By Martin Walker Allan Oliver says Aycliffe are “as ready as we’ll ever be”, with just four days to the start of the new Ebac Northern League season to go. Aycliffe begin the 2012-13 campaign in the extra preliminary round of the FA Cup with Budweiser this Saturday, at home to Barrow-in-Furness side Holker Old Boys at Moore Lane...

A new initiative to get young people and families involved in local activities will be showcased in a new marquee at this year’s Great Aycliffe Show. The Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP) through the Sedgefield Health Network is involved in a new initiative involving organisations such as Great Aycliffe and Middridge Partnership (GAMP),...

A range of activities for young people continue during the school holidays, and there’s more on Wednesday. Durham Council’s Extended School Services, working in partnership with Great Aycliffe and Middridge Partnership (GAMP) have produced a leaflet listing more than a hundred activities for youngsters in Aycliffe during the school...

EXCLUSIVE by Martin Walker England rugby legend Rob Andrew MBE will visit Aycliffe Sports Club this weekend to help celebrate a fundraising testimonial match. Aycliffe Rugby Club have organised the special game as a gesture to player-coach Bob Malvern, whose select XV will take part in a charity testimonial match to mark his retirement...

Brodie Millichap picks out this week’s TV highlights... Five Picks of the Week CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Tuesday 9pm, Channel 5. The team are set the task of investigating the death of a driver who died after an explosion in a desert race. As the CSI’s begin to draw up a list of suspects, they are thrown a curveball when they...

By Martin Walker MP Phil Wilson says two exciting developments for the town will mark the beginning of a brand new era for Newton Aycliffe. Mr Wilson, the Labour MP for Sedgefield, led a successful campaign to bring Hitachi Rail Europe’s Intercity Express Programme to Aycliffe last month. The £4.5bn deal will bring almost 1,000...

Newton Aycliffe completed their pre-season programme with a 1-0 win at home to Blue Square North side Harrogate Town. Click here to read our Match Report See Colin McNeillie’s gallery of action pictures from the game below. ...

By Martin Walker Holiways Ford are said to be holding a crunch board meeting on Monday to decide its future, Aycliffe Today understands. A source from within Holiways has told us Barclays Bank has called in a £1.6m debt hanging over the troubled firm. And we’re told a top-brass meeting on Monday will determine whether they carry...

By Martin Walker The owner of Newton Aycliffe’s new clothes shop says it’s about time men and women could buy designer labels on their doorstep. Mark Shepherd opened Boola, Aycliffe’s newest clothes shop for men and women, just a fortnight ago. The lifelong Newtonian, who went to Woodham School, wants to provide the fashionable...

By Martin Walker Newton Aycliffe’s town centre manager says he understands residents’ scepticism around the long-awaited development of the shopping centre. Bryan Haldane is employed by the town centre management, and is delighted to see Aldi’s proposed new £1.5m store starting to take shop – it’ll be open for Christmas this...