A former Northumberland coal mining stronghold will find out today if it has won the title of the UK's enterprise capital.

The Wansbeck area of Northumberland is one of 12 finalists in the prestigious Enterprising Britain competition.

Earlier this year it was chosen as the North East winner of the contest - and in the summer a team of judges visited the area and met some of the new businesses which have received help from the Go Wansbeck agency.

A car fanatic is sharing his driving passion for Ferraris by starting a business to hire out his bright yellow supercar.

Paul Nesbit, pictured left, a former IT specialist from Ashington, bought the distinctive Ferrari 348 - the same model that featured on a poster on his bedroom wall as a boy - to launch North East Super Car Hire.

The Ashington-based business provides self-drive or chauffeur-driven hire of the mid-engined, rear wheel- drive V8-powered, two-seater sports car, which has a top speed of 170 miles per hour.

Ashington left it late before defeating Norton and Stockton Ancients in the Northern League with a last-minute winner by Scott Blandford, after Joe Race had cancelled out Sonny Andrews' first-half effort.

Above Ashington in the table, the goals continue to flow for the two leading sides, and although Whitley Bay are the top marksmen, it's Spennymoor Town who are at the top.

A pioneering schools partnership in Ashington has been praised by a prominent education expert.

The Ashington Learning Partnership was formed by bringing together five schools with a total of more than 3,000 pupils to create a single learning establishment for local youngsters aged from three to 18.

The federation was set up after Ashington Community High School applied to become one of the first trust schools in the country.

A South East Northumberland local history group have compiled footage that brings back to life the horror of what war in the North East was like.

From German aircraft landing on rooftops to the VE Day celebrations across the region, a new DVD has been produced to show how the area both suffered and survived the Second World War.

The rare archive footage showing places was brought together to remember how millions of men, women and children coped during one of the worst conflicts in history.

A bike swap day takes place in Ashington next weekend.

The event takes place at the Hirst Welfare Centre on Saturday, December 5 from noon to 4pm and aims to help people replace children's bikes which their young ones have grown out of, with ones that fit.

It has been organised by Active in Ashington - led by sustainable transport charity Sustrans, which aims to boost the community's health by encouraging people to walk and cycle more during their everyday journeys.

Families are invited to donate their old bikes to replace them with a size that fits their youngsters in time for Christmas.

Following the event, there will be a number of left over small bikes that residents can apply to use on a long-term loan. Active in Ashington will hold an event for bike loan applications on Saturday, December 20.

War veterans whose festive fund was plundered by thieves will not miss out on their Christmas cheer after a supermarket stepped in to save the day.

Members of the Royal British Legion club in Ashington were left in tears when they learned that their Poppy Appeal tins and a charity box containing cash donated to give elderly veterans help over Christmas had been stolen.

For the last 20 years, club members had raised the money to give £20 Asda vouchers to elderly ex-servicemen to treat themselves to something special, but this year they feared the tradition would have to be broken.

Mini masterchefs learned from the best when they entered the heat of the kitchen to improve their skills.

The young apprentices from Bothal Middle School in Ashington began learning advanced cooking techniques by going along to the Half Moon Inn in Stakeford.

They were shown the ropes in the kitchen by the Half Moon's owner Shane Otley before having a lesson from the head chef David Lee.

The 11 year-seven children have already started their own bistro club at school, and this allowed them to learn about the pressures in a working kitchen and how it works as a business.

Thieves have raided Poppy Appeal tins destined to bring a smile to the face of elderly war veterans in Northumberland this Christmas.

The Ashington branch of the Royal British Legion was struck by thieves who helped themselves to all the cash on the premises, including money from Poppy Appeal collections and a charity box that was to be used to buy vouchers to give to the elderly members of the club at Christmas.

They also vandalised the bar, which is a meeting place for scores of ex-servicemen in the town.

Single parents and people with health conditions are being offered help in a new initiative by the Jobcentre Plus agency.

Advisers will be visiting the Northumberland Business Service (NBS) premises in Ashington and the town's Children's Centre from later this month.

A Pathways adviser will be at the NBS building on the Wansbeck Business Park every Tuesday from December 1 between 10am and 4pm.