A COUNCILLOR has accused his authority of deliberately running a swimming pool into the ground to justify selling it off for housing. Coun John Harris, who sits on Richmondshire District Council, said certain members were obstructing progress at Richmond
Stockton 35 Barnard Castle 13 CASTLE'S most successful season in their history reached a marvellous climax on Saturday when they played Stockton in the final of the Durham Junior Cup. Their opposition were not only a side who have for many
Unison GLR 2 Brompton-On-Swale 1 A BRACE from top scorer Colin Anderson completed an amazing two days for Unison GLR, as they lifted the League Challenge Cup, just 48 hours after becoming the first side from the Hambleton League to ever win the
HOCKEY players in Richmond are celebrating after winning a national title for the first time. The mixed side at Richmond School has won the National Sixth Form Hockey Championships after a tense final. The 14-strong team of sixth form boys and
CLUBS in the Darlington Building Society North Yorkshire and South Durham Premier Cricket League head into the first crucial Bank Holiday progamme with a number still sweating on the first appearance of their overseas professional. Life is complicated
FOLLOWING on from a class victory in the recent North Humberside Forest Stages Rally, Thirsk driver Tim Pearcey made it two wins in a row last weekend after winning his class in the Betta Somerset Stages Rally based in Minehead. The Willow Green
Barnard Castle & Teesdale RC. - Mondays, Thursdays: regular fortnightly lessons, flatwork with Caroline Jackson, call Lezley 07891- 660317. Monday evenings: SJ with Chloe Gosling, call 07967594685. May 18: pleasure ride with optional jumps, Langdale
THE RACING game is much like Dr Doolittle's marvellous animal, the Pushmi-Pullu: we can look backwards and forwards at the same time. This weekend sees the highlight of the early Flat season, with the Guineas meeting at Newmarket, but we have
POLAM Hall School pupil Laura Robinson has been proving her worth as a pony show jumper recently. The Potto 13-year-old joined many of the most promising young riders in the country at the 2008 Blue Chip Show Jumping Championships, staged at
OLIVER Greenall increased his lead in the National Championships with a treble at the York and Ainsty Point to Point, held at Easingwold on Sunday of last week. Two of Greenalls winners were on horses owned by Eric Brooke and trained by David
MORTON-ON-SWALE'S Nicola Wilson will be among the entries at the world famous Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, where event director Hugh Thomas will be hoping for a trouble free passage this time. Fears over the firm going at the CCI
AWARD-winning restaurants are ten-a-penny these days. There are so many awards schemes it is getting to the point where soon even the most humble roadside greasy spoon will be sporting an award - Yorkshire's best fry-up and a cuppa for under a
Arts editor, Pru Farrier, was invited to curate her own exhibition - Here's Looking at You - at the Zillah Bell Gallery. In return, she asked the gallery's John Bell to review a current exhibition ONE of my favourite galleries is hidden away at Laurence
FROM the opening bars Tim Albery's new production for Opera North of Verdi's Macbeth, it was apparent that this was to be a grey evening - apart, that is, from several buckets of stage blood. The opera version of Shakespeare's Scottish play is
APRIL is usually one of the busiest of months for jazz tours but this year it was remarkably quiet. Luckily things pick up this month with visits by some of the bigger jazz names and two world premieres in some of our smaller venues, writes Peter
I AM sprucing up my patio in preparation for the summer and have decided to add some light to the scene to create atmosphere when I'm chilling out with my glass of wine in the evening during the warmer months. A little light goes a long way at
STARTING in 17th century England and ending in modern-day London, Titania Hardie's first novel, The Rose Labyrinth, magically interweaves three tales - a riddle to unravel, a legacy to unearth and a heart to mend (published in hardback by Headline
NOT everyone grows up in a French-style chateau surrounded by thousands of priceless works of art. But Margaret Asquith, 76, is one of the last people alive to have lived in Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, where her father Thomas Wake was curator
AMID all the hype surrounding the forthcoming demolition of the Get Carter car park at Gateshead, a fleeting moment of black humour from the famous film is being overlooked. Crooked businessman Cliff Brumby, played by Bryan Mosley, aka Alf
THE Nidd, one of the north's more picturesque rivers, runs close to Harrogate before joining the Ouse just outside York. But what does that simple syllable mean? Well, as is always the case with river names, it is necessary, if you want to get
MAY has long been known as the month of blossom. There can be little doubt that it is the most beautiful month of the year so far as new growth and floral splendour is concerned. In Anglo-Saxon times it was known as Thri-Milch because the lush
From this newspaper 100 years ago. - A large crowd, including many carpenters and joiners on strike, assembled at Stockton on Wednesday to witness the launching from the Thornaby yard of Messrs Craig, Taylor & Co., of the SS Oratios Couppas, the
AS the consultation process over Hambleton District Council's proposals to introduce parking charges in its four main market towns comes to a close, it seems an appropriate moment to take stock of the extensive debate that has been aired in
Sir, - Spectator's item about the sign on Tubwell Row reminded me about the one on Yarm railway station. This was installed some time ago, gave the time and said "Welcome to Yarm Station". It now reads, and has for some time, "Sign under test
Sir, - As a Fellow of Grey College, Durham, I am delighted to be resident again throughout May. During my stay I have arranged for a series of public seminars on belief and experience where I will be joined by people of different faiths and
Sir. - As the parent of a child with autism, I am very worried about what will happen as they get older. Autism is a lifelong condition, yet as I Exist, the new report from the National Autistic Society has found, many adults with the disability
Sir, - The Green Howards Museum in Richmond is now open again on Saturdays. For the last few weeks we have had to close, unfortunately because we did not have enough staff available. I am pleased to say that we now have both a new shop manager
Sir, - I was most concerned to learn of Sowerby Parish Council's proposal to erect an eightfoot fence made of plastic-coated steel mesh around the entire perimeter of the play area on the Flatts (D&S, Apr 18). While sharing the concerns of the
Sir, - On behalf of Thirsk and Sowerby Civic Society, I am writing to express our deep concern about the proposed car parking charges that Hambleton District Council is proposing to levy. This ill-advised proposal will have a significant impact
Sir, - I was interested to read Susan Latter's letter (D&S, Apr 25); one of the first, I believe, in support of Hambleton District Council's parking charges proposals. Could she be related to the Coun Susan Latter who, I seem to recall, was one
Sir, - A possible solution to the Hambleton car parking debate could be as follows. 1. The motorist parks in a designated parking bay and pays his parking fee for the period required. A ticket machine provides a split ticket, one half of which
Sir, - I was very disappointed to read in your newspaper of the proposal to move the market cross or Butter Market, in Barnard Castle. Much of the traffic going down Horsemarket and the Bank across the bridge is heavy goods traffic. Heavy lorries
Sir, - Last September, Redcar and Cleveland Council made the proud boast that 98 per cent of parents got their first choice of school for their child. This had come about through the work of the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and East Cleveland
Sir, - I was interested to read the comments made by Tony Hitchens for Premier Management Waste (D&S, April 11) in your article regarding the plans for a proposed composting site at the former quarry site in Bolam. In the article, Mr Hitchens
A FAMILY-RUN business has invested £200,000 in a new showroom. Court Homemakers has spent two months redesigning and refurbishing its kitchen, bathroom and bedroom showroom in Portrack Lane, Stockton. Twenty new kitchen displays have been added
AN ice-cream firm has produced its first organic product in reponse to customer demand. R&R Ice Cream, of Leeming Bar, has developed the icecream, containing fruit, for the Rachels Organics company. Sarah Goodhew, group new product development
LEYBURN. - Last Fri. Fwd: 60 calves & stirks, 5 dairy & beef breeding, 205 store cattle & feeding bulls. Show for store cattle. Judge: David Mawer, of Grewelthorpe. Prizes. - 1 JR Calvert, Gunnerside, BB steers, £720; 2&3 JS&D Cloughton, Bainbridge
Thursday's prices GrainCo, Tyne Dock. - Wheat: May £160; June £162; July £164. Barley: May £144; June £145; July £125. Oilseed rape: May £323; June £324; July £305.
PIG farmers in the region reacted angrily last week to British Retail Consortium dismissals of the crisis facing their industry. They were particularly angered by Richard Dodd, BRC spokesman, who said it was supermarkets who were absorbing costs
A BRITISH dairy sire has produced more sexed semen than any other bull in the world. Crichel Principal has notched up an incredible 116,000 straws of sexed semen in his lifetime - he is 13 this month - and currently has around 50,000 daughters
ARABLE land prices in England have rocketed by 40pc over the last year as buyers outnumber sellers by 30 to one. Christopher Orme, consultant at Strutt & Parker's Harrogate office, says good quality arable land is routinely fetching more than
RESIDENTS are being urged to take care around badger habitats, after two sets were disturbed in the space of a fortnight. Mark Rasbeary, wildlife and environmental crime officer at Natural England, said many people were not aware that disturbing badger
THE country's largest supplier of free range eggs is recruiting more producers. Noble Foods supplies millions of eggs a day to major retailers and expects demand to grow by up to ten per cent this year. Demand for free range chickens and eggs
AS SMOKE enveloped the stage at the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond on Wednesday evening, the actors became almost invisible and the fire alarm cut short the climax of that great romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. The audience, well aware that the
A CAMPAIGN to save the rare black grouse from extinction has been such a success in the North East that a plan was announced yesterday to repeat it in other parts of the country. The population of the spectacular bird has risen steadily in recent years
A GROUP has been set up with the ambitious aim of revitalising Redcar as a seaside resort. Red Carpet Development was created at a public meeting when 70 people voted unanimously to start investigating ways of promoting urban improvement schemes in the
BOLLYWOOD came to North Yorkshire on Wednesday, when youngsters at a Richmond school tried their hand at Indian henna painting, art and dancing. Year seven, eight and nine pupils at St Francis Xavier School took part in dance workshops hosted by Leeds-based
A DISPUTE between a parish council and a neighbour which has troubled a village for more than two years may have finally reached a compromise. Gary Orpen has threatened Hurworth Parish Council and community association with legal action because he says
A VICAR who once rode a horse up Roseberry Topping is retiring from the ministry after 40 years. The Rev Phillip Bishop, rector of St Nicholas' Church in Guisborough, is hanging up his dog collar after a career that has taken him from factory floors
A HISTORIC market town could see its flagging market place revamped, after the findings of a £10,000 feasibility study were unveiled. Richmond is at the centre of research to see how the town's markets - both indoor and outdoor - could reverse the national
YOUNG chess players pitted themselves against each other yesterday in the final round of a league competition. Eight primary schools from around Teesdale have been taking part in the chess championship, which was first held in 1994. The schools that
FOUR men have been arrested on suspicion of robbery at a Yarm supermarket. Three masked robbers, one wielding a hammer, threatened security staff delivering cash to a cash machine at Somerfield, in Healaugh Park, Yarm, shortly after 1.30pm on Tuesday
AMBITIOUS plans to turn the clock back in a town's high street have moved a step nearer. Stockton Borough Council's cabinet has backed plans to return the 1825 Shambles building in the centre of the town's High Street to its old use as an indoor market
A LARGE collection of school furniture, handmade in North Yorkshire 75 years ago, is expected to fetch up to £200,000 when it is sold at auction in Leyburn. Hundreds of pieces, including solid oak tables, chairs, bookcases and other library furniture
