by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Crook, In Your Town, Latest, People
THERE is a mountain named after him in Canada and a market square in France – but until recently little was known of First World War hero George Burdon McKean VC in his birth town of Willington. Nine years ago, Allan Newman, of Darlington, helped change this by...
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 | Centenary, Crook, In Your Town, Latest
PUPILS at Wolsingham School have begun a project to commemorate soldiers who lost their lives in one of the biggest battles of the First World War. Students from years nine to 13 will be visiting France in July to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. The 25...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Crook, In Your Town, Latest
ONE of the region’s smallest museums is hoping to make a big impact with its latest exhibition – a moving tribute to the heroes of the First World War. Earlier this year, The Weardale Museum, at Ireshopeburn in Upper Weardale, County Durham, appealed to dales folk,...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Crook, In Your Town, Latest
SERGEANT JAMES GRAHAM performed some extremely brave deeds during the First World War. He’d been awarded the Military Medal, the Croix de Guerre, and he had been mentioned in despatches. But his family did not know why. Over the course of the last one hundred...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Crook, In Your Town, Latest
A SCHOOL whose oak trees were the first memorial to the First World War have planted a new sapling to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the conflict. In March 1918, Wolsingham Grammar School, now called Wolsingham School and Community College, in County...
by Chris Lloyd | Bishop Auckland, Centenary, Crook, In Your Town, Latest
HISTORIANS have launched a two year project to research all their fellow villagers who died during the First World War. Howden-le-Wear History Society has received £8,000 from the National Lottery to create a book about the 30 men named on the village’s war memorial....
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Crook, In Your Town, Latest
A VILLAGE’S memorial clock has been repaired in time to mark the 100th anniversary of the First World War after a fundraising effort by residents. The clock has been restored and reinstated at Westgate Village Hall after villagers raised £15,700, nearly £5,000...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Crook, In Your Town, Latest
ON Tuesday, Howden-le-Wear Local History Society is holding an open evening to discuss the First World War project for which it has just received £8,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The society aims to research the stories of all 30 of the men whose names appear on...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Crook, In Your Town, Latest
A photograph of soldiers lined up at Westgate during the First World War has turned up, much to the delight of village hall officials. They will be able to put it on show when their large war memorial clock is put back in place to mark next year’s centenary of the...
