Durham Magazine - February / March 2017 by Durham Magazine

February / March 2017 - Issue 9

DURHAM Magazine

Photo - Valerie Winter

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Editorial - February / March 2017

Welcome

Dear Durham Readers,

We have another issue packed with reviews and previews. Our resident foodie, Jordan Laidler has been to the Duke of Wellington this month, read his review on pages 8 and 9. We have WWI inspired concert written by inmates at HMP Frankland. Durham Lumiere is looking for contributions for its 2017 show. The historic town of Aachen, Germany is this months Place to go on page 12

We want to hear from you! Are you a budding photographer? Do you have a real interest in writing? Arranging a gig? Maybe you’re involved in charity work? Or perhaps you’ve just always fancied interviewing that super interesting bloke from down your street? Whatever you’re into, we can’t wait to hear from you!

Durham Magazine was created to give people like you a voice, we’re not a corporate multinational news organisation, we’re not looking to give you all the negative news the newspapers force feed you, we just want to provide a positive news outlet for the people who live and work in Durham. And now is your chance to begin 2017 with your name in lights*.

Contributors

You can get in touch using your preferred method of communication:

Content and advertising team

Call us, email us, visit durhammagazine.co.uk, or drop us a message on Facebook to get started. We hope you enjoy the latest edition of the magazine, please do let us know if we’re doing anything wrong or how we could improve the magazine. Warmest 2017 regards, Barry Kirkham, Marco Elsy, Firefly New Media UK and the entire Durham Magazine Team

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.

Brian Harrison George Ford Neil Collins Wayne Laidler Luis Eduardo Plazas Barrios Lorraine Weightman Malcolm Clarke (Online) David Sunderland Alex Nelson Chris Hutchinson Valerie Winter Audrey Rogan

Barry Kirkham Marco Elsy Firefly New Media UK

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Your Free February / March 2017 Durham Magazine

Digital Information Screens to Go up in Durham’s Streets A number of digital information screens are to go up in the streets of Durham City in order to make life more convenient for visitors and to help businesses. The ‘digital totems’ are part of a project being run by Durham Business Improvement District (BID) to make Durham’s business sector more interactive. It is hoped that the screens will help visitors learn about Durham’s shops, services and restaurants and inform them of any special offers available. The first digital information screen has already been set up in Millennium Square, in the Walkergate area. Durham Business Improvement District has plans to put up more of the screens on Elvet Bridge and in North Road. Adam Deathe, BID’s business engagement manager, said, “They are fully interactive and link information to mobile phones so people who aren’t from around the city can find out more and not get lost.” “We have really been trying to get businesses to engage digitally.” “This is something Durham is leading the way with nationally. We have had a number of other cities approaching us to see what we are doing.” This is not the first interactive digital project BID has been involved in. During the Christmas period, a free app was introduced with which people could hunt virtual festive characters in the streets of Durham then have their photographs taken with them.

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BID also provides any business which is a BID member with their own updatable webpage. BID says that it works “to support businesses within Durham City Centre through marketing and communication activities.” As well as aiming “to attract local visitors” BID also “engages with people living within a 30-minute drive-time of the city, encouraging them to view the BID district as their service centre of choice, in turn increasing consumer footfall and therefore supporting the local economy.”

Photo By: Audrey Rogan

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On January 28th, Durham held celebrations to welcome in Chinese New Year. A spectacular lion dance, a martial arts display and a Chinese craft workshop all saw our city mark the beginning of the Year of the Rooster.

Durham University’s Oriental Museum hosted a Lantern Festival on Saturday, February 11th. The museum put on a number of rooster-themed craft workshops and discovery trails for families, as

The event, which took place between 6.00 pm and 8.00 pm, saw the museum lit up with stunning Chinese lanterns. Typical Chinese New Year foods like spring rolls were on offer. A performance by a Korean percussion group from Durham University, as well as workshops in taekwondo and Korean calligraphy, and the chance to have a go at some oriental games. The Oriental Museum’s access and community engagement officer, Charlotte Spink, said, “This year’s Lantern Festival is going to be wonderful.”

“We have been able to work with volunteers from Durham University Korean Society to put together a great programme.” The first 100 children who arrived were given a free lantern. The Lantern Festival may have been celebrated in China as early as 200 BC. During the festival, children carry lanterns in processions to temples and solve riddles that are carved into the lanterns. Some lanterns are very ornate, often in the shapes of animals, and the lanterns are usually red, which is a lucky colour in China. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, the Lantern Festival is also seen as the Chinese equivalent of Valentine’s Day. By David Sunderland

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Now, as is the custom in China, Durham will be bringing the celebrations to an end with a traditional Lantern Festival. In Chinese culture, the Lantern Festival occurs on the 15th day of the first month of the New Year.

well as a dragon dance and a story-telling session.

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Durham Rounds off Chinese New Year with Lantern Festival

Your Free February / March 2017 Durham Magazine

Is Your Business A Voice For The North East? I work with business people all over North East England on a daily basis, and since I also network at digital marketing conferences, I get to talk to business and marketing people from around the world. Regardless of the knowledge that’s out there, the truth is most business websites out there have horrendously awful content. Sorry. I’m probably talking about your website. Here’s a great example of the first paragraph from a car showroom I spoke to this morning (I have changed the identity and locations for obvious reasons):

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Our Car Showroom in London is your source of car showroom and cars for sale. If you’re looking for cars in London, London car sale, car showrooms in London, or cars for sale in London. We’re located on London but serve the Bromley, Camden, City of London, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Harrow and more in the entire London area. Our car showroom has great deals near London, so come see us at Car Showroom in London, right in the heart of London. It’s not just car sales people either, I’ve seen solicitors stuff local keywords into their website copy too, and tradesmen website aren't far

away in the spammiest content awards.

audience with good quality content.

Yes, it’s important to include the location of your business on your website, but let’s not mention London 5 times on the first sentence of your website. Hopefully you get my point and you’re laughing right now because it’s ridiculous, right? This terrible type of content is written in the name of ‘search engine optimisation’. But guess what? It does not work, you’re not magically going to be #1 on Google. For that to happen, you must produce quality content that real customers will want to read.

The articles we publish in the magazines are entirely focused on local news, current events, and a range of other locally sourced content. So, you can imagine these North East England focused websites receive lots of quality local traffic from across the region in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Durham, Consett, and Sunderland; plus it makes it easier for advertising clients to focus their advertising on specific areas or the entire North East.

So, now I’ve blown off some steam for the day, I’m going to provide a piece of advice that’s guaranteed to help you get better at local digital marketing for your website. Attract more local customers with digital marketing #1 Tip - Generate local interest with local content. Sounds simple right? I run four local magazines in the North East of England. These printed magazines are all available online and provide each of their respective areas with community focused content. My company, Firefly New Media UK have an ideal platform for North East companies to reach their local

From my time working with hundreds of businesses wishing to cash in on the ‘digital gold rush’, I’ve found only a handful of companies truly understand and harness the full power of digital marketing. Please remember, if your website content is considered quality, it’s in a better position to not only generate organic traffic but to also be pitched to referral websites (i.e newcastlemagazine.com) to gain more publicity for your business. Join hundreds of businesses across the North East who’ve taken advantage of local digital marketing by calling me on 0191 394 1266 or visit my website: fireflynewmedia.com to find out what Firefly New Media do for their clients.

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Review: Duke Of Wellington, Durham. Written By: Jordan Laidler

Your Free February / March 2017 Durham Magazine www.durhammagazine.co.uk

Recently I was invited to review a local Ember Inns pub, The Duke of Wellington, located just outside the City of Durham. The location makes it easy to access via own transport or public. Prior to attending I had heard some good things about the Duke of Wellington one of them being my parent’s favourite place to grab a nice meal at. I attended with a party of 4 which where my partner Nicky and our friends Tristan and Jade, we were given a £50-00 tab to take off the final bill. First Impressions: I’m one of those people who do enjoy to go somewhere which looks like a good place to eat, I always judge somewhere with how it looks and how the staff greet you. With the Duke of Wellington I must say it looked the part, a large rear/side car park, outside seating and a big area for customers inside. A spacious dining area which is something I find not many places have, I hate when you go into places and you’re too close to the next table, you may as well introduce yourself to them and join in with the conversation. Thankfully the Duke of Wellington never had that problem, well-spaced and thought through dining offered a nice private dining experience. The gentleman who dealt with us was Neil and it was him who we first met, my first impressions was what a lovely well-mannered and professional gentleman he

was. What came to my surprise was the way he presented the menu, unlike most places he told us what sadly was unavailable from the menu and explained the replacements. The look of the restaurant was also what give me a very good first impression, as said previously, a well thought out seating area, it looked the part. I was expecting a 50/50 place like some places have a half bar area and then a drinking area however you could tell the place was featured around its food. We did go on a Newcastle United Match day so I was half expecting a lot of people inside watching the game and shouting, thankfully that was not the case at all. What we ordered: The menu, where should I start. There was a wide variety of meals on offer from the menu which made it extremely hard to choose. There was something for everyone, for starters myself and my guests had different meals, me and Nicky opted for Soup of the Day which was Country Veg, Tristan went for Prawn Cocktail and Jade got Bread, oil and olives. For main course, again we all got something different, myself I just had to have the 10oz Ribeye steak with peppercorn sauce. Nicky went for the Hunters Chicken something which she loves, Tristen got Roasted Yellow Pepper & Plum Tomato Pasta and Jade went for Cod and Chips. For dessert, obviously, the main event, three of us being, myself, Tristan and

Jade all went for the Chocolate Brownie and Nicky could not resist temptation by the Chocolate and Baileys Sundae.

The starter, for myself I got a nice big bowl of Country Veg Soup with a side of warm bread, sadly I would have liked a knife to have cut the bread with as the cutlery knife was not sharp enough to cut it. The presentation, well not much you can do with soup. It was a well flavoured soup however I felt it was missing something maybe a slight bit of seasoning but overall it went down a treat and I enjoyed it. Jade’s came out and you got a nice big bowl of olives and some lovely bread, she enjoyed the bread but never really dug into the olives. Tristan’s came out and I was surprised on how it was presented. Having worked in a kitchen which does prawn cocktails I’ve known them more to be in a small sundae style bowl but Tristan’s came out on a bed of lettuce and bread next to it. I do feel this was a missed opportunity to present the dish nicely and was rather disappointed it looked how it did. However, putting the presentation aside Tristan thoroughly enjoyed it. After a short break between meals which is always a lovely time to just chat and drink Prosecco as we did, our mains arrived, and one thing I can say is they certainly don’t hold back on portions. The food looked great, mine was the Steak and I could not wait to get stuck into it. I did make the mistake of ordering extra Onion Rings, I do have a huge addiction to them but was surprised at the size and the good handful you got already with the Steak. I like my Steak medium rare (or still mooing as some say) and they got it perfect, the flavour in the Steak was fantastic and was well up there with one of the best Steak meals I’ve had in a while. The Chips were good but I’d have much rather Sweet Potato sadly that’s something they don’t do, Onion Rings had a fantastic crunch and where just fantastic. The peppercorn sauce, now, I’m hard to please when it comes to peppercorn sauce it can either be dreadful or it can be perfect there’s no in-between with me, the sauce had whole peppercorns in and was a good consistency and outright fantastic with a nice kick to it.

The Cost: I won’t hide the fact I was offered £50-00 towards my meal to review but the price I’m going to discuss will also include that £50-00. So the overall cost for 4 people having a three course meal plus extra onion rings, a glass of coke and two bottles of prosecco came to £108.03, now if we divide this between four people it would come to £27.74. That cost covering a three-course meal, roughly 4 glasses of prosecco and a glass coke so a bargain of a price for what we had. The cost is far cheaper than some other local eateries in and around Durham and with the Duke of Wellington offering a fantastic family friend environment too. The Final Report: Location and Accessibility: 10/10 Staff: 10/10 Décor and Facilities: 10/10 Food Taste and quality: 9/10 Food presentation and looks: 8/10 Food Price: 10/10 Drink Price: 10/10 So, as you can see it gain a massive array of full marks only letting down on presentation, I would highly recommend The Duke of Wellington to anyone looking for some good traditional pub grub. The food and staff are a pleasure. Would I go back? Oh Yes, in fact I’m thinking of bringing along some family for a meal very soon. Other Notes: The only other note I’d like to give is that Neil the gentleman who served us during the evening was utterly fantastic and the perfect representation for Ember Inns and the Duke of Wellington.

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So, onto everyone else’s mains, Jade ordered Cod and Chips something which again I feel can be either great or bad, my first impressions on the dish was great, I say this because you see a lot of places use garden peas but I feel it must be mushy peas which is what came out. Jade allowed me to try the fish batter something which again can be a winner or loser in my eyes and it was fantastic it had the right crunch and flavour to it and tasted just like it does at a fish shop. Nicky got the Hunters Chicken, I’m not a huge fan but what I thought was great was the sauce came separate as everyone has different preferences to how much they want on. She thoroughly enjoyed it minus a rather big bit of fat on the bacon but that’s to be expected. Tristan’s Roasted Yellow Pepper and Plum Tomato Pasta came out and I must say it looked very appetising and he ate it quick, he said it was one

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What we thought of the food:

of the nicest pasta dishes he has ate for a long time which is a big bonus. Overall the mains had pleased us all, again I feel the presentation on some of the dishes could be more creative but we’re eating in a pub and not a Michelin starred restaurant so I can’t really complain too much. The portion sizes were good in fact in a rare occasion I had to leave a bit of mine so I had room for the dessert. Time for my favourite course, dessert, I opted for the Chocolate Brownie after seeing a fellow customer order it I just had to try. It came well-presented and finished with a mint leaf on top. The taste of the brownie and the texture was fantastic, not too tough nor too soft, the ice cream was beautiful with a strong vanilla taste. Three of us (Me, Jade and Tristan) ordered the Brownie and we all loved it. Nicky however opted for the Chocolate and Bailey Sundae, it was huge I honestly thought it was for sharing but it was for one person. I had to try a bit and Nicky kindly allowed me to get a small bit, it tasted nice however not a huge lover of baileys it was rather overpowering. But for Nicky it was perfect, the final course therefore being an all-round success.

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The Songs of War - Concert to Feature Songs of Durham Prisoners Inspired by WWI

A concert is to be held featuring songs written by inmates of HMP Frankland, a top security, category A prison near Durham City. The musicians Elizabeth Corney, Bethany Coyle, Lindsay Hannon and Barry Hyde (of Sunderland post-punk band The Futureheads), helped the prisoners come up with words and music to create songs inspired by the First World War.

the Durham Miners’ Association Ensemble. The songs have been arranged by the composer Steve Robson so that they are suitable for brass. The Songs of War concert will take place at St Brandon’s Church, in the village of Brancepeth, near Durham City, on February 25th.

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The songs were written in 2016, which was the centenary year of the Battle of the Somme.

Another project, Durham Hymns – which involved the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy – created a new set of hymns inspired by the words of County Durham people who lived through the First World War.

The prisoners’ songs will be performed for the first time at Songs of War, a concert that will feature the four musicians mentioned above as well as

The inmates at Frankland Prison were given access to Durham Hymns as they worked on the songs for the Songs of War project.

The Songs of War concert will begin at 7.30 pm on the 25th. Tickets cost £5 and can be purchased by phoning 0191 469 5709 or by visiting eventbrite.co.uk /songs-of-war-tickets. Frankland Prison, which opened in 1980, has housed prisoners such as Charles Bronson, Harold Shipman and Ian Huntley. It currently holds around 800 inmates. St Brandon’s Church was once noted for its exceptional 17th century woodwork, but the woodwork was unfortunately destroyed in a fire in 1998. The village of Brancepeth probably derives its name from ‘St Brandon’s path’, after St Brandon, the patron saint of its parish church.

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Places to Go: Kingston upon Hull

Places to Go: Aachen Your Free February / March 2017 Durham Magazine

Chester-le-Track, as well as being a leading retailer of domestic rail tickets, is also a member of AERA which is the Association of European Rail Agents. Every year, AERA members have an excursion by train into Europe, and for 2016 we went to Aachen by Eurostar to Brussels and onwards on the Deutsche Bahn ICE train to Aachen, which is an important stop on the route to Cologne (KÖln). Aachen, also known as Aix-la-Chapelle, is a spa and border city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was the preferred residence of Charlemagne c.742 – 814, and, from 936 to 1531, the place where 31 Holy Roman Emperors were crowned Kings of the Germans. Charlemagne was the first of the Holy Roman Emperors, and is buried in the Cathedral which was (like Durham) declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Aachen is the westernmost city in Germany, located near the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands: the tripoint is just west of the city. Aachen’s industries include science, engineering and information technology. In ww2, Aachen was the first German city to be captured by the Allies, and its residents welcomed the soldiers as liberators. The city was destroyed partially – and in

some parts completely – during the fighting, mostly by American artillery fire and demolitions carried out by the Waffen-SS defenders. Damaged buildings included many medieval churches, although Aachen Cathedral was largely unscathed. Only 4,000 inhabitants remained in the city; the rest had followed evacuation orders. Its first Allied-appointed mayor, Franz Oppenhoff, was assassinated by an SS commando unit, for daring to start the post-war reconstruction of his city whilst other parts of Germany were still fighting the Allies. But let’s not mention the war. We had a walk around the old town, visiting the Rathaus (City Hall) and the ancient Cathedral which is a Roman Catholic church. The Christmas markets were well under way with an intoxicating mix of goodies which as a practising diabetic were strictly off limits. When the Eurostar service to Paris and Brussels started in 1994 out of Waterloo, it had to use crowded suburban lines south of London. Since 2007, the Eurostar has run from St. Pancras via HS1, right next door to King’s Cross where the trains from the north-east come in. At one time is was envisaged there would be through trains into Europe from cities like Newcastle, and indeed there was for many years a train path at 09.57 from Newcastle into

Waterloo. But it makes more sense to use any train via London, giving multiple journey opportunities instead of just one direct train a day. Eurostar is now carrying more passengers to Paris and Brussels than all the competing airlines added together. 68 UK stations (not including Chester-le-Street) have through fares, and Eurostar has extended its tentacles to Lyons, Marseilles and beyond, plus the leisure services to ski resorts and Disneyland. Our partner in European and other foreign rail travel is Rail Tour Guide, a small business based in Pink Lane, Newcastle, just opposite Central Station. David Glover and his team are also AERA members and we refer business in both directions. Aachen in a day is perfectly doable (but expensive) if you stay overnight in London beforehand, but it’s better to stay in Aachen for two nights (or more) and see the City properly. Why not go now before Brexit makes a visit more complex? If going by Eurostar, always ask for a CIV ticket to London International rather than the normal London Terminals ticket. It’s cheaper, and under international rules you can travel on the next train out if you have been delayed. www.railtourguide.com 0191 246 0708 www.aachen-tourist.de

By Alex Nelson

Where am I? Each month we’re going to be bringing you to a specific location in County Durham. We’re asking you to guess where that location is and submit your guess on our website. Can you guess where the this location is?

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Durham Locals Asked to Contribute Ideas for Lumiere 2017 This autumn will see Durham City festooned with amazing pieces of art as Lumiere, the outdoor festival of lights, returns for the fifth time. And in addition to glowing artworks by well-known artists, local people are being asked to come up with ideas to light up their city. Arts charity Artichoke, the organisers of Lumiere, are running a competition entitled Brilliant to encourage members of the public to submit designs for illuminated artworks. Anyone over the age of 18 who lives in, or is originally from, the north east can put forward their ideas for lit-up masterpieces. The Brilliant competition will be open until noon on Monday, March 6th.

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You do not need to have any previous artistic experience or training to enter Brilliant. The winners will get financial and practical support from Artichoke so their designs can be transformed into shimmering works of art. Kate Harvey, Artichoke’s lead producer, said, “This is a chance for local people to shine and for us to celebrate

creativity and discover local talent in the north east as part of the internationally recognised Lumiere festival.” “It’s been wonderful to discover new talent in the region and each time (we have run the competition) the number of submissions has grown as people have got to know about the opportunity.” “It’s often the smallest ideas that make the greatest impact, so don’t be shy. I can’t wait to see what people propose.” “We want to see unique proposals that will stop people in their tracks. You can use any material so long as light is at the heart of it.” Simon Henig, the leader of Durham County Council, said, “Making sure that our region and communities are at the heart of the UK’s largest light festival is really important to us, and one of the many reasons we commissioned this world class festival.” “I cannot think of a more perfect way for the public to help us illuminate all that is great about where we live and work.”

Past winners of the Brilliant competition include Victoria McCloud, a retired teacher who designed a huge illuminated piece of knitting, and Robin Wright, a Sunderland student who came up with an idea for neon bicycles. Another winner of Brilliant, Durham builder Mick Stephenson, became a full-time artist after his piece featured in Lumiere. Mr Stephenson has exhibited his work in London and the north east. When Lumiere was last staged in 2015, 200,000 people visited the city. The festival featured 29 light installations, including the image of a whale in the River Wear and mysterious fog rolling down to the river from the cathedral. 2011’s Lumiere featured a waterfall cascading into the Wear from Kingsgate Bridge. This year’s Lumiere will take place from 16th to 19th November 2017. For more information, please go to www.lumiere-festival.com

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