THE GIGA POLL TRUTH IN NUMBERS

WHEN community leader Sacha Bedding sent me some photos of Hartlepool's Dyke House estate at first I thought they were of a riot.

- BY ROS WYNNE-JONES

Union flags hung outside a church, and a woman holding a red flare caught my eye.

At the moment he'd sent them, I'd just returned from reporting on the protests at the Bell Hotel in Epping. This year has been the summer of flags - and I'd seen enough for one day. Then I noticed the child in the Union flag bowler hat and the trestle tables, and realised Sacha was sending a positive image.

"That was our Jubilee street party," Sacha told me. "More than 300 people having a great time. It was such a good day!"