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Fourteen distinguished North-East journalists were honoured when theirfamilies, friends and colleagues turned out in force to plant trees in theirmemory.

One of The Northern Echo’s millennium projects last year was to helpestablish a community forest.

The project led to the paper winning a BT award of £500 at this year’sNorth-East Press Awards, at which The Northern Echo was also namedNorth-East Newspaper of the Year.

The judges decided they wanted BT’s community prize to go towards expandingThe Northern Echo Millennium Wood in memory of journalists from the regionwho have died in recent years.

Dozens of oak, ash, beech and cherry trees have now been planted on theForest Enterprise land at Coatham Wood as part of the project supported byTees Forest.

A bronze plaque was also unveiled in memory of the journalists: JeremyBennington, Tom Bergman, Maurice Brady, Arthur Coates, Tom Cordner, EricDobson, Mike Gilligan, Phil Hickey, Ian Holland, Steve Jones, Ken Robinson,Graeme Stanton, Mel Waggitt and Ian Weir.

Ian Weir was the deputy chief photographer of The Northern Echo whose deathfrom a heart attack led to a high-profile campaign by the paper which led toGovernment action to speed up heart bypass operations in this country. IanHolland and Phil Hickey were also former journalists with The Northern Echowho went on to be editors of the Sunderland Echo and Shields Gazetterespectively.

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