by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Latest
FIRE stations across County Durham will pay their respects to the fallen soldiers of the First World War in a co-ordinated commemorative event. On Thursday July 9, the 30,000 Last Post will sound under the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium, to commemorate the war dead. The...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Richmond
Many of the 16 conscientious objectors who were imprisoned in the 19th-century cell block at Richmond Castle left their mark on the walls in the form of drawings and writings. Their graffiti is regarded as a rare visual display of a fascinating aspect of the castle’s...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington, In Your Town, Latest
A workshop focusing on Darlington’s role in the Great War will be held on Tuesday, June 23. As part of the Durham at War project, Darlington’s Crown Street Library will host a session encouraging researchers and historians to uncover the town’s wartime stories. All...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Durham, In Your Town, Latest
THE fate of thousands of British soldiers taken prisoner during the First World War will be revealed by a military historian. Writer John Lewis-Stempel will discuss the fortunes of British prisoners of war during the conflict at a talk taking place at the DLI Museum...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Tyne & Wear
Fulwell Acoustic Mirror’s historic value went unrecognised for many years and its deterioration led to its inclusion on the Historic England – previously known as English Heritage – ‘Heritage at Risk’ register. This triggered a partnership between Sunderland City...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Thirsk
A VILLAGE is set to mark the centenary of a group of soldiers being killed following a shell blast in their trench during a notorious First World War battle. Helperby, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, will stage the commemoration on Saturday, May 2, at 6pm, exactly 100...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Darlington, In Your Town, Latest
A STUNNING red waterfall of knitted poppies is on display at a North-East museum following the completion of a mammoth commemorative project. Darlington’s Head of Steam Railway Museum spearheaded the drive to knit 2,236 poppies to represent each of the North Eastern...
by Chris Lloyd | Darlington, In Your Town, Latest
THE First World War changed the world for women completely. Suddenly, they were catapulted into factories, into trousers and onto the football field. This month’s exhibition in the Darlington Centre for Local Studies in the town centre library charts the changes which...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Hartlepool, In Your Town, Latest
THE Headland at Hartlepool is an exposed place, jutting defiantly into the biting wind blowing off the North Sea. There are long views through white-capped waves down south to Saltburn and up north to Seaham, but today the binoculars chained to the viewing area in the...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Hartlepool, In Your Town, Latest, Scarborough
CHRIS LLOYD tells of the events 100 years ago that literally rocked the nation – the bombardment of the East Coast by German Warships. WHY? PRIMARILY, the Germans wanted to draw sections of the British fleet into the open sea where they hoped to destroy them,...
by Chris Lloyd | Bishop Auckland, In Your Town, Latest, People
BISHOP Auckland had never seen anything like it. The unpolished oak coffin, wrapped in a Union flag, led a procession more than a mile long through the streets to the cemetery. There were so many wreaths and floral tributes that they couldn’t all fit in the funeral...
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, Latest
ADVERTISEMENTS tell us as much about what life was like 100 years ago as any news story, so here we bring you a selection of the adverts that appeared in The Northern Echo this week in 1914. Obviously, the war was uppermost in people’s minds, but they were still...
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, Latest
TO commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, The Northern Echo has turned its front page from August 5, 1914, into a limited edition mug and tea towel. The page reports the previous day’s devastating news that Germany had invaded Belgium and so...
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...
