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,...

Thrive Marketing’s Rachael Farley with some useful business advice... Personalising your browser with Google Chrome extensions is a great way to boost productivity. Whether you need to prioritise your workload in a visual way or remove any distractions, we’ve sifted through the best extensions so you don’t have to. It’s time to...

An exciting new approach which aims to maximise the value of every pound spent on health and social care and improve lives for residents in the county has been agreed. Described as ‘bold and ambitious’– the approval for a new approach to providing people with access to health and social care services aims to deliver better value for money...

Newcastle Benfield 1, Newton Aycliffe 0 By Dave Strickland Newton Aycliffe came away from Newcastle Benfield wondering how they lost 1-0 on Monday night. They dominated much of the play, but had no luck and appeared to be robbed of a good goal right at the end. Benfield went into the game in fine form, but were insipid on the night, as...