Concerns over litter, unkempt properties and car crime are being tackled by police in Northumberland.

Officers in East Tynedale are addressing families' worries after they were raised at a PACT (Partners And Communities Together) meeting this month.

Other issues highlighted at the event were gangs of youths gathering in the street, and noise.

Tickets are on sale for a charity ball.

Members of the Wylam Housing Group are organising a 1920s-themed night in aid of Shelter North East and other homeless charities.

The ball will take place at the Wylam Institute on Saturday, October 3, from 7.30pm.

Police are appealing for information after a giant banner was stolen from a village hall.

Some time between 8.30am on September 22 and 9.30am September 23, a 6ft x 6ft banner went missing from the front of the village hall, in Ovingham, East Tynedale.

It reads: 'Ovingham Reading Room Film Club presents: Is any body there?'

Northumberland is the UK's worst blackspot for deaths involving fork lift trucks, new figures have shown.

The county suffers more fork lift-related fatalities per head of its population than anywhere else in the country, according to statistics from the Fork Lift Truck Association.

The Berwick area was home to the most per capita deaths from fork lift truck accidents between 2001 and 2008.

A small rural community may soon have its own centre to re-energise the life of its village.

Ovington villagers have for a while identified the need for a suitable building where groups can meet, events can be held and, most importantly, villagers can see more of each other to keep the village's friendly feel alive.

They made their wishes known when the parish council put together the village's parish plan, which highlights what the people want to see improved.

Savage job losses and service cuts flagged up for Northumberland's new super council over the next four years have been described as a "worst case scenario" by a town hall leader.

Details of the potential cutbacks - which it is claimed could mean up to 3,500 redundancies and draconian service reductions - have emerged from a private briefing session involving senior county council officers and political group leaders.

They depict a gloomy scenario in which the unitary authority could find itself by 2013, and are based on predicted budget reductions totalling £80m.

Calamity Jane will come to Prudhoe next month.

The town's Dragon Tale Theatre Group will perform the show at the high school from October 28 to 31.

Tickets are available now for £7 (£5 concession) by contacting Ian or Caroline Warburton on (01661) 833 614 or warburtonsuk@hotmail.com

Golden leaves, lingering sunsets and flocks of migrating birds are among the many reasons to visit Northumberland in autumn, and a new campaign is appealing for more tourists to come and experience the region's charms.

Northumberland Tourism and its partners are inviting everyone from near and far to celebrate the beautiful season in the North East.

Called Autumn Warmth, the campaign will focus on walking, art and landscape, as well as Northumberland's trees and forests.

Ambulance response time figures released on Friday revealed crews are struggling to reach remote locations in the region within eight-minute target times. Paul Liversidge, director of ambulance operations for North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust sets out what his crews are doing to improve the "challenging and difficult" issues.

The ambulance service is an easy target for critics who point to response times in rural areas as a perceived "failure".

Yesterday's Journal printed one of these stories from a Freedom of Information request by the Berwick Conservative parliamentary candidate Anne-Marie Trevelyan. However, the suggestion that there is a 999 rural crisis which we cannot solve couldn't be further from the truth.

Health bosses admitted last night "there is not enough money in the NHS" to solve the failure of ambulance crews to reach life-threatening call outs in time.

The stark claim come after it emerged families in rural Northumberland cannot be guaranteed that an ambulance will reach them within target response times if required in an emergency.

And ambulance crews are having to turn to volunteers as they look to close gaps in coverage in some of the most remote locations.