Young people are being targeting in a hard-hitting campaign to reduce the number of bonfire and firework-related injuries across Northumberland.

Fireworks injure almost 1000 children in the North of England every year, often resulting in permanent scarring or disfiguration. Now Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service is warning pupils in secondary schools about the dangers in a programme of educational visits.

FREE bus transport for older students is set to leave Northumberland County Council with a £500,000 bill. But councillors last night hailed the scheme to provide passes for A-level and college students as a massive success - and said it was likely to cost much less than feared.

The free pass has seen the number of teenagers using buses more than double, from 800 in July to 1,850 now. The county council took the decision to scrap fares after they rose to £360 a year under the previous Labour administration.

Landmark locations across Northumberland will be seen in a new light this winter with the return of a hugely popular winter festival.

Northumberland Lights - and the award-winning team behind it - are back with more bright ideas for outdoor illuminations.

From November 2 to 30, the winter festival will bathe some of the most beautiful and remote spots from Blyth to the Borders in an array of colour, in celebration of the county's contrasting architectural and natural environment.

ONE of Northumberland's smallest village schools - Milfield First near Wooler - looks set to finally close its doors following two previous bids to shut it.

It has just seven pupils and is said to be on the edge of financial viability. Now governors want to consult parents and local residents on a proposal that it should close and the children transfer to other schools.

PEOPLE living and working in rural Northumberland can now receive college training on their doorstep, after the launch of a mobile education centre.

Country communities and businesses in the north and west of the county will no longer have to travel long distances to Northumberland College courses - its £200,000 mobile classroom will come to them.

CONCERNS over Northumberland County Council's finances have deepened because it has £230m of debts after taking out £100m in loans.

North East Minister Nick Brown, pictured, said he would be urgently seeking advice over the situation, which comes after it emerged the council has £23m stuck in failed Icelandic banks.

TALKS are to be held with a view to transferring the library in Wooler to the multi-purpose Cheviot Centre.

Coun John Davidson, pictured, the centre manager, confirmed discussions are to take place between representatives of Northumberland County Council and the Glendale Gateway Trust.

CHERISHED red phone boxes could remain a feature of the landscape in the Wooler area, but without a vital ingredient - the telephone.

British Telecom is currently seeking to remove scores of underused public payphones from across the North East.

But it is offering communities with under-threat red kiosks the chance to save the boxes - even when the phone equipment is removed.

In Division Two of the North Northumberland League, Alnmouth could find no reply when Wooler came calling, losing the game by a single goal.

The game was goalless at half time but a Damien Hall strike on 47 minutes saw Wooler take the points with their first victory of the season.

Children in Northumberland are to get new and improved facilities for play, after a successful bid for £1m of Government funding.

Northumberland County Council is one of 43 local authorities chosen by Government to become a 'PlayBuilder' authority and be granted additional funding.

The local authority will receive £1.1million over three years from the Department of Children, Schools and Families to transform and create 20 to 25 play areas countywide.