Cramlington Folk Club is welcoming special guests tonight for the weekly evening of music at the the Hind pub, starting at 8pm.

The visitors are American fiddler and vocalist Christi Andropolous alongside guitarist David Newey. Both have new albums out on locally-based Furrow Records.

For more information about Cramlington Folk Club visit www.cramfolk.co.uk

Grieving relatives have backed a coroner's warning about binge-drinking after a man died following a family party.

Lorry driver Tommy Lee, 62, spent several hours drinking and enjoying himself at the Sunday afternoon barbecue - not realising he was consuming a lethal quantity of alcohol.

As well as drinking lager, Mr Lee took part in a game which involved participants downing shots of spirits in one go, depending on the roll of a dice.

A driver impaled on a 6ft wooden pole in a freak car crash says he plans to get a tattoo of the four-leaf clover medics found stuck to his back.

Raymond Curry, 20, has asked his father to research designs for the body art, which he plans to get in tribute to the lucky charm found after his car flipped out of control in Northumberland last week.

The store manager says he plans to have a wooden stake punching through the middle of the clover.

Warkworth power on at the top of the Northumberland Premier League, their latest win coming against Corbridge. Martin Clark's five wickets pinned Corbridge down to 153, and then Chris Younger hit 46 as the leaders eased to a four-wicket win in the 42nd over.

Alnmouth stayed second, but they received a pasting from bottom club Blagdon Park and they are now 51 points adrift of the table toppers.

Mark Foster's 65-ball half-century set up Park's score of 216-9 and then Pirasannan Inpathurai (3-27) struck early blows from which Alnmouth could not recover.

Teams from all over the North East got together for a major girls football competition in Northumberland.

Action from Cramlington Juniors and Nissan in the under-14 final- photo by Steve Miller

The Girls Together 2010 Tournament, organised by Blyth Valley Arts and Leisure Department, was staged at Cramlington's Northburn Sports Complex.

A driver who had a miraculous recovery after he was impaled on a six-foot wooden fence pole has told how A&E medics found a four-leaf clover stuck to his back.

Raymond Curry, 20, was lucky to escape with his life when his car flipped out of control on the Old Great North Road, near Shotton, in Northumberland, last week.

As he came round from surgery to remove the wooden stake, nurses handed over the rare lucky charm, still astonished his vital organs were missed by the pole.

Last night the clover had taken pride of place on his bedroom wall, as Raymond continued to recover at home in Cramlington after having part of his bowel removed with the pole.

She should have been opening her presents and enjoying a party with her family.

But on Paige Young's seventh birthday, all her heartbroken parents could do was lay flowers in her memorial garden.

The bubbly youngster from Cramlington died when she suffered a heart attack during surgery to remove her appendix in 2008.

Parents and children in part of Northumberland have been targeted for vital safety advice as part of a national campaign.

Sure Start centres in Blyth Valley are getting the message across in a series of fun activities, talks and visits as part of Child Safety Week, which started on Monday and runs until Sunday.

Centres in Blyth, Cramlington and Seaton Valley have been taking part, with safety-focused treasure hunts, model making and sing-songs.

Thousands of people across Northumberland are about to be asked for their views on whether the county's controversial two-tier system of car parking charges should be abolished.

A major public consultation will be launched soon as part of a wide-ranging review which will help unitary council chiefs decide whether or not to scrap the tradition of free parking in the south east of the county.

Shopkeepers and businesses in rural communities such as Berwick, Seahouses, Alnwick, Morpeth and Hexham say it is unfair that motorists have to pay up to £1.10 an hour - while they can park free in towns such as Blyth, Cramlington, Ashington and Bedlington.

Community Wildlife is for projects that help people discover, enjoy and protect wildlife in their local area.

Now open to organisations including voluntary and community organisations, schools, town and parish councils, and statutory health authorities. Grants of between £300 and £10,000 are available.

There is up to £2 million available across the UK and organisations can submit applications before the three deadlines of 21July, 22 September and the 24 November 2010.

For further details and to get an application form visit our website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/communitywildlife, or call our helpline on:
0845 367 0610.
For more ideas for projects visit www.bbc.co.uk/wild