Archive

  • Football club hit by break-in

    THIEVES have left a football club with just one ball between 260 players after breaking in and stealing £1,000 worth of equipment. About 200 footballs and two goals were taken overnight on Tuesday from Middleton Rangers’ lock-up at Middleton

  • MP confident that economic future of town is bright

    DARLINGTON MP Jenny Chapman says she feels confident about the economic future of Darlington after meeting the chamber of commerce. Mrs Chapman met representatives from the North-East Chamber of Commerce to discuss her concerns about the town

  • Bandstand is now just grand

    A NINE-YEAR project to restore a dilapidated bandstand will conclude this weekend. Tomorrow, a day of fun and activities is taking place in North Lodge Park to mark the official opening of the newly-restored bandstand. Activities on offer at the

  • Pier spat over right of way

    SURFERS and fishermen clashed on Saltburn pier about a right of way there. The spat occurred on Thursday of last week when one fisherman was “very abusive” to surfers, said Sgt Mandy Savory, reporting to Saltburn, Marske and New Marske Parish

  • Council takes axe to senior management as cuts bite

    A SENIOR council officer has become the first victim of the authority’s programme of cuts. Cliff Brown, the director of community services at Darlington Borough Council, has had a request for voluntary redundancy accepted. He is the first high-profile

  • Shadow minister listens to anger over play park axe

    JOHN Healey MP, Labour’s shadow communities and housing minister, visited Margrove Park Village Hall, near Guisborough, to hear residents voice their anger at the axing of a scheme to build a new play park. Plans to spend £50,000 on new

  • Plans mooted to turn fishing village into seaside resort

    PLANS are being discussed to transform Skinningrove into a seaside destination to be proud of. Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council wants to raise the profile of the East Cleveland village in an attempt to attract visitors to its sandy beach

  • Light show could help town mark 150th anniversary

    PLANS to light up Saltburn as part of the town’s 150th anniversary celebrations are being considered. Following the success of last year’s Odin’s Glow light spectacular at Roseberry Topping, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has started work

  • Free offer is on the table

    A LARGE boardroom table is being offered free of charge by a community group which has found it far too large for its own purposes. Thirsk Regeneration Initiative bought the table, which seats 14 people, for use at its meetings with Yorkshire

  • Community groups fearful of Yorkshire Forward cuts

    COMMUNITY groups are set to miss out on crucial funding to pay for projects in their area because of the slashing of Yorkshire Forward’s budget. Yorkshire Forward faces at least £14m in budget cuts for 2010-11 owing to Government funding cuts

  • Mending skills in demand

    A SEAMSTRESS brought up with the philosophy “make do and mend” has opened a shop to cope with demand for her needle skills. Whether creating a made-to-measure wedding gown or repairing a beloved teddy bear’s arm, Fiona Hawkins believes there is

  • Enthusiast starts motorcycle rider training centre

    A MOTORBIKE enthusiast who nearly lost a leg in a high-speed accident has started his own rider training company. Glenn Julian was 18 when he and a car collided just four weeks after he passed his test. A major artery was severed and there was

  • Take early action on weed control

    AN ADAS expert has said early action is critical in the increasingly tough fight against grass weeds. James Clarke said in most instances early pre- and postemergence treatments will deliver superior control than those based on either “wait

  • Conservatory supplier takes on apprentices

    A LEADING conservatory supplier is looking to pass on the skills of its craftsmen by recruiting three young apprentices. Amdega, founded in Darlington in 1874 and employing in excess of 200 people, has taken on three students from the modern

  • Redundant brothers find work with agency’s help

    TWO brothers made redundant in their fifties have found new jobs after months of unemployment. Peter Gentles, 51, had never had a day off sick in almost 20 years working for a concrete manufacturer, and Geoffrey, 56, had worked as a press operator

  • Oilseeds firm offers minimum price for linseed crop contract

    UNITED Oilseeds will again offer a minimum price contract for linseed in 2011 following a successful 2010 crop. Linseed is predicted to be an important crop for arable growers with forward values for harvest 2011 currently trading at about £300

  • Scheme launched to help grey partridge recovery

    A NEW scheme has been launched to boost the population of wild grey partridges. The bird should be widespread throughout Britain but recent Defra figures indicate a population decline of 20pc and its total disappearance from some areas. Now

  • The Shoulder of Mutton, Middleton Tyas, Richmond

    Back to form for village favourite. THE last time we called at the Shoulder of Mutton in Middleton Tyas, it was altogether pretty depressing. On a Saturday lunchtime, the place was almost empty and what was once a much-loved village pub seemed

  • Keep an eye on moisture for success with bulbs

    THERE’S not much that Chris Blom doesn’t know about bulbs. As a director of Bloms Bulbs, the award-winning family-run firm which this year celebrates its 150th anniversary and its 60th gold medal at Chelsea, he has spent much of his life growing

  • Pantagruel, Markenfield Hall, Ripon

    THERE must be few places more fitted or apt for the performance of music of the Renaissance than Markenfield Hall, the moated and fortified Manor House estate, near Ripon, first established in the 14th century. Perhaps one of the least well-known

  • Gun in hand, Horowitz plots the end for his young hero

    Horowitz talks to Hannah Stephenson about the final outing for his ‘super spy’ Alex Rider. IT WOULD take one of teenage “super spy” Alex Rider’s state-of-the-art gadgets to penetrate the high-security entry system guarding the London penthouse

  • Prize for first-time novelist

    A NOVELIST who grew up in North Yorkshire has won a national publishing award with her first book, which is set during the Second World War. Sara Allerton, originally from Ampleforth, has won the Summer 2010 People’s Book Prize category for

  • Rural connections

    THREE artists have teamed up to launch an exhibition that takes its inspiration from the landscape and history of the Yorkshire Dales. Connections at the Dales Countryside Museum, in Hawes, comprises collages, paintings and sculpture by Laurence

  • Piano concerts and master classes

    OCTOBER sees the start of the music society seasons in the area, but just getting in first is the new series of Master Musicians concerts at Stockton Arc, writes Dave Robson The first of three Tuesday lunchtime concerts is on September 28 with

  • Gotta Sing Gotta Dance, Darlington Civic Theatre

    WHEN you gotta go, you gotta go, and you gotta go to the Civic Theatre this week for a show which more than lives up to its blurb “a magical night at the musicals”. In just over two hours, seven performers, backed by four musicians, cover

  • Hats off to new exhibition

    THE artists’ group Viridian has an exhibition at the Arc in Stockton until October 13. The group comprises Pam Scott, who paints dream-like watercolours, Anthony Cox, whose beautifully-drawn paintings in various mediums grace many a house in the

  • Viking settlement where women ruled the roost

    WHENBY, to the north of Sherriff Hutton, on the very edge of Ryedale, has one of the region’s most curious names. Its typically Scandinavian “by” ending – “by” means settlement – shows that the Vikings named the village. So far, so easy

  • Jervaulx’s reminders in stone

    THE ruins of Jervaulx Abbey, not far from Masham in Wensleydale, must surely rank among the most atmospheric of our local collection of former Catholic churches and monasteries. Ruined abbeys abound in this region, several being of international

  • Wither Catterick?

    Sir, – Where is Catterick? Apparently, a Catterick school sports pavilion to get a new lease of life, (D&S, Sept 10), is in Hipswell and on page 23, “Cash for projects in Catterick” places Hipswell, Scotton, Colburn and St Martins in the running

  • Independent?

    Sir, – According to the last edition of Hambleton News, Hambleton and Richmondshire councils share a chief executive and senior management team and four departments are working as one. We are now told the councils are set to move even closer

  • Game on

    Sir, – October 1 heralds the official start of the pheasant shooting season. As the season gets into full swing, there will be plenty of affordable, locally-sourced and tasty game meat available. Described by TV chef Mike Robinson as a “superfood

  • No substance

    Sir, – Surely William Hague deserves better than to be hounded by unscrupulous elements in the media on such ludicrously baseless grounds. His role in forming the coalition arguably preserved this country from prolonged economic instability;

  • Role for cameras

    Sir, – Godfrey Bloom (D&S, Sept 3) is wrong, again. Speed cameras most definitely work. I notice that, like myself, countless others, certainly well over 90 per cent, stick to the limits imposed in average speed check areas (an excellent example

  • Café’s hopes for Indian summer look forlorn

    ON Tuesday evening, on the way home from work in the teeth of a minor gale, we noticed the forlornlooking tables and chairs outside the famed Imperial Express café in Northumberland Street, Darlington. The café has had to jump through numerous

  • Funny money

    Sir, – With a passing nod to economic democracy, our Coalition masters are asking the public to suggest ways we can save public money. The Economic Research Council estimated that between 1945 and 1980, £19bn pounds was made available for public

  • Dairy eyesore

    Sir, – I refer to the letter (D&S Sept 3) from David Hartley, Wensleydale Creamery’s managing director, and welcome the success of the dairy in Hawes, and the part it is playing in attracting increasing numbers of visitors to what he rightly

  • Single file, please

    Sir, – Having been born in the flatlands of Hull, I started cycling at a fairly tender age.When I was old enough to use public roads, my father told me very clearly that, if I were with someone else and there were any other vehicles on the road

  • Lost character

    Sir, – When we read the D&S article – about the Hawes Creamery visitor centre re-development – we decided, as fairly regular visitors, that we just had to go and look. Nothing is visible from the front, but once inside, the first change is clear

  • How dim

    Sir, – I totally agree with your correspondent V Walker (D&S letters, Sept 3). Just who is responsible at North Yorkshire County Council for this sign madness? Having obliterated the county’s roads with superfluous signs indicating a slippery

  • September 17, 2010

    From this newspaper 100 years ago. The most important business at Thirsk Rural Council on Monday was a plan to obviate the two dangerous corners on the Northallerton-Thirsk road at Thornton-le-Street by making a straight piece of road through from

  • Sky still above

    IT IS hard not to agree with the chairman of Thirsk Regeneration Initiative in his assessment of the impact of parking charges in the town: the sky has definitely not fallen in. The widespread view that the introduction of charges a year ago

  • Contrast in fortunes for Procter on Poland track

    NORTH Yorkshire driver Kevin Procter endured mixed fortunes when he contested round nine of the 2010 FIA European Rallycross Championship at Slomczyn, in Poland, last weekend. Competing in the Procters Luxury Coaches-sponsored Ford Focus, the

  • Sprintall produces the perfect ride

    WEATHER conditions were perfect for Northallerton DMC at the weekend, running a trial at Low Broomflat, Raisdale, between Chopgate and Carlton. Josh Sprintall, from Scarborough, produced the perfect ride to remain clean, edging the win by one

  • Murray hits eight for league leaders Colburn

    COLBURN Town look set to sweep all before them in the league this season as they made it four wins out of four with a 17-0 thrashing of bottom side Hawes B last Saturday. Stuart Murray led the way with an astonishing eight-goal haul while

  • Police fight back to earn three points

    NORTHALLERTON Police made it two wins out of two in Division One after a 3-1 success at newly-promoted Stokesley SC last Sunday. The Police found themselves a goal down when Andrew Murphy fired home after 20 minutes, but Dan Cardie made it

  • Ashington 3 Northallerton Town 1

    Ashington 3 Northallerton Town 1 NORTHALLERTON Town’s poor run of results in the STL Northern League Division Two continued when they lost 3-1 at First Division side Ashington in the FA Cup first qualifying round. Ashington were having the

  • Champions slumps to shock defeat

    THE last day of the Newroc Homes Darlington League season threw up one final surprise as Middleton St George, already crowned champions the week before, slumped to a 119-run defeat at Rockliffe Park. Park’s cause was helped by some end-of-season

  • Wilkie inspires Sessay to cup victory at Lord’s

    SESSAY played the biggest game in their history when they appeared at Lord’s in the npower Village Cup Final against Shipton-under-Wychwood on Sunday. Stephen Langstaff won the toss and asked Shipton-under- Wychwood to bat first on a green

  • Pony and riding club dates

    Barnard Castle & Teesdale Riding Club: Sept 17: Senior X Country Schooling at Brookleigh. Contact Angela 0779-2349029 or 01833-640553. Oct 6: Members only. Regular flatwork lessons with Caroline Jackson. Saturday morning and Thursday, from 2pm to

  • Barnard Castle in final day bid for promotion

    IN September last year Barnard Castle stood on the brink of a first ever promotion to the Darlington Building Society NYSD League Premier Division, needing just 14 points from their last game of the season to be certain of joining the elite.

  • Northern Championships comes to town

    THE NORTH & East Yorkshire Group of Endurance GB hosted the Baileys Horse Feeds Northern Championships for the third and final year last month, before it is hosted by Durham and Teesside. There was a gentle breeze to keep the horses cool,which

  • Poet’s Place eyes Gold Cup to cap week of success

    IT’S already being a fantastic week for the talented Poet’s Place and it’s not over yet, as he bids to scoop the William Hill Ayr Gold Cup tomorrow and add it to last Saturday’s polished display in the Portland Handicap at Doncaster. Sent off