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.

A rescue mission has been launched to protect four historic landmarks.

In the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Shildon Engine House near Blanchland (pictured), Ninebanks Tower in Northumberland, Muggleswick Grange in County Durham and the remains of Whitesyke and Bentyfield Lead Mines near Alston, Cumbria, are all scheduled ancient monuments.

All four sites are currently on English Heritage's at-risk register but will be removed once the restoration work is done.

"Over time they would have crumbled and disappeared. We want to protect what remains so that we and future generations can see these legacies in the landscape of what it was like to live those past lives.

A marine engineering firm has moved one of its key facilities across the River Tyne in order to handle larger projects and increase its workforce.

IHC Engineering Business in Riding Mill, near Hexham in Northumberland, says the relocation of its manufacturing and support operations to the South bank allows it to work in deeper waters and handle larger trawler vessels.

The 7,484 sq m facility, which is based at the Port of Tyne in South Shields, safeguards the 20 jobs that were based at its former site at Hadrian Yard on the North bank of the river, with the firm looking to more than double that figure by the end of the year.

Wildlife Minister Huw Irranca Davies has accepted a petition signed by more than 200,000 people demanding an end to the killing of birds of prey.

The petition is the largest ever collected by the RSPB.

According to the RSPB's most recent annual Birdcrime report, published last August, Northumberland is the third worst county in England for illegal persecution against birds of prey.

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.

The Northumberland art scene has grown yet again after a new contemporary gallery opened in the county.

Entrepreneur Andy Balman has opened his own contemporary galley in Corbridge.

Andy, one of the co-directors of the successful annual NewcastleGateshead Art Fair, converted a passion for the arts into a new business in the village, adding to the wider North East arts scene along with the emerging cluster of galleries in Northumberland.

The Balman Gallery has opened in the Town Hall buildings in Princes Street, after a significant part of the grade two listed Victorian building was restored.

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.

A new campaign aimed at thwarting travelling criminals who prey on isolated properties will be launched in Northumberland on Monday.

It involves county council community wardens, Northumbria Police officers and Northumberland fire and rescue service personnel visiting farms and other remote rural locations in the Tynedale area on a regular basis.

The relaunched Farmwatch campaign also includes partners from the county's west area local multi-agency problem solving group (LMAPS).

A saga over the building of a skateboard park in Northumberland is almost over with the facility on the brink of opening.

The park at Corbridge should be available for use in a matter of weeks, it was revealed yesterday.

Corbridge resident Lawrence Best at the skate park, which was built in the wrong place

The Journal has previously reported on the fall-out caused by Corbridge Parish Council building the facility in the wrong place in 2008.