The Seaton Sluice Harbour Day, reintroduced after several years, was in full swing last weekend with the Sluice Scouts joining with original organisers, the Seaton Sluice Boating Association, to revive the event and raise money for local good causes.

The event, at Memorial Park on West Terrace, featured Newcastle legend Malcolm Macdonald, who lives in Seaton Sluice.

Also at the day were stalls, Red Seal Marine Rescue with their inshore lifeboat, marquees, the North East Music Factory, a duck race and children's entertainment including a bouncy castle and a magician.

Judo players from Cramlington and Seghill were among the medals at a prestigious tournament.

A squad representing Battle Hill Judo Club in Wallsend travelled to the Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh to take part in the Neil Adams Classic Judo Tournament.

Battle Hill members Tonicha Brown, Tasmin Brown, Kieran Tweedy and Callum Thompson with judo legend Neil Adams

This was the first tournament hosted by the former world champion and, after attracting 300 competitors, is set to become a regular annual event.

More than 2,000 female council workers in Northumberland are set for payouts after agreement was finally reached to settle a long-running, £50m equal pay claim.

Women county council employees such as cleaners, kitchen assistants and carers are in line for the compensation payments as a result of being underpaid for years in comparison to male colleagues who earned bonuses.

Northumberland County Council is the last local authority in the North East to settle its equal pay dispute with the GMB and Unison - and defended its case as far as an Employment Tribunal scheduled for earlier this month.

Transport officials in Northumberland are hoping to meet regional partners and Network Rail soon in a bid to make progress on long-awaited plans to restore passenger train services on an axed line.

The meeting is being sought to review work carried out to date on the planned reopening of the Ashington, Blyth and Tyne railway line, and try to shunt the scheme out of the sidings.

The latest moves were revealed yesterday after a new report by the influential Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) included the ABT scheme in a list of 14 railway lines it wants to see opened to passenger trains.

More meetings are to be held in Northumberland to allow people to have their say on £200m proposals for new and improved hospitals in the county.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust has drawn up plans for a new specialist emergency care centre near Cramlington, plus improvements to Wansbeck General and the rebuilding of community hospitals in Berwick and Haltwhistle.

But the changes would see the closure of emergency departments at Wansbeck and Hexham General, moves which have caused some concern with patients.

Finance chiefs at Northumberland's cash-strapped super council are trying to recover almost £9m in unpaid council tax inherited from the county's former district authorities.

The huge debt has been revealed following the abolition of Berwick, Alnwick, Castle Morpeth, Tynedale, Wansbeck and Blyth Valley councils on April 1 - and their replacement by the all-purpose unitary council.

Budding entrepreneurs from 12 Northumberland schools are preparing to pitch their ideas to judges in a contest which combines Dragons' Den with The Apprentice.

The high school students will be competing at the Alnwick Garden Pavilion tomorrow evening in the final of the Northumberland Enterprise Learning Network challenge for school-based companies.

The teams will champion their individual business ventures in a range of categories to a judging panel including Garden managing director Mike Dukes and County Durham estate agent and recent Apprentice contestant, Philip Taylor.

Bids are being lodged for a Prince Charles-signed book being sold for Seaton Delaval Hall.

The National Trust is leading the drive to buy the stately home for the nation. And as the trust's president, Prince Charles has wished the charity every success in securing the Northumberland hall and has autographed a book to auction on behalf of the appeal.

Royal collectors are being urged to place a bid in an online auction.

Older people in Northumberland are threatening a revolt against new charges for day centre care which are being brought in by the county's cash-strapped super council.

Apart from meal and transport costs, attendance at day centres has been free for elderly and disabled people until now. But means-tested fees are being introduced to help County Hall bosses make savings on their adult care budget.

Day centre clients are being assessed and told how much they will have to contribute to their care each week, based on their income and savings.

Anger has erupted after people in Northumberland were sent warning letters and court summonses by their new super council wrongly stating they had not paid their council tax.

The 'intimidating' letters have been sent out to some householders who had already paid their monthly council tax bills because of problems which have been affecting the unitary authority's revenues and benefits section since April 1.