A community forum for Widdrington and its surrounding villages will meet next week to start identifying and tackling local problems and concerns.

The meeting - at 6pm on February 12 in Hadston community centre - will take the form of an information and discussion session.

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.

British Triathlon is launching the Tri A Triathlon campaign across Northumberland next month with the aim of encouraging more people to take up the sport, which consists of cycling, swimming and running.

Taster sessions will be staged at Ashington Leisure Centre on February 27 and March 20, Druridge Bay Country Park on April 17 and the Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Woodhorn, on May 15 (all starting at midday).

Parish councillors representing Widdrington Station and Stobswood have agreed to hold the sessions with local community beat manager PC Paul Dent at the community centre in Grange Road, Widdrington. PC Dent also wants meetings in Hadston.

Linton Pantomime Players was set up earlier this year with the specific aim of producing a fundraising panto for the village hall, which is at the heart of the close-knit community near Morpeth.

Volunteers who run the drama group have raised about £1,600 to replace the hall's stage and curtains, which were removed some years ago, and allow the production of old favourite Cinderella to go ahead later this month.

The festive tour is organised by Network Artists and takes place in twenty different venues in or near Northumberland, running on weekends until Christmas.

Art lovers will have the chance to look around at artists' work, often in beautiful surroundings, while enjoying a friendly seasonal welcome from the artists themselves.

In Ulgham, artist Jane Murray is welcoming visitors to her studio, with work by Janet Dickson and Kath Maley also on display. There will be seasonal refreshments for guests while they browse a range of paintings, original prints, textiles, cards and gifts. The Ulgham Grange studio is open from 10am- 4pm during the 4-6 December.

View the Christmas Art Tour leaflet at www.networkartists.org.uk for full details about the tour.

Derek, 34, from Red Row, is getting ready for a mammoth fundraising effort where he will play seven consecutive 12-hour gigs in seven Northumberland pubs.

Primarily a singer, he has no backing group and is frantically learning the guitar before the gig, which starts today.

The event likely to attract the biggest crowd is the Glendale Show (pictured), now in its 117th year, featuring a host of rural attractions and stalls. Spectacular carriage driving and falconry displays and a Ready Steady Cook style cooking competition are some of the highlights of the event on Bank Holiday Monday.

In the bottom corner of the county on the same day, Blanchland & Hunstanworth Show (see link below) will be taking place, and two days before on Saturday Bellingham will also be welcoming visitors to its Show to take part and watch various traditional competitions.

Activities in Ashington will include youth clubs, cricket, water polo, beach games, tennis, badminton, racketball, bike clubs, street games, wave boarding, archery, golf, trampolining, dancing, deck sessions and dodgeball.

Ashington police neighbourhood inspector Richard Yeats said: "Staff from local youth organisations have produced a series of activities over the next two months to ensure that every child in the local community is catered for.

Next month youngsters will learn how to access fish, crabs and anemones by getting their feet wet during National Marine Week, which runs from August 1 to 16.

The Northumberland Wildlife Trust is holding rock pooling events at Cresswell near Druridge Bay on Thursday 13, from 12.30 to 2.30pm, and Tuesday 25, from noon to 2pm.

Anyone interested should meet at the village ice cream shop, and children must be with an adult.

The Knights and Princesses story and craft sessions involve storytelling and model making and are for children five to 10.

They will be held at Widdrington library on Monday, July 27, from 10.30am to 3.30pm, Hadston House library on Wednesday, July 29, from 10.30am to 11.30am, and Amble library on Monday, August 10, from 2.30pm to 3.30pm.

The NHS proposes a specialist emergency care hospital for people in Northumberland and North Tyneside, improvements to Wansbeck and North Tyneside general hospitals and rebuilding community hospitals in Berwick and Haltwhistle.

The changes would see the closure of emergency departments at Wansbeck and Hexham General.

A Police and Community Together meeting will be held for people living in Ashington, Ellington, Linton, Lynemouth and Newbiggin.

The session is designed to give residents a chance to meet their Neighbourhood Policing Teams and discuss any problems they have in their area.