Paper review: Stroke city and tributes to farm death teenager

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NEWS LETTER

Derry, Londonderry, Legenderry? Could we be seeing this on road signs to the maiden city? Well maybe not the last one.

An SDLP MLA is calling for just that, The Irish News reports.

Mark H Durkan has proposed that both Derry and Londonderry should be used on road signs for the A6 upgrade.

He points out that road signs using only Londonderry are often vandalised.

The former environment minister wrote to Department for Infrastructure (DfI) saying his proposal was "practical and non contentious".

The DfI said the name Londonderry was already on existing signs and "therefore this is the name that will be used".

The News Letter leads with a tragic front page - a tribute to an "aspiring mechanic" who was killed while on work experience on Tuesday.

Neil Graham, 18, was killed in an incident involving a tractor on a farm in County Fermanagh.

His mother Joy Graham said her "lovely, caring" son had "everything going for him".

The paper reports that it is a second tragedy for Mrs Graham who lost her brother in an IRA gun attack in 1984.

Image source, PA
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A source from the Labour party said no snub was intended

The Belfast Telegraph says that the leader of the Labour party has been accused of a snub.

Jeremy Corbyn has been "slammed" after it emerged he would not be meeting IRA victims on his first visit to Northern Ireland as leader of his party, the paper reports.

Mr Corbyn has faced criticism over his past dealings with Sinn Féin, including the decision to meet the party at Westminster in the 1990s, before the ceasefire.

He has also said the IRA's actions were "completely wrong" because they killed civilians.

DUP MP Gregory Campbell, who issued an invitation to meet victims of IRA violence 10 days ago, says he must hear their views.

The paper quotes a source who says no snub was intended, that his visit had been planned for some time and Mr Campbell's request came in at a late stage.

Image source, Charles McQuillan
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Bonfires are built across Northern Ireland as part of Eleventh night celebrations

More than £50,000 of ratepayers' funds went towards clearing bonfire pallets, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

Belfast City Council disposed of 2,500 pallets from the Bloomfield Walkway bonfire in east Belfast and 300 from the Hope Street bonfire in the south of the city last May.

The pallets were then stored in the council-owned Beechvale Farm, before some of the material was stolen.

According to the newspaper, there had originally been an agreement that the pallets would be returned, but as the unofficial deal came to light the council took the decision to dispose of the material.

A camogie club has pulled out of sponsorship with a republican prisoners' group, The Irish News reports.

The Felons Club in west Belfast says it suspects the decision to end the sponsorship deal with Antrim Camogie was down to some objections to its involvement.

"They said they'll give us our money back...but we want to know the real reason," says chairman Gerry Scullion.

Antrim Camogie told the paper it had no comment to make.

Shaggy dog story

Image source, Getty/tommy_martin
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Rosie from Limavady (not pictured) put on a "sparkling display" at a sale in north Yorkshire

A sheepdog selling for £7,000?

It might seem a little far-fetched, but Rosie the sheepdog had her day at the Skipton Auction Mart in Yorkshire and sold for a premium price.

The News Letter reports that Shannon Conn, a 16 year-old schoolgirl from Limavady, trained Rosie along with her father, Loughlin.

While she missed out on the sheepdog spring sale in North Yorkshire, her father put on a "sparkling display" and sold Rosie for 6,800 guineas (£7,140).

Ms Conn says she was "over the moon" with her top prize coup and plans to invest part of her share in buying some well-bred sheepdog and go for a second round at Skipton.