A Newton Aycliffe woman has been promoted to a new executive position with her Darlington-based healthcare company. Amanda Jackson, from Aycliffe, and her colleague Michelle Fenwick both joined Heritage Healthcare, a leading provider of home-based care, as departmental managers in 2008. Amanda, 43, worked as a carer for five years before...

Tom Warke reviews his Album of the Week – The Enemy’s Streets in the Sky… Coventry indie rock band The Enemy, were formed in 2006. The members of the band include Tom Clarke, Liam Watts, Andy Hopkins and Chris Allen. Their first acclaim was by NME who describe them as an act ‘most likely to break your windows’. Throughout their...

By Glen Robertson Newton Aycliffe Spartans put in a much improved performance la but are still looking for their first win in the British Baseball Federation North League AA Division after a double defeat to Manchester Torrent. The Manchester outfit had been the visitors at the first ever home game for the Spartans in mid-April and the...

Police seized drugs with a street value of hundreds of thousands of pounds after they stopped a car in the Ferryhill area this week. Shortly before 6pm on Wednesday, 23rd May, officers stopped the VW Passat for suspected traffic offences as it drove along Encombe Terrace in Ferryhill. While they conducted enquiries with the occupants...

By Martin Walker Newton Aycliffe boss Allan Oliver insists Moore Lane Park is “the place to be” for players who want to enjoy their football, after he secured the signature of popular defender Darren Craddock this week. Craddock, a former Hartlepool United star who signed for his hometown club last summer, has agreed to stay with the...

By Martin Walker A local group of ladies will hold a Queen’s Garden Party in the area this weekend – a week before the official Jubilee! The women, who are set to run the Darlington Race for Life in June, are giving their fundraising a kick-start by organising a Queen’s Garden Party at Heighington Village Hall this Saturday (26th...

By Martin Walker Two students from Newton Aycliffe have been using their design skills to recycle old items into new. Catriona Kitching, 18, (pictured left, above) and 17-year-old Daniel Bolan, both from Aycliffe, have been working hard to make something new from something old ahead of the eco fair in Darlington on Sunday. The BTEC L2...

Former Sunderland star Martin Gray will treat young footballers to a VIP tour of the Stadium of Light as part of an exciting summer coaching course next month. The Martin Gray Football Academy (MGFA) is holding three-day courses in Newton Aycliffe and Sedgefield, culminating with a behind-the-scenes tour of Sunderland’s magnificent...

By Martin Walker A busy crossing in Newton Aycliffe is to receive a £40,000 revamp in an effort to improve safety for school pupils. The zebra crossing on Central Avenue, which links a number of footpaths in the area, is being transformed into a pelican crossing thanks to funding from the Great Aycliffe and Middridge Partnership...

Schoolchildren from Byerley Park Primary School in Newton Aycliffe, a Get Set network school, will form a Guard of Honour to line the route as athletes make their way through the Olympic Park into the Olympic Stadium, for the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. At the start of the Athletes’ Parade, during the athletes’...