David Stobbart, pictured, stole an ipod and sunglasses from a car in Gateshead as revellers partied on New Year's Eve.

But his search for rich pickings was kicked into touch by teenage Northumberland rugby player Robert Exley.

Community Renewable Energy (CoRE) is now working across the North, helping communities set up renewable energy systems from wind turbines to electrical solar panels.

CoRE and Berwick Community Trust have recently submitted a planning application for a wind turbine and will install solar panels on 50 households in the town.

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.

The Most Reverend Dr John Sentamu called at Kirkharle, Wooler and Berwick as part of a two-day visit to the Church of England's Newcastle Dioceses organised by the Bishop of Newcastle Martin Wharton.

The archbishop saw regeneration work at Kirkharle Courtyard near Ponteland and went on to Wooler, calling at the Cheviot Centre where he was greeted by teenagers from a local school playing steel drums.

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.

The Big Lottery funded Their Past Your Future II project examines life in Berwick and its Polish twin town Trzcianka during the Second World War.

The exhibition, administered through the Museums, Archives and Libraries Partnership, runs at Berwick Library in Walkergate until March 15, before going to Wooler Library and Wooler Book Fair from March 17 to 27.

Annabel Milne is determined to bring art into people's lives both through classes and also by taking children to visit art galleries for the very first time in their lives.

She has a wide background in art, including studying fine art at St Martin's College of Art in London, doing an MA at Edinburgh College of Art and then working at Tate Britain and in art publishing as well as teaching art and design and art history.

A new set of culling projects were launched recently in the county, aiming to prevent competition and the spread of the deadly squirrel pox virus, a major cause of the reds' decline.

A recent study concluded that the number of grey sightings has risen despite widespread culling, though critics say the study was unable to give a true picture of grey populations. A second objection is that the practise is an unnecessarily cruel one.

The white-beaked dolphin is a little studied species which occurs around the coast of the UK and is vulnerable to the effects of global warming.

It lives in the cold waters of the northern Atlantic and its available habitat is thought to be shrinking.

The Liberal Democrat MP was revealed to have claimed expenses for cleaning his home, laundry, a new television and kitchen equipment when the furore over expenses broke.

He was also listed as claiming around £1,200 a month in rent on average.

The Great Northumberland Picnics project, to be launched in April through their Made in Northumberland scheme, is designed to act as the ultimate local resource on where to have a picnic and what to eat and drink when you get there.

The project is busy compiling suggestions with the help of people in the North East as to what makes their perfect picnic.

People carrying out the £4.7m restoration of the 240-year-old Dewar's Lane Granary at the heart of historic Berwick celebrated the completion of its restored roof.

Ian Douglas, Berwick Preservation Trust Granary Project Working Group Chairman (right) with Michael Ballantyne, Managing Director of the main contractor, M&J Ballantyne Ltd

The complex structural work has stabilised the six-storey building - retaining its characteristic 1.2m lean - and allowed new floors to be fitted throughout. The new roof, complete with dormer windows and pantiles, returns the building to its original form.

E.ON Climate and Renewables UK has a planning application lodged with Northumberland County Council for eight 115-metre turbines at West Ancroft, near Berwick.

Last month, the council's planning and environment committee held a site visit ahead of determining the proposal where E.ON was asked to put down markers to indicate the location of the engines.

The Dewar's Lane Granary in Berwick is being redeveloped to provide a 42-bed youth hostel, an exhibition gallery, meeting rooms and a bistro.

Web surfers can now take a virtual walk around Lindisfarne Castle after it was featured on Google's Street View.

It was included as one of 19 National Trust properties across the country which were chosen to be photographed in a new project showcasing British beauty spots.