Blyth Valley Labour MP Ronnie Campbell (pictured) branded the summer event 'a weekend out for toffs'.

He strongly criticised Northumberland County Council - which is in the midst of making budget cuts totalling £40m over two years - for earmarking £80,000 to stage the high-profile equestrian event.

The bridge will carry walkers and cyclists across the river under plans to create a major new network of green travel routes, cut car use and promote healthier lifestyles.

It will be built near Humford Mill as part of a £2.3m scheme to improve walking and cycling links between the towns of Bedlington and Cramlington. The new bridge is a key element of a revised package of sustainable travel initiatives, building on £1.35m of Big Lottery funding which was allocated to Northumberland in 2007.

A progress report on the review reveals hundreds of people have made their views known on whether parking fees should be imposed across the whole county - rather than just in selected towns.

More than 560 people have signed three separate petitions calling for an equal policy across the board, with charges being made in all principal towns.

Previous issues of the Golden Guide have gone down so well with the over-50s that there was a waiting list for the latest 5,000-copy print run.

The free booklet, which is produced by community information specialists Clever Clogs Publishing in partnership with Age Concern Northumberland, the county council and care trust, has also been given a new design.

Leaping to catch the piece of wood thrown by her owner Gordon Smith from Bedlington, the pet tripped and all 13 inches were plunged deep into her neck.

Distraught Mr Smith, 73, came running to Flick's aid, but was at first mystified when the stick was nowhere to be seen.

Her nose was bleeding and she was crying and shaking, but the stick had sunk so deeply into her flesh that Mr Smith wasn't aware of just how serious her injury had become.

The investment by Northern Gas Networks (NGN) will result in an improved mains supply.

It involves replacing 1.6km of old metal pipes with modern, more reliable, plastic ones.

Bedlingtonshire Community High School assistant headteacher Mr Close-Ash was trekking through the Scottish Highlands when he came across a stricken walker who had fallen from a narrow mountain path.

Cold and shivering, the terrified woman had shattered bones in her arm and shoulder after slamming into rocks as she plummeted down the mountainside.

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.

Bedlington Remembered will take place at Bedlington Library, in Glebe Road, on Thursday, from 2-5.30pm

The event is free. For more information contact 01670 822056.

Local community forums are about to start a six-month programme of public engagement, including public meetings, to help draw up community plans, which will influence future decisions and changes.

Meetings will take place in the Choppington, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea and Ellington, Linton and Lynemouth areas.

For further information, contact Lynda Fakir, Locality Development Officer for South East Northumberland on 0845 600 6400, email Lynda.Fakir@northumberland.gov.uk or visit northumberland.gov.uk.

A taxi driver in a black Skoda Octavia picked up a man in St Johns Road, Bedlington Station at around 7.15am. He then drove him to Latimer Way just off Woodhorn Road in Newbiggin.

When he stopped the taxi the passenger threatened the taxi driver, stole an amount of cash and fled.

Six community libraries in Northumberland are now asking why they were earmarked to be closed to save money when they cost the county so little to run.

Scott Dickinson of Hadston House Libary

The decision to close Ashington Hirst, Lynemouth, Kielder, Bedlington Station, Blyth South Beach and Hadston libraries has been temporarily shelved after the savings were found elsewhere, and will be revisited in six to 12 months time. But the people who house and run the libraries are speaking out, asking why they were even chosen in the first place when the benefits far outweigh the cost.

David "Luey" Stephenson, 44, of Oakapple Close in Bedlington, died onboard the dive support ship Wellservicer on April 1 last year after a four-tonne piece of equipment fell on him.

Mr Stephenson was a crewman on the vessel which was three miles off the coast of Aberdeen, in Scotland, at the time of the accident.

Every year since 1991, scores of leather-clad motorcyclists have taken part in the annual Easter Egg run organised by the Northumberland Bikers' club.

They collected thousands of chocolate eggs donated by customers at various pubs and clubs and then set off in a huge motorbike convoy to deliver them to children and elderly people in hospitals and homes across Northumberland and Tyneside.

A dozen libraries in the county have been earmarked for closure as Northumberland County Council looks to make massive savings in the next budget.

Libraries at Ashington Hirst, Lynemouth, Kielder, Bedlington Station (pictured), Blyth South Beach and Hadston were first in line for the axe because of their alleged low usage, under initial consultations on £16m worth of cuts.