by Chris Lloyd | Bishop Auckland, Centenary, Darlington, In Your Town, Latest
WE are unlikely to ever see again the dedication to duty and bravery of the North-East brothers nicknamed The Fighting Bradfords, says playwright Carina Rodney about putting the story of the four First World War heroes on stage. The production about the medal-winning...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Shildon
THE family of a soldier killed in the Battle of the Somme have attended a special football match played in his honour. Next month marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Sidney Wheelhouse, who turned out for his home town team of Bishop Auckland at the age of just...
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, Durham, In Your Town, Latest
HISTORIANS are looking for help tracing the identity of First World War soldiers captured on photographs as they waited to go over the top 100 years ago. As the Battle of the Somme raged in 1916, men from the Durham Light Infantry queued to have their pictures taken...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Stanley
THE centenary of the Battle of the Somme is being commemorated at a North-East museum with a weekend of activities. Beamish Museum, near Stanley, County Durham, will remember the soldiers and communities affected by the devastating First World War campaign from...
by Chris Lloyd | Bishop Auckland, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
AN old photograph kept in a biscuit tin has reunited a family. Margaret Eason took the old snapshot of her great uncle Arthur Corner to an open day at Durham County Record Office, which was collecting material for its Lottery-funded Durham At War project. All she knew...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Newton Aycliffe
YOUNGSTERS from the region will be among a national schools delegation travelling to France next month to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. A special service held on Friday, July 1 will include members of the Royal family, veterans, military and...
by Chris Lloyd | Bishop Auckland, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
THE village of Evenwood was on tenterhooks 100 years ago. The whole country had been waiting for nearly two years for the Royal Navy – the pride of the nation – to join the war, and on May 31, 1916, at last it did. It was the largest naval battle in history: 100,000...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Scarborough
HISTORIANS from Germany and Britain have collaborated on what’s believed to be a unique bilingual book about the German bombardment of the East coast in 1914. Scarborough Bombardment, by Dr Jann M Witt, naval historian at the German Naval Memorial, and retired British...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, In Your Town, Latest, Richmond
GRAFFITI which reveals an often-forgotten chapter of the First World War is to be saved from crumbling away to dust. Hundreds of pencil drawings, political slogans, portraits, hymns and poetry were scrawled on the walls of the 19th-century cell block at Richmond...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Crook, In Your Town, Latest
PUPILS at Wolsingham School have begun a project to commemorate soldiers who lost their lives in one of the biggest battles of the First World War. Students from years nine to 13 will be visiting France in July to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. The 25...
by Chris Lloyd | Barnard Castle, Centenary, In Your Town, Latest
A NEW database containing a generation of men who served in the First World War is now available thanks to a major project. The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle is almost two years into a five-and-a-half year project to record details of every soldier from the Teesdale...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Durham, In Your Town, Latest, Peterlee
THE skies above Wheatley Hill were eerily thick with mist as a trio of buglers from the Durham (The Rifles) Company sounded The Last Post shortly after 11am. But, as Father Kenneth Crawford, chaplain to the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) Association, reflected, it was...
by Chris Lloyd | Centenary, Durham, In Your Town, Latest, People
The sacrifice of war was felt most keenly in Bowburn, a community of 200 homes of which 47 endured the pain of losing a loved one. CLARENCE Street – an ordinary terraced street, in an ordinary pit village, but one which paid an extraordinary price during the First...
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...
