A COUNCIL-led task force has taken on the job of winning back 108 jobs being lost to the Far East this week through a clothing factory closure. But there are already fears in Crook that Friday's shutdown at the Susie Radin factory will be a hammer blow
DARLINGTON officials last night fired an angry broadside at Michael Oliver after the former midfielder accused the club of lacking ambition. Oliver left Feethams for third division rivals Rochdale after turning down a new one-year contract. And in a parting
MIDDLESBROUGH may be ready to challenge Everton for Leicester City's £6m-rated midfielder Neil Lennon. Midlands sources claimed yesterday that Boro had entered the frame for the Northern Ireland international. New Filbert Street boss Peter Taylor is understood
AN independent survey is to be carried out to determine support for a controversial multi-million pound regeneration scheme, it has been revealed. The news has been welcomed by residents opposed to plans by Easington District Council to "breathe new life
A FAMILY doctor and health visitor will be reporting back to other health care professionals and members of the public about their study tour to Cuba. Easington GP Dr Paul Burrell and health visitor Sue Keaney, of the Easington Primary Care Group (PCG
NEWCASTLE United manager Bobby Robson goes into showdown talks today with a trio of troubled stars. Midfield pair Kieron Dyer and Silvio Maric face Robson's wrath on the first day of pre-season training after getting on the wrong side of the Magpies'
BORED teenagers could soon be meeting in special "youth shelters" in a bid to stop them hanging about on street corners. Wear Valley District Council is considering providing official meeting places in an effort to stamp out vandalism and give young people
PADDLERS from around the world will be in the region next weekend to compete in one of the canoeing world's top competitions. The second round of the Canoe Marathon World Cup series will take place along the River Tees, at Stockton, on Saturday and Sunday
VANDALS have run up a repair bill of nearly £2,000 in six weeks in the Wear Valley. Wear Valley District Council's technical services committee totalled how much vandals have cost the taxpayer since the last committee meeting on May 25, and found the
DOZENS of quoits players pitted their skills against each other at the weekend in the sport's world championships. The matches were played on pitches in the appropriate setting of the colliery village at Beamish Open Air Museum, County Durham. Competition
AN 18-year-old housewife has won The Northern Echo's Cook of the Year competition. Michelle Bateman, of Darlington, wowed the judges at this year's Homes and Garden event, with her menu of roasted tomatoes with parmesan, olives and basil, chicken on layered
ABOUT 70 runners completed an eight-mile route along a stretch of the newly-installed cycle tracks near Peterlee, on the East Durham coast. The Turning the Tide Trial Race, which started at Shotton Colliery playing fields and took in Castle Eden Dene
TRIPLE SPRINT hurdles champion Peter Middleton spared the North-East's blushes less than an hour from the end of the English Schools Championships when he secured the region's only gold medal. As the second day of the championships at Sheffield's Don
FIREfighters were called to save a dog trapped by its collar in an underground culvert. The Jack Russell cross was found stuck in the dank drain, off Cumberland Terrace, Willington, on Sunday. Her cries were heard by Frank Nutter who lives nearby. He
A COLOURFUL carnival procession began the biggest-ever Grangetown Gala at the weekend. The 16th annual event was aimed at generating and fostering community spirit in an area which has struggled to cope with the continuing unemployment. Added purpose
YOUNG athletes strained every muscle in the name of competition in the Teesside Millennium Youth Games. The largest youth sports occasion in the area produced 2,000 competitors for the national youth games in Southampton, on August 17 to 20. The ten to
A REVOLUTION in allotment care and security is promised if gardeners agree to a self-management scheme. More than 300 gardeners and pigeon fanciers are being asked for their views on the idea of cutting loose from Stockton Borough Council after many decades
PLANS to demolish a railway bridge have been approved by councillors. They agreed to the demolition of the former railway bridge on Station Road, Stanley, in order to accommodate road developments, despite residents' protests. At a Derwentside District
A DANISH brass band is to perform a number of concerts in the region. The 50-strong FDF band, a sister organisation of the Girls and Boys Brigade, will be staying with the supporters of the Boys Brigade in Teesside and Marske during this week's visit.
A GROUP of Rangers have won a grant to clean-up a polluted lake. The Stockton Young Rang-ers were presented with £600 by Mill Garages, Stockton, as part of the Volvo Environmental Education Grant scheme. The money will be used to clean up and plant the
A NEW helpline has been launched for women suffering violence at home. Cleveland Domestic Violence Forum opened the helpline service to give practical advice and support to women in distress. The line, which operates on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between
WORRIED residents say anti-social behaviour has increased in their former mining village because "absentee landlords" are letting their homes to troublemakers. Residents in Grange Villa, near Chester-le-Street, say their once-peaceful village has been
BENEFIT fraudsters may be prosecuted by Middlesbrough Borough Council rather than by the police. At a meeting this week, councillors will discuss the possibility of changing the process whereby the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) handles housing
A COMPULSORY purchase order has been made allowing a number of business premises in Middlesbrough to be demolished as plans for a new retail development take shape. The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions was called into
POLICE are hoping a clampdown on licensing new pubs and clubs will help cut drunken vandalism. Superintendent Steve Sugden, Hartlepool police commander, said the town had reached the limit in terms of demand and the trouble caused by excessive drinking
EVEN though they are not much more than five years old, the 13 tiny tots who went on their school's Primary Pootle were already looking back on old times. The reception class at Sunnybrow went back to their former nursery schools at Willington Primary
SECONDARY school students from across South West Durham will go head-to-head in a technological battle of wits this week. Ten teams of six students will be taking part in the day-long Technology Challenge event, hosted by Sunnydale School, in Shildon,
A STUDENT will be flying high this summer when she takes up an RAF flying scholarship. Georgina Park, a lower sixth form pupil at Darlington's Polam Hall School, applied for the scholarship after a careers convention at the school, which was attended
EVEN a swashbuckling century from Darren Lehmann could do little to relieve the gloom at Headingley yesterday. Given the rarity of a fourth day's play, there was never any prospect of an exciting climax as neither side showed much interest in winning,
HANDS stretched skyward, faces eager, the class of four-year-olds clamour for attention from the woman who has come to visit. Keen to learn, cheerful and innocent, the children are a pleasure to be with - and that's the way the RSPCA wants it to stay.
SINGLE CURRENCY FOR the euro to succeed, as it has already been agreed in the Maastricht Treaty, all the countries must have the same employment legislation and business taxes so that the internal market is not distorted. Consequently, doesn't logic demand
RELATIVES of a First World War soldier are being sought so he can be included in a wartime roll of honour. Jack Alexander, from Edinburgh, is trying to trace the descendants of a soldier from Leeholme, near Bishop Auckland, in what he describes as an
A CITY has launched its bid to win this year's Britain in Bloom competition. Sunderland City Council unveiled its plans at Barley Mow Nurseries. This year's theme is centred on the city's millennium logo, which features six people chosen to represent
SURGEON Richard Neale could be extradited to face a murder charge following an investigation into the death of a former patient overseas. Canadian police have confirmed that they are putting together a case which could lead to a request for extradition
AMATEUR performers were given their chance to shine in front of a huge audience at the Orange Darlington Festival at the weekend. Children as young as three took part in the event, held in St Cuthbert's churchyard, in Darlington town centre, on Saturday
HARRY Potter author JK Rowling rattled off another 600 book signings in a frantic stop-off on her Hogwarts Express tour yesterday. About 500 children, parents and teachers waited patiently for the best-selling author, who arrived at Waterstones in Blackett
A SENIOR North-East MP has been interviewed by police about an allegation of assault after a neighbour's son needed hospital treatment, it was revealed yesterday. Middlesbrough MP Stuart Bell was released on police bail after being questioned last Friday
WE are told we are living in halcyon economic times. There is sustainable growth; a budget surplus; low inflation; and falling unemployment. With such a golden legacy, it is difficult to understand why our region's manufacturing and farming industries
THE calendar says it's July, but the beach at Scarborough yesterday looked more like a bleak day in January. Not a single holiday-maker braved the windswept, rain-lashed sand that told the story of this soggy summer. The miserable weather has already
FOR years archaeologists had believed the earthworks in the heart of a castle's ruined remains were the site of a medieval tournament. The embankment was thought to have been part of an arena where knights jousted to win honours from their king, the envy
TEESSIDE International Airport is to be the next stop off point for an Australian pilot bidding to complete his third trip around the world in a plane no bigger than a family car. Adventurer Jon Johanson has chosen the airport because it is close to Great
FINAL preparations are under way for a town's first ever history day staged as part of a week-long festival. Northallerton's Millennium History Festival got under way at the weekend with drama and music programmes. Events throughout the week include a
ATHLETICS fans were treated to a day of sport at a new complex in Darlington yesterday. Eastbourne Sports Complex hosted the Northern Men's League Division One meeting, where there was a full programme of track and field events, including the 3,000m steeplechase
THE latest exercise craze arrives at a Darlington leisure centre this week. Spinning, a cycling exercise programme, will begin at the Dolphin Centre. It uses static bikes and involves a 30-minute course under the supervision of an instructor. The first
THE European championship dreams of a promising young BMX rider have crashed painfully to earth. Danny Hart, eight, one of the UK's top young racers, was practising for yesterday's European BMX Championships in France when he fell off his bike and broke
PROFESSIONAL performers from across the country converged on a tented village at the weekend to raise the curtain on one of County Durham's biggest festivals of the year. Playfest 2000, at Chester-le-Street's Riverside Park, saw a range of productions
Armed police turned out when school leaver Nicola Wheatley, 16, went for her first job interview. She was just filling in her application form in a home improvement firm's office when they burst in, ordering her: "Put your hands on your head". Nicola
PROPOSALS to establish new landfill sites for rubbish could put two local authorities at loggerheads. Draft plans drawn up by North Yorkshire County Council have put forward the option of creating landfill sites to cope with waste from the north of the
AT the crack of dawn the former mining village was stirred to life by sounds and sights its residents had not seen for more than three decades. Hundreds of people spilled on to the streets wearing slippers and dressing gowns to watch their banner being
A FAMILY of horse lovers have appealed for help in catching intruders who injured and scared their animals with a whip. One thoroughbred horse hurt its leg when the gang ran amok, cracking the whip among the grazing animals . The five terrified horses
YOUNGSTERS got their just rewards from Tory leader William Hague at a sporting presentation ceremony. The Richmond MP presented certificates to members of Colburn Youth Club in recognition of their sporting excellence. The nine teenagers, aged 14 to 17
LABOUR officials have pledged that a troubled council will strive to be open and work in residents' interests. Regional party officers stepped in after months of bad publicity for Durham City Council, whose woes included a former officer's allegations
A WIDOW has raised £1,200 to thank the twin transplant teams who helped her husband cheat death twice. Maureen Tiplady shrugged off the tears she shed after her husband John's death last autumn to show her gratitude to Newcastle's Freeman Hospital. Staff
CHILDREN from a Darlington school are being asked to give their views on how council housing could be improved. Officers from Darlington Borough Council will visit Eastbourne Comprehensive School later this month to seek ideas on making local authority
