Students from Woodham Academy competed in the TE EEP Robotics Challenge at the Caterpillar Centre of Light in Peterlee this month. The event, entered by over 200 schools, was the culmination of three months careful preparation in school. The challenge was to develop and build a robot from scratch before programing it. Students took on a...

Police hope ‘week of action’ will make drivers think twice about using their mobile phones. During a week long campaign in January, a total of 133 motorists were apprehended for using their mobile phones whilst driving – 72 of those were in County Durham and Darlington, with 61 in the Cleveland area. The week of action, carried by the...

By Ron Eyley Tireless charity campaigner Syd Howarth has appealed for people throughout the Aycliffe area to help raise £2.5m to buy two state-of-the-art MRI scanners to improve medical services for patients in the region. The magnetic resonance imaging machines will be sited in Darlington and Bishop Auckland hospitals and replace...

Endeavour Partnership have announced that they will be one of the key sponsor of this year’s ‘Make Your Mark’ awards. The annual event recognises the achievements of companies based at Aycliffe Business Park and will this year be held on March 1st at the Xcel Centre. An independent panel of judges will decide on 10 awards for this...

The wet weather took account for most of the Juniors action with only the Under 8's and 17's having matches played this weekend. The Under 8's have continued to dominate the Durham TJFA Division 2. They have played five games since the Christmas break, winning four and losing just once. Throughout these games the 27 goals scored are testament...

Durham County Council has ‘cleaned up’ at a prestigious national award ceremony, taking home prizes for best local authority and best campaign. The council landed the coveted Local Authority of the Year honour at the Keep Britain Tidy Awards, while its anti-fly-tipping programme Operation Stop It scooped Environmental Campaign of the...

One of Newton Aycliffe’s prominent councillors has used Lego to demonstrate how the Conservative government is taking £1.5 billion of funding from County Durham after its latest round of savings. Durham County Councillor John Clare – well-known to many people from Aycliffe for his flamboyant methods of teaching during his Greenfield School...

Newton Aycliffe train manufacturer Hitachi Rail Europe is recruiting for 150 new roles at its Stoke Gifford depot. The recently built depot is hiring ahead of a new ‘bullet train inspired’ fleet entering service later this year. Hitachi, which is building and maintaining the new InterCity Express trains to run on the Great Western route...

Officers at County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service are seeking to recruit part-time firefighters in the Newton Aycliffe area. The recruitment drive for retained duty system (RDS), or part-time firefighters, has been sparked after two RDS crew transferred to become wholetime firefighters with CDDFRS, one retirement and one RDS...

Some of the region’s biggest employers have been urged to take advantage of the apprenticeship levy, which comes into force in later this year. As from April this year, the way the government funds apprenticeships will change – some employers will be required to contribute to the apprenticeship levy, while there will also be changes to the...