The grant, given by County Durham mining and waste management firm The Banks Group through its Banks Community Fund, covered half the cost of putting in the new lights at the town's St Cuthbert's Church, and matched the amount raised by parishioners for the project.

From left: Ann Pearson (organist), Carol Yearnshaw (Toddler Group organiser), John Ruddick (Banks), Neville Craggs and the Reverend Richard Taylor

The new system is expected to cut the cost of lighting the church by up to 60% and saving several hundred pounds every year.

The Gothic spires of Blyth's United Reformed Church are set to rock to the sound of bands and rappers, hip hop artists and break dancers when it becomes the town's first performing arts centre.

Jamie Mitcheson, Jade Lachs, Anna Melling, Jorden Ralph and Noami Thornhill at Blyth United Reformed Church building

Blyth-based North East Music Factory is moving in to the 130-year-old Grade II-listed church, which was facing closure because only 46 people were coming through its doors to worship.

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.

St Andrew's Church in Cambois - which was consecrated in 1899 and stands just yards from the North Sea - has been suffering from a long-standing damp problem which caused severe deterioration of internal paint and plasterwork.

Now the threat to the building's long-term structural stability has been removed thanks to more than £10,000 in funding from Banks Development.

The four Catholic schools in Blyth and Bedlington want to switch from the county's traditional three-tier education system to create a new structure of two primary schools and one secondary.

The schools involved are St Andrew's RC First in Blyth, St Bede's RC First in Bedlington, St Wilfrid's RC Middle in Blyth and St Benet Biscop RC High in Bedlington.

But the United Reformed Church in Blyth town centre is to close its doors because not enough people are coming through them and the upkeep of its Grade II listed building has become too much.

Its massive organ, also Grade II listed, is to be dismantled and stored away before the church closes sometime next year.

Blyth URC closes next year, so this could be one of the last opportunities to hear the church organ in full swing.

Tickets are £5 (£4 concessions) and the event starts at 7.30pm. Proceeds go to the Save Seaton Delaval Hall appeal.

For more information call (01670) 773939.

Available burial plots in Blyth Valley cemeteries and churchyards are said to be running out. A local working group is now calling on the county's new unitary council to address the issue as a matter of urgency.

A Blyth Valley Borough Council review commission has recommended that the all-purpose authority should begin planning for the provision of new burial space when it takes over in April.