Northumberland Wildlife Trust and the Friends of Choppington Woods have arranged a community litter pick to take place this Sunday between 10am and 1pm.

The meeting point for the 10am start is the entrance to the reserve next to the Choppington Welfare Centre.

Members of the public can go along for the full three hours or can just drop in for half an hour.

Heather O'Neill, from Northumberland Wildlife Trust, said: "The litter pick is a great way for people in a community to get to know each other a bit better.

"Very often people come along to an event such as this and feel such satisfaction at the end of it that they volunteer for future activities."

A driving instructor has been proving he is green by name and by nature.

Keith Green, from Stakeford, set up the region's first eco-friendly driving school 18 months ago - Go Green Driving Tuition.

Since then, he has used his emissions-friendly diesel car to teach pupils how to drive in a more economic way.

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.

A respected former North East headteacher and author has died in a drowning tragedy while on holiday in Sri Lanka.

Harry Dobson, 70, died after getting into difficulties while swimming in the sea during a summer break with wife Susan.

The couple, who had visited Sri Lanka before, were due to return to their home in High Stobhill, Morpeth, next week.

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.

Schoolchildren got creative to raise money for a water charity.

The pupils from West Sleekburn Middle School held a competition to design a logo for water bottles.

It was won by Connor McCarthy and Danny McClements, who designed an H20 logo with a red face next to it.

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.

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.