An emotional phone call united Northumbrian children with their African counterparts during a day celebrating their new-found friendship.

Gilsland Primary School pupils listened to children from the Kenyan village shout and sing to them on speaker phone to celebrate the start of a special friendship between the two schools during a day of African activities.

Organiser Sam Finn, who has spent time in Kenya and arranged the call, said: "I kept it as a surprise. When I told the head in the morning she was delighted. We put it on speaker phone and gathered in the entrance hall, and the children's faces lit up when they heard the voices.

It has been quite a year for One Life Racing, the Tyne Valley-based triathlon and multisports club.

Newly-opened state-of-the- art training facilities at Wentworth Leisure in Hexham have enabled club officials to accommodate the ever-growing demand for new memberships, with numbers rising to more than 200 during 2009.

One Life athletes have also been enjoying remarkable success on a regional, national as well as international level, with four senior members being crowned national champions in their respective age groups.

A driver died following a four-vehicle road crash.

The accident happened on the A69, west of Hexham, between Haydon Bridge and Bardon Mill, in Northumberland at 4.40pm yesterday.

It involved a Honda Civic, a Mercedes camper-style van, a Citroen Picasso and a Ford Ka.

The driver of the camper van was taken to Hexham General Hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Youngsters have named Hadrian's Wall as one of the most iconic landmarks in the country.

Stonehenge came top in the Travelodge poll of 2,500 youngsters aged eight to 15.

Hadrian's Wall came second, followed by the London Eye, Edinburgh Castle, and Buckingham Palace .

Antony Gormley's Angel of the North came eighth in the survey ahead of Blackpool Tower and St Paul's Cathedral.

Health care chiefs have given the go ahead for a £200m investment in services in Northumberland, including a new emergency care hospital on the outskirts of Cramlington.

Wansbeck and North Tyneside hospitals will see significant investment while community hospitals in Berwick and Haltwhistle will be rebuilt.

The package of measures was approved yesterday at a meeting of the NHS North of Tyne Trust.

Masterchef star Daniel Graham was pipped to the winner's title in last night's final - but he still managed to land a dream job with double Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux.

Northumberland-born Daniel made it to the last three contestants in the BBC cookery show MasterChef: The Professionals, but he was beaten to the winner's gong by rival Steve Groves.

But 27-year-old Daniel, who is originally from Haltwhistle in the South Tyne Valley, impressed judge Michel Roux so much he has been offered a job at his elegant London restaurant, Le Gavroche.

The road closed following a chemical scare in Northumberland has reopened.

The country lane, between Ridley Hall and Langley Castle and Haydon Bridge, was closed overnight on Tuesday after a potentially harmful gas, used for killing vermin, was released close to a remote farm.

The accident and emergency unit at Newcastle General Hospital had to be put into lockdown, when a woman, exposed to the poisonous substance at the scene, was rushed in for treatment and risked infecting health staff.

A massive effort is needed to explain the value of the North's uplands to the public, claims a rural leader.

Martyn Howat, pictured, Director of the Uplands for Natural England, was speaking at Northumberland National Park's first public forum which has been launched to seek feedback from local people.

The Journal reported recently that only 3% of people questioned nationally were aware of Northumberland National Park.

Groundbreaking radar techniques are being used to unlock the historic secrets of one of the North's wildest upland areas.

Over the next five years a major archaeological research project will concentrate on the North Pennines, an area straddling Northumberland and Cumbria.

In the first two weeks of fieldwork, 300 new archaeological sites have been discovered, from prehistoric features to 19th Century mining remains.

The final haul of new sites could run into the thousands.

A songwriter's tune that was spotted by a famous guitar hero has been ranked as the second best in the country.

Ian Brown from Haltwhistle penned the song which was later picked out as a potential hit by Steeleye Span's Rick Kemp while the pair recorded Ian's first album.

The track, called Just An Ocean, originally featured Ian on vocals but later Rick's daughter and signed vocalist Rose sang his lyrics while Ian played guitar.