The Northern Echo back issues from January 2003:
Repairs to homes after 45m windfall from Government
Jan 01, 2003; ... REPAIR work is about to begin on 2,500 council homes in Stocktonfollowing a 44.5m windfall from the Government. The housing department at Stockton Borough Council was given thecash after receiving a two-star rating from Government inspectors. The extra money means the council ...
Project receives national accolade
Jan 01, 2003; ... A 10M project to regenerate a former industrial area has won thetop honour in an environmental awards scheme. The Seaham Regeneration Scheme received a Golden Apple in theGreen Apple Environment Awards. Now in their ninth year, the awards are major recognition ...
Housing group to build tenants' 'shop'
Jan 01, 2003 ... A NEW housing office is being built to serve thousands of formercouncil tenants. The Sunderland Housing Group, the company that took over the citycouncil's housing stock, is building a one-stop shop in NewbottleStreet in the centre of Houghton-le-Spring. It says the office, ...
Heritage site to get luxury makeover
Jan 01, 2003 ... PART of Harrogate's spa heritage is set to be turned into acomplex of luxury apartments. David Wilson Homes Northern wants to build 24 two and three-bedroomed homes where the western block of the Royal Baths - thecentre of spa treatments in their Edwardian and Victorian heyday ...
Final decision will be made over Dales health centre
Jan 01, 2003; ... A CONTROVERSIAL bid for a new medical centre in the Dales is to gobefore councillors. Trinity Medical Properties has altered the design of plans for atwo-storey building off Brentwood, in Leyburn, in response toobjections from a number of local residence. The foundations will ...
Banned teenager drove on
Jan 01, 2003 ... A TEENAGER has started the New Year behind bars after admittinghis eighth offence of driving while banned. Andrew David Walker, 19, wept as he was remanded in custody forthree weeks by Harrogate magistrates yesterday, after pleading guiltyto driving while disqualified in Bower ...
Taster courses offered
Jan 01, 2003 ... DARLINGTON College of Technology is offering taster courses forpeople living in villages between the town and Catterick. They are designed to get local people interested in the principleof learning at any age. People are ...
Hat-trick hero Hurst presents safety award
Jan 01, 2003 ... A DARLINGTON company has been presented with an award forexcellence in health and safety by 1966 World Cup hat-trick scorerSir Geoff Hurst. West's Engineering Design, along with 50 members of the TeessideSafety, Health and Environmental (She) partnership, won a Health andSafety ...
Experience and advice on hand
Jan 01, 2003; ... A NEW business forum in Darlington is helping local entrepreneursincrease their profits. The Business Builder Forum aims to help with the development andgrowth of the town's businesses and provide immediate benefits bygiving members access to a marketing budget worth ...
Contracts agreed for insurance brokers sale
Jan 01, 2003 ... Insurance brokers Ian Whitfield and Co, of Darlington, have beenbought by Gale and Phillipson. Contracts have been agreed in an arrangement that will see theformer owner, Ian Whitfield, retained as a consultant and existingstaff joining the Gale and Phillipson team. Ian ...
Recognition increases client base
Jan 01, 2003 ... A PUBLIC relations firm in Darlington has won three new contractsin the North-East. Recognition Marketing and Public Relations is run by FrancesBourne and Graham Robb. The new contracts are ...
Couple warn of holiday club deal
Jan 01, 2003; ... A COUPLE who say they have lost thousands of pounds through aholiday club are warning others to take care. The couple, who have asked not to be named, say they paid 7,500 toTenerife-based United Vacations, but now cannot get their money backand cannot contact the ...
Objections over plans to fell decaying tree
Jan 01, 2003 ... A ROW has erupted between people in a Darlington street andcouncil chiefs over the felling of a tree. The borough council is planning to fell a Swedish whitebeam inClareville Road - to the anger of people living nearby. The authority insists the work is needed in the interests ...
Last Night's TV - Making a big impression on celebrity egos
Jan 01, 2003; ... Alter Ego (ITV1) Dinotopia (C4) Dinosaur Hunters (C4) 'I feelseriously weird but I think I'll cope". Agony aunt Denise Robertson'sreaction to coming face-to-face with herself was understandable andcertainly less extreme that the other celebrities in Alter Ego. This spin-off from ...
Who were the winners and losers of 2002?
Jan 01, 2003; ... From sex scandals to jubilee celebrations, Cheriegate to celebritycomebacks, when one person is up another is down. Nick Morrison looksat the victors and the vanquished of 2002 IT'S been a good year for ... ...The Queen: at the beginning of theyear, the doom-mongers were writing off ...
Hear all sides
Jan 01, 2003 ... LUNG CANCER JANUARY is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and so I amwriting to ask for support for a cause that is very close to my heart- preventing lung cancer - by taking part in Clear The Air, an onlinepoll of smoking in the workplace. As you may be aware, my husband Roy lost a very ...
Looking closer to home for our man of the year
Jan 01, 2003 ... BEFORE we can look forward to 2003, we must remember what it feltlike as we stood on the dawn of New Year's Day, 2002. We were then less than four months after September 11, 2001, when,in as long as it takes for a plane to turn an arc in the air andplough into a skyscraper, the ...
'Struggling' Dale no easy ride, insists Tait
Jan 01, 2003; ... Mick Tait has warned his players not to expect an easy ride whenRochdale are the visitors to Feethams this afternoon. The Dale are just one place above Darlington in the Third Divisiontable, but are unbeaten in seven and have managed 13 goals in theirlast five games. However, ...
Widdrington looking for a fresh start
Jan 01, 2003; ... TOMMY Widdrington won't complain to see the end of an injury-wrecked year. Hartlepool United's ever-influential midfielder is back in thestarting line-up on Saturday after suffering a miserable 2002 on theinjury front. And now, with Carlisle arriving at Victoria Park today, ...
Magpies boss remains cautious over title talk
Jan 01, 2003; ... NEWCASTLE boss Sir Bobby Robson maintains his side can't beconsidered title contenders - even if they add to Liverpool's crisisat St. James' Park tonight. Robson's men are the form team in the Premiership over the lastsix games and climbed to fourth in the table - where they ...
Robson slams window
Jan 01, 2003; ... SIR BOBBY ROBSON has slammed football's new transfer window,insisting it has imposed restraint of trade on the game. The window reopens today for a month and Newcastle boss Robson hasjoined the likes of Leeds counterpart Terry Venables in condemningthe system. Robson predicts ...
We need eight wins to survive - Wilko
Jan 01, 2003; ... HOWARD WILKINSON put Sunderland's relegation battle in bleakperspective last night when he admitted they could have to win eightPremiership games to stay up - more than they managed in the whole of2002. As Sunderland prepared for today's daunting trip to ManchesterUnited, ...
Boss claims axe has sharpened Maccarone
Jan 01, 2003; ... STEVE McCLAREN insists Massimo Maccarone's Middlesbrough demotionhas done the Italian striker "the world of good". Maccarone rocked Boro this week when he warned he would be forcedto quit the Riverside if McClaren couldn't guarantee him a regularplace. Maccarone, 23, was axed ...
New contract catches Macho's eye
Jan 01, 2003; ... JURGEN MACHO is determined to win a new contract at Sunderland -after proving to Howard Wilkinson that he could catch a beach ball. Wilkinson greeted Macho's return to form in November's goallessdraw with Liverpool by claiming that the goalkeeper could not evenhold on to an ...
Fund helped 400 businesses in wake of foot-and-mouth
Jan 01, 2003; ... Four hundred businesses were helped by more than 1.2m from a fundset up in the wake of the foot-and-mouth disease crisis. The Rural Recovery Fund, set up by the Department for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs, and regional development agency OneNorthEast, played a crucial role in ...
Apprentices in training
Jan 01, 2003 ... A Tees Valley engineering company is helping to build itsemployees' leadership skills thanks to a qualification providedthrough South West Durham Training Limited. Darchem Engineering Limited, at Stillington, near Stockton, istapping into the expertise of the Newton Aycliffe ...
Working together
Jan 01, 2003 ... THE information technology skills of university student MarkPinder are helping a fabrication business to keep in touch with itsclients. Aycliffe Fabrications joined forces with Business Bridge North-East to utilise the Sunderland University student's skills inelectronic media and ...
Second award for recruitment boss
Jan 01, 2003 ... A RECRUITMENT consultant has scooped her second award only twoyears after establishing her business. Angela Anderson, 29, from Darlington, established ZenithRecruitment in Hebburn, South Tyneside, at the beginning of 2001. In May she won the award for growth potential in the ...
Campus could be Monopoly choice
Jan 01, 2003; ... A NORTH-East university could be the latest subject for acustomised version of a popular board game. The Northern Echo understands that Winning Moves UK, which marketsMonopoly, has discussed with university officials the possibility ofusing Durham University as the setting for its ...
Cyclist killed as he lay in road
Jan 01, 2003 ... POLICE were last night trying to identify the body of a cyclistwho was killed after being hit by a car as he lay in the middle of aroad. The man - believed to be about 30 - was struck by a Nissan Primeraon the A67 at Middleton St George, near Darlington, on Monday night. An ...
Junk on the lines menace still threatens passengers
Jan 01, 2003; ... RAILTRACK has failed to make good its promise to clear the North-East network of potentially lethal junk, The Northern Echo can revealtoday. Despite a 10,000 fine and a barrage of criticism from MPs,watchdogs and the public, the company has not met its pledge to cleartrackside ...
Teenager with the drive to succeed
Jan 01, 2003; ... DETERMINED teenager Jonathan Davis admits he was often in troubleat school for talking when he should have kept quite. But, at only 16, he has already turned the gift of the gab to hisown advantage and is well on the way to carving a niche for himselfin the demanding world of car ...
North-East throws England's best party
Jan 01, 2003; ... MORE than 100,000 people are estimated to have joined inTyneside's New Year celebrations last night. Revellers were kept entertained in Newcastle city centre and theQuayside with stiltwalkers, trapeze artists, live bands, streetperformers and a stunning firework display among the ...
Disabled man left prisoner by chair thieves
Jan 01, 2003; ... A DISABLED man says he has been left a prisoner in his home afterthieves took his wheelchair. Jeffrey Ball, 49, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, had tocancel New Year's Eve plans after the chair was stolen from the porchof his Hartlepool home on Monday night. Mr Ball, of ...
12,000 grant for picnic site entrance art
Jan 01, 2003 ... A GRANT of nearly 12,000 has been awarded towards creating afeature entrance to a picnic area scheme. The picnic area in Norton, North Yorkshire, which has been thesite of flood defence work, is being developed to provide a communityspace at the heart of the town, said Mike Brown, ...
Brickies bare all for charity
Jan 01, 2003 ... A GROUP of construction workers have bared all in the name ofcharity. Strategically placed items of equipment used by the men of MKM, ofMalton, North Yorkshire, and others from Fulford Builds, of York, andJewsons, have been used to conceal the modesty of the men ...
Region's songs are a hit with music lovers
Jan 01, 2003; ... A PROJECT to save North-East traditional and music hall songs fromoblivion is proving a hit with music lovers. The two compact discs released by the Northumbria Anthology inNovember have been selling well in the region's record stores. Already one 5,000 batch of each CD has ...
Nuisance drivers to have vehicles seized
Jan 01, 2003 ... NUISANCE drivers who blight communities by using streets, parks,wasteland and public footpaths as race tracks face having theirvehicles seized on the spot. Under legislation coming into force today, police and communitysupport officers will have the power to seize cars and ...
Plenty of chances to potter about over the holiday period
Jan 01, 2003 ... A MILITARY museum offers further festive bank holiday respite forfamilies today. The DLI Museum and Art Gallery, in Durham, repeats its Boxing Dayoffer of free admission for all, which proved a success lastThursday. More than 500 youngsters and their families took advantageto run ...
Rail dispute in fresh row over holiday time
Jan 01, 2003; ... RAIL workers are threatening court action over what they say is adeliberate ploy by bosses to refuse them holiday time. Arriva Trains Northern is involved in what has now become the railindustry's longest-running industrial dispute since 1922, withconductors striking over ...
Print chief dies, 97
Jan 01, 2003 ... A MAN who kept The Northern Echo's presses rolling for a quarterof a century has died, aged 97. William Teasdale, born in Sunderland, joined the Echo as anengineer in 1945 and was promoted to printing manager and chiefengineer. He retired from North of England Newspapers in ...
Dad At Large - Enduring a sloe death for peace and goodwill
Jan 02, 2003; ... IN the good old days before kids, a hangover could be suffered insilence. The head still throbbed, the limbs still ached, the lightstill blinded, but at least there was a quiet bedroom in which tocrawl away and die quietly. Oh how times have changed ... A pre-Christmas gathering ...
Last Night's TV - Glad all over when Pollyanna bit the dust
Jan 02, 2003; ... Pollyanna (ITV1) The Bill (ITV1) There is never any doubt thatAunt Polly is a cold-hearted, sour and prickly woman who makesScrooge look like Father Christmas. Our first sighting of her is seeing her kill a fly. A defencelessfly in cold blood. "Murderer," you feel like shouting at ...
When love hurts too much
Jan 02, 2003; ... An innovative course to help women break free from domesticviolence is being launched across the North-East. Women's EditorChristen Pears reports THE Bully glares, shouts, smashes things and sulks. The Jailerstops you from seeing your friends, tells you what to wear and keepsyou ...
Hear all sides
Jan 02, 2003 ... REGIONAL ASSEMBLY I FIND letters about "divide and rule" whenapplied to regional assemblies very hard to understand. The whole point about regional assemblies is that you don't haveto have one. It is decided by a vote, so all the arguments will bekicked about in public. The ...
Anger among our tears
Jan 02, 2003 ... SOME stories are so sad that, as you read them, they make you cry.Our front page news today paints a dreadful mental picture of fatherSteve Sawyer, himself badly injured, walking screaming around thewreckage of his car as his six-year-old daughter Rebecca is trapped,dying, within it and ...
Abandoned pets reinforce appeal for sanctuary
Jan 02, 2003; ... ANIMAL-LOVERS campaigning to build a sanctuary have redoubledtheir efforts after being inundated with strays during the festiveperiod. Pets found abandoned after Christmas across east Cleveland includea cat thrown from a car window, a seven-week-old puppy named Henrytied into a ...
Power workers go out of their way for charity
Jan 02, 2003 ... POWER workers have been taking steps to help local charities. Nineteen workers from px limited, operators of a 100m gasprocessing plant at Seal Sands, near Billingham, walked from WhitbyAbbey to Robin Hood's Bay, raising nearly 2,000 for the MacmillanNurses and for the Cleveland ...
Delight at bowls contest coup
Jan 02, 2003; ... A MAJOR bowls tournament looks likely to become a permanentfixture in its new home in a former mining town. The Indoor Bowls Centre, above the Asda store in Stanley, CountyDurham, is to be the venue for the UK national qualifiers for theWorld Bowls Tour (WBT) and Professional Bowls ...
Force challenged on green measures
Jan 02, 2003 ... PUPILS have given County Durham's traffic police a seal ofapproval for their environmentally-friendly policies. Members of the youth action ecology group at Shotton HallComprehensive School, Peterlee, visited the vehicle workshops at theforce's headquarters in Durham. After ...
Eco-friendly holiday centre proposal facing opposition
Jan 02, 2003; ... PLANS to create an environmentally sustainable holiday complex onthe outskirts of Richmond have hit their first major hurdle. A planning application for the scheme at Aislabeck, just west ofthe town, goes before the district council's planning committee forthe first time next ...
Former head of volunteers dies
Jan 02, 2003 ... LAURIE LAWTON, for many years the head of the Scarborough Councilfor Voluntary Service, has died at the age of 80. He had been involved with the group for 31 years and was aprominent charity organiser in the town, setting up the ScarboroughDisabled Association, ...
Police step up patrols to foil sneak thieves
Jan 02, 2003; ... PEOPLE in the Bishop Auckland area are being warned to step upsecurity in their homes after a spate of sneak-in burglaries. Police have increased patrols in the town and have designed acrime prevention package to tackle the problem. Operation Verdite was launched on Monday with ...
Stylish launch for hair salon
Jan 01, 2003 ... FORMER Brookside crimper Sam Kane took time out from pantomimeyesterday to help a fellow hairdresser. The actor, who played hair stylist Peter in the Channel 4 soap,opened the Flip hair salon in North Road, Darlington. Owner Lisa Winfield, 29, said she was delighted that Mr ...
Extra playtime fun for primary pupils
Jan 02, 2003 ... PRIMARY school youngsters are looking forward to playtime fun whenthey return to their classrooms after the Christmas break. New play equipment was unveiled at Stanley Crook Primary School,near Crook, just before the children began their Christmas holidays. The facility, which ...
Skate park gang go all-out to help
Jan 02, 2003 ... A GROUP of teenagers have pulled out all the stops to help aseverely disabled little girl become more mobile. Skaters and bikers who use Shildon's newly constructed skate parkjumped at the chance to help to raise money for nine-year-old SarahCail, who desperately needs a new ...
Students show skill
Jan 02, 2003 ... TWO North-East students are to represent the UK in aninternational construction competition. Lee Fawcett and Karl Smith will be the flag-bearers for theircountry and Darlington College of Technology when they compete in theInternational Skill Olympics, this year and next year ...
Tracer - Family union would be icing on Christmas cake
Jan 02, 2003 ... A NEW Zealander is hoping Northern Echo readers will complete herChristmas by uniting her with her North-East family. Maxine Blackler has been trying to trace her late grandfather'sfamily for nearly two years, but to no avail. Her grandfather, George Roberts, was born on May ...
UK 'setting Euro driving standards'
Jan 02, 2003 ... A EURO MP from the North says that the UK is leading the way inraising driving standards in Europe. Yorkshire and Humber MEP David Bowe is urging motorists to keep upthe good work in the New Year. Mr Bowe has highlighted a recent campaign by the French to tacklespeeding and ...
Shipshape and in fashion
Jan 02, 2003 ... AN exhibition of art by a former shipwright is proving to be oneof the star attractions at a North-East museum this winter. The Shipshape exhibition at Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle,County Durham, features works by James Dodds, who has based his arton his experiences working in ...
Family mourns one of the country's first war widows
Jan 02, 2003; ... ONE of the country's first Second World War widows has diedpeacefully in her sleep at a North-East nursing home. The funeral of Doris Sinclair, who died at Haughton VillageNursing Home in Darlington after suffering from bronchial pneumonia,will take place tomorrow. The story ...
Seven more councillors to represent district
Jan 02, 2003 ... RYEDALE District Council, one of the smallest in England, butcovering a large geographical area, is to see its number ofcouncillors increase by seven to 30 from next May as a result ofchanges brought about by the Boundary Commission. Political groups are now searching for ...
Lee and Williams keep Pool on promotion trail
Jan 02, 2003; ... THE New Year promises to be a memorable one for Hartlepool United;possibly the most memorable of all. After suffering just ten League defeats in 2002, the DivisionThree leaders yesterday maintained their top form, beating Carlisle 2-1. Pool fell a goal behind before Graeme ...
Quakers suffer a wash-out
Jan 02, 2003; ... Darlington's hopes of making a winning start to 2003 were deniedyesterday after their home clash with Rochdale was postponed due to awaterlogged pitch, writes LEE HALL. While little rain fell on Tuesday night, the River Skerne remainedhigher than normal after Sunday's heavy ...
Rovers inflict yet more away-day woe on Boro
Jan 02, 2003; ... THE wait goes on for Middlesbrough. This 1-0 defeat at BlackburnRovers means it is now seven games since Steve McClaren's men lastclaimed as much as a point on their travels. And if it was Boro's New Year resolution to score more goals awayfrom home, they failed at the first ...