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The five lost pubs of Barton as Half Moon faces closure

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The five lost pubs of Barton as Half Moon faces closure

About 70 people attended a public meeting to discuss a planning application to reconfigure the building, which more than 60 people have objected to. They fear the Half Moon will become a restaurant reliant on outside visitors rather than remain a community hub pub.

Once Barton had five pubs lubricating travellers on the Great North Road passing from Scotch Corner into Darlington.

The Half Moon in the 1930sThe Half Moon in the 1930s. Is that landlord Hilton G Curtis posing for the cameraman? (Image: Chris Lloyd)

The Shoulder of Mutton

Behind the Moon, on the terrace which now houses the village shop, were the Voltigeur – named after the racehorse belonging to Lord Zetland of Aske Hall, which won the Derby and the St Leger in 1850 – and the Shoulder of Mutton.

The Shoulder of Mutton pub on the Great North Road in Barton. It lost its licence around 1904 (Image: Chris Lloyd)

The King William IV Inn

Then, a traveller heading north could turn right into a street with the fabulous name of Ugly Porch and find the Wheatsheaf, a coaching inn with stables which shut in the mid 19th Century, or they could go on to the last property in the village which was the King William IV Inn.

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The King William IV pub in Barton in 2007 (Image: Sarah Caldecott)

This was built in 1760 as a farmhouse but its name suggests it was one of thousands of pubs which opened after the passing of the 1830 Beerhouse Act, an unpopular government’s attempt to curry favour by liberalising the licensing laws. The Act said that anyone who bought a licence for two guineas – £2.10 – could open a pub as long as they displayed the name of the licence-holder on a board outside. Consequently, many of the new pubs were called the Board Inn although many more were named the King William IV because the Act came into effect just as he ascended to the throne on June 26, 1830.

A decade later, an estimated 45,000 new brewers had been granted licences amid an explosion of drunkenness.

An Edwardian postcard of the Great North Road looking south in Barton towards the school with shops, a post office and a petrol station on the left hand side which are all now private houses (Image: Chris Lloyd)

The liberalising of the laws coincided with a new road, which opened in 1832, running from Scotch Corner through Stapleton and over the Tees at Blackwell into Darlington. This put Barton on the main road from London and Edinburgh and encouraged a surprising number of pubs, and shops, cafes and garages, to open up.

A snowy 1970s scene in Barton with the Half Moon in the centre (Image: Chris Lloyd)

It is said that during the Second World War, the village’s position beside the A1, encouraged a German spy to take up lodgings in the Half Moon so he could monitor troop movements along the main road and keep an eye on the airfields of Croft, Scorton and Middleton St George.

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After a year of handling post from Switzerland for him, the Barton postmaster became suspicious and called the police. The lodger was carted off and never seen again, and the word was that he had been passing his sensitive gleanings to a safe house in Zurich. His disappearance came at the same time as a group of alleged spies posing as Irish clergymen were rounded up in south Durham.

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Convicted killer breaks Jewish chaplain’s jaw in Cambridgeshire prison attack

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Cambridgeshire Live

The attacker was already serving a life sentence for murdering his friend and stabbing a 16-year-old boy

A convicted killer broke the jaw of a Jewish chaplain visiting a Cambridgeshire prison in an attack motivated by racial hate. Joseph Gynane, 41, was already serving a life sentence for murdering his friend and stabbing a 16-year-old boy when he shouted “Allah Akbar” as he attacked the chaplain visiting HMP Whitemoor on September 14, 2025.

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The chaplain had been speaking to prisoners on the top floor landing of the prison when Gynane attacked him from behind at just before 2.30pm on September 14. Gynane punched the man to the back of the head with such force that he was knocked to the floor and continued punching him.

The convicted killer continued even while being sprayed with PAVA (a chemical spray designed to incapacitate attackers) by a prison officer. He eventually stopped the attack, and the chaplain was taken to a different part of the prison where he received medical treatment.

He later visited Peterborough City Hospital, where medical checks revealed he had suffered a broken jaw and a broken thumb. The chaplain told officers he believed the attack was religiously motivated due to him being Jewish and wearing a black skull cap at the time.

Gynane was moved to the prison’s segregation unit and covered his cell in graffiti, including the phrases “free Palestine” and “Death to the IDF”. He was charged with racially aggravated assault inflicting grievous bodily harm (GBH) and admitted the offence at a court hearing in March this year.

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On Friday, May 1, he was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court where he was handed 11 years (six years plus an extended five years on licence) on top of his existing life sentence. His life sentence holds a minimum term of 30 years, meaning Gynane will not be eligible for release until at least 2055.

Sentencing, Judge Andrew Hurst said chaplains provided support for prisoners and were “valuable, cherished and should be protected”. He noted that Gynane converted to Islam in 2007 and it was clear he held “antisemitic, florid and ideologically disturbing” views.

Judge Hurst said Gynane had a “long record for serious violence, including stabbings”. He also held an “appalling record for violence within prison”, with the highest number of assaults to his name at HMP Whitemoor.

He said the attack was a “serious assault motivated by racial hatred”. He noted his concern about a “very high risk of future assaults” from Gynane, who “will seek to harm innocent members of Jewish community”.

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Detective Constable Emma Purser said: “Gynane was already serving a life sentence for murder, but I am pleased he has now had his sentence extended by quite some time and has faced justice for his actions – which were shocking and despicable.

“The Jewish chaplain involved in this case was providing a valuable service and no-one deserves to be attacked in this way, with such strong violence – and especially not because of their religion.”

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Jack Wilshere urges Mikel Arteta to start Arsenal star against Fulham: ‘Different team’ | Football

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Jack Wilshere urges Mikel Arteta to start Arsenal star against Fulham: 'Different team' | Football
Former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere (Picture: Getty)

Jack Wilshere believes Martin Odegaard must start against Fulham, insisting Arsenal are a ‘different team’ with their skipper in the heart of midfield.

The Gunners can temporarily move six points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table with a win against Fulham on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta’s side are set to be without Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz, while Odegaard is a minor doubt for the game after his withdrawal in the secodn half against Atletico Madrid.

The Norwegian midfielder has had an injury-affected campaign, which has seen him able to start just 15 league games so far this season.

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But former Arsenal midfielder Wilshere believes the Odegaard has to start against Fulham if fit, such is his importance to the side with and without the ball.

‘With Arsenal, I think Odegaard is key,’ Wilshere told talkSPORT. ‘He’s a player who takes risks. He’s a player who, even out of possession, sets everything.

‘I think he’s had a few injuries this season, maybe lost a bit of form at times. When Martin’s playing, it’s a different team. It’s a different team, and they look braver.’

Atletico de Madrid v Arsenal FC - UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Semi Final First Leg
Martin Odegaard is a minor doubt for Saturday’s match with Fulham (Picture: Getty)

But Wilshere, who was part of Arsenal’s academy coaching set-up under Arteta before moving to Norwich and then Luton Town, said he would like to see his former side get back to a more free-flowing style of football.

‘When Mikel first came in, it was about playing,’ he said ‘It was a big focus on build-up, on finding the free play, and they were really, really good at it.

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‘I think then, as a coach and as a team, you always have to look for ways to evolve, to look for ways to change a little bit how you’re playing, because teams will start to work you out. I thought Mikel’s done that really well.

‘I think over the last few years, there has been a little bit of a change in style, but this is also not just Arsenal, right? You look at City and bringing Haaland in, and how they played into him a little bit more.

‘I remember playing against City in a cup final at Wembley, and then the goalie kicking it over all of us, and Aguero scoring. It’s been around for a while.

‘Mikel has obviously thought that this is the best way to win the league. They’ve fallen short over the last few years against the Liverpool team, against the City team that like to dominate the ball.

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‘And Arsenal couldn’t get it done. He obviously sees this as the way forward. At times, I would like to see them play a little bit more as well.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

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Championship LIVE: Final day latest scores and updates from Premier League promotion race

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Championship LIVE: Final day latest scores and updates from Premier League promotion race

Looking to capitalise on any slip-up from the Tractor Boys is third-place Millwall, who host relegated Oxford as they look to book their place in the Premier League for the very first time. A point behind them is Middlesbrough, on the road at Wrexham with a tough task to end a top-tier exile that has lasted for almost a decade. Only one of those teams can go up this afternoon, with the other two having to pick themselves up quickly for the lottery of the play-offs, where Southampton are already guaranteed a place.

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Naoya Inoue vs Junto Nakatani: Date, start time, undercard and how to watch fight today

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Naoya Inoue vs Junto Nakatani: Date, start time, undercard and how to watch fight today

Arguably the biggest Japanese fight of this generation will take place today, as Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani meet in an undisputed-title clash.

The unbeaten pair will square off in Tokyo, where Inoue puts all the major super-bantamweight belts on the line against his compatriot.

Follow LIVE: Inoue and Nakatani clash in generational super-fight

The bout sees Nakatani (32-0, 24 KOs) fight in a division that is relatively new to him, as the former three-weight champion competes at super-bantamweight for just the second time. The 28-year-old moved up in December, scraping past Sebastian Hernandez Reyes to set up this bout with Inoue.

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Naoya Inoue during his win over Alan Picasso
Naoya Inoue during his win over Alan Picasso (Getty)

On the same night, Inoue (32-0, 27 KOs) outclassed Alan Picasso to uphold his end of the Nakatani deal, which now brings the “Monster”, 33, one of his most-intriguing tests ever.

Here’s all you need to know:

When is the fight?

Inoue vs Nakatani will take place on Saturday 2 May at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. Coverage is due to begin at 10.40am BST (2.40am PT / 4.40am CT / 5.40am ET), with main-event ring walks expected at 1pm BST (5am PT / 7am CT / 8am ET).

How can I watch it?

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The action will stream live exclusively on DAZN, with plans starting at £15.99 per month. The fight card has not been announced as a DAZN pay-per-view event, meaning it is available to any DAZN subscriber.

Latest Odds

Inoue is a heavy favourite with all the major UK betting sites, with Nakatani a best price of 7/2 to emerge victorious.

Inoue – 1/4

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Nakatani – 7/2

Draw – 16/1

Odds via Betfred. The Independent vets betting sites for usability, security and responsible gambling tools. You can claim free bets to use across a range of sports. Please read the terms.

Fight card in full

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Subject to change; ‘C’ denotes champion

Junto Nakatani was put through the ringer by Sebastian Hernandez Reyes
Junto Nakatani was put through the ringer by Sebastian Hernandez Reyes (Getty)
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Naoya Inoue (C) vs Junto Nakatani (undisputed super-bantamweight titles)

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Takuma Inoue (C) vs Kazuto Ioka (WBC bantamweight champion)

Toshiki Shimomachi vs Reiya Abe (featherweight)

Sora Tanaka vs Jin Sasaki (welterweight)

Kosuke Tomioka vs Shogo Tanaka (flyweight)

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Deok No Yun vs Yuito Moriwaki (super-middleweight)

Yoshiki Takei vs Dekang Wang (super-bantamweight)

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Thirteen killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, health ministry says

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Thirteen killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, health ministry says

On 30 April, the US embassy in Beirut suggested a meeting between Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would give Lebanon “the chance to secure concrete guarantees on full sovereignty, territorial integrity, secure borders, humanitarian and reconstruction support, and the complete restoration of Lebanese state authority over every inch of its territory”.

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Jamie Laing reveals awkward sex confession which left wife Sophie Habboo ‘raging’

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Daily Mirror

Made In Chelsea stars, Jamie Lang and Sophie Habboo, who recently became parents to son, Ziggy, discussed their relationship in candid detail with Olivia Attwood

Reality star, Jamie Laing, has made a bombshell revelation about his sex life with wife, Sophie Habboo. The Made In Chelsea stars, who became parents to son, Ziggy, in December, were discussing their relationship with Olivia Attwood on her podcast, Olivia’s house.

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The couple documented their journey to parenthood on Disney + documentary, Raising Chelsea, which was a huge hit with the couple’s Made In Chelsea fans. However, Jamie, 37, has now admitted that the pressure to conceive affected his performance in the bedroom – something wife, Sophie, 32, revealed left her “raging”.

Lifting the lid on the tense time, Jamie said: “For some reason, every part of my being was like ‘don’t do this’ and I was like: ‘What’s going on?’ So, nothing was working.”

“Wait, nothing was working?” shocked host Olivia interjected, as Jamie repeated: “Nothing was working.” Sophie, who met Jamie on Made In Chelsea, then revealed how Jamie’s worries had affected her, admitting: ‘Raging, I was like, you’re f*****g joking, this is f****d…’”

Revealing that the pressure to perform was “so full on”, Jamie continued: “She [Sophie] was like: ‘I’m ovulating’. I was like: ‘How long for?’”

“So the pressure got to you?” Olivia clarified, as Jamie confirmed: “So much pressure, so much pressure. It was like so full on.”

Raising Chelsea follows the couple as they try to conceive before adjusting to pregnancy and eventually becoming parents. For many, the idea of filming such intimate moments, including the birth of your baby, would be out of the question, but for Sophie and Jamie, who have lived so much of their lives on camera, it felt like a ‘natural continuation’.

Speaking to the BBC about deciding to film their pregnancy journey, Sophie said: “People are used to following our journey, so documenting this and having an audience come with us felt really natural and fun.”

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Claiming there were times she ‘forgot the cameras were there’, she continued: “We only had one camera so it was very vlog style and there are lots of times I didn’t know we were even filming.”

Meanwhile, Jamie said the couple made a pact to show the real them in the film, warts and all, sharing: “We wanted to capture everything and I wanted to make sure it was really real so you see everything Even when things happened that were intense we kept it in because we made a deal.

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“There is nothing off limits – I don’t like the idea of a filtered version of ourselves, it’s not true, authentic or real.”

The couple welcomed baby Ziggy on December 4 and shared a snap of the tot’s tiny hand on Instagram while telling their followers how happy and grateful they were to be parents.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

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Inoue vs Nakatani LIVE: Start time, fight stream, latest updates and results

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Inoue vs Nakatani LIVE: Start time, fight stream, latest updates and results

But the headline attraction is in East Asia, where Inoue defends his four belts in the 122-pound division for the seventh time in a super fight. ‘The Monster’, one of the sport’s modern pound-for-pound greats and most formidable knockout kings, can add another exceptional chapter to his remarkable legacy on home soil, though is wary of the challenge posed by Nakatani. ‘Big Bang’ is himself a three-weight world champion who held the unified bantamweight titles before stepping up again in preparation for facing Inoue.

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Top cop warns Jewish people in Britain facing ‘epidemic’ and worst UK threat after string of attacks

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Manchester Evening News

Sir Mark Rowley has spoken out over a torrid rise in antisemitism

The UK’s most senior police officer believes British Jews are now facing their greatest ever threat after a surge of antisemitism in the country. Sir Mark Rowley, head of the Metropolitan Police, says Jews are caught in the middle of a ‘ghastly Venn diagram’ of hate from people across the political spectrum – which he described as an ‘epidemic’.

It comes after a string of horrific attacks – including the Heaton Park synagogue attack, which saw Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby killed in Crumpsall during Yom Kippur last October. In London, a string of arson attacks on Jewish sites over the past six weeks has been followed by the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green earlier this week.

Sir Mark – who has faced criticism from politicians and some members of the Jewish community in recent weeks – says British Jews are facing an outpouring a hate, whipped up by social media. He believes this is now a growing threat to the safety of Jews across the UK, where the terror threat level was raised from substantial to severe on Thursday (April 30).

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Speaking to the Times, Sir Mark said: “Every racist or extremist or terrorist group has a list of people they hate because they all create an ‘other’ who they want to blame everything on and visit everything on. The ghastly fact is that Jews are on everybody’s list, all of those hateful groups, whether you’re extreme right, whether you’re extreme left, whether you’re Islamist terrorist, whether you’re right-wing terrorist, and some hostile states as well now with some sort of Iranian-related threats.

“There’s a ghastly Venn diagram that they’re at the middle of.” The ‘social media-led’ news ecosystem which has developed online means more people are getting their views from ‘non-traditional sources’, Sir Mark said, adding that antisemitism was ‘becoming more and more mainstreamed’.

The Met Commissioner also revealed he has requested urgent funding to recruit 300 officers to protect the Jewish community, with plans for a dedicated group of police to patrol north west London. Sir Mark also defended the two officers who detained the suspect in the Golders Green attack.

In footage shared on social media, the officers appeared to kick the 45-year-old suspect in the head after they had used a Taser to force him to the ground. The Met chief and Sir Keir Starmer were both highly critical of Green Party leader Zack Polanski after he shared a social media post which accused the officers who detained the suspect of acting ‘violently’.

Sir Mark told the Times: “One of the Taser shots has connected but he’s still not giving up the knife. It’s pretty obvious the sort of suspicion they’re going to have that he may have an explosive device.” He said he had spoken to the officers two hours after the incident took place, adding: “It’s very traumatic for them. They’ve got to live with that.”

The Prime Minister had earlier defended the two officers in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme. He told the BBC: “There’s a guy on the ground, he’s got a rucksack on.

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“And I don’t know what was going through the mind of those officers, but if I was there, I’d be thinking, he’s going to detonate something. He’s going to blow me up and everybody around here. In those circumstances, I think you can quite see why what could have gone through their mind is, we need to do whatever we can to disable this guy.”

The Prime Minister also branded Mr Polanski ‘disgraceful’ and ‘not fit to lead any political party’ for reposting the criticism of police officers. The Green leader has apologised for ‘sharing a tweet in haste’.

But Mr Polanski then hit back, saying in response to a clip of the Prime Minister’s interview: “Yesterday in Hastings, in the wake of antisemitic attacks in Golders Green, I faced Nazi salutes. Today the Prime Minister uses his office to attack the only Jewish party leader to score political points.”

Mr Polanski is expected to meet Sir Mark following the local elections on May 7, to discuss matters related to his apology, the Met confirmed. Earlier, the Director of Public Prosecutions warned of a ‘deeply troubling rise’ in antisemitic incidents across the country, as he vowed to use the ‘full force of the law’ against perpetrators.

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Following the Golders Green incident, suspect Essa Suleiman appeared in court on Friday charged with thee counts of attempted murder, including of his own friend before allegedly stabbing two Jewish men, Shloime Rand, 34, and Norman Shine, 76. Suleiman, who was born in Somalia and came to the UK legally as a child in the 1990s, was remanded in custody until the next hearing at the Old Bailey on May 15.

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Everything we know about fire at Trafford Park

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Manchester Evening News

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450 women cared for by North-East perinatal pelvic health

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450 women cared for by North-East perinatal pelvic health

The perinatal pelvic health service (PPHS), based in north-east England, supports women with pelvic floor issues during pregnancy and up to 12 months postnatally.

Pelvic floor dysfunction can cause urinary and anal incontinence, which affects up to two thirds and one quarter of pregnant women, respectively.

Kelly Nixon, perinatal pelvic health specialist midwife, said: “By providing timely, specialist care, our service seeks to reduce the number of women living with pelvic floor problems after childbirth and later in life.

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“These symptoms are common but not normal and many women do not seek help.

“Our service is designed to change that.

“We are open, honest and frank with our patients as we work to resolve their pelvic floor issues.”

The PPHS was launched in June 2025 at University Hospital of North Tees and University Hospital of Hartlepool.

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It aims to prevent, identify, and treat mild-to-moderate pelvic floor dysfunction through early intervention.

The service is delivered by a multidisciplinary team, including specialist midwives, a physiotherapist, and a consultant urogynaecologist.

Patients can access support through weekly telephone assessments, face-to-face clinics, and consultant-led reviews where needed.

Women are referred via their community midwife, GP, or other healthcare professionals.

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The team is also exploring the option of self-referral in the future.

PPHS staff hold monthly meetings with senior midwifery and gynaecology leadership to review and adapt the service based on feedback and emerging needs.

Natasha McManus, senior pelvic health physiotherapist, praised the collaborative effort behind the project.

She said: “We’ve worked hand-in-hand with our maternity colleagues to develop the service.

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“We’re bringing our specialised pelvic physiotherapy skills to the table and want to reassure women that all the support they need is available.

“Pelvic floor problems are common, treatable and not something women have to live with.”

The service is funded by the North East and North Cumbria Local Maternity and Neonatal System.

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Hannah Matthews, head of midwifery, highlighted the contribution of midwifery leadership.

She said: “The success of the perinatal pelvic health service shows what midwives can do.

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“Midwives are clinical specialists and leaders in their own right.

“Working with a team of experts across a range of clinical subjects has resulted in the team developing an incredible new service.”

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