A musician had a lucky escape today when a runaway van ploughed into her house and her gas mains supply. Maureen Davison, 51, who plays the Northumbrian pipes, was asleep in an upstairs rear bedroom of her house in Pottery Bank Court, Morpeth, at around 7am when the van went out of control as it was being driven down the bank towards the town centre.
It smashed into the front of her home causing substantial damage to her front entrance and the gas meter box.
Structural engineers were called to the scene today.
A popular park in Morpeth has picked up a coveted national award for the outstanding experience it offers to visitors.
Carlisle Park was given Quality Assured Visitor Attraction status by the Enjoy England tourist board.
Inspectors carried out a rigorous assessment of the park and its William Turner Garden before declaring that the attraction offered a 'high-quality experience for visitors, with some excellent aspects'.
A pharmaceutical company said its new training programme has helped it save nearly £1m in a year.
Piramal Healthcare (UK) of Morpeth said the launch of a campaign to get its 350 staff to come up with ideas to make the company more efficient has led to savings of more than £963,000. The company has also found savings of £650,000 in energy costs after a comprehensive waste management review which also dramatically improved recycling.
And it has put all its employees through a NVQ in Business Improvement Techniques to get them to work more efficiently and save more money.
Transport Minister Sadiq Khan has rejected dualling the A1 through Northumberland just weeks after getting his new job.
Any hopes that the new minister might listen to calls from business chiefs, safety campaigners and MPs to upgrade remaining single-carriageway stretches of the A1 between Newcastle and Scotland were dashed in the House of Commons.
With both Swalwell and Shotley Bridge stalled by the weather, a new kid appeared on the Wellstream NTSL championship chasing block in the shape of Sacriston.
The games at Ryton, where Swalwell were due, Percy Main, who were entertaining Bridge, and Ashington, where Morpeth were the visitors, all succumbed to the previous day's downpours which left the grounds unfit for any play.
Gateshead's Niall Flannery led some good performances from North East athletes to take the Under-20 400m hurdles title at the English Junior Championships at Bedford.
Flannery clocked a personal best time of 51.07secs and clipped four-hundredths of a second off the Championship record.
Morpeth Harriers dominated the 5000m with Jon Taylor leading home Lewis Timmins.
A respected former North East headteacher and author has died in a drowning tragedy while on holiday in Sri Lanka.
Harry Dobson, 70, died after getting into difficulties while swimming in the sea during a summer break with wife Susan.
The couple, who had visited Sri Lanka before, were due to return to their home in High Stobhill, Morpeth, next week.
Highways bosses face being forced to improve road signs in Morpeth, Blyth and across Northumberland. Northumberland MP Sir Alan Beith wants to force them to include better signs to boost tourism in the North East.
The Liberal Democrat MP has put forward legislation in the Commons that would require the Highways Agency and other public authorities to promote tourism by providing or permitting appropriate road signs.
The move comes amid frustration at "obstruction" faced by rural tourist businesses in getting approval for signs, according to Sir Alan.
Much more needs to be done to adequately protect communities in Northumberland from the threat of future flooding, a Northumberland MP claimed yesterday.
Berwick Lib Dem MP Sir Alan Beith warned Government ministers that there is a lot of work to do if towns and villages such as Morpeth and Rothbury are to feel safe following the devastating flooding which hit them last September.
His comments came on the day of the Government's long-awaited response to Sir Michael Pitt's review of the 2007 summer floods, which caused havoc in much of England.
Morpeth's new £32m Sanderson Arcade shopping centre is scheduled to officially open on November 12, when the scheme's anchor Marks & Spencer store will also open its doors to customers.
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