North East stories you may have missed this week

A pet parrot who only recently started to fly was reunited with his owners following a frantic five-day search

A emotional reunion after a pet parrot went missing, two brothers who got caught in a terrifying rip current tell their story and a council struggles to contact about 300 people who had previously reported damp and mould in their homes.

Here are five stories from the north east of England you may have missed this week.

How brothers survived rip current surf terror

Euan and Andrew survived being caught in a rip current

On Saturday 17 May, two brothers got caught in a terrifying rip current at a popular surfing beach in north-east England.

Euan, 21, and Andrew, 19, were among the dozens dotting the breaking blue waves at Longsands that lunchtime.

They hope sharing their experience will save lives.

• Read more about what the brothers are advocating for here

Council struggling to contact 296 mould-hit homes

Newcastle City Council said it had been unable to contact 296 homes

A council says it is struggling to contact close to 300 people who had previously reported damp and mould in their homes.

Newcastle City Council inherited more than 1,800 reports from management organisation Your Homes Newcastle, which was abolished last July.

Of the 491 outstanding cases it still had last month, the local authority said it had now attempted to contact each of the residents affected.

• Read more about the council's pledge to deal with the backlog in damp and mould here

Festival to go ahead after new organiser appointed

The Lindisfarne Festival is due to be held over the last weekend in August

Investors behind the Lindisfarne Festival in Northumberland have appointed its founder, Conleth Maenpaa, to ensure it goes ahead on the last weekend of August.

The decision came after original organiser Wannasee, which was behind numerous festivals in the region, announced it was speaking to liquidators and cancelling other events.

The news has been welcomed by ticketholders and businesses, with headliners at the Beal Farm event set to include Armand Van Halen, Doves and The Waterboys.

• Read more about the plans for the festival here

Lost parrot home after frantic five-day search

Burt, who is about five months old, had only recently started to fly, his owners said

A pet parrot who only recently started to fly has been reunited with his owners following a frantic five-day search.

Burt, an African Grey, who is about five months old, went missing from his home last Thursday, leaving Stephen and Christine Wilkinson devastated.

Mrs Wilkinson said her husband, who has cancer, got her Burt as a companion and they quickly bonded, so it was "total and utter, consuming grief" when he disappeared.

• Find out where Burt turned up here

Sting's gift 'future-proofs' kids' access to arts

The Wallsend-born musician has said access to arts as a young person shaped his "creative development"

An undisclosed amount of money donated by the singer-songwriter Sting will help sustain programmes for children for the foreseeable future, an arts boss has said.

The 73-year-old former Police frontman from Wallsend gifted money to the Baltic Arts Centre in Gateshead but asked that the amount stay secret.

Baltic chair of trustees Kirsty Lang said the gift was "significant" and would help fund programmes for young people at the venue and provide access to "world class contemporary art to inspire".

• Read more about how the money will help here