June 8, 2001
New figures on domestic accidents released this week show that 37 people were injured by tea cosies last year - either burning themselves or slipping on cosies left on slippery kitchen floors. More than 16,000 ended up in hospital after injuring themselves while getting dressed.
June 14, 2001
People living in Warbler Close, Ingleby Barwick, watched in amazement as an underground electrical fault caused an eruption beneath the pavement near their homes. They couldn't believe their eyes as steam poured through the pavement, ground started to ripple and the walls of houses started to shudder. A spokesman for Northern Electric said the cable fault had been rectified. About 360 homes were without power for three hours.
June 14, 2001
Crumbling parts of Newcastle's proud heritage are being brought back to life. The city's historic Grainger Town is being rebuilt - and it is changing the face of the city centre. The Grainger Town Trust has just released figures showing that in the last year it has rescued 17 decaying buildings, attracted millions in private sector cash and helped 70 businesses set up shop. Conversions include numbers 72 to 76 and 80 to 82 Clayton Street which will become new housing, and number 132 Grainger Street which is to be the new Tourist Information Centre. Businesses are opening up in Grey Street, Stowell Street, Fenkle Street, Bath Lane and Clayton Street. The aim is to create 1,900 jobs over six years.
Bitter pill as Glaxo axes 400 jobs
June 15, 2001
The North-East economy was dealt another savage blow last week when GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced it was planning to axe 400 jobs at its Barnard Castle plant.
The factory, which opened more than 50 years ago, is one of the biggest pharmaceuticals plants in the world. It is by far the biggest employer in Teesdale.
The 1,500 people who work there produce drugs which are exported to more than 100 countries. The job losses are part of a cutback of more than 1,000 workers in the UK which GSK has blamed on the huge merger, completed last year, between Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham.
The announcement comes as a huge blow to a part of the North-East already brought to its knees by the foot-and-mouth crisis. Derek Foster, the town's MP, is due to meet GSK officials later today when he will hear when and where the axe will fall.
GSK's move is the latest in a long line of workforce cuts at some of the region's biggest employers.
Earlier this year, more than 1,000 steelworkers at Corus in Teesside were made redundant and more recently troubled shipbuilder Cammell Laird was also forced to make cuts at its North-East shipyards.
Around 600 workers at the Rothmans factory in Darlington face an uncertain future if tough new European anti-smoking laws mean work is shifted abroad.
June 20, 2001
Darlington councillors have approved plans for the biggest single site development in the history of the town. The ten-year development plan for a 115-acre site at Faverdale, covering the former Darchem chemical plant site, will create a new community on the north-west fringes of the town. Darlington housebuilder Bussey & Armstrong Projects plans to turn the site into a landscape of woodland and public parkland to be known as Darlington West Park. Their plans include houses and facilities with a £15m NHS mental health unit and a new home for Mowden Park Rugby Club. The scheme has the support of the Council for the Protection of Rural England Durham Wildlife Trust.
Steel closure marks end of an era
June 21, 2001
The end of an era came to Teesside last week when the final metal rolled from the production line at Lackenby coil plate mill signalling the end of Teesside's 160-year-old integrated steel-making industry. The closure of the Corus plant was especially sad for Gerry Duffy, 61, from Middlesbrough, who has been at the mill since it opened in 1965.
June 21, 2001
A safety investigation is underway at Lightwater Valley theme park, near Ripon, North Yorkshire, after a rollercoaster accident left a woman fighting for her life with severe head and spinal injuries. She was one of four people taken to hospital after the accident on the white-knuckle Treetop Twister ride which was opened in a blaze of publicity just a month ago. The ride, described as a cross between a waltzer and a rollercoaster, was immediately shut down. It is thought that two cars ran into each other.
Solstice dawns over Stonehenge
June 21, 2001
Druids, New Agers and revellers gathered at Stonehenge in Wiltshire to celebrate the arrival of the summer solstice this morning. About 10,000 people were there to witness the sun rising over Salisbury Plain at 4.55am. A smaller crowd saw in the solstice at the giant stone circle at Avebury across Salisbury Plain. On Tyneside, Midsummer's Day was ushered in with a fiery flourish. Community artists carved a 60ft cockerel shape on fields at Byker City Farm in Newcastle which was filled with a sawdust mixture and ignited. The fire sculpture was the highlight of a summer solstice celebration which also included fire juggling and music.
Bullet arrives at a snail's pace
June 22, 2001
One of the world's fastest trains pulled into York last week - travelling at a snail's pace. In its native Japan, the Bullet train reaches speeds of up to 300 kilometres-per-hour. But yesterday it lumbered through the streets of the city on the back of a low-loader as it reached the end of its 10,000-mile voyage to the National Railway Museum. The 54-tonne locomotive, which has travelled millions of miles in Japan in the past 25 years, is to be a star exhibit at the museum. When it goes on show to the public from July 14 it will become the first rail vehicle built and run outside Britain to enter the national collection.
June 26, 2001
The BBC is axing its World Service short wave radio broadcasts. The voice of Britain with its 'This is London' call sign and stirring Lilibulero theme music has relayed the news to listeners around the globe for 70 years. Now the service will switch to the Internet on Friday, June 29, to save £500,000. The move has angered supporters who plan to petition the BBC and the Home Office.
Good weather averts
chemical disaster
June 29, 2001
Firefighters were on standby to evacuate people from their Wearside homes yesterday after a 90-gallon chemical drum inside a lorry on the A182 Washington Highway was split and began leaking.
The incident happened close to The Galleries shopping centre. Fire crew said if it had not been for the fine, dry weather a potentially lethal chemical cloud could have formed. The acid is harmless unless it mixes with water.
A spokesman said if it had been raining or if anyone had tried to wash away the acid they would have been dealing with a large-scale disaster.
Firefighters from across Tyne and Wear wore protective clothing and breathing apparatus to clear up the acid by neutralising it with lime. The operation, which continued late into the night, was supervised by the Environment Agency to ensure local watercourses and vegetation were not contaminated.
It created traffic chaos as diversions were put in place on one of the main feeder roads to the A1(M).
June 29, 2001
Sanyo microwave factories at Newton Aycliffe and Thornaby are threatened with closure with the loss of almost 300 jobs, it was announced today. The Japanese electronics giant said world prices for microwave ovens had dropped in recent years because of increased competition from South Korea and China where staff costs are 'a fraction' of those in the UK. The company has pledged to explore alternative uses for the two factories, which opened in 1988.
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