Children rolled up their sleeves and put their green fingers to the test to take part in a special tree planting.

Youngsters aged between four and 13, all from Tynedale, planted saplings on the banks of the River Derwent to celebrate the important role trees play in our natural environment.

Don Coe, Northumbrian Water leisure operations manager for waterside parks & fisheries (foreground) with Tony Richards, SCA Hygiene factory & site manager at Prudhoe (standing) with Ben Pentland, aged six and his fellow tree planters

The session was organised by Northumbrian Water, owner and operator of the Derwent Reservoir and Velvet toilet tissue, which is made locally by SCA Hygiene Products Prudhoe Mill.

Families in Northumberland have been spared a 25% increase in the cost of having their garden waste collected this year following a revolt by opposition county councillors.

It was planned to put up the annual charge for the service from £20 to £25 in March - to bring in an extra £60,000 and help the county council achieve tough budget savings.

Now the saving will have to be found elsewhere after Conservative and Labour councillors joined forces to defeat the move at a meeting in County Hall on Wednesday.

Controversial plans to build a fire station on a field used by a Northumberland school have been approved.

Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service has been given outline planning permission for a new facility on land beside Prudhoe West First School.

The decision means the fire service could be given £23m Government funding for the development and similar schemes at Hexham and Haltwhistle.

Police arrested two youths after three cars were damaged in Prudhoe.

Three cars had their wing mirrors damaged in Adderlane Road.

Police arrested two youths over the incidents, which happened between 10.30pm on Friday January 29 and 9am on Saturday January 30.

They are aged 16 and 15 and were released on police bail pending further enquires.

Anyone with information contact police on 03456 043 043 ext 69191 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Black ice on one of the North East's main dual carriageway caused a string of accidents today.

As commuters made their way to work along the A69 between Hexham and Newcastle, cars skidded out of control.

Drivers watched in horror as four cars slid into embankments and one even overturned.

No-one received serious injuries and the road was closed for a period of time. It started at 7.54am when a Land Rover slid off the road near Wylam. Police then received a flurry of reports from panicking drivers of a Vauxhall Corsa, a Fiat Punto and a Toyota Yaris.

All three had also skidded on black ice in separate accidents.

Plans to create a £3.5m centre of creativity for young people in Northumberland have come a step closer.

Designs for the Tynedale Creative and Media Skills Centre - next to Prudhoe Community High School - have gone on public display.

The centre will house state-of-the-art media production facilities in a leading edge building shared across the Tynedale Virtual College - a partnership of the four high schools in the area along with Northumberland College, Dilston College and Hexham Priory School.

Plans to build a fire station on a field used by a Northumberland school have outraged a community.

Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service has submitted an application for a new facility on land beside Prudhoe West First School. County councillors are recommended to approve the plan at a meeting on Tuesday.

But school governors say they knew nothing about the proposals until presented with a leaflet at a recent meeting, despite the fact the field is often used by pupils. They had been working on plans to create a play and learning area on the field, with £2,000 having already been invested to train staff.

A cut-price travel scheme for elderly and disabled people who are too frail to use buses looks set to become a victim of tough council budget cuts in Northumberland.

More than 800 vulnerable pensioners across the county use the scheme, which allows them concessionary travel in taxis because they are unable to use other forms of public transport.

They use council-issued vouchers, tokens or passes to pay for taxi trips to the shops, GP and hospital appointments or to visit relatives and friends.

A factory shop has chosen a local nursery as its charity partner.

The Original Factory Shop, in Prudhoe, will be making a difference to St Matthew's Nursery, also in Prudhoe, throughout this year.

A programme of fundraising activities is planned, and store staff are looking to raise a minimum of £500, with the fun kicking off with special launch this weekend.

Store manager Lisa Clark said: "This weekend, customers will have the chance to join in the fun in store to help us raise as much money as we can for this worthy cause."

With medical supplies running out in earthquake-hit Haiti, help is on its way in the form of a North East charity worker and his trusty truck.

Roy Dixon, who founded the Northumberland-based Mercy Trucks, is about to set off on a 5,896-mile journey by road, air and sea to assist in the aftermath of the natural disaster earlier this month that has brought the country to its knees.

Mercy Trucks' Roy Dixon with some of the badly-needed medical supplies he is taking to Haiti

The Ovingham charity regularly runs relief projects in Asia and Africa, where Mr Dixon and his team renovate a run-down lorry and take supplies to help impoverished communities. Once there, the truck is converted into a medical and dental clinic where local people can be treated.