Festival Fever has come to Tynedale. Forget about Glastonbury the Corbridge Music Festival offers a band line up to rival those of many of the larger festivals around the Country. The Legend.... John Otway who regularly performs at Glastonbury, plus Glasto newcomers and Wylam boys Vinyl Jacket (pictured right) are just two of the top performers heading for Corbridge this year.

Artist Barbara Kennard has launched a new exhibition of her work inspired by ancient rock carvings in the Cheviot Hills.

Barbara's latest display is based on the concentric circles, cups and spirals carved by Neolithic people 5,000 years ago in the region`s hills. They will be exhibited at Dyke Nook Studio, Woodside, Ryton, NE40 4SY as part of this summer`s Art Tour around Northumberland. Weekends from Sunday June 12th to July 3rd, 11am to 5pm.

She was introduced to the prehistoric symbols after her husband found them during years of hill-walking.

See his Rock Art Tours at www.headforthecheviothills.com

Mrs Kennard said: "The large numbers of these sites with their mysterious symbols signify an important aspect of prehistoric life. I explore these ideas in my prints."

To visit artists on the Art Tour 2011 go to: www.networkartists.org.uk and see who is open, what they are doing and when.

By Hexham and Tynedale NCT

On June 21st we are launching our first ever 'Speed Bumps' event for parents-to-be.

Speed Bumps is a fun, informal affair, with a chance to hear about what the NCT does in and around Tynedale, what other support is available in the area, and most importantly, for you to meet other parents-to-be who are due babies at the same time.

The night includes an opportunity to hear about Hexham hospital maternity unit, general antenatal care, breastfeeding, a talk by one of our mums and demos of products, such as cloth nappies, the award winning Breast Vest, slings and assisted feeding products.

The Art Tour is the flagship event of Network Artists in Northumberland. It hosts open studios exhibitions and workshops from more than seventy artists in fifty locations across our county.
The Art Tour 2011 brochure and website contains details of the artists and maps to help find them. The destinations are grouped as clusters so that an enjoyable day between locations is easy to plan. There are many along the Tyne Valley.
Local venue The Stencil Library at Stocksfield will host Durham artist Wendy Parkin and Stocksfield artists Michael Chippendale and Helen Morris. During Art Tour 2011 Wendy will continue painting whilst meeting visitors. Helen will demonstrate stencilling technique.

Chippendale & Morris are collaborating on a series of paintings in which familiar images are reduced to grids of coloured painted dots. At close range the dots form abstract pattern, resolving themselves into recognisable images as distance increases. Wendy will be painting pictures of children.
The stencilled house at Stocksfield Hall will host a special evening on June 29th which includes a tour around fourteen stencilled rooms. Tickets are £9. Contact The Stencil Library to book tickets on 01661 844844.
Art Tour spans weekends between 11th June and 3rd July. Entrance to venues is free but there may a charge for workshops. Visit www.networkartists.org.uk

Midsummer Day at Shepherds Dene.
Music, Shakespeare and supper are all on the menu for Midsummer's day at Shepherds Dene near Riding Mill.
I have heard many good things about Antiphon and In the evening of midsummer's day I hope to hear them. I also hope to be wearing a floral hat, a floaty frock, to be sipping sparkly and be enjoying the lovely setting of Shepherds Dene's garden.
You can do the same. This is what the invite says....

Football royalty descended on a Northumberland village at the weekend as former England ace Sol Campbell was married in a star-studded ceremony.

Famous names from the football world arrived at St Andrew's Church in Corbridge to witness the Arsenal defender tie the knot with local girl Fiona Barratt on Saturday.

The glitzy service was attended by football and showbiz celebrities including Chelsea's Ashley Cole and Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand.

A mass courts closure ordered by the coalition Government has been attacked by one of its own North MPs.

Hexham MP Guy Opperman, a barrister by training, said he would find it "astonishing" if the plans would work.

It comes after Justice Secretary Ken Clarke unveiled plans to close magistrates and county courts nationwide - including Bishop Auckland, Hexham, Alnwick, Blaydon, Gosforth, Houghton- le-Spring and Consett.

While more and more people are growing their own vegetables in the credit crunch, a course in Northumberland will also teach people to make their own cosmetics too.

Dilston Physic Garden in the Tyne Valley is running instruction days to allow people to find out more about making their own facial oils, massage oils and bath blends for a fraction of what it would cost to buy.

Set in a tranquil site above the Devil's Water, the contemporary garden is the brainchild of Newcastle University neuroscientist Professor Elaine Perry, pictured, who directs research into plant medicine.

Police are advising cyclists to security mark their bikes after two thefts.

The first was a silver Kona mountain bike, stolen from a Heddon garage in Hexham Road, between Tuesday July 6, and Friday 9.

Two bikes were also stolen from a shed in Station Road in Corbridge. One is orange and the other is a Ridgeback mountain bike.

Anyone with information contact police on 03456 043 043 ext 69191.

Cruel bird-killers have poisoned a pair of rare red kites.

Police are today hunting the poisoners after tests confirmed that the endangered birds, which died in February, could have been illegally killed.

The red kites' bodies were found in the Steel area of Hexham, Northumberland.

And investigators from Northumbria Police and the RSPB believe they could have died a slow, painful death after eating poison laid down to kill vermin.