Prudhoe, "the home of champions", have reduced their fees for 2010 in a move thought to be unprecedented by a committee-run club in the North.

The club have a strong playing tradition in totting up 29 national titles in their 80-year existence with the 1986 British Amateur champion David Curry, now the club steward at Blyth, leading the roll of honour.

However, at a time when many golfers are comparing the cost of their annual subscription against the number of games they actually play, Prudhoe have taken a revolutionary step.

Prudhoe Town were hit for six when they visited Leam Rangers in the Durham County Lomax Training Services Youth League, but at the halfway stage there was little between the sides.

James Fenwick bagged a brace of goals and Mark Burns also struck, but Prudhoe retaliated and when they twice penetrated the Leam Rangers defence, just one goal divided the pair at the halfway stage.

Leam Rangers, though, had the better of the second period and romped to a 6-2 victory.
Man of the match Fenwick took his total to four goals, and Burns again found the net.

More local football stories from around the region »

A Northumberland female mountain biker has recorded a third-place finish in national competition - in her first full season.

Angela Coates has been mountain biking for only two years, but that has not stopped the 25-year-old from Prudhoe achieving great things in a sport which is dominated my male competitors.

Earlier this month the Geordie biker finished second in Rheola in South Wales to end the racing season in third place in the National Points Series (NPS) - an unbelievable achievement at such an early stage in her career.

Disabled badminton player Will Smith, a second-year student at Newcastle University, has been adding to his impressive collection of medals.

The 19-year-old from Prudhoe competed in the Welsh stage of the Four Nations Tournaments, winning a gold medal in the men's singles and a silver in the men's doubles. What makes his achievements all the more commendable is the fact Smith was competing against older and more experienced players.

He is now ranked 11th internationally for singles and 23rd for doubles.

Smith heads to Ireland next month for another Four Nations tournament.

A leisure club in Northumberland has had a triple triumph after three of its members were selected to represent their country.

Cliff Thornton, pictured right, 62, is the latest member of Matfen Hall Leisure Club to become an international athlete, after being selected to compete for the UK in the duathlon.

Cliff, from Ovington, has qualified for the World Duathlon Championships, which take place in the US this month.

Golf starlet Tom Rowland has success off to a tee after a summer of tournament glory.

The 16-year-old has enjoyed a series of triumphant outings this season - including victory in the Northumberland Junior Strokeplay Championships, the Prudhoe Junior Club Championship and a fourth-place finish in the Champion of Champions event at Slaley Hall.

In the process the St Bede's School, Lanchester, pupil has reduced his handicap from four to scratch and earned himself a call-up for the Northumberland men's county team.

Pictures from the Fox Racing Dirt Jump day at Highfield Park in Prudhoe, which attracted dozens of BMX enthusiasts.

Scott Short of Prudhoe

Top young golfers of the modern era can sometimes fall over themselves in a headlong rush to turn professional, and in the vast majority of cases they incur considerable debt as they scuff around haplessly in the lower regions of minor tours.

Chris Paisley, the plus four handicapper from the Stocksfield club and one of only two sets of brothers to have won the Northumberland championship, is enjoying something completely different.

Playing Walker Cup, as Paisley will do at the Merion club in Pennsylvania on Saturday and Sunday, is a five-star exercise and there is a strong case for doing all you can to experience it before you turn pro, as Graeme Storm, Robert Dinwiddie and Gary Lockerbie all did as amateurs, Storm as a winner at Nairn in 1999.

Daniel Shevill, runner-up in The Journal Champion of Champions at De Vere Slaley Hall, has been offered a full scholarship to return to Midland College in Texas, Kenneth Ferrie's alma mater.

This was where Shevill studied last year and was a member of the victorious National Collegiate Championship team.

Midland College has won 20 National Championships in sports and has produced 192 All Americans, including Ferrie, Ashington's double European Tour winner.

Prudhoe golfer Daniel Shevill was runner-up in yesterday's Journal Champion of Champions contest at Slaley Hall with a round of 72, one shot behind City of Newcastle winner Phil Ridden.

Last year's champion Simon Lee finished in third, making it a Northumberland one-two-three.

Another Prudhoe player, Tom Rowland was fourth on 74, as Northumberland completed a rout of Durham County's finest.

Read full reports from the tournament »