by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
A STORY of one man’s war will be brought to life to mark the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele. Highlights Rural Touring Scheme and Blaize Theatre Company will present Standing in Line at the Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (UTASS) centre in...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Crook, Durham, In Your Town, Latest
WARTIME graffiti buried deep beneath a French battlefield has been unearthed 100 years after it was written by North-East soldiers. Pen and pencil messages scrawled on tunnel walls by Durham Light Infantry soldiers during the First World War has been discovered by...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Centenary, Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Durham, In Your Town, Latest
MORE than 50 memorials commemorating fallen soldiers across the region have been listed to mark the centenary of the First World War. As the country falls silent today (November 11) to honour Armistice Day and reflect on those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, war...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
A SOLDIER dubbed the real-life Saving Private Ryan after he was brought home from the First World War when his five brothers were killed will be commemorated during a special service next week. Wilfred Smith, of Barnard Castle, County Durham, was the only surviving...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
A NEW database containing a generation of men who served in the First World War is now available thanks to a major project. The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle is almost two years into a five-and-a-half year project to record details of every soldier from the Teesdale...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, In Your Town, Latest, People
POSTMAN George Thorn was due to be away from home for a fortnight in 1914 when he did his annual stint as a naval reservist. But when war was declared in August he was on board the battleship HMS Caesar – so right away he became a full time gunner in the Royal...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
BARNARD Castle School pupils marked the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War by choosing Journey’s End for this year’s senior play. The play, set in the trenches, showed the hardships of those who fought, and in many cases died, for future generations and...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
A COUPLE have embarked on a poignant pilgrimage to visit the graves of all 25 First World War soldiers listed on a Teesdale war memorial. David and Sandra Pullan have travelled to France and Belgium several times, to pay their respects to fallen soldiers whose names...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, People
GEORGE WALTON, a 37-year-old quarry worker who was married with five children, set an example to other men when he became one of the first in Upper Teesdale to sign up for service in the First World War. But it cost him his life, leaving his wife Sarah Jane to grieve...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
IF you’re passing through Barningham it would be easy to overlook one of the most compact commemorations of the First World War. Nestled behind bushes in a historic green former phone box, artist John Hay has transformed what has been dubbed the world’s smallest...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, People
A COMPLETE story can now be told about all 24 postal workers listed on a roll of honour after serving in the First World War. The final one is now known to be Stanley James Clarkson, who was a postman and grocer’s assistant at Cotherstone before going off to the war...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Richmond
HUTTON MAGNA is a little place on which the First World War had a big impact. One hundred years ago, it and its neighbour, West Layton, comprised 55 houses. Even in those overcrowded days, the population of the two villages cannot have been more than a few hundred....
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
THE family of a soldier brought home from the First World War after his five brothers were killed has expressed a mixture of pride and sorrow after learning the poignant story is to be told as part of the centenary anniversary of the conflict. The story of the Smith...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
TOWN councillors in Barnard Castle have agreed to work alongside officials at The Bowes Museum on an ambitious project to complete a roll of honour listing everyone from Teesdale who served in the Great War. Members pledged £845 towards the cost of staging two launch...