An extra £700,000 of council funding will be invested in improving the condition of roads around County Durham over the coming year, it has been revealed this week. The cash will increase the local authority’s overall budget for road repairs to £17.2m. But the news comes as figures showed between January and March this year, the...

By Donna Campbell As usual the racing weekend began on the Saturday with many members attending various parkruns around our region with the following achieving PB's. At Sedgefield, Rob Young ran in 21.08 and Jan McLuckie in 36.58. Ian Baronowski then achieved a course PB at Darlington Parkrun in 26.07. Julie Nisbet achieved her course PB at...

Engineering and manufacturing expo Durham Oktoberfest is re-branding as EMCON to reflect 10 years of growth. Over 50 invited delegates from the North East’s business community were told the news at a breakfast launch at Ramside Hall Hotel this morning (Wednesday). The event, which launched in 2008 to give businesses from County Durham the...

More than 96% of children in County Durham will this September go to their first choice primary school – up 1.23% on last year. Of the 5,131 applications received, 4,927 have been given a place at their number one choice, with 128 their second choice and 26 their third. Cllr Olwyn Gunn, Durham County Council's Cabinet member for Children...

A manufacturer which has a base on Aycliffe Business Park has reported an increase in sales, which has enabled the firm to almost lave its operating losses. Formica – which makes laminate products for the residential and commercial sectors from its sites in North Shields and Aycliffe – saw its turnover grow from £64m to £77.5m for the...

It was a mixture of midweek and weekend fixtures with the Aycliffe Juniors teams squeezing games in as they look to fit in the matches lost to the weather. The Under 6’s Development team enjoyed a Friday night joint training session with Sunderland Rokerites on the 3G pitch. There were 13 Aycliffe players involved equally over four mini...

MP Phil Wilson officially opened Acorn Residents Association’s seventh annual petting zoo – with 750 people attending on the day. The event, sponsored by councillors Kate Hopper and Eddy Adam, featured three petting zoos and numerous stalls together with a bouncy castle and other attractions such as Tombola, Facepainting and Professor...

A major development to increase the size of Aycliffe Business Park with a huge 55-acre site, including a pub and restaurant, has taken another big step forward. A developer has been assigned to build Forrest Park, which is said could create more than 3,000 jobs and boost the economy by £495m in little over a decade. As revealed by Aycliffe...

Businesses can now tap into a pool of tech apprentices, with a new talent programme about to produce more than 100 potential new employees designed to bridge a growing digital skills gap in the North-East. RAW Digital Training has teamed up with DurhamWorks to create a new Digital Talent Service, taking unemployed 16-24-year-olds from County...

By Donna Campbell Last weekend saw the rearranged Thirsk 10-mile race take place. This was rearranged from the end of March when bad weather stopped it taking place. Five members participated in this race. Michelle Jane was first back for the club on 1:11:08, Dave Blewitt followed in 1:14:15, Mark Bainbridge 1:18:23,Sandra Collins 1:26:11,...