Recently added articles from The Northern Echo:

Superheroes set off on Europe adventure

Aug 26, 2008 ... SUPERHEROES set off for central Europe on a charity adventureyesterday. Friends Andrew Guthrie and Colin Webb began a 2,000-mile trek tothe Czech capital of Prague, dressed in Superman costumes, takingturns at the wheel of a second-hand Jaguar car. They are taking part in the ...

Burns girl, 7, remains critically ill in hospital

Aug 26, 2008; Bruce Unwin ... A GIRL who suffered horrific burns when her dress caught fireremained in hospital in a serious condition last night. The family of the sevenyear-old were at her side comforting her,while inquiries were continuing to determine how her dress caughtlight. Police were called to ...

Fall and rise and fall of John Darwin leads to rise of Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

Aug 26, 2008; Graeme Hetherington ... THE story of back-from-thedead canoeist John Darwin could lead tothe remake of a classic Seventies television programme. BBC executives say The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, whichtold the story of a man who faked his own death to escape a life ofdrudgery, has been revived by ...

Children warned: Get active ? or die

Aug 26, 2008; Graeme Hetherington ... THE Government has been accused of creating a teenage time-bombby neglecting young people?s health. The Conservative Party has warned that the number of teenagersbeing admitted to hospital for alcohol or smoking-related problemshas soared in England since 2000. And the ...

Woodland festival shines with a sprinkling of fairy dust

Aug 26, 2008 ... CONSERVATION volunteers added a touch of magic to a wooded gladeover the weekend. Hundreds of people turned up for the three-day Deepdale WoodlandFestival, organised by Te esdale Conservation Volunteers at theircentre near Startforth, Barnard Castle. Organisers were trying to ...

Still no clues over cause of town centre hotel fire

Aug 26, 2008; Neil Macfarlane ... FIRE investigators are still no closer to finding the cause of ahuge hotel blaze ? nearly two weeks after the incident. Darlington town centre was shrouded in smoke when fire broke outat the King?s Hotel in the early hours of Friday, August 15. Despite 12 days of investigating ...

Team GB to swim lake for charity

Aug 26, 2008; Neil Macfarlane ... SWIMMERS from Great Britain?s triumphant Olympic team will takepart in the first Great North Swim next month. Four of the UK?s medal winning heroes will take on their firstrace since Beijing when they join 2,200 competitors from across thecountry at Lake Windermere. The ...

Inat the deep end

Aug 26, 2008; Gavin Havery ... You don?t have to go to far-flung tropical destinations to knowwhat life is like beneath the surface of the sea. Gavin Haverylearns to scuba dive in the North Sea ICY water gushed into my face mask and shot up my nose, giving methe terrifying sensation of drowning. I was ...

Testing their resolve ? at the treble

Aug 26, 2008 ... MORE than 100 athletes tested their strength and stamina whenthey took part in the Stockton Tr iathlon. Competitors had the choice of tackling two courses ? the ...

Tributes follow bus stop tragedy

Aug 26, 2008; Neil Macfarlane ... TRIBUTES have been paid to a 20-year-old man who was foundhanging in a bus shelter in the centre of a NorthEast village. Ashley Jackson?s body was discovered at the bus stop next to thevillage green at Hurworth, near Darlington, last week. Police are not treating the death as ...

Running clashes in village follow alleged vehicle theft

Aug 26, 2008; Bruce Unwin ... WITNESSES are urged to provide police with information followingrioting in a village at the weekend. The running clashes were sparked by the arrest of aman forallegedly stealing a car and carrying out an assault, in EasingtonColliery, County Durham, late on Sunday. In the ...

Strike memorial campaign

Aug 26, 2008; Bessie Robinson ... PEOPLE in a former coal community are reviving a tribute tominers who broke new ground by striking for pay. Residents of Sunnybrow, near Willington, County Durham, needmoney to restore the neglected Rocking StrikeMemorial, more than 30years after it was unveiled. It ...

Tennis ball latest ploy used to get drugs into prison

Aug 26, 2008; Graeme Hetherington ... THE lengths to which criminals will go to get drugs into prisonhave been revealed. Police in Cleveland said last night they are hunting two menalleged to have hurled a tennis ball full of drugs over the wall ofHolme House Prison, in Stockton. Prison chiefs said that the ploy ...

Novelist tells of fright ambition with her book

Aug 26, 2008; Andy Walker ... A WOMAN whose first book has been published said hermainmotivation for writing it was to scare her grand-daughter. Hildegard Hodgson, of Northallerton, North Yorkshire, has spentfive years working on her debut children?s novel, titled The StrangeInside World of the Nibby ...

Don?t miss the moment

Aug 26, 2008 ... SPORT is all about seizing the moment. For Chris Hoy, winner of three gold medals at theBeijingOlympics,itwas about retraining for new disciplines when cycling?s rulingbody scrapped the 1km time-trial, the event inwhich he pedalled toglory in Athens. It was about getting on with ...

One girl in a boat

Aug 26, 2008; Deborah Johnson ... After earning a reputation as a dreadful driver, Deborah Johnsontakes to the water ? manning a vessel packed with 150 people ? tosee if steering a boat can redeem her THE chance to drive a sightseeing boat sounded brilliant. Howhard could it be? Boats just drift along slowly in a ...

Hear all sides

Aug 26, 2008 ... OWEN STRIKES GOLD AND the Gold Medal for the first British journalist to attempt toundermine the achievements of the British sportsmen and women in theOlympics goes to? Owen Amos, for his article headed ?Dimming thegold standard? ?? (Echo, Aug 21). He didn?t even have the ...

Harry on the front line

Aug 26, 2008; Gavin Engelbrecht ... HARRY?S WAR: THE TRUE STORY OF PRINCE HARRY?S HEROISM INAFGHANISTAN by Robert Jobson (John Blake, [pounds]7.99) WHEN news leaked out that Prince Harry was serving on thefrontline in Afghanistan it was only a matter of time before he waswhisked to safety. . . and a matter of not ...

Fiction

Aug 26, 2008; Jenny Needham ... MAN IN THE DARK by Paul Auster (Faber and Faber, [pounds]14.99)SUFFERING from insomnia, recently-widowed book critic August Brillbegins to invent characters and plots in the dark. Lying awake inthe house of his daughter and 23-yearold granddaughter, whoismourning from the horrific ...

Poems

Aug 26, 2008 ... WHY NOT? When you get to 84, It?s somewhere you?ve not been before. Do you sit down, put up your feet and quietly go into retreat? Or do you give yourself a shake and try this image to break? Find something new to do, Give yourself an interest new. Take your ...