The Wansbeck Disability Forum is starting its outreach sessions in the Stakeford and Choppington area.

The Stakeford and Choppington Parish Council will be hosting the drop-in sessions and are backing the WDF on the Disability Hate Crime project.

Sent in by Caroline Ball

Bad Apples North East are a community interest company based in Ashington offering music projects. On Sunday 31st of July we are having an "It's a Knockout" competition and family fun day at the Hirst Welfare Centre from 11am-3pm.

The teams competing are all raising sponsor money to enable Bad Apples North East to work with more young people in the area and offer more workshops.

Staff from Barclays Ashington, Revolution Bar Sunderland and a team of dancers are all competing against other local companies and our three Bad Apples teams made up of supporters and young people stepping up to the challenge.

Ashington bodybuilder, Michael Liddle, fulfilled a long term ambition when judges at the recent IBFA championships - held this year in Bedlington, Northumberland - awarded him the title of IBFA Medium Height British Champion 2011: he also took second place (Short Class) in the first annual Mr. Northumberland Competition, which was launched on the same day. And, if that wasn't enough, Michael, 42, was soon to discover that he'd been invited to compete in the forthcoming IBFA World Championships in Rome later in the year, on the back of his IBFA success in Bedlington.

Tri Northumberland hosted their best events yet. It might have been something to do with the weather but the feedback from these races have been amazing. Thank you to all volunteers, supporters and competitors over the two days for making the event at Ladyburn Lake in Druridge Bay Country Park a special one. There were four events taking place over the Saturday and Sunday, 1.5k and 3k open water swims on day one followed by a sprint and standard triathlon on the second day.

Families in South East Northumberland have been set the challenge of completing a short distance run along Newbiggin Promenade as part of the London 2012 Open Weekend supported by BP - a series of sporting and cultural events taking place across the UK which will see hundreds of thousands of people participating in events to celebrate the 'One Year to Go' countdown to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A group of adults from Northumberland have completed an introductory Triathlon course aimed at newcomers to the sport.

The scheme, branded as 'Try a Tri' has been established by England Triathlon for men and women of all ages and backgrounds. In Northumberland, the programme has been organised by Blyth Valley Arts & Leisure in partnership with Tri Northumberland and England Triathlon.

The 'Friends' Launch Event went really well. Mayor John McCormack opened the event with a wonderful speech about how far we have come in 6 months after we officially began the group and how he, as a child, used to play in the park.

We had nearly 200 children participate in the Easter Egg Hunt. The children enjoyed games with Northumberland Play Team and 'tea cup' rides along with other activities. With the tuck shop we made enough money to have the park benches painted and to re-stock our coffee mornings. The 'friends' will participate in the painting of the benches during the next few weeks.

We are looking forward to providing more activities in the summer and hope people will join us in the up oming events.

We would like to thank all those who took part and the Mayor for opening the Launch.

About thirty years ago in Ashington a group of friends in their late 40s and early 50s decided they needed to do something to keep fit and active, so they started to meet once a week for gentle "keep fit" exercise to music. They met in the hall of St. Aidan's Catholic Church every Thursday afternoon.

Originally the club was open to anyone and there were a couple of men, but they soon dropped by the wayside and the membership has remained 100% female ever since. This group was never part of any official body, it was just friends getting together to encourage each other to stay healthy and active.

There was never a leader either, just cassette tapes of music, sometimes with a voice giving instructions as to how to move and stretch, a bit like the sound track of a fitness video. In the early days, the ladies really dressed the part, in black leotards and tights, but these days it's more likely to be comfortable stretch trousers and top.

Local charity WATBus Community transport have received a grant of £5,000 from 'Christ's Hospital in Sherburn' towards a £35,000 fundraising campaign for a new wheelchair accessible minibus.

Transport manager Lynn McIntosh said: ''This is a fantastic start to March. We have been fundraising since November and this grant increases our new bus fund to £14,000.

"Everyone is working hard to raise funds so this is a great boost to all our volunteers. A big thank you to all our fundraisers, as every penny counts.''

Photo: Lynn Mcintosh with the good news letter

News sent in by Ashington Lions Club

Ashington Lions and Lioness Clubs recently hosted a Zone Meeting where representatives of the the nine Northumberland Clubs get together to bring each other up to date with recent activities. It also acts as a great forum for exchanging ideas.

Ashington Lioness President Pam Barr; District Governor Larry Collins and Ashington Lion Hugh Barr exchange banners

This meeting in Ashington's 'Lions Den' was a little different in that the Region Chairman Peter Fielding also attended bringing with him District Governor Larry Collins. Larry's District covers the North East of England and all of Scotland and therefore he has a busy time trying to get around the forty plus Clubs during his year of office.