Woodham Sports Academy is currently working alongside local primary schools in an effort to raise the quality of swimming opportunities for primary school children. The national curriculum for schools in England says children should be able to swim at least 25m unaided by the end of primary school. However a recent report by the Amateur...

Newcastle United will begin the 2013-14 season with a trip to Manchester City, while Sunderland will start at home to Fulham. The Premier League and Football League fixtures were revealed at 9am today. The Magpies go to City on Saturday August 17, followed by home games with West Ham on August 24 and Fulham a week later. Sunderland's...

Newton Aycliffe captain Sean Tarling admits it was a "huge wrench" to leave his hometown club this summer after joining local rivals Bishop Auckland. The loyal Newtonian spent the previous five years at Moore Lane Park and last season notched his 150th appearance for the club after playing a major role in the side's rapid rise through the...

Newton Aycliffe have made their second move of the summer as attacking midfielder Christian Selby has signed for the 2013-14 campaign. The 20-year-old former Hartlepool academy prospect has followed goalkeeper Dan Molyneux from Billingham Town. Selby, who can also play up-front, started his career with Pools before having spells at...

By Martin Walker Newton Aycliffe skipper Chris Palmer racked up his third half-century of the NYSD League season as his side sailed to victory at the weekend. Aycliffe's first XI beat Blackhall's second XI by seven wickets as captain Palmer notched up an unbeaten 55 to move up to third in the club's all-time senior runs aggregate list,...

Crime in Newton Aycliffe has been slashed by more than a third, according to new statistics. Figures published by the town's Neighbourhood Police Team show the number of reported incidents dropped from 219 in April and May 2012, to just 139 in the same two months this year, representing a 37% reduction. The statistics showed impressive...

By Martin Walker Aycliffe Today understands seven major construction firms have been shortlisted to be awarded the main contract for Hitachi Rail Europe's £82m train-building facility in Newton Aycliffe. We understand two of them are from the North-East, with three London-based companies also in the running along with two from the...

An Ethiopian asylum-seeker won the Newton Aycliffe 10K at the weekend after running nearly half of the course with only one shoe. Paralympian Wondiye Fikre Indelbu had to kick off a shoe after 6k after it worked loose and was unable to re-tie his lace as he only has one hand. But the 25-year-old Middlesbrough-based runner still managed...

Newton Aycliffe were dealt a further blow ahead of the 2013-14 campaign as rivals Bishop Auckland swooped for two of their prize assets. Captain Sean Tarling, 27, and 22-year-old goalkeeper Scott Pocklington have agreed to switch to the troubled Heritage Park club, following defender Darren Craddock out of Moore Lane Park after he left the...

A Newton Aycliffe man has appeared in court after stealing a packet of biscuits and a milkshake! As reported by NPT Sergeant Mark Edwards in his regulae blog on Aycliffe Today, Ross John Porter, 25, from Aycliffe, was convicted at the town's Magistrates' Court on 4th June for theft of biscuits and a milkshake from the Co-Op on Neville...