A PONTELAND man has received a prestigious Royal Yachting Association (RYA) accolade from royalty.

Neal Hill, Secretary of the RYA’s North East Committee, was recognised for his service to the region over the past 20 years with a RYA Regional Award.

Practical as well as professional, he has been a huge support to all the chairmen he has worked with over the years and he is also the region’s Planning and Environment Co-ordinator, a job he takes very seriously and which dovetails with his work on the organisation’s environmental Green Blue initiative and the Offshore and Coastal Consultative Panel.

He was presented with his commemorative medallion and certificate by HRH the Princess Royal, President of the RYA, at the annual Volunteer Awards ceremony held in London.

Mr Hill said: “I am honoured to have received this award and I must thank the committee and chairmen for all their backing and support over the past 20 years.

“We all have a shared responsibility to look after the sea and its environment and I like to see all boaters using the sea and its resources in a responsible way.”

As Project Engineer at Blyth Power Station until its closure in the mid 1990s, he is committed to the protection of the marine environment.

Steve Gibbon, Chairman of the RYA North East Committee, said: “Neal is a hugely supportive member of this committee and many others both nationally and internationally.

“I am delighted that he is the recipient of the RYA Regional Award this year.

“It is recognition for his outstanding service to the sailing community regionally and beyond and I extend congratulations to him on behalf of our entire community.”

Sarah Treseder, RYA Chief Executive, added: “The RYA is delighted to make this award in recognition of Neal’s enthusiasm, promotion of our sport and many years’ contribution to the North East region’s boating scene.

“A total of 56 voluntary awards were presented to winners from across the UK. All of them are an inspiration and it is my pleasure to recognise and celebrate their hard work and dedication.”

MEMBERS of Morpeth Men’s Hockey Club will be hitting the road to honour a long-serving player and help a good cause.

They are entering a team to run in the Northumberland Half Marathon, which will take place on Sunday, March 13, and all money raised in sponsorship will go to Cancer Research UK in memory of club stalwart Alan Evans – who died after a prolonged struggle with cancer in October at the age of 64.

He joined Morpeth Hockey Club in 1972 and for 40 years was an inspirational member who held numerous positions and was a leader in the management and development of the ‘umbrella’ Morpeth Cricket, Hockey and Tennis Club, which is based at the sports centre in Longhirst Hall.

Mr Evans also founded and managed a veterans team known as The Reivers, which attracted senior players from all parts of the North East.

As for his career, he spent a number of years in the Army before joining Northumbria Police. Following the Meadow Well riots on September 9, 1991, Mr Evans did notable work in bringing the communities together and in recognition of this was awarded the MBE.

A combination of both rain and frost left the vast majority of Northern Alliance pitches unplayable yesterday – and added to the scheduling headache for the fixtures secretaries, writes Jon Tait.

DIVISION TWO

Birtley Saint Joseph’s struck three times in the first half as they went to the top of Division Two in the one league game that did get played.

Martin Guy hammered in the opener against Longbenton in the 20th minute and Damien Stevens made it two eight minutes later. Stevens went clear as he latched onto James Bowman’s through-ball and rounded the keeper before sliding home.

Tony Smith’s powerful drive rounded things off five minutes before the break and put St Joseph’s level on points with promotion rivals North Shields Athletic, but leading thanks to their superior goal difference.

NORTHUMBERLAND FA MINOR CUP

New Fordley overcame a tricky Northumberland FA Minor Cup tie at Belford with goals from Zak Tully (two), Louis Boddy and Andrew Waugh.

Mark Harmieson gave Seaton Burn the lead against Newcastle Chemfica inside 60 seconds with a 20-yard drive. Chris Homans levelled and Steve McLaughlin struck to turn things around for last season’s finalists.

But Seaton Burn fought back and Andrew Bennett hit an equaliser before Phil Bone grabbed the winner before half-time.

DURHAM FA TROPHY

Graeme King and Craig Robson’s strikes proved not enough for Gateshead Redheugh as they were beaten 4-2 by Counden & Leeholme Youth in the Durham FA Trophy quarter-final.

RESULTS

PREMIER DIVISION

Amble United v Wallsend Town pp

Ashington Colliers v Stocksfield pp

Gateshead Rutherford v Whitley Bay A pp

Killingworth Sporting v Percy Main Amateurs pp

Shankhouse v Seaton Delaval Amateurs pp

DIVISION ONE

Bedlington Terriers Reserves v Cullercoats pp

Heddon v Willington Quay Saints pp

Newcastle University v Hexham pp

Northbank Carlisle v Cramlington Town pp

Red House Farm v Gosforth Bohemians pp

DIVISION TWO

Alnwick Town Res v Swalwell pp

Birtley St Josephs 3 Longbenton 0

Wallsend Boys Club v High Howdon S C pp

Wideopen & District v Newcastle Benfield Reserves pp

KICKS LEISURE GEORGE DOBBINS LEAGUE CUP, ROUND FOUR

Blyth Town v Ponteland United pp

Heaton Stannington v Hebburn Reyrolle pp

Wallington v Carlisle City pp

PIN POINT RECRUITMENT BILL GARDNER MEMORIAL TROPHY

Morpeth Town A v Cramlington United pp

NORTHUMBERLAND FA MINOR CUP, ROUND THREE

FOREST HALL v NORTH SHIELDS ATHLETIC pp

GRAINGER PARK BOYS CLUB v Heddon St Andrews pp

NEW FORDLEY 4 Belford 2

North Shields Athletic Reserves v WOOLER pp

SEATON BURN 2 NEWCASTLE CHEMFICA (IND) 3

DURHAM FA TROPHY, ROUND TWO

GATESHEAD REDHEUGH 2 Coundon & Leeholme Youth 4

THE weather again created havoc with the Morpeth Sunday league schedule, with only three games taking place out of a scheduled eight at the weekend.

Division One’s only game involved Pegswood Ex and Village Inn Longframlington.

Pegswood, who remain top and unbeaten in this campaign, ran out the victors, racking up an impressive 16-2 win.

On target for Pegswood were Stu Marshall, six, Ashleigh McAlpine, four, Josh Gilmartin, two, and solitary efforts from Matthew Cummings, Ross Donnelly, Mickey Adamson and Aaron Simms.

The Village Inn scorers were Mick Scarpa and Gavin Bick.

Bomarsund closed the gap on Division Two top team Riverside Lodge with a convincing 7-2 win over East Chevington thanks to a Kris Grey hat-trick, a Liam Brown brace and a goal each from Adrian Grey and Tony Messenger.

Bomarsund now sit three points behind Riverside Lodge with two games in hand and it will undoubtedly be an intriguing affair when these two teams meet for the first time.

In the division’s other game, Felton edged a tight game against North End Trap 6-5 with the Felton goals coming from Tony Brown, three, Peter Maughan, John Angus and Jamie Jackson.

The North End Trap goals were scored by Peter Godfrey, three, Vitali Bedakurau and Marc Nixon.

Medicals 18 Ponteland 29 Durham and Northumberland Division One

PONTELAND secured an early Christmas present with a hard-fought win against high-flying Medicals.

With the pitch looking in good condition despite the heavy rain, Pont took to the field with six players missing, including skipper Richard Moller. As Medicals were also missing some of their students, it was a battle to see who coped best.

Walton dropped the kick-off short and the home side’s number eight broke blind . Several passes later they scored in the corner with barely a minute on the clock.

The visitors responded well and, after a spell of pressure, Peter Maughan passed to Dan Walton who shipped a pass to Pete Newbigin. The winger shimmied his way over to level the scores.

Then a clever pass by Maughan gave skipper Will Newbigin an opportunity and his burst of pace saw him score under the posts. Walton’s successful conversion made it 12-5 to Ponteland.

Medicals were under sustained pressure so it was no surprise on 25 minutes that another good line-out saw Maughan break blind putting Pete Newbigin in for a well-taken try. Again Walton converted.

However, the hosts started the second half well and scored a penalty to reduce the gap to 11 points. Then Pont allowed a speculative kick to bounce and a Medicals winger caught the ball and raced in to score.

The away side continued to attract the referee’s ire at the breakdown and on 52 minutes Robinson received a yellow card. Medicals kicked to the corner and a catch and drive enabled them to touch down. Although the conversion was missed, Ponteland were now only 19-18 ahead.

Fortunately, they applied themselves and started to get back into the game. Stromsoy came on for his seasonal debut as the forwards again began to take control.

Several opportunities were wasted as players either turned down the overlap by taking the ball inside or tried poorly executed chips, but Pont continued to pour forward. On the half-hour of the second half, patient play edged them towards the Medicals line and as the ball came back Walton coolly hit a drop goal (22-18).

From the kick-off, Will Newbigin put in a trademark run and Maughan and McGookin gained valuable yards. A resultant five-metre scum saw Maughan duck and dive over for the bonus point try. Newbigin converted to make it 29-18.

The forwards stayed sensible and picked and drove for the last four minutes to wind down an excellent win. The result means Ponteland are now seventh in the league table with 36 points.

FOR the second week in a row, heavy muddy surfaces were very much the order of the day for Morpeth Harriers athletes taking part in the third Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting, held at Bedewell Park, Hebburn on Saturday.

It was a return to the venue for the league, after an absence of over 10 years, however, the heavy rain on the Friday had made the tight course tricky in places.

Athletes certainly welcomed the slightly milder temperatures.

An excellent turnout for Morpeth Harriers in the Senior Men’s three-lap event saw them finish third overall on the day in a very close challenge in Division One against winners Sunderland Harriers and second-placed Durham City.

This was achieved largely by having the scoring six of their 12 athletes among the top 60 of a total of nearly 400 starters.

First home for the club was Matt Nicholson, a former Harrier League Champion, who was having his first outing for some time.

Running from the medium pack on a 2m30s handicap, he worked his way through to fourth on the day, clocking what was the second fastest overall on the day.

Next home for Morpeth Harriers’ Senior Men was the ever-improving Fergus Bates, who produced an excellent run from the slow pack to finish ninth, and sees him elevated to the medium pack for the remainder of the campaign.

Third home was medium packer Neil Gunstone, who had a superb run to finish a well-accomplished 13th.

Fourth counter for Morpeth was Thomas Straughan, who produced a very solid run from the medium pack to finish 51st.

Completing the Morpeth Harriers scoring six were Alistair MacDonald (55th, slow pack) and Graeme Taylor, who produced a superb fourth-fastest clocking of the day to work his way through to 56th from the fast pack.

Other Morpeth Harriers Senior Men to finish were, Rob Hancox (89th, slow pack), Stephen Bradley (95th, slow pack), Jim Alder (133rd, slow pack), Sam Hancox (185th, medium pack), Les Cavill (249th, slow pack) and Archie Jenkins (294th, slow pack).

Another good Morpeth Harriers effort on the day came from their Senior Women, who finished second in Division Two behind Low Fell.

They were led home by one of their team silver medallists from the previous week’s North Eastern Championships.

Gemma Floyd worked her way through from the medium pack to finish ninth and ninth fastest in the race.

Morpeth Harriers’ second counter was Deborah Oakley, who was making a welcome return in a blue and white vest, after a considerable period away because of her studies. Deborah came through to finish 25th from the slow pack.

Completing the Morpeth Harriers scoring count was Jane Briggs, who came through from the slow pack to place 66th.

Also running for Morpeth Harriers was Claire Bruce, who finished 95th from the slow pack.

Morpeth Harriers U13 Boys’ squad are certainly developing a healthy zest for success and competition. On Saturday, they showed that they are a force to be feared by winning their team race by a nine-point margin over Durham City, with Tynedale a further three points adrift in third.

They were led home by Kieran Hedley, who was second fastest on the day, and subsequently earned himself an individual Harrier League medal, by coming home in third place from the fast pack.

Unfortunately, in doing so, he denied his Morpeth Harriers clubmate Joe Dowd his first individual medal by seven seconds.

Nevertheless, Dowd, who finished fourth from the slow pack, was pleased to be part of his team’s success, with Philip Kirby closing the Morpeth Harriers count, when finishing 19th from the fast pack.

Further good Morpeth Harriers performances came from Josh Burton (21st, fast pack), Tom Hizzett (24th, slow pack), and Adam Shewry (32nd, slow pack).

Sam Williams led Morpeth Harriers U15 Boys home to second team place in their event, by finishing an excellent eighth from the slow pack, which means he was elevated to the fast pack for the remainder of the season.

Further team support came from North Eastern Cross Country silver medallist Ryan Green (12th, fast pack, seventh fastest on day) and Jacob Hopkins (15th, fast pack, ninth fastest on day).

One man who is certainly hitting better form as the new year approaches is Philip Winkler and he certainly proved his worth when he clocked the day’s second fastest time, when finishing fifth in the U17 Men’s event from the fast pack.

Morpeth Harriers clubmate Elliot Kelly put in a battling performance to finish as seventh fastest in 12th place from the fast pack. Unfortunately, illness to Joe Elder meant that Morpeth were unable to mount a team challenge in this age group.

Another Morpeth Harriers athlete who is certainly making steady progress is Charlotte Jewell, who proved this beyond all doubt when finishing a good fifth in the U15 Girls’ event, a race in which all of the first six finishers had run from the fast pack.

Alison Brown also gave a good account of herself in the combined U17/U20 Women’s event, in which she placed ninth from the fast pack, seventh fastest on the course and sixth U17 in the field.

Morpeth Harriers had two finishers in the U13 Girls’ event.

Harriet Priest finished 21st from the slow pack and not far behind in 27th spot was Kate Seymour, running from the fast pack.

In the combined non-scoring U11 Boys’ and Girls’ event, Morpeth Harriers had three runners taking part.

Adam Kirby was the first of those to finish, placing 15th overall, as 11th Boy home.

Next to finish was Rhiannon Hedley, who was 33rd overall, and was 12th Girl home.

Joshua Williams was the third Morpeth Harrier home, finishing 52nd, and was 28th Boy.

PRE-RACE entries for the annual Morpeth 11k Road Race, scheduled to be held on New Year’s Day, have now closed.

The event, whose main sponsors are the Benfield Motor Group, will commence at 1pm at the foot of Dogger Bank on Mitford Road.

Late entries and race registration is at Morpeth Rugby Club, Grange House Field, from 11.30am. Changing is available at Morpeth Harriers’ clubhouse.

Late entry costs £7 forclub runners and £9 for unattached, and are still eligible for prizes. All race numbers are to be picked up on the day.

For ongoing weather conditions that may affect the event, please continue to check the Morpeth Harriers website on www.morpethharriers.freeservers.com

So why not begin your new year with purpose and style and take part in the Morpeth 11k Road Race and view scenic Northumberland at pace.

NICK McCormick of Morpeth Harriers finished second to fellow GB International and Olympian Andy Baddeley of Harrow, in Sunday’s Telford 10k, in a time of 29m21s. Baddeley won in 29m08s.

THE post-Christmas blues came early to Mitford Road as Morpeth RFC U14s fell to their third defeat of the season after a lacklustre performance against a good Durham City team who made the journey on a cold and frosty Sunday morning.

Morpeth youngsters could take away few positives from the 28-5 scoreline, which saw Durham run in four tries in response to Morpeth’s three, in a game that most will be keen to forget.

Poor tackling together with lack of impact, physical commitment at the breakdown and ambition in open play were the features of a very under-par Morpeth performance, which at times promised to spark into life but fizzled out as both teams struggled to gain the upper hand in the early stages.

It was Durham who opened the scoring after 10 minutes, quickly building a two-try advantage before winger Ben Sweet went over in the corner to bring Morpeth back into the game.

The ever-busy scrum-half Will Allen added to the Morpeth try count, touching down following his own opportunistic chip and chase, but any renewed optimism for Morpeth soon evaporated as they failed to capitalise on their best spell of a scrappy first half.

Durham never looked in danger of letting their lead slip and indeed added two more well-taken tries (both converted, adding to their two previous successful kicks) to secure a well-deserved victory – despite Morpeth second-row Sam Fieldson powering over in the closing stages following a rare sally in the opposition half by a Morpeth team that really couldn’t wait for Santa to come quickly enough.

Eyes are now on the new year and a return to winning ways as the Mitford Road team look to rekindle their early-season winning ways and a possible end-of-season Northumberland Plate Cup run.

The youngsters will also be looking forward to their first ever overseas tour as they travel to Holland at Easter for two matches.

Morpeth 10 Beverley 54 North One East

MORPETH suffered a heavy defeat against the table-toppers from East Yorkshire, during which the home crowd was treated to a display of excellent rugby from the visitors who moved the ball about with both precision and skill.

Having said that, the victory was marred by the almost arrogant disdain displayed by some of the visiting players, this culminated in a disallowed try deep into the second half when a Beverley player, who was going over unopposed, turned back and baited the chasing players.

The referee, quite rightly given the circumstances, awarded Morpeth a penalty.

This is not sour grapes because Morpeth were comprehensively outplayed, but it unfortunately left a lasting impression on the away side.

To the game itself, played in excellent conditions considering the recent weather, Beverley immediately showed their dominance when they caused the home side significant scrummaging problems resulting in an early penalty.

More was to follow as a push-over try, followed by excellent handling, resulted in two more scores for the visitors.

A Phillips penalty slotted over was scant reward for Morpeth’s efforts and despite a sending-off for a Beverley player, the half-time score showed their dominance at 25-3.

The second half was ultimately a display of handling and support play, which gave great evidence of the visitors’ skills as both backs and forwards joined in the scoring spree.

Although prop Campbell crashed over from close range for a converted score, Beverley continued to score at random, treating the spectators to a superb display of running and supporting rugby.

It was just such a shame that they marred this by the behaviour of some.

Everyone at the club is now looking forward to the annual Boxing Day clash between Sheepwash and Snitter with a 2pm kick-off.

Additionally, good luck to ex-club-captain and president Martin Calder as he continues on his rally tour of sporting venues in Northumberland, after his recent visit to Morpeth Golf Club.

Martin is hoping to make a similar impact on Boxing Day during the Sheepwash v Snitter clash.

Deeside Ramblers I 2 Morpeth Ladies I 0 North Hockey Women’s League, Division One

MORPETH Ladies’ first team had a long trek to Chester to face their bogey team in the last match before the Christmas break.

Although the number of players travelling was still low, at least on this occasion they had the full complement of 11.

The home side started the match at pace – moving the Morpeth defence almost at will with some clever running into the channels. However, the visitors weathered this initial storm and started to apply some pressure of their own as they got to grips with the unusually slow pitch.

Indeed, Morpeth created the first clear-cut chance with Bissett being put through on goal. Unfortunately, the keeper was more than up to the challenge and managed to parry her crisp shot to safety for a long corner.

The game became a bit of a chess match with the two teams looking for a bit of inspiration to break the deadlock. Cockburn went close with a couple of shots from short corners but both attempts went narrowly wide.

In the end, the opening goal came from quite a muddled scramble. Hindmarch managed to steer the attack to apparent safety wide of the circle. However, when the cross came in, Bryson appeared to take a shove in the back and the ball hit her foot.

In the medley, the ball rolled past Watkins to find a Deeside forward two yards out from goal. She showed good composure in knocking the ball square to an unmarked team-mate who had the simple task of knocking the ball home into the unguarded net.

Frustrated with the manner of the goal, Morpeth streamed forward in search of a deserved equaliser but although they made several chances, the home defence always managed to clear their lines.

Half-time brought a welcome opportunity to regroup and tinker with the formation.

But early in the second half, Morpeth realised it really wasn’t going to be their day when a wicked deflection off one of their own defenders left Rose stranded out of position and the bull trundled over the line.

Nonetheless, having travelled over three hours to make this fixture, the away side weren’t going to go down without a fight.

They continued to battle. Unfortunately, Deeside persisted with the tactics of constantly stick tackling and encroaching within five metres of free hits. These were penalised and for a spell the home side was reduced to ten players, but it meant that those in green and gold couldn’t get into their normal fluency and rhythm.

Indeed, if Hindmarch hadn’t been on hand with a couple of goal line clearances, the deficit could have been even greater.

Despite this defeat, at the halfway point in the season Morpeth find themselves in a comfortable mid-table position having played the least number of games due to the loss of several home matches to the poor weather.

Team: Janice Rose, Karen Hindmarch, Lyn Watkins, Teleri Hamilton, Alison Elliott, Sally Bryson, Nikki Bowler (Captain), Emma Bell, Leoli Telford-Cooke, Lyndsey Pollock, Anne Bissett. Player-of-the-match: Lyndsey Pollock.

A STATESIDE sport is getting off the ground in the county.

The Northumberland Lightning American Football Team is now recruiting to form its initial roster, as well as an initial committee to take the club forward. The hope is to also have a youth team, flag team, women’s team and an academy setup.

People of all shapes and sizes are needed in American football. If you over the age of 19 you will be able to play either flag football or full contact football. Aged 16-19 and you will be able to play full contact youth football. Under 16s can join the academy system and play flag football.

Officials would also like to hear from anyone who would like to get involved with the running of the club, even if they do not want to play.

More information is available by the following means.

l Website – www.northumberlandlightning.webs.com

l Email – northumberlandlightning@live.co.uk

l Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/NorthumberlandLightningAmericanFootball

l Twitter - @North_Lightning

CHILDREN across Northumberland are benefiting from a range of new sports equipment thanks to a supermarket’s scheme.

In what has been an incredible year of sport, nurseries, schools, groups and clubs in the county have been celebrating after Sainsbury’s customers helped to provide some items and experiences to young people through its Active Kids scheme.

This project gives customers the chance to collect vouchers and donate to a local registered organisation of their choice. About 50,000 are now registered across the UK, with more than 4,000 new organisations signing up in 2012.

Ponteland Sainsbury’s store manager Vicki Mains said: “Our customers have been so supportive of the scheme since its launch in 2005 and we’re looking forward to going out over the next few weeks and seeing how this year’s equipment will benefit children, teachers and leaders.

“I’d like to thank every customer who has helped towards donating £278,252 worth of Active Kids equipment to the Northumberland LEA since 2005.”

Last November, Sainsbury’s announced that David Beckham would join Paralympic Games multi-Gold medallist Ellie Simmonds as an Active Kids ambassador.

The company’s Head of Sponsorship Jat Sahota added “The Active Kids scheme has helped provide four million pieces of equipment since its launch and with this year’s catalogue featuring Paralympic sports equipment which organisations could choose to order, we will continue to encourage young people of all abilities in Northumberland to experience and enjoy leading healthier, more active lifestyles.”

AT a muddy Kingston Park, Morpeth Rugby Club U11s scored a famous victory by winning the prestigious Land Rover Cup.

Of particular note were two bruising encounters against Percy Park and Wetherby, the latter being the semi-final against a team which had gone unbeaten for the last three years.

An early try in the final against Percy Park during the half time interval of the Newcastle Falcons v Newport game ensured that the result was never in doubt. This was a great performance from the squad with a particularly impressive defensive display backed up by some good scores.

At the same time, the development squad played with real ability and desire to beat their Northern, Percy Park and Alnwick counterparts.

A curiously formatted competition saw them having to face Northern once again in a title play-off, which they narrowly lost 1-0 despite spending the majority of the game camped in the opposition half.

Preparations are now underway for the U11s to represent the club at the Land Rover Parade of Champions, which takes place at the half-time interval of the Premiership final at Twickenham on May 25.

MORE than 300 competitors lined up in atrocious wet conditions on Saturday for what has become widely known as England’s oldest road race.

The 101st running of the annual Saltwell 10k, now run on a newly modernised route incorporating Gateshead’s Saltwell Park, was won by Coventry Godiva’s Martin Armstrong, running in the colours of his North East club Blaydon Harriers.

His winning time of 32m18s was exactly a minute ahead of Morpeth Harrier Graeme Taylor, who took second place.

Also having an excellent run for Morpeth was Andrew Lawrence, who placed seventh in 35m11s.

The only other club result available at the time of going to press was Mike Steven, who finished 98th overall in a time of 44m41s and was third Over-55 Male Veteran to finish.

At the time of going to press, results are still awaited for the junior age group events, which accompanied the main event.

l Morpeth Harrier Jonny Taylor, European Cross Country team silver medallist, is one of four North East-based athletes who have been selected to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland against the United States and a European select squad at the forthcoming Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country meeting, which is being held in the Scottish capital on Saturday, January 5.

He competes in the Senior Men’s event, along with Gateshead’s Callum Johnson in the Junior Men’s event. Rosie Smith (Durham City) and Freya Ross (formerly Murray) compete in the Senior Women’s event.

Former Sunderland Harrier Patrick Martin, now based in Manchester, is also included in the Senior Men’s squad.

The televised event takes place in Holyrood Park, and is part of the official IAAF World Cross Permit Series.

l The next important fixture on Morpeth Harriers’ busy calendar falls next Tuesday, with the holding of the annual 11k New Year’s Day Road Race.

Event details were extensively previewed in last week’s edition of the Morpeth Herald, however the club wishes to indicate to interested participants that they should continue to look out for any updates regarding adverse weather conditions which may affect the event, which at this time seem to remain unlikely, by visiting www.morpethharriers.freeservers.com

PONTELAND High School’s U14s netball team is celebrating after becoming county champions with a number of dominant displays.

The girls defeated many Northumberland schools in the tournament. In the final, they put in an outstanding performance to beat Queen Elizabeth High School, Hexham, 10-2.

The squad – made up of Rachel Cripwell (captain), Sophie Wainwright, Catherine Young, Izzie O’Hara, Faye Walker, Karly White, Sarah Hamilton, Sophie Williamson and Haneen Amer – will now go on to represent the county in a regional event in the New Year.

Morpeth Town 3 Jarrow Roofing 2 Ebac Northern League, Division Two

AFTER their successful tour of Qatar, the Highway Men returned to league action when they took on in-form Jarrow Roofing at Craik Park a week last Wednesday.

Having won their six previous matches, the visitors were soon into their stride. Utilising both flanks, their wingers constantly stretched the home defence and they took a deserved lead on 30 minutes when Myers collected the ball on the edge of the box and fired home.

Fortunate to be only one down at the break, Morpeth showed their resilience in the second half. Town’s players were now first to the ball and had long spells of pressure as Carmichael in the Jarrow goal, a mere spectator in the first half, was now the busiest man on the field.

Having already saved goalbound efforts from Chilton, Lunn and Scott, he was finally unable to prevent the Highway Men regaining parity on the hour when he could only parry a stinging shot from Chilton into the path of Scott, who finished from six yards.

Morpeth’s tails were now up and from the restart the home side mounted another attack.

Carmichael dived to his right to claw out a Scott drive but Fry was on hand to find the top corner from 15 yards to give Town the lead.

The Jarrow defence had no answer for Morpeth’s attacking play as Lunn, Andrews and Hutchinson pressed them back.

On 70 minutes, Andrews was bundled over in the box but Carmichael pulled off an exceptional penalty save to deny Chilton.

Chilton’s deserved goal came five minutes later with a clinical finish from a slide rule pass by Hutchinson.

Jarrow scored a late consolation but ended the game a well beaten side – a result which could not have been envisaged at half time.

Morpeth Town: Wells, Henderson, Walmsley, Hall (Tumilty), Hiftle, Dunn, Dines, Fry (Andrews), Scott (Hutchinson), Chilton, Lunn. Rusty’s Taxis Man-of-the-Match: Christopher Lunn.

Morpeth’s game away to Esh Winning on Saturday and the home match versus Alnwick Town on Boxing Day were postponed because of waterlogged pitches. They are next at home against Darlington RA on Saturday, January 5. Kick-off is 3pm.

A TALENTED teenage tennis player from the Morpeth area has been highlighted as one of the best prospects in the country.

John Boden, 16, who trains at Northumberland Tennis Academy, is included on the Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) Aegon FutureStars programme following a successful year on court, and will now receive added support from the organisation.

The programme recognises and supports some of the best juniors in the country based on the individual player’s talent ID assessment for players aged 13 and under, and rankings for all other age groups.

The talented youngster has been included as part of the 2013 intake of players and will be among a group of 486 top juniors from around the country who all receive varying levels of funding and support from the LTA.

Leon Smith, LTA Head of Men’s and Women’s Tennis, said: “We are committed to identifying and supporting our most talented players and the Aegon FutureStars programme is central to this process for young players who are starting out in the game.

“It’s a long journey for any player hoping to make an impact on the game but we hope that with the right support, these players are given the best possible chance of reaching their full potential.”

British Women’s Number Two Heather Watson added: “This programme identifies the most talented young players in the country and so it’s great that John has been chosen to join the squad.

“I hope he uses this support to help him achieve his dream of playing at the highest level.”

For more information, visit www.lta.org.uk

A MORPETH resident has been named as one of the top three volunteers throughout the whole country for the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA).

With more than 18,000 people giving some of their free time to support the RDA, Christine Jessen had some tough competition, but the judges were very impressed with her major contribution to her local group and she received a runner-up award in the RDA National Volunteer of the Year 2012 category.

She had realised that there was a lot of pressure being put on the larger RDA ponies being used full time at The Pegasus Centre in Tranwell due to high rider demand, so she volunteered to bring her own 16hh horse Carlton, who has a brilliant temperament for RDA, to sessions with her on a Friday morning.

In 2011, Christine became a regular helper at these Morpeth RDA Group sessions and she was asked whether she would consider becoming a log book holder, but she explained that she had a degenerative condition (not visible at that point) that meant that she could not give this commitment.

However, she volunteered instead to help on the group committee and in June 2011, Christine became group secretary. She has proved to be a very competent and enthusiastic secretary, putting in considerable time upgrading a number of the paperwork systems.

Christine was formerly a consultant paediatrician and took a particular interest in how riding could improve the physical and mental well-being of children, as well as assisting the Morpeth Group to develop its child protection polices and procedures.

Later in the year, it became apparent that because of her condition, which now allows her very limited use of her hands, she could no longer be an RDA pony leader or side walker, nor could she bring Carlton to our RDA sessions by herself. But she then recruited two new volunteers to bring her horse and to help in her place.

One of these volunteers has gone on to become a logbook holder and recently achieved her RDA instructor’s badge.

In addition, she has brought Carlton to RDA competitions to allow riders to compete who would not otherwise have been able to do so that day due to the limited number of places on the larger RDA ponies.

She was nominated for the award by Morpeth Group Trustee Sam Orde, who said: “We are delighted to hear that Christine has been honoured in this way. This award is richly deserved.

“She is a positive influence on our RDA Group and a brilliant example of how someone can help others in many ways even when dealing with adversities in their own life.”

In October, Christine was presented with the RDA Volunteer of the Year for the North Region. The award was presented by RDA Northumberland County Chairman Sue Wade in front of a large and appreciative audience of riders and volunteers at The Pegasus Centre.

Her family – husband David and children Helen, Jenny, Libby and Andy – are delighted with her success but Christine herself is typically modest.

She said: “Whilst I am of course delighted to receive this recognition, I am also sure that there are many others who are equally deserving – giving their time and energy towards providing opportunities for people with disabilities to experience the pleasure available from riding.

“I am honoured that my friends and colleagues nominated me for this award.”

Horden CW 1 Morpeth Town 3 Ebac Northern League, Division Two

THANKS to the excellent playing surface and the sterling work of the ground staff at Horden, Morpeth were one of the few teams to play a Northern League fixture on Saturday.

Despite failing behind to an excellent goal by Crawford, who converted a pin-point cross from Hockaday in the ninth minute, the Highway Men showed their metal to storm back and claim all three points.

On 40 minutes, a Lee Scott through ball split the home defence and Mark Grant was on hand to regain parity when he rounded home keeper Hubery and placed the ball into the net.

With an hour gone, the visitors took the lead. A free-kick from Dunn created panic in the home defence and Anderson scored with an unstoppable shot.

Michael Chilton completed the scoring with a clinical free-kick. Grant was given the Rusty’s Taxis man-of-the-match award.

This victory brought 2012 to a close for the Highway Men. It was a successful year for the club as they established themselves as one of the front runners for promotion from Division Two, defeated three Division One clubs in cup competitions and had a very successful tour of Qatar.

All at the club are relishing 2013 when a concerted effort will be made to regain Morpeth Town’s place in the top division of the Ebac Northern League. January sees the Highway Men play current league leaders Crook Town and third placed Seaham Red Star both twice, the eagerly anticipated fixture against Graham Fenton’s North Shields and their next fixture at home to Darlington RA on Saturday – kick-off is 3pm.

Alnwick 7 Morpeth 18 Brett Horse Trophy

MORPETH travelled back down the A1 with the Brett Horse Trophy on Saturday after defeating Alnwick in their last fixture of 2012.

Once again the game attracted a decent crowd and the home side from a lower division made the visitors work hard for their victory.

The Greensfield pitch is unsurprisingly beginning to suffer because of the persistent rain and the conditions dictated that scoring was most likely from close range.

Alnwick began brightly with good possession and steadily made ground. However, the Morpeth defence was more than adequate as was to be the case for most of the game.

With a quarter of an hour gone, Morpeth found themselves in the Alnwick 22.

Alnwick were forced to concede penalties which the away side chose to run until from the back of a ruck, Morpeth scrum-half Robson found a gap and went over for an unconverted try.

The passage of play which followed the restart was to prove the most exciting for Alnwick and their supporters.

A series of penalties and line-outs in the Morpeth 22 saw the hosts come very close to scoring before a knock on by the attacking team. From the resulting scrum, Cuthbert caught a Morpeth defender behind his line.

The Alnwick five metre scrum led to Alexander grounding the ball. However, the referee judged his action to be a double movement.

Just before half-time, Morpeth increased their lead through a well executed rolling maul with Ramsey going over and R Stephenson converting. This made it 12-0 to the visitors at the break.

The changes made at the beginning of the second half resulted in Alnwick playing with much more invention. Ord in particular relished his return to scrum-half.

Ill discipline from both sides marred this half.

Referee Crozier was determined to keep everyone on the pitch in this non-league encounter but even his patience was sorely tried and he was forced to ask Alnwick’s Johnson to take a breather for 10 minutes.

Morpeth scored from the penalty, adding to an earlier one (18-0).

Strang and Davison were now on as replacements and a tired Alnwick team pushed for one final effort.

After prolonged pressure by the forwards in the Morpeth 22, their endeavour paid off when Davison burst through the middle to touch down for a well deserved converted try.

The second half replacements and positional changes saw Alnwick play with greater flair, but they were up against a competent Morpeth side who played effective rugby in the final few minutes to close out the win.

Morpeth’s man-of-the-match, who received the Dave Routledge Trophy, was Robson.

AN equestrian facility near Morpeth recently welcomed a special guest.

The High Sheriff of Northumberland, Harriet Benson, was given a tour of the Pegasus Centre in Tranwell. She saw the outdoor and indoor arenas, along with the stables.

She then presented Young Equine Leader Bronze awards to some of its young volunteers, the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Volunteer of the Year Runner-up award to Christine Jessen and proficiency certificates to Collingwood School and Media Arts College pupils.

The Young Equine Leaders Award scheme is administered by the RDA nationally on behalf of all equestrian organisations. The award is designed to recognise the time and effort young volunteers give to equestrianism and shape their experience, so they become equestrian leaders of the future.

The Bronze award requires 20 hours of volunteering and introduces skills in responsibility, organisation and communication – tested by means of a written assessment.

Those receiving the award at the presentation were Sarah Brooks, Becky Clark, Megan Clark, Ellie Dodds, Megan Glyde, Rosanna Nolan, Rachel Donaldson, Molly Elliott, Hollie Kendall and Robyn Rowntree.

A number of those receiving the Bronze accolade have already expressed an interest in progressing to Silver and Gold awards.

The High Sheriff said she was “very impressed” with what she had seen during her visit.

She added: “It is wonderful to see young people giving their time to help others who are less fortunate.”