Durham Magazine - October / November 2017 by Durham Magazine

DURHAM Magazine

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re behind local history

Photo By - Wayne Laidler

October / November 2017 - Issue 16

DURHAM

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Editorial - October / November 2017

Welcome

Dear Durham Readers,

Thanks for picking up your free copy of the Durham Magazine. The most common question we get from readers is, “are you part of the local council”? No, we’re a completely independent magazine published by County Durham based company, Firefly New Media. Unlike other media outlets, we aim to bring you nothing but locally focused positive news. The magazine is now in it’s 16th issue and we’d like to thank everyone who has contributed their story, emailed us, called us, advertised in the magazine, written to us, or picked up a magazine. You are the reason we continue to publish Durham Magazine! In this edition, we cover the annual hedge laying competition organised organised by Durham Hedgerow Partnership and supported by Trees Please, is a celebration of one of the key skills of British farming and land management. Learn about the

Derwent Valley Poet on page six, get prepared for the festive season with custom printing from Firefly on page seven, we’re gearing up for the Lumiere Festival on page eight, and check out how to apply for subsidised broadband internet with the £34 million Digital Durham initiative on page eleven.

As you can probably already tell, we bring you positive stories about the Durham area, and encourage local people to get involved and contribute their stories, news, events, photographs, and anything else that matters to them. If you’d like to get published, just email us at editor@durhammagazine.co.uk and send us your story or photographs. Warmest regards, Barry Kirkham, Marco Elsy, And the entire Durham Magazine team

Contributors Brian Harrison Wayne Laidler Neil Collins David Sunderland Alex Nelson Glenn Maltman Roger Langley Any Potts Emily Middlemas

Content and advertising team Barry Kirkham Marco Elsy Firefly New Media UK

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Disclaimer: Durham Magazine and durhammagazine.co.uk make sure to only use reliable sources and we try to verify all content as much as possible. We cannot accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions. All details are believed to be correct at the time of printing. We recommend that readers check information with any venue about times and dates of events in advance. Readers are welcome to send photographs, letters and other content to Durham Magazine and Firefly New Media UK but we cannot guarantee they will be featured in the publication. Firefly New Media UK reserves the right to neither use submitted material in print and online publications nor return it. The views and opinions expressed in advertisements and content do not reflect that of Durham Magazine and Firefly New Media UK. No part of this publication/website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from Firefly New Media UK. Permission is only deemed valid if approval is in writing.

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Ancient craft showcased in annual hedge-laying competition People are being invited to take part in an annual competition which celebrates the ancient craft of hedge-laying. This year’s hedge-laying competition takes place at Woodlands Hall Farm in Knitsley, Consett on Friday, 13 October and people are also being encouraged to come and see the skilled competitors showcase their work.

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The competition, organised by Durham Hedgerow Partnership and supported by Trees Please, is a celebration of one of the key skills of British farming and land management and aims to raise awareness and promote good practice in the techniques of field boundary management as well as

encouraging interest and participation in this artisan countryside craft. It is free to enter and has three categories – open, intermediate and novice – where competitors will hone their cutting, staking and binding skills to lay approximately seven metres of hedge over the course of the day. Those finishing first, second and third in each class will receive prize money, with an overall winner also declared. Spectators are encouraged to come along and witness an overgrown, mature hedgerow being transformed by professionals – including national and supreme champions – cutting different regional styles into a work of

art that is valuable wildlife habitat. Cllr Ossie Johnson, Cabinet member for tourism, culture and leisure issues, said: “Hedge-laying is essential to preserving and regenerating existing hedges and competitions like this are helping to keep alive an art that could easily dwindle and disappear. “It is enormously satisfying to watch a craftsman with a neat slice from a billhook and a thump or two from a mallet turning a scraggly, thin row of trees into a neat, dense network of living branches.” For more information about the event and to enter, please email landscape@durham.gov.uk

Don’t Fall Victim to a

Winter Holiday Burglary So in the spirit of National Home Security Month, we’ve pulled together some tips to help you keep your home secure and prevent a burglary whilst you’re away.

As it gets colder, our thoughts turn to our next holiday. Where can we go that’s sunny and warm?

Keep valuables out of sight Burglars will weigh up the pros and cons of breaking in, so if they can see plainly that you have something valuable, then they’re more likely to break in.

Unfortunately, it’s then that burglars come crawling out of the woodwork. When homes are left empty and shrouded in darkness, burglars can take their pick.

Light up your home Burglars use the cover of darkness to break in, with 60% of burglaries happening between the hours of 6pm and 6am. Use security lights, outdoor lights or just give the hedges a trim to make sure that any burglar will feel exposed. Upgrade your security measures CCTV and alarm systems are deterrents to burglars. Just make sure that they’re visible, and you could prevent your home from being burgled. Double check that you’ve locked all doors and windows It might seem like an obvious point, but lots of burglars

While you’re gone: Use a light timer Again, another simple solution, but a light timer gives the illusion that you’re at home, and not on a sunny beach with the sand between your toes. Most burglars want to avoid confrontation, so this will make them think twice. Ask a trusted friend or relative to check in on your home To avoid signs of an empty home, ask someone you trust to pop in regularly to water plants and tidy any build-up of post. Don’t advertise on social media that you’re not home Of course, everyone wants to show off their fancy hotel and their sea view, but this just advertises that your home is left empty and vulnerable to burglars.

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It’s a well-known fact that burglaries peak in winter. Add that to the fact that research by safe.co.uk has found that nearly a third of north easterners don’t have any home security in place before they leave for holiday, and you’ve got yourself a tasty recipe for a winter holiday burglary. Imagine coming home from a lovely relaxing holiday to find your home broken into and your valuable possessions gone?

Before you go:

waltz in through unlocked doors. Popping out to the shop may seem like seconds but it’s enough for a burglar to nip in and take the car keys, your handbag or that package you’ve just had delivered.

Your Free October / November 2017 Durham Magazine

The trees have turned from green to orange and will soon go bare, and the nights are getting darker and darker.

Joshua Lax – The Derwent Valley Poet - By Brian Harrison

JOSHUA LAX

– THE DERWENT VALLEY POET

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Joshua Lax was born in High Pittington in the parish of Hallgarth, County Durham on the 17th September 1834 the son of George Lax a Pitman and later a Grocer and his wife Margaret. He showed remarkable intelligence from a young age reading and studying when ever he found the time. As most boys of his day he was sent out at the age of 11 to find work. Initially sent to Consett to live with one of his brothers he spent a few years here prior to his brother emigrating to Australia. He returned to Pittington but once again found himself in new employment on the local farms and estates. Joshua continued his avid joy of books and learning and educated himself in his spare time. In1849 he began working as a Coal Miner in Pittington, joined a few years later by his younger brother John. However, his diligence soon paid off. At the age of only 18 and after

working through numerous lower positions he so impressed his employer that he was placed in charge of dozens of his fellow workers on the lower management rung. Joshua grew restless and unchallenged so when his older brother returned from Australia it gave him the boost to move on. The two backed up and travelled to Illinois in the United States. He lived and worked there for 8 years, revelling in the culture and the new experiences. Unfortunately Joshua became unwell and decided to return home in 1862. His travels continued for a further 2 years throughout England and Scotland eventually settling in Shotley Bridge, a place he would soon come to love and cherish. He very quickly made a name for himself both as a writer of poetry and also being a shrewd business man. By 1871 he was recorded on the census as being an

“Ironmonger employing 1 man”, but he had also made in roads into the local business community. In 1874 Joshua met and married his wife Miss Anne Elizabeth McKeeth only daughter of John McKeeth of Villiers Street, Sunderland. Joshua's appetite for both business and local standing grew and he soon found himself on the board of Shotley Bridge and eventually Head of Shotley Bridge Urban District Council. He also became manager of the North Eastern Bank Shotley Bridge. In 1884 and after much encouragement from his good friend George Neasham; also a highly noted historian and writer of his day; his famous 3 book “Historical p.and Descriptive Poems” was released. Within its pages were several famous poems of the area including “Shotley Bridge” and “Lines to the Derwent”. “The sounds which thou to rapture fire, And o'er the valley glide, Flow from yon heavenward pointing spire Upon the green hill side. St. Cuthbert's bells, as shadows creep Along the twilight lea, Make glad the sombre hour, and steep The ear in melody.” Joshua passed away suddenly on Saturday 15th May 1897 at the age of 63. He was buried in Blackhill Cemetery on the 18th May 1897 with a solemn outpouring of grief and loss from the whole community. However he left behind an everlasting legacy within his written words. A true treasure and adopted son of the area.

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Your Free October / November 2017 Durham Magazine

Help light up Lumiere Fancy playing a key role in the UK’s biggest light festival next month? There’s still time to sign up as a volunteer for this year’s Lumiere. Durham County Council, which commissions the festival, and producers Artichoke, are searching for a crew of volunteers who will enjoy the event from a unique perspective and help it sparkle this November. People with a friendly personality and passion for the festival are encouraged to apply to be a Festival Maker if they’re over the age of 18 by Wednesday 1 November. Roles include welcoming visitors to Durham City, helping them find their way around the installations and telling people about the artworks.

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Volunteers could also be called on to assist in the running of the Festival Visitor Hub or offer practical help when needed, such as delivering items to production staff. Kaye Stephenson, principal aquatics manager at the council, volunteered for Lumiere in 2015 and believes there are many reasons to

become a Festival Maker. She said: “It was great to play a role in a major event in Durham and see all the attractions from an inside point of view. “Not only will it utilise your skills and knowledge, it will boost your confidence and self-esteem and also enhance your CV – and it’s great for networking and making friends.” This year’s Festival Makers are supported by landlord and developer Thirteen. Ian Wardle, chief executive of Thirteen, said: “Thirteen is proud to be developing high quality, affordable housing in the Durham area. However, we are more than just a landlord and it’s important that we support the communities we work in. “Lumiere is such a major event in Durham, which highlights all that is good about the city, so we’re delighted to be supporting the amazing volunteers who give up their time to ensure that the hundreds of thousands of visitors to the festival have the very best experience.”

Volunteers will need to be available for at least two shifts of between four and seven and a half hours during the festival, which runs from Thursday, 16 November to Sunday, 19 November – as well as attending a couple of meetings before the event. Everyone is welcome to take part whether first time volunteers or those with previous experience. Julie Lavery, Durham County Council’s volunteer and skills manager, said: “We have some amazing and passionate people in County Durham who generously give up their time to make our events even more enjoyable for residents and visitors alike. “We’ve already had so many people sign up to volunteer for Lumiere, so if you want to enhance your CV, have fun and help light up the city this year it would be great to hear from you.” Follow #LumiereDurham for the latest news and information about Lumiere 2017. To sign up to be a Festival Maker visit: durham.gov.uk/festivalmaker

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Residents Encouraged to Apply For

Subsidised Broadband Residents in County Durham who experience slow internet speeds are being encouraged to apply for subsidised broadband. The Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme (BBSS) provides homes and businesses which do not have access to speeds of at least two megabits per second, with a subsidised installation.

Alan Patrickson, head of digital and customer services at Durham County Council – which leads Digital Durham, said: “Our programme has brought faster fibre broadband to more than

“However the Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme may be able to help people get access to faster internet speeds now through alternative technologies such as satellite, 4G or wireless, and we’d really encourage them to find out whether they’re eligible.” The BBSS was set up by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and is delivered by Digital Durham in the following council areas: Darlington Borough Council; Durham County Council.

The scheme pays towards the hardware and installation costs of getting connected but eligible residents will still be required to pay any additional fees such as the monthly service charge. Digital Durham is a £34 million initiative to transform broadband speeds for residents and businesses across the North East. The first phase has seen more than 107,000 households and businesses connected to faster fibre broadband. The second phase will see a further 29,000 benefit by September 2018, with 14,000 of those already connected. To find out more about the BBSS or Digital Durham, visit www.digitaldurham.org

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Digital Durham, which administers the scheme in County Durham on behalf of UK Government, is now encouraging residents to find out if they are eligible for up to £350 towards the cost of getting connected.

120,000 households and businesses to date, with another 15,000 set to benefit in the next year. “There are a small percentage of properties which we are unable to connect at this stage.

Your Free October / November 2017 Durham Magazine

Places to Go: Newark On Trent On the day before my recent visit to Newark, the Daily Express was warning of England receiving the tail end of the American hurricanes with winds of 70mph. As it turned out, it was rather a pleasant Sunday, and there was much more rain on the walk back to the car at Durham station than all day in Newark-on-Trent.

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I left Durham at 0938 on a direct Virgin Trains East Coast service to London, calling at Newark Northgate station at 1117. Many people on leaving the station turn right to walk along Northgate to the town centre. It’s quicker, though, to turn left on to Appleton Gate and enter the town past the Palace Theatre. Newark was built at the crossing of the Great North Road and the Fosse Way, two Roman routes which are now the A1 and the A46. When the railways arrived, two routes again emerged: the north-south East Coast Main Line calling at Newark Northgate and the east-west Nottingham to Lincoln line calling at Newark Castle. There is no rail service between the two stations, and the lines cross at the same level on one of the few flat-bed crossings left on the mainline network. Boat trips are availabe on the River Trent. I first visited Newark Castle

itself, the ruins of which are in an attractive park opened to celebrate Queen Victoria’s 70th birthday on 24th May 1889. There was an interesting exhibition in the North West Tower of the Castle about bad King John, who suffered dysentery after a major feast in King’s Lynn and losing his treasures when crossing the Wash. He died in the room above the Gatehouse at Newark Castle on 18th October 1216 to be succeeded by his nine year old son, Henry III, who made a much better fist of being King than he had. Time for lunch then and I chose the Danube restaurant, two excellent courses for £15 opposite the Registry Office on Castlegate, before poking round the Newark Antiques Centre and the shops which were mostly open on the Sunday. After a coffee I moved to the National Civil War Centre which incorporates the town museum. A Royalist town which suffered three sieges and a good dose of bubonic plague, Newark was a strategically important town for the King, and the exhibits were much more interesting than suggested by some tripadvisor reviews. The small cinema played some specially filmed sequences about the Civil War and characters from Newark who had a role in it (look up the story of Hercules

Clay), and there was the pleasure of seeing plaques later in the same streets featured in the film. There was also a continuing exhibition about T. E. “Lawrence of Arabia”. I wish I had allocated more time before closing at 1700. Evensong was a joy at 1800 in the Parish Church with the combined choirs of Newark and Grantham, followed by a tasty pizza on the Castle Barge, Newark’s floating pub. Go any day you want to Newark, but I am suggesting especially Sunday 26th November 2017 when a big fireworks display celebrates the turning on of the Christmas lights. On the way home, my intended 2048 train from Newark direct to Durham (2235) was cancelled so I had to take a following Leeds service to Leeds and transfer on to a TransPennine Express train which arrived at Durham at 2237, which meant I was 62 minutes late and able to claim a full refund on my ticket under the Delay Repay arrangements. No quibble, 100% refund of the £28.60 paid By Alex Nelson alexnelson@dunelm.org.uk nationalcivilwarcentre.com

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“All of a sudden, hell let loose” Copies of rare images of a First World War trench raid in progress form the centrepiece of a new exhibition. The photographs, taken by a Royal Flying Corps warplane, show the September 1917 raid by soldiers on a German trench at Chérisy, in northern France. They are the only known images of a trench raid taking place. Enlarged copies of the pictures feature in ‘All of a sudden, hell broke loose – the trench raid at Chérisy, 15 September 1917’ at Durham County Record Office.

For two weeks before the raid, Col Bradford trained the men of 9th Battalion DLI hard, even practising attacks on a full scale model of the target trench, until every raider knew what he had to do.

Military researcher Steve Shannon, who curated the exhibition, said: “The raid is largely forgotten today, submerged beneath the horrors of the Somme and Passchendale but it is unique, not only because of the number of soldiers involved but because the photographs showing it in progress are so rare.

Less than a month after the raid, Bradford was promoted to brigadier general. Sadly, just a few weeks later on 30 November, 1917, the 25-year-old was killed by a German shell.

“The raid also had an important outcome as it is believed that Lt Col Roland Bradford, from Witton Park, in County Durham, received a promotion to become the youngest general in the British Army, as a result of his involvement.”

The exhibition at the record office, which is based in County Hall, also includes copies of original maps, documents and photographs from the DLI’s archive, which is cared for by Durham County Record Office on behalf of the Trustees of the DLI Collection. The exhibition is free and is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm until mid-2018

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Trench raids were commonplace on the Western Front during the First World War. They were undertaken to acquire prisoners and gather intelligence but, above all, to kill as many enemy soldiers as could be found.

Most raids occurred under cover of night and involved few men. However, the raid at Chérisy involved significantly more soldiers than usual, with the bulk being members of 9th Battalion DLI.

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