The cream rose to the top in The Journal Ladies Trophy yesterday when the only single-figure handicappers in the field, Fiona Southern and Pat McIntosh, filled the top two places, despite having the worst of the weather.

The No 1 pairing in the draw, they played the first five holes at Gosforth Park Ladies Club in steady rain and, as Southern, a former county captain from the Bamburgh Castle club, put it afterwards, "the sun only came out when we were coming off the course."

Yet although the going was inevitably heavy, the course was in good enough condition for the victor never to have to seek relief from casual water.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has appointed Helen Renner as a specialist agricultural field officer for Northumberland.

Helen and husband John, who farm at Belford, were finalists in last year's Farmers Weekly Sheep Farmer of the Year competition. They believe that educating the public about food and farming is crucial to the future of the industry.

The Renner's philosophy fits in with the CLA's own Just Ask campaign, which aims to encourage the public to ask where the food on their plate comes from.

Bamburgh Castle go into North East league golf's top fixture of the season at the Hartlepool club on Sunday in rampant form.

As champions of the Kaims Country Park North Northumberland League, Bamburgh qualify for the Dixon Cup, a seven-man strokeplay shoot-out in which the top six scores count.

They play against the four other league champion clubs of the region - Hexham (Hadrian League), Prudhoe (Newcastle & District league), Whickham (Maxim Cleaning Services North Durham Union) and Saltburn (Teesside League).

Town hall bosses have defended taking action against a couple for feeding birds in their own back garden.

Mick and June Duddy of Belford hit the headlines last month when we told how their favourite hobby of enticing sparrows into their garden sent Berwick Council into a flap.

The council's environmental health and enforcement unit sent a letter threatening to take further action against the retired couple unless they stopped feeding titbits to their feathered visitors, claiming it could attract vermin, and claimed they had received reports of rats in the area.

It's a fishy business for a coastal company still using Victorian values to produce kippers fit for 21st Century connoisseurs.

The current custodians of a Seahouses business that has been on the same site since the 1840s say that sticking with tradition and recognising the value of its heritage are fundamental to their success.

A drug addict who stole collection boxes in a series of raids on churches in rural Northumberland - including one in Bamburgh - was given a chance to keep her freedom yesterday.

Tracey Howitt targeted seven churches, a hairdressing salon, an office and several homes in a two-month crime spree while she was living rough.

The 48-year-old also admitted being a passenger in a van driven onto the East Coast Main Line by her then partner as they tried to shake off a police chase.