The under 12's were in West Division Cup action this weekend and progressed comfortably to the Semi-final of the competition by beating Prudhoe Youth Club at home. The under 14's also were successful in the West Division Cup; again it was Prudhoe who were the opposition, but this time the prize for winning was a place in the final, which will be played early next year. Both the girls' teams suffered defeats this weekend: the u14's went down 3-1 away at North Shields and the u16's, who were also playing not far away at Bedlington, were losing but to a closer score line of 2-1

Hexham came down to earth with a bump on Saturday, suffering their first defeat of the season, at the hands of the league leaders Ponteland Magpies. Hexham started slowly and conceded three times in the first 10 minutes before they had played any football of note. The wet and windy conditions didn't help but some fantastic keeping by Richard Brooks, including a brilliant penalty save, restricted a rampant Pont to just one further goal before the interval.

Hexham Whites U9's managed to maintain their 2010 unbeaten run with a 5-0 win over Allendale. Two goals and a Man of the Match for Callum Armstrong and a strike for William Kellas with another brace for Robert Singer stretched it to a 16 games total. 6 games this season and 10 games last season, 13 wins and 3 draws. Their last defeat was last December against the Hexham Greens. Meanwhile, the Greens were not so successful this week as they went down 1-6 to Stocksfield .

Coming up next week is the only team to do the double over them last season- Haydon Bridge, who have moved on to the top of the league this week after beating Corbridge 4-1.

I am sure the Hexham Whites boys will be giving their all next Saturday and are really looking forward to the contest.

A cold and wet Saturday morning saw Hexham Whites playing in their first ever Cup tie in the 2nd round of the West Division Cup against Throckley Magpies Inter. The game started well with Hexham looking good in attacking play, winning corner after corner they just couldn't use them to their advantage with Throckley's keeper seeing all of the corners away safely.

Heavy early morning rain welcomed Saturdays match against Newcastle BT and for a time it brought memories flooding back of last season when most of the Autumn fixture list was affected. No such problems as yet this season and Newcastle BT came to the Wentworth looking to avenge the Minor Cup defeat Hexham inflicted on them earlier in the month. The first half was a tight affair with few chances for either side but Hexham definitely had the better of what opportunities they were. As normal Tom Phillips was in the thick of things and a couple half chances that did fall to Hexham came his way.

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The future looks exciting for the junior section of Hexham Football Club with the opening very soon of the Hexham Football Centre at Dukeshouse Wood. Over the years the club have been struggling to find grass for all their junior teams to play on. Without the help of all the local schools and council/North Country Leisure run facilities the club would not have been able to exist. But many years of negotiations with the then Tynedale Council and help again from North Country Leisure a site was found by means of a partnership with Kingswood Activity Centre.

The official County Council opening is coming up in the next few weeks but the club felt they should invite some of the unsung heroes who have all played their part. Some parents and coaches whose kids have out grown the club all played a big part in fundraising so they were all invite to see these fantastic facilities.

Saturday 9th October dawned with low cloud and grey skies. This did not deter the 40 walkers who set out on the opening day of the 16th Haltwhistle Walking Festival. One group tackled half of the 26 mile Haltwhistle Challenge, returning the next day to complete the route, whilst the other group enjoyed a more leisurely circular walk, from Haltwhistle to Hadrian's Wall and back, learning about the history of the area on their way.

The drizzle and cloud on that first day did nothing to dispel the enthusiasm of walkers. The rest of the week remained fine, providing very good autumnal walking weather. The brilliant sunshine on Monday and Tuesday were bonuses. One group was even able to picnic at Winshields Crags, removing coats and fleeces in the heat!

The organisers, Haltwhistle Walking Festival Ltd., are delighted with the high attendance at this autumn festival, with 330 bookings for the 19 walks over the 9 days. Leaders and backups were drawn from a group of 40 trained volunteers.

Hexham were back to their best on Saturday for the visit of spirited Whitley Bay side. Kicking with the slope in the first half the powerful presence of Callum Snowdon and Elliott Jeffries up front proved too strong - with each setting up the other for a goal. Sandwiched in between was a memorable 30 yard lobbed goal from George Cook.

Throughout the half the Hexham goal was also regularly troubled but stout defending and a series of excellent saves from Richard Brooks kept the visitors out. However they did get reward for their endeavour five minutes after the restart! Far from panicking however the green and white hoops continued to play football and restored a 3 goal margin just 2 minutes later went a strong run and cross from Will Shrimpton was met with a cool finish from Jeffries. The same player completed a memorable hat trick after 53 minutes when a smart, quick throw from Cook set him away for a fine run and low shot past the keeper.

Both under nine teams had high scoring games this week, one defeat and one victory. The Greens went down to a strong Haydon Bridge side at home, but the comeback kids from the Whites proved once again they don't give up easily. Hexham Whites came from behind to win, three goals down in five minutes it looked like there was no way back.

Hexham took the lead just before half time to make it 3-4. With only 5 or 6 minutes left in the game we were trailing 7-6. With some shrewd tactical changes by the manager Hexham scored 3 goals in 6 minutes to win the game comfortably. Fantastic all round team effort.

After last week's disappointing result Hexham were looking for a positive reaction against Wark and everybody without exception stepped up to the mark with a fantastic performance. The 2nd half in particular is arguably one of the best you will see all season with 7 goals being scored in total. To be fair to Wark they most definitely played their part and made it very difficult for Hexham.

The referee always has a difficult job to do and whilst the penalty Hexham received was rightly awarded the Wark player who handled the ball was...the referee's son. The match started off at a good pace and Hexham Greens were quickly into their stride passing the ball around well, supporting well, communicating well and were taking the game to Wark which was great.

Over the weekend of 16th/17th October there was activity in Wylam and Haltwhistle as the shooting of a very ambitious music video took place.

The talented young Tynedale band 'Vinyl Jacket', based in Wylam, decided to have a music video produced prior to the release of their new single, 'Peaches', due out in the New Year.

Vinyl Jacket have been attracting a lot of attention recently and legendary musician, Tom Robinson from Radio 6 music, is a big fan.

The video was shot in a variety of indoor and outdoor locations and the outfits worn by band members certainly raised a few eyebrows in and around Wylam on Saturday during the 12 hour shoot.

On Sunday the filming focussed on the Garage premises of Mark Armstrong who came to rescue with a suitably atmospheric location to complete the filming. Ian Brown of Haltwhistle based Flashlight Films said 'Mark has always been up for a challenge in keeping some of my vehicles on the road and now he has responded with his garage when we needed a set at quite short notice. It was a great location, clean, tidy, well sorted and with just the right space for the dancing.

Hexham welcomed division one pace setters Whitley Bay A on Saturday to the Wentworth in the second round of the George Dobbins league cup. The home side knew it was to be a steep hill to climb as Whitley are unbeaten and sitting proudly on top of the division but the start they had turned this in to a mountain. After only thirty seconds a free kick was knocked into the box and it was flicked on into the far corner of the goal. Not the best of starts and it was to get even more desperate for the home side as on the tenth minute the deficit was doubled by another set piece and Hexham were reeling.

Right: Injury victim Scott Coates out again with a shoulder dislocation

They could not cope with the strength of Tomi Ameobi, brother of Newcastle striker Shola, he did not score but his ability and strength brought his strike partner Ian Lee plenty time and space to cause Hexham's defenders a afternoon not to forget. By their standards Hexham had a shocking first twenty minutes but to their credit they came back at the visitors with a Scott Coates volley from a partially cleared corner just went wide and a Tom Phillips fierce drive unfortunately was hit straight at keeper Michael Hammond who safely collected.