These are tense, nervous times for the 25 finalists in the Evening Press Business Awards 2000. The countdown has begun to Thursday's event - the awards ceremony in which they will at last discover who is the overall winner of the most prestigious business
A high-tech York firm has been hired exclusively by two African Governments to crack oil smuggling in separate deals worth millions of pounds. Kenya and Uganda have demanded that oil companies use the services of Biocode in Dunnington Business Park, York
York councillors debating the proposed Coppergate II development have been listening to representations from members of the public for over two-and-a-half hours. Councillors were to start the debate on the issue late this afternoon, with the matter being
The problem of funding York City Art Gallery, or any important national collection, will be apparent to anyone after reading about the most recent acquisition Bernini's portrait of Nicolas Poussin. While art-lovers will appreciate the Civic Trust's generous
I thank the many people who have contacted me following the publication of my letter about John Barry (November 18). My ambition, and intention, to have this amazingly-talented York man honoured by his own city has obviously struck a popular chord with
I strongly disagree with J Marshall's letter (November 27) which suggests that cycles and cars should be kept separate. I have been cycling on most days all over York for 20 years and I have survived and greatly enjoyed the experience. If I were to wait
Poley Coley - aka your columist Julian Cole - is just a bully and name-calling is so childish don't you think, when he refers to Mrs Thatcher as Mrs Hacksaw? (November 23). Everyone is entitled to their own opinion - I disagree with what you say but will
Expanding Malton firm S Harrison Developments Ltd has sold its £3million investment in the £15million Richmondshire Walk shopping centre in North Yorkshire. Cash raised from its sale of 22,000 sq ft of retail units to London and Capital will fund a wide
The Blacksmith Arms, the 18th century stone-built free house in the picturesque village of Lastingham in the North York Moors National Park, has been sold. The extent of the deal is undisclosed, but there was an asking price of £300,000 for the freehold
A listed building occupied by SmartypantS, the day nursery and city creche in Castlegate, York, is up for auction at a guide price of between £225,000 to £250,000. The premises which has two upper floors, goes under the hammer at Allsop & Company's
Neighbouring buildings housing dry cleaners and a bookshop in York have been sold for a total of £752,000. Buyer was Great City Limited which acquired the freehold interest at 3 - 5 Low Ousegate from Wimpey Property. The deal, steered by Chesterton on
David Harbourne may have changed his role, but his North Yorkshire office and the faces around him remain the same. Only the challenges have intensified by government decree... I have a new job! As from this month, I became executive director of the North
A dash of derring-do marked this month's buying spree by RICH members whose units twitched upwards by 4p this month. They sunk about a third of their available cash in MMI - Medical Marketing International - a venture capital funding group just launched
It's the end of the line for the investment by RICH members in Railtrack. "We've lost faith," says Jim Porteous, chairman of Ridings Investment Club Holdings. "We've decided to sell the lot. "We feel that they are up against the wall and there is a large
Joseph Rowntree School, York, dominated the County Round of the National Schools' Netball Tournament by picking up two titles. They won the Under 19 and Under 14 events and finished third in the Under 16 competition. Matches were held at Joseph Rowntree
Georgina Blatt helped Tadcaster School to the national finals of the English Schools' Cross Country Cup by coming eighth out of 70 runners in her first race. Blatt's fine debut run helped Tadcaster to third place in the North East final at Skipton and
A jockey arrested for urinating in a Ryedale street was involved in a high-speed chase minutes after being released on bail, Pickering magistrates heard. Kevin Michael Prendergast was chased through rural villages at speeds more than 80mph before finally
A Heroin-addicted thief arrived at court with his bags packed - and begged York magistrates to lock him so he could complete a drug rehabilitation course. Timothy Daniel Phillips, 22, said he wanted to continue the course he started at The Wolds Prison
Thousands of shops, pubs and garages in rural areas are set to get business rate relief as New Labour seeks to ditch its image as an urban Government. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's Rural White Paper today received a cautious welcome in North Yorkshire
The Marske United versus Pickering Town clash in the FA Carlsberg Vase, which has been rearranged for tonight after being postponed six times, is again subject to a pitch inspection. The Cleveland club have put a lot of sand on the turf in a bid to get
An ambitious junior football club is hoping for an early Christmas present as it looks to develop a ten-acre site into a new recreational facility for hundreds of York youngsters. Poppleton Junior Football Club, which has more than 300 children registered
A rare silver arctic fox, a tough breed used to treading the icy wastes of Alaska and Canada, has been given a new home and a warm welcome at Selby Animal Sanctuary. The eight-month-old fox - there are less than 100 in the whole of the UK - was taken
York Schools Under-11s football team gained revenge for last season's defeat when they beat Nottingham 2-1 in a friendly at Wigginton. Nottingham put York under early pressure but they weathered the storm with the defence of Mark Wilson, Will Holmes,
Oaklands School year 11 basketball team have been boosted by backing from a local sponsor. The team will be playing in vests sponsored by Persimmon Homes, who have produced the new strip in conjunction with Leeds sportswear manufacturers Lilywhites. The
Hovingham residents can enjoy a pantomime with a difference this Christmas as the local amateur dramatics group stages its show Melange De Trois. In a radical approach, director Wendy Swann has combined three different panto themes, and has also included
Firefighters in York have voted unanimously to ballot for county-wide strike action in protest at the controversial sacking of a colleague. Others around the county are now to be asked to join in the first industrial action among North Yorkshire's emergency
York City may end up losing youth team star Chris Hogg to Premiership champions Manchester United. England Under-15 defender Hogg, who has been on the Bootham Crescent books for three years, is currently on trial at Old Trafford. The outcome of his trial
An "oversight" by the Environment Agency has left York's first line of flood defences breached and a farmer's fields under water. Flooding returned to North Yorkshire with Linton Ings the first victim of a swollen Ouse. The Ings, one of the flood defences
THERE will be no time clash or irony about the high-tech video screens and communications systems being used amid the oak bays and spans of the 14th century Great Hall at the Merchant Adventurers, York, on Thursday. Indeed, the black tie ceremonial supper
A York-based website has been launched to offer online investment services specifically for women. Elaine Duffy, 30-year-old York-born former graduate of Durham University will head up invest itpronto for women as well as invest itpronto. Online services
Hunters, the York-based estate agency has won a coveted home sales award at the largest gathering of estate agents in the UK. The firm received the Rising Star Referral and Customer Referral Awards at the annual Home Sale Network conference in Blackpool
Firms in North Yorkshire which specialise in distance selling could find themselves being caught out badly by a new law on consumer rights, a York solicitor has warned. Unless consumers are told in writing by Internet, telephone sales or mail order businesses
Peter Bleach, the North Yorkshire arms dealer who is serving a life sentence in an Indian jail, is suffering from pneumonia, the Foreign Office confirmed this afternoon. Bleach is imprisoned in Calcutta for his part in an illegal arms drop. A Foreign
In the aftermath of the dramatic split from the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce which saw three of York's top independent retailers shearing off to form a rival organisation, Roland Harris today remains steadfastly diplomatic. Mr Harris is
Our phone poll of readers on the future of York's Clifford's Tower area has shown 2,191 in favour of the York Tomorrow proposal to convert it to parkland. Only 210 callers backed the £60 million Coppergate Riverside scheme. The Evening Press has sent
Thirty jobs out of 392 at the ill-fated Monroe shock absorber plant in Shipton Road, York, will stay in the city. The Brussels headquarters of parent company Tenneco Automotive has decided to keep on the 47-year-old factory's design and development team
Former York psychiatrist William Kerr had unprotected sex with a suicidal young woman by telling her it was "what she needed", a jury was told today. The woman was about 20, alone in a strange town, and feared going through the type of depression which
The world is suffering from a shortage of visions. I'm not talking about those dispiriting occasions when a suburban householder imagines they have discovered a picture of Christ weeping inside a halved tomato. I refer instead to the visions of visionaries
On behalf of the management committee of Tang Hall Community Centre, I thank all the emergency services, especially the fire brigade, who helped us during our fire (Evening Press, November 24). Thanks also to all who contacted us offering alternative
I read with interest the letter from Jane Edwards, parent governor, Hob Moor School, (November 20) which draws comparison between the facilities at Hob Moor School and Copmanthorpe Primary School. The comments on Copmanthorpe are welcome and appreciated
Ten years of effort by Kirkbymoorside author Michael Gray was rewarded this week when Poet Laureate Andrew Motion named his work Book Of The Year. And the praise didn't stop there, as Mr Motion went on to say that Song And Dance Man 3: The Art Of Bob
When Selby Table Tennis League set up the new Team Handicap competition this season, players were handicapped with a view to achieving the ideal match result of 378-378. No match has yet produced that ideal result, but Womersley's draw against Kestrels
The third round of the Yorkshire Winter League saw a field of 96 endure a dire contest on the Ouse around Hunters Lodge and Widdington. With the river still carrying around four feet of chocolate coloured flood water it was left to tiny roach and the
The battle is under way to secure the future of trans-pennine travel, as a shortlist of four companies has been drawn up to improve rail services across the north of England. The winners of the franchise will have up to 20 years to link Liverpool and
A major stumbling block in the way of a massive housing scheme on the edge of York appears to have disintegrated. Work looks set to begin again on a "master plan" for a so-called model village at Osbaldwick after the city council won Government support
A dozen Queen Margaret's School, Escrick, students have been selected for the county's hockey and lacrosse teams. Included in the Yorkshire Under-16 lacrosse squad are Sophie Duncanson, Millie Souter and Caroline Cooper. In the hockey squads Laura Jarvis
York City manager Terry Dolan finally got his man today with the news that Mark Bower is back at Bootham Crescent. After month's of tracking the Bradford City ace, the City chief finally secured the 20-year-old centre-half on an extended loan deal until
A man with a missing front tooth is being sought in connection with a serious sexual assault in Harrogate. It is the second such assault in a week and women are being warned to take care while walking around the town alone. The latest assault happened
Selby town centre's Christmas lights will be switched on at 4pm this Saturday by comedian Tommy Cannon. Tommy, who lives at Kelfield, will be assisted by Minster FM breakfast show presenter James Watt and the Mayor of Selby, Coun Keith Franks. The festive
Selby is planning to say "thanks-a-million" to the people who saved the town from severe flooding with a special thanksgiving service and an old-fashioned knees-up. The service and party will take place on Saturday, January 6, at Selby Abbey Leisure Centre
Stephen Lewis casts a sceptical eye over the latest surveys that claim to tell us what we're like As Mark Twain once said, there are lies, damned lies and statistics. So whenever a new survey comes out 'revealing' that 60 per cent of British men have
Watch out for the course specialist at Market Rasen tomorrow. Cromwell, trained just across the road from the track by Michael Chapman, will be seeking his magnificent seventh course success in the Robert Peak Bookmakers Handicap Chase and is fancied
It's a sad admission of defeat by someone as senior as the Home Secretary to suggest the only way to soccer success is to scrap the England team in favour of a stronger Great Britain squad. As if it were not bad enough that we have to appoint a Swede
This Government has never commanded the confidence of the countryside. As time has gone by, the suspicion has grown that New Labour knows and cares little for the rural way of life. Now, possibly only months before a General Election, ministers are finally
