It was a fantastic day for the members of Hexham Football Club on Saturday (26th Nov 11) when their brand new football centre was opened. This facility has been in the planning stage for what seems like ages but to see the finished article it was well worth the wait.

The centre comprises of 2 junior pitches a floodlit training area with a club meeting room and kitchen with changing facilities for players and match officials. The final cost of the development was a mind boggling £872,000 which was found by a massive donation from the Football Foundation and also a large sum from Northumberland County Council.

Big Lottery Fund and ITV, with the approval of Buckingham Palace, are helping to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

Jubilee People's Millions projects will inspire, involve or improve their local communities. If you've got an idea that could breathe life into your local area and improve the lives of the people who live there, why not apply for a grant of up to £60 000!

A mass courts closure ordered by the coalition Government has been attacked by one of its own North MPs.

Hexham MP Guy Opperman, a barrister by training, said he would find it "astonishing" if the plans would work.

It comes after Justice Secretary Ken Clarke unveiled plans to close magistrates and county courts nationwide - including Bishop Auckland, Hexham, Alnwick, Blaydon, Gosforth, Houghton- le-Spring and Consett.

Hundreds more council jobs are set to be axed in Northumberland as town hall bosses seek a further £40m in budget savings over the next year.

Up to 1,000 posts in the county council's 7,000-strong workforce are potentially at risk - on top of around 1,300 which have been shed over the last two years.

A two-week trawl for further voluntary redundancy applications was launched yesterday, after employees were briefed by their department heads about the latest budget cuts facing the unitary authority.

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

A forum which works to improve life for Northumberland children with special needs is looking to recruit new members.

An appeal has gone out for more parents and carers to join the organisation and come up with ideas and suggestions to move its work forward.

The Northumberland Parent, Carer and Professional Forum aims to help families across the county which have youngsters with special needs.

Local residents and parish councillors in Northumberland are being invited to a meeting next week to give their feedback on some key public services.

The restructuring of post offices, the work of local community forums and the accessibility of the county council are the three areas up for discussion at the meeting in Morpeth Town Hall at 6.30pm on Monday.

The council's Communities and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee will hear from the Post Office network manager for the North of England about the progress made in reorganising counter services since January.

Fifty miles of road across Northumberland has been targeted for action this summer as part of a major carriageway improvement programme.

Surface dressing work will be carried out at 52 different locations across the county in the next three months.

Council highways teams will lay down hot tar on the road, followed immediately by chippings which are rolled into the surface and any excess removed by a mechanical sweeper.

Hundreds of elderly and disabled people who are too frail to use buses are set to be helped by a new cut-price travel scheme in Northumberland.

Anger erupted earlier this year when county council budget cuts threatened to bring the axe down on concessionary taxi travel for people physically unable to use other forms of public transport.

The council said it was planning to scrap four taxi schemes - which operated in Blyth Valley, Tynedale, Castle Morpeth and Wansbeck - to save £70,000 a year. Now it has had a change of heart and plans to launch a new, county-wide scheme on July 1 which involves people paying £10 for £50 worth of taxi tokens.