by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Ferryhill, In Your Town, Latest, Spennymoor
THERE were gasps of amazement and a round of applause as the curtain dropped on a breath-taking display of almost 20,000 knitted poppies on Saturday. More than 100 people gathered in West Cornforth, near Ferryhill, to witness the grand unveiling of 19,240 handmade...
by Chris Lloyd | Ferryhill, In Your Town, Latest
THE boys and men who left County Durham to serve in the First World War, never to return, will each be represented on a community’s remembrance poppy display. Army veteran and genealogist Andy Denholm originally hoped to gather 6,353 handmade poppies for a...
by Chris Lloyd | 1916 Centenary, Centenary, Ferryhill, In Your Town, Latest, War Stories
YOUNGSTERS in County Durham are learning how the everyday lives of children their age were affected as the First World War raged in Western Europe a hundred years ago. As the men of the Durham Light Infantry laid down their lives in the fields of France, families on...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Ferryhill, In Your Town, Latest
A YOUTH performing arts group will commemorate the centenary of the First World War by staging an original musical in one of the region’s most historic landmarks. Enter CIC, based in Ferryhill, County Durham, will perform Home Fires at Auckland Castle in Bishop...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington, Ferryhill, In Your Town, Latest
THE centenary of the First World War has inspired an Army reservist to transform a short story he wrote for a competition 15 years ago into a novel. Steven Corner was awarded third place in the Sid Chaplain short story competition run by Shildon Town Council when he...
by Chris Lloyd | Ferryhill, In Your Town, Latest, People
HAVING been badly injured twice down Mainsforth Colliery, Joseph Weston decided to join up in 1917. Then, instead of being injured by the enemy, he found himself subjected to the torture of Field Punishment Number One by his own side. “I used to ask him questions and...
by Chris Lloyd | Ferryhill, In Your Town, Latest
THERE is one First World War grave in St John’s churchyard in Kirk Merrington. The pale grey Portland stone headstone says it belongs to Rifleman E Roberts, of the Royal Irish Rifles, who died on November 18, 1915, aged 32. Memories 149 wondered aloud about his...
by Chris Lloyd | Ferryhill, In Your Town, Latest, People
Ferryhill History Society has raided its archives once again to produce a calendar for the new year. One of its May pin-ups is Lance Corporal Arthur Dixon, who is pictured on a makeshift dais in the Market Place in 1916 being presented with a bravery medal. LANCE...
