Famous sporting sons of Ashington are backing a campaign to safeguard facilities for the next generation.

Ashes-winning Test ace Steve Harmison, his cricketing brother Ben, World Cup-winning footballer Jack Charlton and top golfer Kenneth Ferrie are all fighting for the town to remain as a breeding ground for sporting heroes of the future.

Steve (right) and Ben Harmison chat to Pat Mullen of Stakeford

They are all supporting a community-based campaign aimed at ensuring the town does not lose its only sports and leisure centre to the threat of council budget cuts.

A row has blown up after a council used money intended to help jobs blackspots to fund a horse show.

Blyth Valley Labour MP Ronnie Campbell (pictured) branded the summer event 'a weekend out for toffs'.

He strongly criticised Northumberland County Council - which is in the midst of making budget cuts totalling £40m over two years - for earmarking £80,000 to stage the high-profile equestrian event.

Cooks in the North East who want to make a meal of protecting the region's native crayfish were told yesterday to forget it.

They are being were urged to ignore celebrity chefs and keep the invasive American signal crayfish off the menu.

An American 'signal' crayfish, right, and a native British crayfish

The River Wansbeck in Northumberland is one of the last strongholds of native white-clawed crayfish in England.

It's not often that people welcome the sight of graffiti in their neighbourhoods. But that was exactly the case in one community - until well-meaning officials wiped out a much-loved piece of urban art.

A 6ft mural of the 1970s comic book character Cerebus the Aardvark had brightened up a bridge near Blyth for nearly three decades until its disappearance last weekend.

Despite its popularity, Northumberland County Council blitzed the colourful design as part of a crackdown on graffiti.

A service which delivers hot meals to frail elderly people in a Northumberland town has been given a major cash boost by one of the county's biggest employers.

Aluminium company Rio Tinto Alcan has donated £2,500 to the meals on wheels scheme in Ashington which provides around 15 local pensioners with a hot lunch each day.

The cash from the company, which operates a 600-job smelter at Lynemouth, has gone to the Ashington Joint Welfare Scheme, which manages the town's Hirst Welfare Centre.

Parking fees levied on drivers visiting Northumberland towns has emerged as the hottest topic in the initial stages of a major review aimed at developing a county-wide parking strategy.

A progress report on the review reveals hundreds of people have made their views known on whether parking fees should be imposed across the whole county - rather than just in selected towns.

More than 560 people have signed three separate petitions calling for an equal policy across the board, with charges being made in all principal towns.

A popular guide aimed at helping older people in Northumberland get the most out of life has been published for the fourth time.

Previous issues of the Golden Guide have gone down so well with the over-50s that there was a waiting list for the latest 5,000-copy print run.

The free booklet, which is produced by community information specialists Clever Clogs Publishing in partnership with Age Concern Northumberland, the county council and care trust, has also been given a new design.

School pupils carrying out work at a Northumberland nature reserve got a surprise when they received more than £150,000.

Students from Ashington Community High School went along to Hauxley nature reserve with Alex Lister, Northumberland Wildlife Trust's estates officer - but they got a lot more than they bargained for on the trip.

From left: Chay Park, Tony Hall (Ashington Community High School), James Short, Shaun Smith, Judie McCourt (PPL), Alex Lister (Northumberland Wildlife Trust), Sam Alderson, Jamie Skelsey and David Brack

People's Postcode Lottery street prize presenter Judie McCourt had donned her union jack wellies and travelled to the reserve to present a huge cheque to Alex - who gladly received it on behalf of the wildlife charity.

Staff and students at Northumberland College have welcomed two visitors from Korea as part of a Government project to boost training links.

Professors Ju-Young Sung and Jin-Young Kim from the Kyongbuk Science University visited Northumberland College to learn about the UK's National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) system, in order to develop a similar system in Korea.

The exchange project, known as Passport to NVQs, is part of the Prime Minister's Initiative for International Education to secure the UK's position as a leader in international education.

The Korean duo are tourism specialists and were partnered with the college because of its expertise in that area.

People in Ashington turned out in force to meet police officers and firefighters at a crime prevention and fire safety event in the town last week.

Officers from the neighbourhood policing team joined forces with emergency service personnel for the event at the Asda store.