Newtonians are being asked to check for changes to their refuse and recycling collections over Christmas. Bins will be emptied as normal up to and including Friday 21 December, with the following changes over Christmas and New Year. Normal collection day Revised collection day after Christmas Revised collection day after...

A Shildon man narrowly avoided jail after stealing a bottle of Rum from Aldi in Newton Aycliffe. Barry Snowball, 34, of Naple Road in Shildon, appeared at the town’s Magistrates’ this week charged with theft, and two breaches of a restraining order. He was issued with a two-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and a 28-day...

Newton Aycliffe's final home game of 2012 has been called off due to a waterlogged pitch. The Newtonians were due to host bottom side South Shields today, but after persistent rain since Wednesday, the Moore Lane Park pitch has been left flooded. Aycliffe's final match of the year will take place on Boxing Day at Heritage Park, as Allan...

By Martin Walker A Newton Aycliffe woman at the centre of an alleged iPad scam was due in court this morning. Dozens of Newtonians are out of pocket after “cut-price” iPads and iPods failed to turn up. The alleged con is said to have cost people from Aycliffe alone thousands of pounds. Aycliffe police charged a 36-year-old...

By Martin Walker Newton Aycliffe design specialists have helped to replicate 11th century manuscripts into stunning new panes of glass at one of the region’s biggest tourist attractions. Aycliffe-based Echo Graphics joined forces with Creative Glass, of Stockton, to produce the six-foot tall semi-circular windows, costing a total of...

By Martin Walker Newtonians are reminded that the town’s library will open less from the New Year as part of Durham Council’s huge cost-cutting measures. The authority must save around £190m – and reducing library opening hours will enable it to shave £1.457m a year. Aycliffe will only suffer a reduction of 12 hours over the...

French language students from Woodham Academy spent a fabulous day at Newcastle University learning about the benefits of studying a foreign language. The Year 10 students were inspired by a keynote speech from Alan Bell, chief starter at the London 2012 Olympics, who extolled the value of language skills in his role and his love of...

Newton Aycliffe look to mark their last home game of 2012 with a vital victory against South Shields. The Newtonians undid their hard work of beating Darlington and Penrith in successive victories with a poor 3-1 defeat in the return fixture with the Cumbrian side on Wednesday night. It leaves the Royal Blues needing to beat bottom-club...

Our panel of three Aycliffe ‘experts’ give their predictions for this weekend’s game… One point is award for the correct result (win, lose or draw), and three points are awarded for the correct scoreline. Glen hit the money shot last week by picking 3-1 in the visit to Penrith, to stretch his legs. New panellist Dan Lewis,...

By Glen Robertson Newton Aycliffe crashed to a disappointing 3-1 defeat at home to Penrith on a miserable night under the floodlights at Moore Lane Park. The Newtonians never got going and suffered a reverse of the scoreline in Cumbria at the weekend, as Aycliffe were sucked back into the relegation scrap. The visitors took the lead...