Pupils attending the towns' prestigious new learning village are being asked to put their best foot forward to ensure that they always appear smartly dressed for school during 2009.

The head of Cramlington Learning Village, Mr Dennis Wise, has written to all parents of pupils reminding them of what the school expects regarding dress code.

Three-tier education could be retained in parts of Northumberland - three years after a huge petition to keep it.

A major review of education plans in the county could now ditch the controversial intention to scrap all 44 middle schools.

The original plan to convert the entire county to a system of primary and secondary education is likely to be scrapped as part of a revised Putting The Learner First (PLF) strategy.

They're more likely to be found cruising along in some far-flung corner of the globe than in a charity café in Cramlington. But for Hairy Bikers Si King and Dave Myers, this is a place where they will always have time to park their machines and pop in.

For not only have the TV cooking duo become official patrons to Cramlington's Café Azure, it's a cause that is very close to Si's heart.

The brainchild of Azure Charitable Enterprises, the café - which adjoins the Azure Garden Centre in the Station Road area of the town - provides training and work for disabled people across the North East.

A Christmas Day rent bill of £3.5m led to the administration of a North East menswear chain and, despite 118 of the 150 outlets being saved, more store closures may follow as the recession bites deeper into family budgets.

David Charlton, the man who founded the Officers Club, told The Journal last night why he took the nationwide clothes chain into administration three days before Christmas.

Special protection zones aimed at safeguarding Northumberland communities and landscapes from the impacts of opencast mining are set to be scaled down in the wake of criticism from Government planning experts.

Four opencast coal constraint areas - where mining is actively discouraged for regeneration or landscape reasons - were officially designated several years ago in a bid to protect sensitive parts of the county from being damaged by the industry.

Now they are almost certain to be scaled down and altered as part of a major policy review, in a move which will heighten concerns that more of Northumberland could be ripped up by surface mining.

A forces charity has come to the aid of a former soldier who lost a leg when his helicopter was shot down during a fierce gun battle in the Middle East more than 40 years ago.

Jim Keightley was just 21 years old when he had to have his right leg amputated following the incident in which the Army helicopter plunged into a ravine and caught fire while he was serving with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers in Aden in 1967.

Since being forced to leave the Army after less than four years' service, he has learned to live independently with an artificial limb at his home in Cramlington, working as an engineer with a local chemical company for more than 20 years.

More than 1,000 staff from a stricken North East-based menswear chain have had their jobs secured following a buy-out dramatically announced last night.

A company backed by David Charlton, pictured, chief executive of Cramlington-based The Officers Club, said it was buying 118 of the 150 stores owned by the company, which went into administration yesterday.

Tynemouth MP and Home Office Minister Alan Campbell yesterday praised Northumbria Police's use of new powers to tackle drink crime.

The force and councils have made designated public place orders in Alnwick, Amble and Cramlington and hope also to include Morpeth.

The orders mean police and accredited council officials can confiscate alcohol in public places and order people in those areas to stop drinking.

Leisure centre staff have bared all in a naked calendar for St Oswald's Hospice.

The 12 workers from Concordia in Cramlington braved a series of cheeky poses with only strategically-placed objects to protect their modesty.

A popular young chef from Cramlington who was just starting her career in the food industry was killed in a road accident as she drove home after finishing her shift at a Morpeth bar and restaurant.

Siobhan Leese, 20, was on her own when her Renault Clio left the road, hit a post, flipped over and collided with a bus shelter on the A192 at Hepscott Park just outside Morpeth at around midnight on Friday.