By Conservation Officer Kevin O'Hara

One of the great things about nature watching is that there is always something to see, no matter what time of the year.

It puzzles me when I hear "birders" in particular say "there's nowt about", and go home disappointed that they haven't seen anything rare or important on 'their patch'.

I sometimes think such individuals are completely missing the point of being allowed to view nature.

A local Middle School enjoyed a morning off from regular lessons when the Newcastle Eagles swooped in.

Hirst Park Middle School pupils in Ashington endured a day spent looking upwards as Newcastle's number one basketball team were welcomed into school. and they towered above both students and teachers.

Local transport charity WATBus are pleased to announce they have passed the £15,000 milestone thanks to a donation of £850 from the Rothley Trust of Newcastle.

Transport manager Lynn Mcintosh said: ''This is a generous donation towards our new wheelchair accessible minibus appeal.

All our volunteers are helping drive towards our target of £35,000. The Rothley trust has boosted our fund to £15,100 raised in five months.Thank you to everyone who is helping, every penny counts.''

Across the mouth of the River Wansbeck between Cambois and North Seaton estate there was a stout cable to which a boat was attached by means of chains and an iron ring.

It was a primitive yet a very efficient contraption, and throughout the length and breadth of the district it was called Wheatley's Ferry.

On any day you cared you could take a bus from North Blyth to Brown's Farm and take the path in a northerly direction for a matter of three or four hundred yards till you came to a time-worn track.

By Conservation Officer Kevin O'Hara

These are exciting times for our twitching friends as a new round of migrants are on their way. Dowitchers will be mingling with yellowlegs and phalaropes as we bid a fond farewell to the whooper swans, the fieldfares and the redwings and a welcome to the warblers, martins and swallows.

I saw my first butterflies and a bumblebee last week as the temperatures became almost tropical, but it is the swallows, swifts and martins that make the summer months for me.

Everyday, I seem to do the same walk. The same walk to school, the same walk back home. It sounds boring, but it's true. And all I see are the same things everyday: litter, graffiti and vandalism in general.

Am I proud of being from Ashington? Yes. Am I proud that I've spent more or less every day of my life here? Yes. Am I proud of the fact that Ashington looks rough and plain awful? Of course not.

The gym of Ashington High School was very busy on the 18th of March, but not with students in red PE uniforms playing table tennis - it was filled with pancakes, milkshake, and even a nun!

Comic Relief, or Red Nose Day, was the main focus for all schools on Friday, each having their own way of raising money. But instead of the usual non-uniform day that schools seem to have for every occasion, Ashington High School decided to do something entirely different.

A day out at ALPEC is the first day of the rest of the lives of the pupils fortunate enough to visit. And that's exactly what the Ashington Learning Partnership Enterprise Centre is all about - preparing the next generation for life beyond the school gates.

A fundraising 1st birthday celebration took place at the South Beach Community Centre in Blyth last night.

Cycle development officer Colin Hall said: "WATBike has turned my dream into a reality. We have past our first milestone of 100 guided rides in our first year and over 800 people have joined us exploring Northumberland by bike.

"I am looking forward to rolling out our new bike training programme and planning new routes for this year.

In the early days of Ashington Colliery, during its initial development, the people, by virtue of their remoteness from any town of size, were thrown upon their own resources in the creation of diversions to while away their leisure hours.

Not only were sports and other activities organised but as in other old mining communities there was a strong religious feeling, with a marked preference towards Methodism, and an old stable that stood on the west of Bothal Terrace was converted into a meeting place.

High Market, Ashington in 1911

The first fairground was on land now occupied by the aged miners' cottages to the rear of High Market, and a feature of the earliest merry-go-rounds was a massive steam engine which supplied the power.