By Martin Walker It certainly wasn’t anything like I expected – and not necessarily in a good way. Stunning performances by Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent aside, The Iron Lady is a sad portrayal of an ageing Margaret Thatcher suffering with dementia, set in the modern day. With insightful flashbacks to her early political years...

Newton Aycliffe FC are on the brink of losing their star players after a chronic lack of business support has left them short of cash. Now their manager is pleading for help from local firms to help him keep his promising young squad together. Northern League first division outfit Newton Aycliffe, who’ve won three promotions in the...

Durham County Council is calling on house builders in the county to cash in on a new national fund designed to give the industry a kick-start. With the deadline for expressions of interest now only a week away the council says it’s important firms big and small get their applications in to the ‘Get Britain Building’ fund. Under the...

By Martin Walker Google the word ‘generosity’ and the first result you’ll see is Wikipedia’s definition of the word. ‘Generosity is the habit of giving freely without expecting anything in return,’ says the web’s free encyclopedia. If only Google could rank people in their results for ‘generosity’, because that’s...

Aycliffe Fabrications starred at an event to showcase the best of ‘Made in Durham’ recently. More than 30 exhibitors celebrated some of the best manufacturing businesses Durham has to offer at Durham County Hall. One of the exhibitors was John Spensley of Aycliffe Fabrications (pictured). “A lot of people have been excited about...

Art lovers in Aycliffe are being invited to a new exhibition which highlights the beauty of the natural world. The new exhibition, which is called The Natural World, is on show at the NeST Gallery in Barnard Castle until March 31. The NeST is the result of the redevelopment of vacant premises by Barnard Castle Vision to form workspaces,...

In 2012 residents of Great Aycliffe will have the opportunity to help shape how our community develops in the next 20 years. Important items on planning, schools, housing, shopping, environment etc will all be reviewed and our needs submitted to the County Council to formulate an overall County Plan. The Town Council will lead a major...

Click on the image to launch the gallery.

Newton Aycliffe is a town in County Durham, England. Founded in 1947 under the New Towns Act of 1946, it is the oldest new town in the north of England. It has a population of 29,000 people (source: Great Aycliffe Town Council, 2007) and is the largest town within the Sedgefield constituency. Within a 10-mile radius are several towns...

Newton Aycliffe – a brief history In more recent times Aycliffe was a key element in World War II ammunitions manufacturing. The marshy land was ideal cover against the Luftwaffe as it was almost continually shrouded in fog and mist. Huge grass covered munitions factories were built and serviced by the nearby railway lines. The factories...