THE Lion King takes to the large screen at Durham's Gala Theatre over the festive period. Disney's popular children's classic will be given the wide screen treatment with four showings, at 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 7pm, daily from Boxing Day. Tickets, costing
THE Lion King takes to the large screen at Durham's Gala Theatre over the festive period. Disney's popular children's classic will be given the wide screen treatment with four showings, at 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 7pm, daily from Boxing Day. Tickets, costing
THE tragedy of losing their only son has led a North-East couple to dedicate their lives to becoming mother and father to more than 70 children from broken homes. And yesterday, Bob and Brenda Rathbone, of Ormesby, Teesside, were honoured for their work
THE reopening of the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond - undergoing a £1.1m restoration - has been put back five months. The theatre was supposed to reopen in January after an extensive refit and the construction of a new extension to include a new entrance
Good food, good ale, warm welcome. It was just a shame about the match result... OUR guest was late, having carefully been directed to Scruton and gone to Scorton instead. Doubtless it is a common mistake, and beneficial because on the car radio whilst
FAST ground has been a scarce commodity this winter, but it's all change at Musselburgh today where underfoot conditions are predicted to be good to firm. Most National Hunt horses need some juice in the turf to show their best form, but there's always
Scientists in the region have been given a £100,000 grant to find better ways of treating drug-resistant children. The grant from the Leukaemia Research Fund will be used to help the minority of young leukaemia patients who do not respond well to a cancer-killing
BACK in August, we wrote approvingly that the Johannesburg Earth Summit would not be a waste of money if information was shared about what environmental practices worked. "In Ireland, a 10p tax on each supermarket bag has caused a 90 per cent reduction
A controversial route for a town's bypass should be ditched, a report to a council says. But the report, to North Yorkshire County Council, said that although it should reject plans for a western relief road for Harrogate, a northern relief road, along
A MATURE college student has received an award for vocationally related learning. Eileen Kean, 38, received the accolade for the hard work and successful qualifications she has gained from Ripon College, North Yorkshire. She attended this year's Oxford
A MAN who attacked a young mother, and tied a dressing grown cord tightly round her neck, yesterday had an appeal against his sentence dismissed by judges. Steven Turnbull, 27, of Acomb Road, York, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm
Angry protestors clashed with police outside Parliament last night as MPs resumed their impassioned debate on hunting with dogs. One man was arrest for assault on police but later released, while a further five demonstrators were held as 3,000 pro-hunting
A PENSIONER is recovering after being attacked outside a fish and chip shop. The incident took place at 11.45pm on Saturday, after a disturbance outside Bells Fish Shop, Union Street, Middlesbrough. The 66-year-old man ran outside the shop to see if he
CREDITORS of a crisis-torn North-East steelworks will tomorrow listen to administrators spell out proposals in a bid to save the 140-year-old plant. One of the main survival packages has been prepared by redundant workers at Weardale Steel, in Wolsingham
NEW light has been shed on the Nativity in York where a stained glass window depicting Christ's birth has been uncovered for the first time in 30 years. The York Museums Trust had always been aware that there was coloured glass behind displays which went
A DOTING father who took up diving after the death of his wife has won his first competition. But Stephen Pattinson, 42, is not getting too big-headed about his success - he was the only entrant in his age category. Mr Pattinson, of Merrybent, near Darlington
A MAN has been jailed for two years after a father and son were killed in a head-on car crash near Piercebridge. And the Judge, sitting at Tesside Crown Court, has called for safety measures to be introduced at the accident blackspot, near Darlington.
VOLUNTEERS are being invited to take part in training days at a country park. The Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park, near Billingham, is giving members of the public the opportunity to help care for the area and its wildlife. Anyone who would like to help look
Actor Jimmy Nail has accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages over a claim that he threw a ''showbiz strop'' during the filming of the new series of Auf Wiedersehen Pet. His solicitor, Martin Cruddace, told Mr Justice Morland at the High Court in
HAVING a bath has been transformed into a relaxing experience for a group of disabled people thanks to the artistic skills of a group of youngsters. Students from Blackfyne Comprehensive School in Consett have created a water-world in the specially-adapted
A DECORATED Russian cosmonaut touched down in the North-East yesterday to tell young people the sky is the limit when it comes to realising their dreams. Yuri Usachev, who has spent 670 days in space, was at the University of Sunderland where he gave
A new-look for Knaresborough bus station is well under way. Apart from improved facilities for passengers, the project includes retail units and 15 affordable homes. The scheme has been developed in consultation with Knaresborough Regeneration Partnership
A group of children from Howden-le-Wear have become the first school team to win a sports competition started in Wear Valley to encourage more youngsters to play sport and keep fit. The winners of the tag rugby tournament were a team of year three and
A GANG of armed robbers fled with a substantial amount of cash after bursting into a bank through the roof after closing time. A police spokesman said bank staff were left shocked but unhurt after three men raided the Lloyds TSB branch in Main Road, Ryton
FAIRYTALE costumes linked to the vanishing art of ballroom dancing are bringing the ability of North-East choreographer Liv Lorent and designer Paul Shriek back to centre stage. Middlesbrough Town Hall will echo to the sounds of the cha-cha, Viennese
NOSTALGIA and pop blend together to make a memorable pantomime at the Empire. The only pantomime authorised to use the music from Disney films, this production of Snow White brings back childhood memories. With Busy Doing Nothing and Some Day My Prince
REDCAR and Cleveland Borough Council's third Return to Teaching course is being hailed as a success. The course ends tomorrow with a certificate presentation by director of education Jenny Lewis, at Guisborough Education Development Centre. "This year
SOCCER-MAD children have forced a supermarket Santa to dress in black and white. The Asda store faced grumbles from Newcastle United supporters because Santa was dressed in Sunderland's red and white. So, instead of having youngsters shunning him, the
SOCCER-MAD children have forced a supermarket Santa to dress in black and white. The Asda store faced grumbles from Newcastle United supporters because Santa was dressed in Sunderland's red and white. So, instead of having youngsters shunning him, the
OVER-50s from west Middlesbrough got into the festive spirit yesterday when they joined primary school pupils at their nativity performance. The Friendship Group joined youngsters from Whinney Banks Infant School and the Netherfield Belles at Trinity
A TOTAL of 35 people have been arrested in the past four weeks by police involved in a clamp-down on Internet child porn. North Yorkshire Police said in a statement yesterday that 70 computers have been seized along with a large number of CDs and floppy
POLICE hunting a gang of masked thugs involved in a brutal race attack on pizza shop staff have urged a community to turn the culprits in. The appeal was made after three men, the shop's Algerian owner and his two employees, a Libyan and a Kurd, were
AN award-winning museum has been given a rare piece of breathing apparatus used by asthmatic children during the Second World War. The gas mask is the first of its kind to go on display at the Eden Camp Museum, a former prisoner-of-war camp near Malton
JET-SKIERS who have been given a free rein in a North resort could find themselves curtailed in future. Powerful machines zooming over the waves in Scarborough's North Bay, North Yorkshire, have prompted complaints from both swimmers and surfers, who
TELECOMS group Marconi is gearing up to put more than a year of strife behind it by completing a life-saving financial overhaul. The group has concluded negotiations with bondholders and banks and now expects to complete the restructuring deal on March
MANAGERS OF ancient almshouses have received a national award for a £1.7m renovation project. The trustees running the 17th Century Sir William Turner's Almshouses, at Kirkleatham, near Redcar, received the construction industry's Best Practice Award.
A WOMAN who was convicted of inflicting cruelty on a gerbil was yesterday banned from keeping animals for ten years. RSPCA officers found the hungry and thirsty rodent in a cage at Jean Teasdale's council home in Trimdon Village, County Durham, earlier
A UNIVERSITY professor has received $500,000 from the US to study a rare brain condition. Professor Roy Quinlan, of Durham University's biological and biomedical sciences department, is a member of a group of researchers looking into Alexander Disease
GATESHEAD Council's chief executive toured schools, leisure centres and a building site to congratulate council staff on the authority's success. The Government watchdog, the Audit Commission, last week ranked Gateshead Council in the premier league of
THE family of a man who hanged himself in his prison cell is calling for improvements in the way the mental state of inmates is assessed. Scott Fisher, 24, was found hanged in his cell in Durham Prison, after creating his own ligature, on June 26. The
RADIO One has plucked a young DJ from obscurity to become the new voice of the British charts. Wes Butters, 23, will host the station's most popular show, Sunday afternoon's official Top 40 chart show, which has run for 50 years. The hotseat had been
RADIO One has plucked a young DJ from obscurity to become the new voice of the British charts. Wes Butters, 23, will host the station's most popular show, Sunday afternoon's official Top 40 chart show, which has run for 50 years. The hotseat had been
PLANS to extend garage space at one of the region's biggest car dealerships look likely to be approved despite residents' objections. After being refused planning permission for extra car parking bays in September, Reg Vardy has lodged a new application
TWO computer enthusiasts aim to take on a national communication company in a bid to bring 21st century technology to their market town. Fed up with seeing advertising for a service they cannot have, Tarek Ghouri and Kevin Dunn have launched a campaign
A TECHNOLOGY firm is changing its name as part of a plan to go for growth outside the UK. Barcode Solution Centre, of Darlington, has been renamed Agilite, reflecting the growth and change the business has gone through since it was set up in 1996. The
LIBERAL Democrats have launched a campaign to block Darlington College of Technology's move to a new site in the town. The Darlington branch of the party has circulated a petition to people living near the college in Cleveland Avenue. Party members plan
A POSTER warning youngsters of the consequences of playing truant from school has been unveiled. Darlington Borough Council has launched a campaign against school truants and is making a series of checks at popular haunts for errant pupils in the town
RAIDERS may have spent hours searching for cash in a rural post office as weekend revellers passed by a few feet away. Police said a handful of people who were thought to have been walking past the post office in Galgate, Barnard Castle, in the early
A group of children from Howden-le-Wear have become the first school team to win a sports competition started in Wear Valley to encourage more youngsters to play sport and keep fit. The winners of the tag rugby tournament were a team of year three and
TALENTED footballers from a Darlington school are celebrating a famous victory. Hummersknott School and Language College's under-16 boys' team produced a superb performance to win the Bert Hodgson County Cup in a match in Durham. It is the first time
FORMER mining communities are celebrating an early Christmas present in the form of a series of grants worth almost £200,000. Dene Valley Community Partnership has been awarded the funding it needs to complete work on a park and play area. Members of
Thieves stole cases of Budweiser and Beck's beer and bottles of Jack Daniels whisky and Smirnoff vodka from the Cumberland Arms, in Newgate Street, Bishop Auckland, at the weekend. Police said the raiders broke into the cellar between 11.10pm on Saturday
Bishop Auckland College has acknowledged the outstanding achievements of its students at an awards ceremony. Individual and group winners were presented with prizes by Nick Brewster, director of curriculum enterprise, accompanied by guest speaker Denise
A CANCER unit is £250 better off thanks to the moneymaking efforts of the Northallerton and District Lioness Club. The money will go towards the funding of an aromatherapy service for cancer patients at the Mowbray suite at the town's Friarage Hospital
POLICE have named two people involved in a crash on Sunday on the Stokesley to Hutton Rudby road, near Tame Bridge. Judith Curtis, 52, of Roseby Crescent, Great Ayton, was yesterday released from Middlesbrough General Hospital. Gary Durham, 18, of Hilton
IMPORTANT guidance to help tackle the North-East's biggest industrial killer was unveiled yesterday, in a drive to prevent thousands of deaths in the maintenance and building trades. The rules, which comes into effect in May 2004, call on those with responsibility
With war looming in their homeland and Britain supporting the US, these are worrying times for the UK's population of Iraqis. Paul Willis talks to Amir, an Iraqi living in the North-East. THE weapons inspectors are back in Iraq, and as we wait for them
A POPULAR musical will take to the stage tonight and tomorrow. Staff and pupils at Ian Ramsey School, Stockton, have been preparing for their annual pantomime. This year they are putting on a performance of Grease. Clare Pearson, English and drama teacher
A MIX of music will usher in Christmas week in Ripon - and it is hoped that the evening planned this weekend will help the drive for a new one-stop community office in the city. Both the Mayor of Ripon, Councillor Bernard Bateman, and the Mayor of Harrogate
Ripon historian Maurice Taylor and his wife, Dorothy, were among volunteer guides at Fountains Abbey who have been rewarded for their service. Joy Calvert, who has also been an organist at St Mary's Church on the estate for 20 years, was among the recipients
CONTRACTORS working for Yorkshire Water have moved into Bridge Street, in Richmond, to begin work on a project to protect the River Swale in extreme weather. The £120,000 scheme is part of the company's £400m RiverCare programme, designed to upgrade storm
STAFF at a Northallerton-based housing association are celebrating a coup in a national survey. Broadacres was unaware it was under scrutiny as part of Inside Housing magazine's research. However, staff still came out top and were described as "professional
THE Lion King takes to the large screen at Durham's Gala Theatre over the festive period. Disney's popular children's classic will be given the wide screen treatment with four showings, at 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 7pm, daily from Boxing Day. Tickets, costing
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It is a busy time for everyone, but for a footballer it is even busier. It is a hard time to keep focused on football when friends and family are celebrating. This is where your
Good food, good ale, warm welcome. It was just a shame about the match result... OUR guest was late, having carefully been directed to Scruton and gone to Scorton instead. Doubtless it is a common mistake, and beneficial because on the car radio whilst
A LEADING councillor has called on the people of east Cleveland to back North-East home rule and forget about becoming part of Yorkshire. Councillor David Walsh, Labour leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, made his impassioned plea after calls
PEOPLE have voiced fears that their health could be at risk if plans to extend a radio communication mast get the go-ahead. BT Airwave has applied for permission to use the existing phone mast at Peterlee AFC, on Eden Lane, to establish a public safety
Motorists could be hit with on-the-spot fines if they are caught leaving their engines running while their cars are stationary. Council chiefs in Darlington are set to introduce the controversial measure in an effort to crack down on drivers polluting
Turning disability into a criminal advantage. ROBBIE is a 23-year-old from Sunderland who's been a persistent offender for more than a decade. He began by shoplifting and, after becoming good at that, decided it was time to move on to bigger things, such
THE children of Thirsk Community Primary School wowed the grown-ups when they staged a glittering production telling the story of the Little Angel. The 109 pupils aged between four and seven entertained more than 320 parents, carers, visitors and staff
IT'S that time of year again - time for the Christmas card and for the round robin letter, because I know you're all just bursting to know what the Mullen family have been up to in 2002. Naturally, it has been a year of stupendous triumph as usual: our
Garden designer Angie Townsend has spent the last year making a film about her garden. She talks to Women's Editor Christen Pears. ANGIE Townsend strides across the landscape wearing a long coat and wellies. Behind her, the fields and hills fade into
Clerk, Northallerton. £5ph, 37hrs pw, between 8.30am to 5pm, Mon-Fri, temporary. To be responsible for distribution of internal and external post. Must be quick learner. Ref: NOE 18000. Labourer, Osmotherley. £200 to £250ph, 6.45am to 3.45pm, Mon-Fri.
Driver LGV/labourer, Hartlepool. £4.80ph, 40hrs pw, 8am to 5pm, Mon-Fri. Required for removals company, age 25-plus. Must have clean, current driving licence. Experience preferred but not essential. Ref: HAQ 21243. Chef, Hartlepool. 39-42hrs pw, 5 days
A NEW advice and information pack offering sexual health advice to teenagers has been launched. The new guides are being distributed across North Yorkshire and will be available in colleges, youth clubs and young people's nightclubs. The pack, designed
THE Pen Shop is celebrating another year of success with a nationwide expansion programme already on the way to increasing sales. By the end of this month, the business, based at Team Valley, in Gateshead, which is already the largest supplier of writing
Packers, Peterlee. £4.20 to £5.38ph, 40hrs pw, 7.30am-12.20am, Mon-Sun, temporary, age 18+. Required to pack sale materials, leaflets and other duties. Ref: PEV 19369. Cook, Peterlee. £4.57ph, 35hrs one week, 20.5hrs the next week. Required to cook for
ONE of Britain's most famous regiments has issued an urgent appeal - for a second-hand pair of boots. But it's not just any old footwear the Green Howards are after - they need some genuine soldier's boots from the Crimean War. The regimental museum in
Newcastle University will be able to boost its full time student numbers by 350 following a pioneering partnership designed to secure the future of lifelong learning. About 3,000 students of the Newcastle University's Centre for Lifelong Learning have
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It is a busy time for everyone, but for a footballer it is even busier. It is a hard time to keep focused on football when friends and family are celebrating. This is where your
A man who attacked a young mother and tied a dressing gown cord around her neck has had an appeal against his sentence dismissed by top judges. Steven Turnbull, 27, of Acomb Road, York, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and making
A football team is on the lookout for young talent ready to play in local matches. Hungry Jacks Under 13 squad, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, is fully stretched with only 11 players and more are needed to give the current squad a rest. Anyone who
POLICE have objected to plans to increase a pub's opening hours following concerns that it might lead to an increase in anti-social behaviour. Stockton Borough Council's licensing committee will meet today to discuss the plans by The Dubliners in Bridge
THE region's first action team established to promote and stimulate innovation in regional business has been restructured to promote expansion plans. The original team of specialists, known as Pioneer, has proved such a success that they have had to establish
A NORTH-EAST Euro-MP will defend the British Government's handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis during a debate in Strasbourg today. A report to the European Parliament's foot-and-mouth temporary committee concludes there were mistakes of policy and failures
A PENSIONER is recovering after being attacked outside a fish and chip shop. The incident took place at 11.45pm on Saturday, after a disturbance outside Bells Fish Shop, Union Street, Middlesbrough. The 66-year-old man ran outside the shop to see if he
A three-day operation by customs officers which ended on Sunday evening has resulted in the discovery of a large amount of contraband. Nearly 70,000 cigarettes and 18 kilos of tobacco were seized, along with quantities of beer, wine and spirits as officers
A YOUNGSTER suffering from a rare brain condition is to have an operation thanks to the generosity of his mother's colleagues. Samuel Robson, of the Hartlepool area, suffers from hemimegalencephaly or HME which means one half of his brain is enlarged.
Police yesterday asked for the public's help to identify a man who subjected a young woman to a terrifying sex attack. He befriended the 29-year-old woman as she waited for a taxi in Middlesbrough, telling her that she could call a taxi from his house
A SCHOOL has defended its decision to ban a popular soft drink after claims it was making pupils hyperactive. Brierton Community School, in Hartlepool, stopped students drinking the Dr Pepper brand following advice from the school nurse. Pupils said behavioural
A DRIVER who was killed in a three-car pile-up at the weekend was named by police last night. Richard David Jameson, 44, from Eppleby, near Richmond, North Yorkshire, died on Saturday on the A67 west of Gainford, between Darlington and Barnard Castle.
A DECORATED Russian cosmonaut touched down in the North-East yesterday to tell young people the sky is the limit when it comes to realising their dreams. Yuri Usachev, who has spent 670 days in space, was at the University of Sunderland where he gave
GROWING links between university academics and the North-East business community received ministerial endorsement yesterday. Minister for Small Business Nigel Griffiths paid a glowing tribute to the multi-million pound NetPark proposed for the former
A GANG of armed robbers fled with a substantial amount of cash after bursting into a bank through the roof after closing time. A police spokesman said bank staff were left shocked but unhurt after three men raided the Lloyds TSB branch in Main Road, Ryton
SCHOOLS and residents in Sedgefield borough are being encouraged to take part in a national recycling scheme. The Yellow Woods Challenge is a schools recycling initiative run by Yellow Pages, The Directory Recycling Scheme and the Woodland Trust, with
A TEESSIDE NHS trust is sharing its mental health expertise with an Irish health organisation as part of a high-profile project. Two consultant nurses from Tees and North-East Yorkshire NHS Trust returned from Ireland following their first week-long training
PACKAGING group British Polythene Industries (BPI) has cut £3m from its profits goals after a quieter than expected end to the year. The Scottish group, which owns agricultural packaging business Visqueen employing 350 staff in Stockton, said it had also
POLICE hunting a gang of masked thugs involved in a brutal race attack on pizza shop staff have urged a community to turn the culprits in. The appeal was made after three men, the shop's Algerian owner and his two employees, a Libyan and a Kurd, were
MANAGERS OF ancient almshouses have received a national award for a £1.7m renovation project. The trustees running the 17th Century Sir William Turner's Almshouses, at Kirkleatham, near Redcar, received the construction industry's Best Practice Award.
CHURCHES in North Yorkshire have been urged to be on alert following the theft of valuable stained glass from a remote moorland community. It is believed the glass was stolen to order from St Mary's Church, Stainburn, in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding
A UNIVERSITY professor has received $500,000 from the US to study a rare brain condition. Professor Roy Quinlan, of Durham University's biological and biomedical sciences department, is a member of a group of researchers looking into Alexander Disease
YOUNGSTERS expecting a new teddy bear or doll for Christmas are being invited to register their toys at Hartlepool Register Office. In return for a small donation to charity, children will be able to meet the registrars, on Saturday, December 28, who
MORE than 1,700 extra seats a day will be available for rail passengers travelling with GNER next year. The operator has signed a deal with Angel Trains to lease ten carriages to provide additional seating on the East Coast Main Line. Mark 3 carriages
A MAILING company is reaping the rewards of a £1m investment as it meets increased demand from national clients at the busiest time of the year. North-East Mailing Centre (NEMC), in Washington, Wearside, lists Next Directory, Yellow Pages, Mirror Group
An empty building which had become run down and was a blot on Harrogate's town centre landscape, is now being replaced with 16 two-bedroomed apartments in Commercial Street. The affordable homes will be for people living and working in Harrogate, giving
CHRISTMAS has come early for special school youngsters thanks to a partnership with those in mainstream education. During the past three years, Durham Trinity School has been involved in a project enabling its pupils to work with children in other schools
A SCHEME to convert barns into holiday accommodation has been approved by Scarborough Council for Scalby Lodge, Burniston Road, Scalby. The former dairy at the farm is to be made into bunk barns while other buildings will be given a new lease of life
SCHOOLS and residents in Sedgefield borough are being encouraged to take part in a national recycling scheme. The Yellow Woods Challenge is a schools recycling initiative run by Yellow Pages, The Directory Recycling Scheme and the Woodland Trust, with
A girl whose clothes caught fire at home died yesterday - a day before her fifth birthday. Kynat Akhter had come into contact with a gas fire as she played in the lounge of her home in Emerson Avenue, Middlesbrough. She was resuscitated by firefighters
FORMER mining communities are celebrating an early Christmas present in the form of a series of grants worth almost £200,000. Dene Valley Community Partnership has been awarded the funding it needs to complete work on a park and play area. Members of
A JUDGE yesterday told the grieving family of a two-year-old boy killed in a road accident that he could not punish the guilty driver the way they would want. Judge John Walford said that the law did not allow him to pass the sort of sentence which no
Thieves stole cases of Budweiser and Beck's beer and bottles of Jack Daniels whisky and Smirnoff vodka from the Cumberland Arms, in Newgate Street, Bishop Auckland, at the weekend. Police said the raiders broke into the cellar between 11.10pm on Saturday
A SOCCER coach who used his links with Newcastle United Football Club to sexually abuse young players was jailed for six years yesterday. George Ormond, 46, disguised his perverted intentions with "boisterous, playful behaviour", using his "jocularity
THE battle began yesterday to keep the region's fishing fleet afloat in the face of European demands to slash North Sea quotas by 80 per cent. Trawlermen who sail from ports on the east coast say the drastic cuts in the amount they can catch are unecessary
HIT-AND-RUN victim Katie Scales returned home yesterday after 12 days in hospital, while police continue to search for the driver of the car that knocked her down. Since an appeal made by her father, Jeff Scales, of Haxby, York, on Friday, officers have
A TEAM of entertainers will help villagers celebrate the festive season. Christmas Spirit, an acclaimed family entertainment by the four-person drama group Blaize, will be performed in the parochial hall at Sowerby, near Thirsk, on Saturday. The evening
AN inquest into the death of a 68-year-old man who plunged 30ft, landing in a disused nightclub car park will be opened today. Brian Lonsdale, of Guisborough, was seen falling from a road above on to the site at the derelict K2 club, in Queensway, Billingham
The search for Neville Meade - former Catterick airman, Tudhoe cricketer and British heavyweight boxing champion - leads us to Neath market, near Swansea, writes Mike Amos. "I saw him there 11 or 12 years ago, selling baby clothes on a stall," reports
Youngsters at a village school have taken time out from writing their Christmas lists to help others. Each of the 35 pupils at Burnhope Primary School filled a shoebox with toys for the Operation Christmas Child project, which helps deprived children
GLOBE-TROTTING Julie Lightfoot has won an award for her work in boosting sales for a North-East company. Ms Lightfoot, 33, has been named as Best Woman in International Trade in this year's North-East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year. She travels the world
As seems inevitable at this bitter-sweet season, there is a sadness of deaths - the collective noun seems appropriate - to lay out before faithful readers. Two in today's Backtrack, another in Thursday's John North, a fourth in Saturday's At Your Service
TWO computer users are aiming to persuade a national telecommunications company to upgrade the telephone exchange in Thirsk so it will be able to connect to broadband internet. Tarek Ghouri and Kevin Dunn are fed up of seeing advertising for a service
Secretary, Bishop Auckland, £5-£6 ph, 15 hours. Financial experience and excellent telephone manner essential. Must be computer-literate with knowledge of Excel. Ref: BIS 12162. Senior care assistant, Darlington, £5.35-£5.67ph, 37.5 hpw shifts over 7
MIKE Newell yesterday joined up again with Kevin Sheedy as the former Everton midfielder was appointed assistant manager at Hartlepool United. Sheedy and Newell were teammates at Goodison Park and Sheedy, formerly No 2 at Tranmere under John Aldridge,
WHEN Janet Crawford ran away from home to seek fame among the bright lights of London's West End, she was embarking on an adventure that has put her at the head of one of the top recruitment agencies in the UK. Janet, now 68, ran away from home in Wiltshire
MORE than 140 North-East workers are facing an anxious Christmas after a chipboard manufacturer confirmed it had gone into administration. Vertex Panel Products last night offered staff hope that the business could be turned around. Managing director
NORTH-EAST shoppers could become the first in the country to pay a tax on plastic carrier bags as part of a scheme to help the environment. Durham County Council is asking people whether a cash levy on bags should be introduced to encourage shoppers to
CHRISTMAS has arrived at the former home and surgery of Britain's most famous vet. The James Herriot centre in Kirkgate, Thirsk, has been bedecked with Yuletide decorations - all in the style of the Fifties. Paper chains festoon the rooms along with holly
METRIC MARTYR: PRIME Minister Tony Blair has proved that he is a supporter of the Metric Martyrs' Campaign. Speaking at the European Union summit in Copenhagen, challenging his wife's critics to take their claims to the proper authorities or shut up,
ONE of the region's greatest attractions is celebrating a special anniversary next year - and a new face has been appointed to make sure the party goes with a swing. Next year will be the 20th anniversary of the National Trust taking over Fountains Abbey
AN inquest into the death of a 68-year-old man who plunged 30ft, landing in a disused nightclub car park will be opened today. Brian Lonsdale, of Guisborough, was seen falling from a road above on to the site at the derelict K2 club, in Queensway, Billingham
