County Durham has today launched its bid to be named UK City of Culture 2025 – with the hope the accolade will provide a major boost for the whole North-East region. The initial bid is being submitted by Durham County Council on behalf of Culture Durham, a partnership of organisations, including Beamish Museum, Durham Cathedral, Durham...

The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) this week gave Durham Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen two national lead roles. The APCC has appointed Allen joint lead for environment and sustainability and alcohol and substance misuse, and deputy lead for road safety and emergency service collaboration. PCC Allen says...

Great Aycliffe Town Council is putting £100k from its vast reserves aside for a new Covid recovery fund. The local authority said it made a “substantial saving” on its revenue budget last year and a significant proportion of the surplus was made up of ‘one-off’ savings that came about directly as a result of the Coronavirus...

Library members can record story times with their children through a new free digital storytelling service. County Durham Libraries, run by Durham County Council, has teamed up with Featherbed Tales to bring a new kind of storytelling where readers can record themselves as the narrator. As the second only library provider in the UK to start...

Year 10 hospitality and catering students at Woodham Academy had a virtual visit from the FUN: Healthy Chinese Cuisine Ambassadors. The morning consisted of an online talk on Chinese food and culture. Following the presentation, students then ventured into the brand-new food room where they had a fun practical session making Hoisin...

Aycliffe Business Park tech firm Excelpoint has announced further growth with the appointment of Gary Swinburn as partner development manager. Gary will drive the successful delivery of global business partnerships, formalise contractual agreements, and have responsibility for the day-to-day management of partnerships. He will be tasked with...

Greenfield students united the whole school as they showed their support for the LGBT+ community both within the school and in the wider community. The day raised valuable funds and ensured that students were given a voice to raise awareness. The day involved the whole school with musical performances, stalls and fundraisers popping up...

By Paul Dalton We start this week’s report at the Lakeland Trails 55K Ultra race, which took place on Saturday, July 10. The race, which doubled as the British Athletics Championships, takes runners through some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the Lake District, and includes three mountain passes and 7,000ft of ascent (and, more...

A local MP has praised the work of a major local employer after visiting their huge site in Newton Aycliffe. Sedgefield MP Paul Howell was impressed by the state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities at Gestamp Tallent on Aycliffe Business Park. The original company was formed in 1948 by Roy Tallent and it manufactured fancy goods and traded...

Newton Aycliffe will host Thornaby in the Emirates FA Cup and will travel to take on Campion in the Buildbase FA Vase opening rounds. The extra preliminary qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup will see Aycliffe welcome fellow Ebac Northern League Division One side Thornaby to the Beaumont Landscapes Stadium on Saturday, August 7. The...