by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, York
IT’S a sight not seen for almost a century – and sure to quicken the heart of any aviation enthusiast. The tiny Eastchurch Kitten was an experimental First World War fighter, an interceptor designed to tackle the threat posed by Zeppelins. The prototype first flew in...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington, Hartlepool, In Your Town, Latest
THE sights and sounds of the First World War were brought back to life at the weekend. A living history group evoked the misery of life in the trenches for Darlington residents when they visited the town on Saturday. The Time Bandits, a historical interpretation...
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, In Your Town, Latest, Stockton
VISITORS to Thornaby Central Library are being invited to remember the Great War Centenary at a special commemorative event next week. The library will host Thornaby Needs You on Monday, March 3, for visitors to learn about World War One in a day packed full of drama...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Hartlepool, In Your Town, Latest
LIFE in the trenches of the First World War has been dramatically brought to life to give people first-hand experience of the misery troops faced. The Time Bandits, a group providing historical interpretation and living history and drama, will travel with the trench,...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington, In Your Town, Latest, People
In an unmarked plot in Darlington’s West Cemetery lie the remains of Private Edward Henry Pratt who fought for two years in France, was injured on at least two separate occasions, and eventually died from his wounds in a hospital bed, four months after being...
by Chris Lloyd | Darlington, In Your Town, Latest, People
OF all the terrible consequences of war in the way of personal disfigurement and incapacitation, none can compare with the distress of total blindness, ” began an article in The Northern Echo on March 7, 1916. “Unfortunately, that affliction has affected....
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 | 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,...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Stockton
THOUSANDS of sunflowers will help paint a North-East town gold this summer in tribute to its soldiers who fell in the First World War. Packets of sunflower seeds will be handed out from April, and the flowers will be cut down in August to signify the lives lost...
by Chris Lloyd | Diary of Gunner George James, Durham, In Your Town, Latest, War Stories
IN the faintest pencil amid the mud of the trenches around Ypres, Gunner George James writes his latest observations and experiences into his war diary. FEBRUARY 5, 1916 We have moved our positions owing to the Germans discovering our whereabouts. We have built and...
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 | Centenary, In Your Town, Spennymoor
READERS have been piecing together what happened to the pieces of the stone soldier who once stood atop the war memorial in Tursdale, County Durham. As Memories told last week, he was unveiled on March 25, 1922, in tribute to the 41 men from Tursdale Colliery who had...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Durham, In Your Town, Latest
DURHAM Cathedral is commemorating the centenary of the First World War with a special concert, and it needs the help of Memories readers. the concert starts on March 8, images of the war will be shown on a large screen in the nave. Memories is donating some of the...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Redcar
A PROJECT to commemorate a town’s First World War experiences has received a £10,000 cash boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The Friends of Redcar Cemetery (FORCEM) will use the money to raise awareness of the town’s wartime heritage and develop pride in its...
by Chris Lloyd | In Your Town, People, Yorkshire Dales
Norman was the younger son of William Atkinson Procter and Rebecca Procter of the Manor House, Rylstone. They owned much land in the area as part of the Cracoe Estate and were local benefactors. Norman was educated at Gresham’s School, Holt, in Norfolk, and joined the...
by Chris Lloyd | Bishop Auckland, Catterick, In Your Town, Latest, Spennymoor
THIS is a story of two stone soldiers who once stood proudly in the centres of their communities, keeping alive the memory of the real soldiers who had perished on the battlefield. Laurence Binyon’s famous poem, For the Fallen, says: “They shall grow not old, as we...
by Chris Lloyd | Diary of Gunner George James, Durham, In Your Town, Latest, War Stories
IN the faintest pencil amid the mud of the trenches around Ypres, Gunner George James wrote a diary which is now in the loving hands of his niece, Isabel Field. Memories began serialising his remarkable diary at the start of the year so that we are now in step with...
by Chris Lloyd | In Your Town, People, Yorkshire Dales
In 1891, John Scott, or Jack as he was known, was a two year old, living with his family at the hamlet of Whaw, in Arkengarthdale. His father, James, was a miner in the nearby Arkengarthdale lead mines and had married a local girl, Hannah Caygill. By 1901 the family...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Shildon
A WRITER is to launch his first book which chronicles the history of the North-East railways during the First World War. Rob Langham will launch his book, The North Eastern Railway in the First World War, at Locomotion: the National Railway Museum at Shildon. The book...
