by Chris Lloyd | In Your Town, Latest, Middlesbrough
A TRUE war hero has been honoured 100 years to the day since he showed unflinching courage in the face of the enemy on the battlefield. Tom Dresser was awarded the Victoria Cross during the First World War in 1917 after he bravely crossed no-man’s land – not...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Middlesbrough
A UNIQUE display of knitted poppies is being created to mark a special tribute to a community’s fallen in conflicts from around the world. A carpet of hand-knitted poppies will be installed in front of the war memorial and train station at Nunthorpe, near...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Middlesbrough, People, York
EXACTLY 100 years ago this weekend, two brave local soldiers – one a VC, the other a MC – were killed in the same trench on the Somme. The first to die was Lt George Butterworth of the 8th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, who was the most promising composer of...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington, Durham, In Your Town, Latest, Middlesbrough
A RELATIVE has revealed the fate of two soldiers captured in a rare photograph as they made their way to the Somme – where both would be casualties on the first day of that momentous battle. Jim Whitton of Darlington immediately recognised the image of his great uncle...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Middlesbrough
YOUNG and old turned out to pay tribute to the fallen at a Remembrance Service in Smith’s Dock Park, on Teesside yesterday. The war memorial pays tribute to workers from the former shipyard who lost their lives during the First and Second World Wars. Among the people...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington, In Your Town, Latest, Middlesbrough, Redcar, Stockton
IT was a chance to get away from home at the height of summer, but for the 27 cadets who took part, it was anything but a holiday. TWENTY-SEVEN teenagers from 405 (Darlington), 1869 (Middlesbrough) and 2394 (East Cleveland) squadrons could have had little idea what...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Middlesbrough
WORLD-FAMOUS artist Mackenzie Thorpe told today of his thrill at being asked to produce a commemorative First World War centenary front cover for The Northern Echo. The Middlesbrough-born artist told radio presenter Bob Fischer on BBC Tees it was “music to his...
by Chris Lloyd | In Your Town, Latest, Middlesbrough, People, Redcar
ON August 1, 1918, Captain Arthur Roy Brown, a 24-year-old Canadian pilot, was involved in a dreadful flying accident at Marske airfield, near Redcar. He was plucked from the mangled wreckage, miraculously – but barely – still alive, and sent to the North Riding...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Middlesbrough
STUDENTS at a Teesside college had a lesson in the harsh realities of war when they visited The Somme to mark the centenary of World War One. The students from Redcar & Cleveland College visited the war graves and museums in Belgium as part of their project on the...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Middlesbrough, Northallerton, Redcar, Ripon
ANNE WALL is writing a book about the First World War VAD hospitals of the North Riding of Yorkshire. She has recently uncovered this splendid picture of VAD nurses at Masham, but still would like more information. The Voluntary Aid Detachment, or VAD, was formed in...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington, Hartlepool, In Your Town, Latest, Middlesbrough, Redcar, Stockton
ONE hundred years after the start of the First World War, a 400,000 project will remind residents of the Tees Valley of the sacrifice made by their forebears. The programme, funded with money from the Arts Council, runs until March next year throughout Darlington,...
