The founder of a Northumberland heritage centre has been included in the New Year Honours list.

Dorothy Bell, 74, receives the MBE for services to The Heritage Centre in her home village of Bellingham.

Dorothy came up with the idea of establishing a local history museum in the village 15 years ago after amassing a collection of photographs with husband Jim, 80. An exhibition was held following which she set up a committee and approached the parish council.

A multimillion pound TV and radio studio could be built in Tynedale.

The £5m development would be part of a string of media centres nationwide.

Designs are being drawn up by Napper Architects, the firm behind The Alnwick Garden and the Law Courts on Newcastle Quayside.

Funding would come from a £55m pot from the Department for Children Schools and Families to create media centres nationwide.

Firefighters were kept out for most of Christmas Day dealing with a big blaze in a hay shed.

Six fire appliances were involved in tackling the fire at Longlea Farm, Bellingham, Northumberland, at its height.

The alarm was raised shortly after 11pm on Christmas Eve and around 200 tonnes of hay were involved.

Budget proposals - including proposed efficiency savings and likely Council Tax levels - for Northumberland's new unitary council will be discussed at a series of area committee meetings in January, which are open to the public.

The Tynedale meeting will be held in Hexham's Beaumont Hotel at 6pm on the 20th.

Visitors to Kielder Water and Forest Park are to benefit from a new programme of events that aims to encourage physical activity in the outdoors.

The Kielder Partnership has appointed Shona Hendrick as events and activity development officer to increase the provision of activities at the park which promote the health benefits associated with keeping fit.

Kielder Partnership director Elisabeth Rowark said: "We're delighted to welcome Shona to the team and to be working with Active Tynedale to improve the events on offer in the park. It is such a great place to take in the fresh air, absorb tranquillity and do something physical - all great ingredients for a healthy lifestyle."

It is nearly a year to the day that North Country Organics - a family-run business - took over a walled garden at Little Harle, near Kirkwhelpington.

The garden had been redundant since the early 1940s - but now it has been returned to its former glory, using organic methods.

Bumper pay rises of up to 40% for county councillors in Northumberland have been approved in principle - but will be subject to a public consultation exercise on whether they are acceptable and affordable.

Pay rates for the 67 members of the county's new unitary council have been recommended by an independent remuneration panel, and reflect the extra workload which they will face following introduction of the single, all-purpose authority in April.

Abseiling wildlife workers have created a des res nesting site for peregrine falcons on a sheer rockface.

The team have worked on the 25-metre high quarry face in Kielder Water & Forest Park in Northumberland to carve out a ledge and line it with turf.

This has replaced a natural ledge, which crumbled away due to erosion earlier this year, threatening what had been a highly successful nesting site over recent years.

People power has won the day in the choice of the name for Northumberland's new super council.

County councillors agreed last night that the new unitary authority - which takes over in April - will be called Northumberland County Council. They rejected the alternative of calling the all-purpose authority Northumberland Council.

Last night's decision followed a public consultation exercise in which people voted 2-1 in favour of Northumberland County Council. Only staff at the six existing district councils backed the Northumberland Council option - voting 3-1 in favour of that name.

Children's services at Northumberland County Council have been given a series of positive ratings from the education inspectors Ofsted.

The county is judged as outstanding in the categories of staying safe, making a positive contribution, and capacity to improve. It is rated as good at overall effectiveness, being healthy, enjoying and achieving, and achieving economic well being.