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.

Northumbrians can order their old garden waste to be delivered to their door thanks to a county composting scheme.

Household waste recovery centres in the county are launching a scheme so that households can buy back their old composted garden waste.

Last year the council collected almost 20,000 tonnes of leaves, grass and hedge and tree cuttings for processing into compost at local farms - saving this material from being buried in landfill sites, reducing greenhouse gases and also reducing the need for peat based composts.

Talented writers and artists have pooled their creative talents to produce a fascinating new book showcasing memories of Northumberland's rich social and industrial heritage.

Wansbeck Writers and the Wansbeck Art Group - which both meet weekly at the Parkhead Centre in Ashington - joined forces on the year-long project which combines the written word with work created on canvas.

The 48-page full-colour book, A Picture Paints A Thousand Words, features about 50 paintings by 18 members of the amateur art group. Each is accompanied and complemented by a piece of poetry or prose written by 16 members of the writers' group.

The Journal's photographic archives provide a fascinating glimpse into the past of Northumberland pit villages Stakeford, Choppington and West Sleekburn.

In its heyday, Choppington was one of the big three mid-Northumberland collieries, making up the C in the ABC of Ashington, Bomarsund and Choppington.

The Journal has a picture from a VE Day party in the village in 1945, and also a sadly undated photograph from some time in the 1960s showing the newly-opened nursery school at the Choppington Social Welfare Centre.