When Jamie Warde-Aldam took over the parish magazine, few people can have imagined what they were going to get. David Whetstone meets an editor with a mission to entertain.

Out in the wide, open spaces above the Tyne Valley is a tiny gem of a church with beautiful stained glass windows and birds chirruping in the trees outside. It's St John's, Healey, and its proportions are probably just about right for a lightly-populated, scattered parish.

The parish has a magazine, too, but not your conventional photocopied list of services with a message from the vicar and a line drawing of the church on the cover.

A saxon church in Northumberland is included in a unique public singing event aimed at helping local people rediscover the delights of 40 at-risk historic churches across England.

St Andrew's at Bywell - between Ovingham and Corbridge - will throw open its doors this weekend for the Birthday Song event, which will see 40 choirs performing in 40 of the most nationally significant churches in the country.

An arts event in the Tyne Valley is to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

The Bywell Arts Festival, which has been running for a decade, was established as a way to support the historic St Peter's Church (pictured) on the north bank of the Tyne, near Stocksfield.

The highlight of the festival is an art exhibition, housed in both the church of St Peter and the church of St Andrew, where the work of local artists and members of local art clubs is offered for sale.

Tributes have been made to popular North East vicar.

Rev Thomas Emmett, 68, who was affectionately known as Father Tom by his parishioners, died on May 11 after a brave battle against prostate cancer.

He dedicated more than 20 years of his life as vicar to parishes across the Tyne Valley and retired as vicar of St Peter's Church at Bywell and St George's Church, in Mickley, Northumberland, just 18 months ago.

A choirmaster is doing a 30-mile run to raise money for young singers. Michael Stoddart will run from Hexham Abbey in Northumberland to St Nicholas' Cathedral, Newcastle, where he is organist and director of music.

He will visit eight churches en route - Hexham Abbey, St Andrew's in Corbridge, St James' in Riding Mill, St Peter's in Bywell, St Mary's in Ovingham, St Mary Magdalene in Prudhoe, St Oswin's in Wylam and St Michael's and All Angels in Newburn.

Today marks a special day on the North East calendar as we celebrate the life of the patron saint of Northumberland, St Cuthbert.

Often regarded as the most popular saint of medieval times and one of the most important, March 20 sees people celebrate the anniversary of the death of the region's own patron saint.

Pilgrims make their way across the causeway to Holy Island on Good Friday, 2006

Born in 634 AD, Cuthbert was born in the Lammermuir Region where he grew to work as a young shepherd.

A concert is being held for the Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre.

Members of The Sinfonia Chorus Antiphon Hexham Orpheus Choir will hold the event at St Andrew's Church, Corbridge, on Saturday, March 21.

Tickets are £10 and can be booked by calling (01434) 321 063.

Youngsters in Corbridge and Hexham have been pulling out all the stops to help improve the lives of poverty-stricken orphans in Sri Lanka.

Hexham-based charity Mercy Trucks runs relief projects in the Asian country, which was devastated by the 2004 tsunami.

The lives of Sri lankan children have improved tremendously with help from Mercy Trucks and fundraising volunteers.

And this year, they were given a helping hand by Corbridge First School, who chipped in by raising funds to buy computers for the orphanage and three schools in the area, and Hexham Scouts, who held bring and buy sales to raise money to buy mattresses for Sri Lanka's orphaned children.

A church group has raised a staggering £15,000 to help terminally-ill youngsters in their last weeks of life.

The North East Ladies Methodist Church group spent the last year raising the cash for Josie's Dragonfly Trust, a charity set-up in memory of inspirational cancer victim Josie Grove, from Corbridge.

The group's president Jane Dixon, from Hexham, chose the trust as their nominated charity for the year.

The latest controversial wind farm plan for Northumberland will to be heard at a public inquiry in January. Npower renewables' bid to erect six turbines at Kiln Pit Hill will go before a government planning inspector at a hearing in Tynedale Council chamber in Hexham, beginning on January 6.

The inquiry follows the company's appeal to the Secretary of State over the council's failure to determine its application, originally entered in 2006, within planning timeframes.