Councillors will today (Thursday) be asked to approve more than £330,000 for North-east community transport initiatives.

ELLON Farmers’ Market has launched an appeal for a new co-ordinator to facilitate the group’s fortnightly markets in Neil Ross Square.

A BIG hearted Newburgh woman is hoping for a good turnout to a ceilidh she’s organising for a very good cause.

A NORTH-EAST initiative aimed at significantly reducing the number of motorists who drink and drive is to target young people.

An Aberdeenshire farm store and coffee shop has received a prestigious award at this year’s Countryside Alliance Awards.

COUNCIL officials are hoping the scrutiny of the Aberdeenshire local development plan will be completed in the coming weeks - nearly a year after councillors submitted it to Scottish Ministers.

Aberdeenshire Council has achieved a significant milestone after membership to their online car sharing scheme reached 1000 last week.

LEADING North-east businessman Patrick Machray is the ANM Group’s new chief executive officer.

Help for Heroes has announced that there will be another Colossal Cake Sale in 2012. This year’s event will take place between Monday, March 26 and Saturday, April 7.

Organisers of the Aberdeen International Youth Festival (AIYF) are on the hunt for a young designer.

POLICE have carried out a series of early-morning raids in Aberdeenshire, seizing illegal drugs and recovering more than £2,500.

AN ELLON councillor has been reported to the Commission for Ethical Standards in Public Life, after no fewer than SEVEN of her colleagues on the Formartine Area Committee decided to lodge a joint complaint about her behaviour at a recent meeting.

A local couple have received congratulations from Her Majesty the Queen after celebrating their Diamond Wedding Anniversary last weekend.

Ellon & District Conservative Councillor Gillian Owen is seeking public views on the parking situation in Ellon, after renewing appeals for the price of tickets to be cut in a bid to bring shoppers back to the town.

A GROUP of pupils from Ellon Academy are getting a taster of what it’s like to get behind the wheel, in a bid to learn what it takes to be a safe driver before they are old enough to take to the road for themselves.

Grampian Police has confirmed that the body of a man found on Balmedie Beach last Friday is that of missing Cove man Grant Ritchie.

A NORTH_EAST Lib Dem MSP has challenged the Transport Minister over the Government’s plans for progressing work on dualing the A90 between Balmedie and Tipperty, after it emerged that the project was still being ‘bundled’ with the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, despite the ongoing legal challenge to that project.

BALMEDIE’S Gala has benefited from a cash injection from the town’s Co-Operative store, after the manager handed over a £500 donation.

Donald Trump has launched an extraordinary attack on First Minister Alex Salmond, claiming that the Aberdeenshire East MSP had done “more damage to Scotland than virtually any event in Scotland’s history.”

Pupils, parents and teachers at Arnage School paid a fond farewell last Thursday to their Headmistress, as she prepared to take over at a nearby primary.