Music greeted the Archbishop of York as he travelled to some of the northernmost parishes in England yesterday.

The Most Reverend Dr John Sentamu called at Kirkharle, Wooler and Berwick as part of a two-day visit to the Church of England's Newcastle Dioceses organised by the Bishop of Newcastle Martin Wharton.

Dr John Sentamu shares a joke with furniture maker Jason Robinson-Gay

On Wednesday, the archbishop also visited parishes in Newcastle, as well as the West End Refugee Service, before giving the City for Peace inaugural lecture, hosted by Newcastle City Council.

Archived railway footage is to be screened at a free event in Northumberland.

The films will be shown at St Mary's Church in Ponteland on January 9 at 3pm and 7.30pm.

Enthusiasts will be able to watch the information films Elizabethan Express from 1954, Holiday from 1957 and A Desperate Case from 1958.

Church and civic leaders in Ponteland will gather next month for the launch of a new community meeting place in the town.

The facility, at the United Reformed Church in Broadway, Darras Hall, will be officially opened at 11am on November 7, when local people are invited to come along.

The URC community hub will be open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday for coffee and tea.

A Northumberland village is set to celebrate summer with a festival of fun.

The Ponteland Summer Festival brings art to the church hall, flowers to the church itself and a marquee in the garden full of historical stalls, including exhibitions from Northern Rail and the local history society.

Reverend Peter Barham, Ponteland's new vicar and one of the event organisers, said: "We always do something every two years and generally raise around £8,000.

"This year we're delighted to have the local history element incorporated into the festival and I'm sure it will be a very interesting visit for all."

Youngsters have been enjoying a school trip down memory lane as they learned about how life was in their village hundreds of years ago.

Belsay First School toured St Andrew's Church in Bolam with local historian John Sadler to find out about the building's rich past.

The programme organised for the pupils included Bolam in the war, the home front and the bombing of the church and the people that are buried there.

Ponteland's new mayor has moved to keep alive a tradition that could have been lost with the re-organisation of local government in Northumberland.

The Castle Morpeth civic service was due to end with the abolition of the countil last month, but Ponteland mayor Coun Robin Ramsay was keen to keep the service going.

This sunday he will lead the service which includes a parade headed by North Tyneside Pipe Band, a service at St Mary's Church and a reception at the Memorial Hall.

Today marks a special day on the North East calendar as we celebrate the life of the patron saint of Northumberland, St Cuthbert.

Often regarded as the most popular saint of medieval times and one of the most important, March 20 sees people celebrate the anniversary of the death of the region's own patron saint.

Pilgrims make their way across the causeway to Holy Island on Good Friday, 2006

Born in 634 AD, Cuthbert was born in the Lammermuir Region where he grew to work as a young shepherd.

A fundraising spring fair will be held at the United Reformed Church in Broadway, Darras Hall, Ponteland on Friday March 27 from 11am to 3pm and on Saturday 28 from 10am to noon.

Retired rural clergyman Richard Ferguson may be approaching 70 - but he is still blessed with a memory of biblical proportions.

Several years ago he spent nine months writing his own personal translation of the entire Gospel of St Mark from the original Greek, and last year published the mammoth work as a 190-page book.

Amazingly, he has committed all 640 verses of the text - amounting to many thousands of words - to his memory and is able to recite the whole lot unaided.

Christmas is getting closer and residents of Ponteland are gearing up to celebrate the festive season.

Pupils from Ponteland Community High School will perform carols in St. Mary's Parish Church on Tuesday December 16 at 7pm. All are welcome to attend and festive refreshments will be served at the end of the service.

In addition, Ponteland Churches Together will be meeting on Coates Green in the heart of the town on Wednesday December 17 at 7pm to sing carols around the town's Christmas tree and would welcome all friends and visitors.

Warm drinks and festive refreshments will be available afterwards in St. Mary's Church hall.