MORE than 300 mourners attended the funeral of Paul Murray at St John’s, Otterburn, on Monday, August 10, following his sad death aged only 39

The church was full to capacity, with as many again standing in the churchyard, listening to the service as it was broadcast by speakers.

Canon Peter Mander welcomed the congregation, and there was a reading and a moving tribute to Paul given by Lesley White and Mahri Breen, two of his life-long friends.

Paul’s remains were buried in the churchyard amidst countless floral tributes.

A collection, amounting to £400, was donated to St John’s church.

THE contentious new bus services in Redesdale met another angry response at a well attended public meeting at Otterburn Memorial Hall last Wednesday.

More than 50 people from all parts of the Rede Valley and beyond attended the meeting, which was chaired by Kirsten Francis, who is a principal inclusion policy officer with Northumberland County Council.

Following comments at the previous meeting, the county council had looked again at the new Monday service to Hexham, previously operated by Snaith’s of Otterburn each Tuesday.

As a result, the council proposed some changes, including making it a direct service via Corbridge and allowing more time for shopping in Hexham.

However, for some reason It had not been possible to change the day of the service from Monday back to Tuesday, which caused fury in the meeting.

Residents were particularly angry about the lack of prior consultation and the council’s unwillingness to respond to the expressed concerns of residents.

After considerable discussion, Kirsten Francis promised to make further inquiries into restoring the Tuesday service, but cautioned that this might not be possible because no applications to run a Tuesday service had been received during the tendering process.

THE latest of the food nights at the Rede, Tyne and Coquet Sports Centre, Otterburn, held last Friday, took diners to Asia for a delightful combination of chicken or vegetable Korma, rice, onion bhajis, samosas, dips and naan bread.

Centre manager and chef Yvonne McConnell is delighted with the growing success of the food nights and hints that Italy might be the destination in September.

THE residents of Elsdon have been put on alert following sightings of several non-local vehicles behaving suspiciously in the village.

One, an unmarked white van with ladders, driven by a man purporting to be a decorator, was spotted on the drive of a home owner who had not arranged for any work to be undertaken.

Villagers and valley residents generally are asked to be vigilant and report anything unusual to the police.