Former Olympic athlete and world record holder, Tynesider Steve Cram, yesterday unveiled plans for the Kielder marathon.

The event on October 17 will follow the recently-completed 26-mile Lakeside Way, a £3m multi-user track around the shores of Kielder Water in Northumberland. Steve, who had the idea for the event, has dubbed it Britain's most beautiful marathon.

Police have launched an investigation after farmers in the west of the county reported the animals had been taken from their fields between the end of November and last week.

Between November 25 and January 31 about 60 sheep were stolen from a farm near Kirkwhelpington, a further 60 were taken from land at Harle between December 1 and February 2 and another 30 disappeared from a farm at Bardon Mill sometime between January 21 and 31.

Organised by the authority's community safety team as part of the Farmwatch campaign, the event will be held at Bellingham fire station on Wednesday February 10 from 1pm to 3pm.

Farmers attending will be encouraged to enrol with the campaign, and will provided with signs, alarms and information about the scheme.

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.

The 235-pupil Richardson Dees School in High Street East in Wallsend (population 10,000) has twinned with the 45-pupil first school at Bellingham (population 845) so that the rural and urban children can learn about each other's worlds.

Tabbitha Garratt, age 10, from Wallsend

Richardson Dees teacher Bridget Lynch said: "Many of the children haven't ventured further than Wallsend before.

The accident happened at the Otterburn firing ranges, Otterburn, Northumberland, at 6.40pm yesterday.

He was airlifted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary by helicopter from RAF Boulmer.

Trained members of the Tynemouth Volunteer Lifeboat Brigade were sent by the Coastguard to the hospital to guide it into the landing site.

It is believed that the soldier is a member of the 4th Regiment Royal Artillery, known as the North Gunners, who have been at Otterburn for months on training exercises prior to deployment.

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.

Ancient woodland is being aided in Kielder Water & Forest Park thanks to a new network of cycle routes.

The Forestry Commission has felled more than three hectares of overgrown Christmas trees on the estate along Plashetts Burn and is allowing the land to revert back to its historic roots with trees like alder and birch.

Ancient woods are defined as those which appeared on the earliest reliable maps, making them at least 400 years old.

Forest chiefs used some of the cash from a £900,000 investment in new bike trails specially earmarked for environmental improvements along the route corridor.

Pictured: Professional mountain biker Clive Forth on one of the new bike trails in Kielder Water & Forest Park

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.

The Scamnesty 2010 campaign runs from February 1 to 26 and will involve people dropping mail scams they receive through their letterbox into designated Scamnesty boxes which will be placed across Northumberland.

Online scams can also be reported via the virtual Scamnesty bin at www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/scamnesty.

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).

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.

The Forestry Commission and Purple Mountain, near Kielder Castle in Kielder Water & Forest Park, have teamed up to encourage youngsters aged between 11 and 18 to gain specialist training and progress through five levels of instruction, earning certificates along the way.

Purple Mountain have become the first outlet in North East England to be accredited by the Mountain Bike Instructor Award Scheme to run "Right Track" awards.

More than 400 nest boxes have been put up for the birds in Northumberland in the last 10 years,

But the recent snow and ice has hit the birds hard, with 15 dead owls having been found so far.

Dr Rina Miah, pictured, has taken over the Harbottle Surgery and has brought with her a new practice manager, Kim Nixon. They join the current team of a GP, a nurse, two receptionists and a dispenser.

Dr Miah, who already runs The Haven Practice in Burnhope, County Durham with Kim, took over the Harbottle practice after Northumberland Care Trust decided to recruit a new practice.