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...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Durham, In Your Town
RESIDENTS of an east Durham community can now step back in time and see how their village has developed over the past century thanks to the hard work of local enthusiasts and support from their local wind farm. Wheatley Hill History Club successfully applied for...
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...
by Chris Lloyd | Hartlepool, Hartlepool Bombardments, In Your Town, War Stories
Lawrence Reeve sat down to breakfast with his wife Martha and their four children. It was 8am. Lawrence was second-in-command of the War Signal Station at Castle Hill, Scarborough, and had just finished his night duty. It had probably been uneventful. It was 1914 and...
by Chris Lloyd | Hartlepool, Hartlepool Bombardments, In Your Town, Latest, War Stories
In December 1914, the horror of the First World War was visited on three North-East coastal towns in a naval bombardment which lasted less than an hour but which awoke an enduring British fighting spirit. Chris Lloyd reports. IT was a misty morning. Grey and dank....
by Chris Lloyd | Hartlepool, Hartlepool Bombardments, In Your Town, War Stories
ARTHUR Rodgers was there, 92 years ago, when time stopped. “I do remember this, ” he says. “It was near Christmas. There was a lady running away with a cat under one arm and a Christmas cake under the other. I’ve never forgotten that.”...
by Chris Lloyd | Belgian Refugees, In Your Town, Latest, Sedgefield, War Stories
There is a corner of Sedgefield that is forever Belgium. In fact, it is proudly Belgian. The colours of the national flag – black, yellow and red – on top of the headstone are almost as bold and as bright as the day they were placed there nearly 100 years ago. The...
by Chris Lloyd | Bishop Auckland, Latest, People
A book by a former Aycliffe headteacher tells the story of the Fighting Bradfords, four brothers who fought for their country in the First World War. The “Fighting Bradfords” were truly extraordinary: four brothers who between them during the First World War won two...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Sedgefield
A PARISH council is on a mission to restore a village cenotaph in time for the 100th anniversary of the First World War. Although, the war memorial at St Michael’s Church in Bishop Middleham, near Sedgefield, in County Durham, looks in good shape from a distance, in...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Latest, Northallerton
STUDENTS from North Yorkshire will be amongst a party of pupils travelling to Belgium to collect soil from the battlefields of Flanders. Pupils from Northallerton College will joining other students from across the UK in taking part in a special Last Post Ceremony...
by Chris Lloyd | Bedale, Centenary, Latest
A PROJECT to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War is to be launched in North Yorkshire later this month. The Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty will be hosting a drop-in launch event in Masham town hall on November 16 from 10am to noon....
by Chris Lloyd | Darlington, People
With the help of Stephen Erskine, Echo Memories traces the life and death of a Hurworth schoolteacher. LIEUTENANT John Gill Appleby “Died Splendidly!”, according to the headline in The Northern Echo on August 9, 1916. But the death, on the Somme, of this...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington
A RESEARCHER is offering people the chance to find out more about their ancestors who died in the First World War. Researcher Stephen Nicholson has studied the lives of Darlington men who died in the war, including their life before the war and the circumstances of...
by Chris Lloyd | Bedale, Centenary
ROYAL Engineers based in North Yorkshire scaled one of England’s highest mountains to ensure a memorial to heroes of the First World War was restored to its proper place. The team from RAF Leeming, near Bedale, climbed almost 3,000 feet up Great Gable in the Lake...
by Chris Lloyd | Bishop Auckland, People, VC Recipients
To commemorate St George’s Day, Chris Lloyd tells of a George who was born on that day and who fell on that day, giving his life for his country. EARLY in 1918, the Royal Navy requested volunteers from within its ranks for an extremely dangerous mission....
by Chris Lloyd | Darlington, People
EDWARD and James Lyall grew up in Darlington. Their family home was in Vane Terrace; their father’s office was in Northgate; they attended the local grammar school. After these ordinary beginnings, both brothers sought foreign adventure in South America. One was...
by Chris Lloyd | Darlington, People
Two Darlington 19-year-olds took to the air to fight for the country in the Great War. Memories recalls their parallel lives and valiant deaths. John Worstenholm and Harold Easby were born nearly a year apart in Darlington at the end of the 19th Century. In their...
