users at the Shinwell Centre, in Peterlee, have been presented with an award by Sunderland University to mark the completion of a computer software development project. The day centre teamed up with the university to develop software

  • Businessman declares war on bed mites

    AN entrepreneur has started a mattress-cleaning company to wage war on creepy crawlies. Businessman Simon Tate said the contents of a standard mattress were shocking. Mr Tate, of Leyburn, who has set up The Cleaner Bed Company, said: "When I started to

  • Magazine criticises parking scheme

    A CAR magazine has criticised a controversial parking scheme. Auto Express investigated the system introduced in Scarborough in June 2000. The restrictions include on-street charges and disc zones in more than 400 streets. However, the magazine found

  • All-day drinking 'hideous' - widow

    A WOMAN whose husband was kicked to death by two drunken thugs has criticised plans for 24-hour drinking. Angela Chard, 46, of Gateshead, spoke to a national newspaper about her fears for the changes in licensing laws. Her husband, Robin, was attacked

  • Times-a-changing for artists

    A GROUP of artists who met at university have unveiled an exhibition. Palatinart, named after Durham University's palatinate purple logo, is holding an exhibition at The Lamplight Arts Centre, in Front Street, Stanley. Winds of Change features work from

  • 17/01/05

    PRINCE WILLIAM: I WAS not surprised to read that the young royal, Prince William, had been foxhunting during the recent holidays. Humility has never been a characteristic of the Windsors, apart from maybe the Queen. Charles I lost his head for defying

  • Councillor urges Government to scrap assembly

    A RURAL councillor has written to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, calling for the abolition of the organisation charged with planning the development of the North-East. Councillor John Shuttleworth, who represents Weardale on Durham County Council

  • Children's cancer linked to pollution

    ALARMING research suggests that most childhood cancers are probably caused by exposure to pollution while babies are still in the womb. A study carried out by scientists at Birmingham University found that children born within a 1km radius of an emissions

  • £63,000 payout for equality worker

    AN Asian worker at a racial equality centre has won £63,000 in compensation after her boss forced her to cook him fish curries and chapattis. Shakila Ali took Jamiel Bux, the director of the North-East Centre for Diversity and Racial Equality, to a tribunal

  • 17-year-old Jennifer buys shop

    A TEENAGE girl liked her Saturday job so much she took over the company. Jennifer Willis, 17, has taken over the popular Sandwich Venue, in the Spencer Market Hall, in the Castlegate Centre, Stockton. Jennifer, who lives with her parents in nearby Norton

  • Darlington too good

    AFTER last weekend's debacle against struggling Dudley Kingswinford, Mowden's misery was compounded on Saturday when they went down to local rivals Darlington. Mowden had lost 5-0 against lowly Dudley in a match which team manager Jim Dyson described

  • Business partner selling home to pay truck company's customers

    THE business partner of two North-East conmen who fled the region last year is having to sell her home to pay the customers they fleeced. Gary Upson and his son, Ryan, disappeared along with hundreds of thousands of pounds from their Darlington business

  • Travel survey to cut car use

    SCHOOLS across the region are taking part in the first Great North School Travel Survey. On Wednesday, 1,275 North-East schools will take part in the survey. Pupils will be asked how they usually get to school, to help councils monitor travel trends.

  • Birthplace town ponders second steam engine

    A TOWN has cemented its reputation as the birthplace of the railways after it emerged that two companies hope to build the UK's first mainline steam train in 40 years. Darlington is home to the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust charity, which has started a project

  • Catholic priest admits sexually abusing teenage boy

    A Roman Catholic priest is admitting allegations that he sexually abused a 13-year -old. Michael Dunn, 55, entered formal pleas of guilty to one charge of indecent assault and to two charges of gross indecency when he appeared before Teesside Magistrates

  • Business partner selling home to pay truck company's customers

    THE business partner of two North-East conmen who fled the region last year is having to sell her home to pay the customers they fleeced. Gary Upson and his son, Ryan, disappeared along with hundreds of thousands of pounds from their Darlington business

  • North honoured in Best of British awards

    YORK has been named Britain's top city in a magazine's Best of British awards competition. The tourism awards followed voting by readers of Period Living and Traditional Homes magazine. The magazine, which features tips on decorating and restoring traditional

  • Pipe's horse can be Victor after three-year absence

    Although Martin Pipe's Victor Argosy has an absence of nearly three years to overcome, he's the most interesting runner in the National Custom And Sports Car Show Handicap over three miles at Doncaster this afternoon. The ten-year-old hasn't been seen

  • Pilot scheme is just the job for would-be staff

    A PILOT scheme to help more North-East jobseekers find work has been launched. The Candidate Bank is a national project being tested in the region. An initiative from Jobcentre Plus, it aims to set up a database matching people looking for work with employees

  • Artist backs plan to help young people

    A CAMPAIGN encouraging youngsters to be more enterprising has won the backing of a North artist. Effie Burns, 30, of Scarborough, is supporting the Drop the T campaign run by regional development agency One NorthEast. The artist established her business

  • Border incident won't stop missions

    A CHARITY worker has vowed to never again enter Germany after being held for four hours by armed police while they stripped his vehicle. Convoy Aid founder Rod Jones and his wife, Gabriella, along with 14-year-old volunteer Ashley Clough, from Norton,

  • Dean to face church court

    A SENIOR clergyman will go before a church court later this year to face 22 charges of misconduct. John Methuen, Dean of Ripon, in North Yorkshire, was suspended from his duties in September after formal complaints about his behaviour were laid before

  • Brass band players enjoy extra training

    A LEADING brass band conductor helped musical youngsters scale new heights yesterday. Conductor of the Black Dyke Band Dr Nicholas Childs leant his extensive experience and enthusiasm to 50 young people who wanted to polish up their brass technique. He

  • Charity stages show

    A THEATRICAL charity for people with learning disabilities is putting on a show. The Special Needs Unity Group (SNUG), in Stanley, produces musicals and pantomimes. Its latest production, The Good, the Bad and the Snugly, was written and produced by the

  • Group stages cruelty protest

    PLACARD-waving demonstrators targeted a fast food restaurant yesterday in a protest about alleged animal cruelty. The protest marked the second anniversary of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal's (Peta) boycott of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants

  • Darlington too good for Mowden

    AFTER last weekend's debacle against struggling Dudley Kingswinford, Mowden's misery was compounded on Saturday when they went down to local rivals Darlington. Mowden had lost 5-0 against lowly Dudley in a match which team manager Jim Dyson described