by Chris Lloyd | Darlington, In Your Town, Latest, People
A Christmas card begins the tale of one of Darlington’s sons, who became the first British soldier to die on the mainland in the First World War. Darlington, December 20, 1904 I hope you spend a HAPPY XMAS. I wish I was coming down to Clacton next summer but I...
by Chris Lloyd | Darlington, In Your Town, Latest, People
ON July 20, 1916, Captain Anthony Eden, the future Prime Minister, wrote from the First World War trenches to John Park, a grocer’s assistant of High Northgate, Darlington. “I have a tragic and at the same time a proud duty to perform in telling you all I can about...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
BARNARD Castle School pupils marked the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War by choosing Journey’s End for this year’s senior play. The play, set in the trenches, showed the hardships of those who fought, and in many cases died, for future generations and...
by Chris Lloyd | Darlington, Latest
THE First World War has a terrible reputation for its industrial slaughter. Men were killed in their tens of thousands by new technology: by rapid fire machine guns or by bombs dropped from flying machines or by shells fired from the first “land...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington, In Your Town, Latest
WITH medals glinting in the sun, veterans and those set to follow in their footsteps marched proudly to Darlington’s cenotaph this morning. Hundreds gathered in the autumn sun to watch a parade wind its way from the Holy Trinity Church to the cenotaph at Darlington...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Richmond
ONE of the region’s leading military museums, which was created from the triumphs and tragedies of the First World War, has timed its reopening to coincide with Remembrance during the centenary of the conflict. The Green Howards Museum, in Richmond, North Yorkshire,...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington, In Your Town, Latest
THE wartime experiences of communities across the Tees Valley are being commemorated with a moving performance. Outdoor, night-time spectacle Homecoming tells the story of the Tees Valley home front during the First World War. The performance – commissioned by a...
by Chris Lloyd | Bishop Auckland, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
PUPILS have shed light on all aspects of the First World War as they mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the conflict. St John’s RC School and Sixth Form College, in Bishop Auckland, has used nearly all subjects on the curriculum to learn about aspects of the...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Spennymoor
THE curiosity of three children about the names on a village war memorial set their father off on a voyage of discovery to learn about the history and people of West Cornforth, in County Durham. Now Andy Denholm’s research is the basis of an exhibition commemorating...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Redcar
TO mark Redcar’s contribution during the First World War, the Friends of Redcar Cemetery have enlightened children and worked on an educational DVD as part of a £10,000 windfall it received from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is aiming to help local people understand...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Hartlepool, In Your Town, Latest
The voice of a First World War soldier, left for us from beyond the grave, has been found on tape in the home of a writer in the region. Chris Webber heard the old soldier and Communist tell his own story. THE words of old soldier Frank Feeney, unheard for 40 years,...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Peterlee
A SMALL agricultural village of only 489 souls in east Durham paid a heavy price during the First World War, with 17 young men making the ultimate sacrifice. And few families could have suffered more than the Orams, who lost three sons to the conflict. “It was very...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Sedgefield
NEARLY 700 schoolchildren from across the North-East entered poems in The Northern Echo’s first poetry competition, and the unenviable task of selecting a winner fell to four Vane Women. They are members of a Darlington poetry group which started meeting 23 years ago...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Durham, In Your Town, Latest
THE story of how hundreds of County Durham men signed up to fight alongside their friends during the First World War is at the heart of a major exhibition about the conflict. Outbreak 1914!, at the DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery, looks at the role played by the...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Thirsk
Stuart Minting examines how a Christian group highlighted contrasting views of how the First World War affected a North Yorkshire market town. FOR members of Churches Together in Thirsk, marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War was about more than...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
A COUPLE have embarked on a poignant pilgrimage to visit the graves of all 25 First World War soldiers listed on a Teesdale war memorial. David and Sandra Pullan have travelled to France and Belgium several times, to pay their respects to fallen soldiers whose names...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Sedgefield
THERE are 29 names on the war memorial at St Michael’s Church in Bishop Middleham, County Durham. Twenty one of these men died in the First World War. In a conflict that claimed the lives of millions of soldiers, 21 may not seem like a great number but for such a...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Durham, In Your Town, Latest
THE centenary of the First World War is being marked in Sherburn Village, near Durham City, by installing additions to its seven-year-old war memorial. Two inscribed granite stones are being placed on either side of the monument, which is next to the community centre....
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington, In Your Town, Latest
The archives of a North-East museum are providing a fascinating insight into the railway workers who gave their lives to help the war effort. Vicki Henderson reports. THE heavy casualties sustained by the North Eastern Railway (NER) during the First World War are to...
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...
