Tyneside stories you may have missed this week

Jim and Dilys Quinlan are veteran volunteers at Vindolanda in Hexham

Airline Easyjet is to open a new base at Newcastle Airport and the story behind a Geordie who escaped Dunkirk then went on to protect Churchill.

Here are five stories from Tyneside you may have missed this week.

Deliberate fires mean baby owl cannot be released

The owlet was taken to an animal rescue hospital after being found covered in tree sap

A baby owl rescued by an animal charity will have to live without its parents after volunteers found children setting fires near where it was found.

The owlet was discovered covered in tree sap a week ago and had been attacked by crows before volunteers at Pawz for Thought found it and nursed it back to health.

But when they attempted to return the bird to its nest in Cleadon Park, South Tyneside, they found children setting fires under nearby trees and undergrowth.

• Read more about the impact on the owlet here

The Geordie who escaped Dunkirk to protect Churchill

It is 85 years since 330,000 British troops were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk while cornered by the German army in 1940.

Nineteen-year-old Sydney Hetherington from Newcastle was there as part of the guard tasked with keeping the Nazis back while the troops escaped.

He spoke to reporter Anthony Day in 2019.

Victory goddess sandstone carving found in rubble

Goddess Victory, known in Latin as Victoria, was often credited for battlefield success

A sandstone carving believed to date back to about 213AD and representing the Roman goddess of victory has been discovered near Hadrian's Wall.

Dubbed "incredibly significant" by experts, it was uncovered by volunteers in a reused pile of rubble above infantry barracks at the Vindolanda Roman settlement in Hexham, Northumberland.

Victory, known in Latin as Victoria, was revered by the ancient Romans during times of war and was often credited for battlefield success.

• Read more about the carving here

'My plan was to die here, this was my last home'

Nearly 100 older people living in a town's last remaining high-rise block of flats have been told they could lose their homes and treasured community.

Durham Court, in Hebburn on Tyneside, was built in 1974 and is now "beyond its original intended lifespan", South Tyneside Council said.

The 18-storey block needs repairs costing about £12m and, over the years, others in the town have been demolished.

• Read more about the demolition plans here

EasyJet to open airport base five years after exit

The airline will be announcing new routes from Newcastle Airport later in the year

Airline EasyJet is to open a new base at Newcastle International Airport nearly five years after it left the site.

The company said it would open a three-aircraft base at the airport in March 2026, with130 jobs created including pilots, crew and engineers.

The budget airline previously closed three sites in Newcastle, Stansted and Southend in 2020, with the loss of 670 jobs.

• Read about the new base here