A landmark deal has been signed by Durham Constabulary and County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service. The “Statement of Intent” sets out the two organisations’ intentions to work more closely together and to enhance co-operation and collaboration. They hope this will further improve the already excellent service they provide...

Details of how County Durham could support the national response to the Syrian refugee crisis will be put before councillors next week. Members of Durham County Council’s Cabinet will be asked to consider proposals setting out the level of support that could be offered to people fleeing war-torn Syria. The proposals have been developed by...

After the success of the Cree Lodge at Greenfield Arts’ Winter Wonderland last month, Cree volunteers decided to spread the sparkle and warmth to the Greenfield Community College Sunnydale Campus in Shildon. They worked tirelessly in the wind and rain, with the help of production manager Richard Agar, to prepare the metal structure, which...

Residents eligible to vote in County Durham will be asked for their views on the North East’s devolution agreement via a postal vote next month (January 2016). A pack, including information on the agreement from Government to the North East Combined Authority, and questions, both prepared by Durham University, together with detail on how to...

Newton Aycliffe play North West Counties side Atherton Collieries in the third round proper of the FA Vase this Saturday (12th December). Aycliffe made it to the last 64 of the national competition with a thrilling extra-time win at Colne in Lancashire. That came after a first round win at Chester-le-Street (pictured above) in...

Music fans in Newton Aycliffe enjoyed a celebration of Christmas in Aycliffe town centre on Saturday. Despite the terrible weather, around 100 spectators cheered on three former X Factor contestants during Saturday’s party. Kerrianne Covell closed with a cracking cover of Maria Carey’s "All I want for Christmas" which went down...

Here are a selection of pictures taken by local photographer Dave Stocks at Saturday's celebration of Christmas in Aycliffe town centre at the weekend... ...

Fire Control for County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service took almost 250 calls this weekend resulting in more than 200 emergency responses. These responses involved all 15 stations across the Service area at some stage between Friday morning (4 December) and Monday morning (7 December). The Dales area (Stanhope, Barnard Castle...

Another wet week limited some of the games but Aycliffe Junior’s teams still managed some great performances over the weekend. The Under 7’s game was lost to the wet conditions but the Under 8’s faced Trimdon on the 3G pitch at Sunnydale. A slow start led to Lucas having to pull off a great save to keep the game at 0-0. Aycliffe then took...

Staff at a Newton Aycliffe printing firm have been laid off just three weeks before Christmas. Company bosses at Addo Printing on Aycliffe Business Park, which bought out the crippled HPM Group just over a year ago, say the future is “unknown” after all employees were made redundant on Wednesday. Addo managing director Keiran Bayley has...