Tag: must read

North East Solicitor Backs Calls For Funeral Payment Reforms

By on 1st March 2016in Local Biz

A North East solicitor has backed calls for grants towards funeral costs to be increased for low income families, as the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee hears evidence on the matter…

Andrew Simpson, Lead Panel Solicitor with Seaham-based Ensure Inheritance, supports a reform of the present system of the Department for Work and Pensions’ Funeral Payments scheme which provides help to anyone on a low income. He has added his voice to calls from funeral directors for the system to change.

Mr Simpson says: “The Funeral Payments scheme is simply ineffective at present. Applicants are not told how much they will get until after the burial or cremation, and often the money is not enough to cover the deposit of a funeral.

“The average grant is £1,375 towards individual burial and cremation costs, plus up to £700 for further expenses. But a basic burial costs at least £3,000, providing worry and money problems for low income families.”

According to Mr Simpson, many older people on pensions can struggle to meet the costs of a funeral, which is becoming more expensive.

He says: “The average cost of a basic funeral has increased by 65% in the last eight years, particularly as the prices for cremation services and burial plots charged by local authorities have gone up, making it even more expensive to give a loved one a proper send off. One way around this is to plan for funeral costs in advance through a pre-paid funeral plan or to make regular payments into a savings account.

“People generally do not like to think about their funeral and how their life will be celebrated, but taking time and trouble to do this, and paying for their funeral in advance can remove money worries and bring peace of mind to them and to their loved ones,” says Mr Simpson.

As part of its estate planning service, Ensure Inheritance provides advice on pre-paid funeral plans. They can be contacted on 0191 338 5143, via email at info@ensureinheritance.co.uk or via www.ensureinheritance.co.uk.

Based in Seaham in County Durham, Ensure Inheritance provides a range of legal and financial planning services which help protect financial assets to provide their clients and their loved ones with peace of mind. Services include long term care planning, funeral planning, will and estate planning, inheritance tax planning, powers of attorney, court of protection deputyships, and probate.

Share Your Memories Of Barnard Castle

By on 29th February 2016in Have Your Say

Do you have memories of the way Horse Market in Barnard Castle was in the past?

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Where exactly was the Co-op? Where was the best place to meet friends, or get your hair cut? Which businesses always seem to have been there, and whatever happened to places like the Star Inn and Angel Hotel? How has market day changed over the years?

Children in Barnard Castle will soon be working on a fascinating project to develop a new walk booklet aimed at children, looking at the history of Horse Market in Barnard Castle. The project is seeking memories and stories about the shops, the pubs and the market itself.

This project is part of the Heart of Teesdale’s ‘Trails Through Teesdale’ Programme. This programme aims to provide local people and visitors with the knowledge they need to make the most of exploring the area, by providing leaflets, booklets and audio trails. Children from local groups will be involved in developing the walk book, as well as families and other members of the community.

“The project will result in a walk booklet taking in the history and stories of Horse Market,” says project leader Jude Irwin.

“For example, several people have already told me about a shop where takings were put into a container and whizzed around the shop on wires, with the person’s change being delivered moments later in the same container. It must have seemed pretty high tech at the time. I’d love to know which shop this was, and whether anyone remembers working or shopping there.”

The project has already started gathering photos and anecdotes about the street’s past. The project is also willing to hold reminiscence sessions in local care homes and with community groups to collect more.

If you have some memories or photos you would like to share, or if you would like to arrange a visit to your care home or group, call Jude Irwin on 07766 485188 or email theworddoctor@btinternet.com.

Award-Winning North East Bar And Distiller Join Forces

By on 29th February 2016in Lifestyle

Two of the biggest names in North East gin are joining forces to offer discerning drinkers even more choice…

Newcastle bar City Tavern, which currently stocks more than 80 gins from around the world, will now be serving spirits from Sunderland-based Poetic License.

The independent small batch distiller, established by entrepreneur Mark Hird, currently crafts two award-winning gins and a vodka using its own still at the Roker Hotel.

From this week, City Tavern, based at Northumberland Road, will be stocking the brand’s Northern Dry Gin and Old Tom Gin, which are both carefully crafted to be enjoyed as a stand-alone drink or as part of a cocktail.

David King, Owner of City Tavern said: “We pride ourselves on offering visitors a wide range of popular and unfamiliar drinks, including several that are brewed exclusively for City Tavern.

“Poetic License’s artisanal processes and unique flavours fit well with this philosophy, and I’m sure they will make an excellent addition to our collection.”

City Tavern, which benefitted from a £450k investment by Mr King in 2015, is the latest high profile venue to begin stocking products from Poetic License, which has only been operating for around four months.

While the brand’s handmade approach limits production to around 400 bottles per week, all three of its core products can already be found in a wide range of bars, restaurants and hotels around the region, as well as leading stores Fenwick, Newcastle and Lewis and Cooper Ltd, Northallerton.

“We’re absolutely thrilled with how well Poetic License has been received and what we have been able to achieve in a relatively short space of time,” said Poetic License’s owner Mark Hird.

“The staff and customers at City Tavern really know their gin, and we’re delighted that both our Northern Dry Gin and Old Tom Gin meet their strict selection standards.

“Our focus now is on targeting more state-of-the-art bars like this and extending our distribution on a national scale.”

For more information about City Tavern, visit www.citytavern.co.uk and for Poetic License log on to www.poeticlicensedistillery.co.uk. All trade sales enquiries for the distillery should be directed to Luke Smith on 0191 5103564 or luke@poeticlicensedistillery.co.uk.

Prototype Firm Enjoys Success Following Extensive Workforce Training

By on 28th February 2016in Local Biz

A prototype specialist is embarking on the next phase of its expansion by putting its entire workforce through an extensive training programme…

Paragon Rapid Technologies recently completed a two-year growth plan which saw turnover rise from £2.8m to £4.1m, and staff numbers from 35 to 53. During that period, the Durham Tees Valley Airport-based firm recruited a new senior management team, made a six-figure investment in new equipment, and streamlined operations to make the business more efficient.

Now the company, which makes rapid prototypes and components for the automotive, motorsport and medical sectors, has kick-started an 18-month programme to upskill all of its employees with the help of Peterlee-based KF Training.

All 53 staff will benefit from the training, which will cover strategic management and leadership, sales and marketing, business improvement techniques, and store and warehouse management. It is hoped the skills boost will trigger further growth at Paragon, which is aiming to ramp up turnover to £7m by 2018.

Paragon General Manager Ian Jobling, who will undergo leadership and management training, said: “We’re thrilled to be working with KF Training on this exciting project. As a company we’ve expanded rapidly in recent years, but to achieve the next phase of our growth plan we have to improve the skills base of our business.

“This training scheme will allow us to do that, and if we meet our turnover projections, we’ll be able to create more jobs at Paragon.”

Sara O’Brien, Commercial Director at KF Training, said: “We work with fast-growth companies that require extra skills to help them become more competitive. We are finding that many of our clients, including Paragon, are asking for leadership and management training to help improve the performance of their staff.

“It’s great to be working with Paragon and playing a key role in its expansion plans.”

KF Training delivers business-focused skills programmes and consultancy services across the North of England.  Headquartered in Peterlee, County Durham, the fast-growing business was launched in 2011 by managing director Kelly Lee and now employs 52 people. With four specialist training divisions covering innovation, leadership and management, continuous improvement and business skills, KF Training has helped dozens of clients build strong, dynamic businesses and develop a highly skilled workforce.

For further information about KF Training, visit www.kftraining.co.uk, call 0191 518 6830, or e-mail info@kftraining.co.uk.

For further information about Paragon Rapid Technologies, visit www.paragon-rt.com or e-mail info@paragon-rt.com.

Guys & Dolls Announces All Star Lineup For Theatre Royal

By on 26th February 2016in Entertainment

An extra dose of glitz and glamour has been confirmed for the tour of Guys and Dolls to Newcastle Theatre Royal…

It has been announced that the star line-up will include Richard Fleeshman (Coronation Street, Ghost the Musical, Call the Midwife) as Sky Masterson, Maxwell Caulfield (Grease 2, Emmerdale, The Colbys) as Nathan Detroit, Louise Dearman (Wicked, Evita) as Adelaide and Anna O’Byrne (Love Never Dies) as Sarah Brown.

This glittering production of gamblers, gangsters and night-club singers rolls into Newcastle on Tuesday 22nd March, direct from rave reviews in the West End. The Chichester Festival Theatre revival of Guys and Dolls features dazzling choreography by world-renowned Cuban ballet star Carlos Acosta alongside Andrew Wright, whose credits include Chichester Festival Theatre’s Singin’ in the Rain and is directed by New York’s Gordon Greenberg.

Audiences will be transported to the sizzling sidewalks of New York, where they’ll meet Nathan Detroit, who is desperate for money for an illegal dice game… and he needs it fast. Not to mention a 14-year engagement with nightclub singer Miss Adelaide, whose patience is finally running out. Enter notorious gambler Sky Masterson, a guy who can never turn down a bet, and straight-laced missionary Sarah Brown, a doll with a heart of ice. Nathan’s wager is that Sky has to romance Sarah by taking her to Havana for dinner, and in return he’ll provide a dozen ‘sinners’ for Sarah’s mission. Is this one bet Nathan can’t lose?

A joyous and vibrant celebration of Prohibition-era New York, Guys and Dolls first premiered on Broadway in 1950 and captured the optimism and energy of post-World War Two America. This hugely popular and multi award-winning musical, based on the colourful stories by American journalist Damon Runyon (renowned for his vivid fictional depictions of the gamblers, hustlers and nightclub singers of New York) features some of Broadway’s greatest musical numbers, including My Time of Day, Luck be a Lady and the show-stopping Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat.

 

Completing the cast are Jack Edwards as Nicely Nicely Johnson, Peter Harding as Arvide Abernathy, Anthony McGill as Lt Brannigan, Mark Sangster as Benny Southstreet, Melanie Marshall as General Cartwright, Craig Pinder as Harry the Horse/Joey Biltmore, Cameron Johnson as Big Julie, Christopher Howell as Rusty Charlie. The ensemble includes Eamonn Cox, Jamal Crawford, Jonny Godbold, Ross Lee Fowkes, Aron Wild, Kiel Payton, Matthew Whennell-Clark, Ruthie Stephens, Bethany Linsdell, Hannah Cauchi, Chloe Chambers, Danielle Stephen, Abigayle Honeywill and Lucy Ashenden.

Guys and Dolls is directed by Gordon Greenberg, who has directed plays and musicals at major theatres across America and Europe, written for television and stage, and runs the musical theatre program at The New Group in New York, where he is based. He directed the current revival of Guys and Dolls for Chichester Festival Theatre, which is now running in London’s West End. He will direct his adaptation of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn on Broadway in October.

 

The music and lyrics for Guys and Dolls are by Frank Loesser, whose credits include How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and the song Baby, It’s Cold Outside. The book is by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. Burrows’ credits include How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Swerling’s credits include the seminal film It’s A Wonderful Life.

Guys and Dolls plays at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tuesday 22nd March to Saturday 2nd April. Tickets are from £17.50 (pay less online) and can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge).

6,500 Illicit Cigarettes Seized In Durham Raid

By on 25th February 2016in In & Around

Council officers have seized more than 6,500 suspected illicit cigarettes and tobacco with a street value of more than £1,500 in a raid…

Durham County Council’s Consumer Protection Team removed 6,640 cigarettes and 2.5kg of hand rolling tobacco believed to be counterfeit from a property at Kimblesworth, just outside Durham City, on Tuesday.

The raid comes on the back of officers having seized more than 450,000 illicit cigarettes since April last year, with a street value combined with confiscated tobacco in excess of £80,000. The consumer protection team obtained a search warrant from magistrates to carry out a raid on the house, which was suspected to be connected with the supply of illicit tobacco.

Assisted by Durham Constabulary’s Chester-le-Street neighbourhood policing team, officers seized the cigarettes and tobacco from inside. It is believed the items were being sold from the house illegally, for £3.50 for a pack of cigarettes and £7 for a pouch of tobacco.

A woman was interviewed by Consumer Protection Officers on suspicion of selling counterfeit tobacco, and tobacco not displaying the required health labelling.

Joint operations with Durham Constabulary since April 1st 2015 have seen the consumer protection team seize 456,320 illicit cigarettes and 28.15kg of counterfeit hand rolling tobacco, with a combined street value of £84,000.

Joanne Waller, head of Environment, Health and Consumer Protection, said: “Our work to rid the supply of illicit tobacco at all levels in the supply chain continues unabated.

“The sale of these illegal cigarettes sidesteps the controls that lawful businesses have in place to uphold age of sale laws, and undermines the work of the stop smoking services.

“This illegal source of cheap tobacco encourages a whole new generation of young smokers, and provides little incentive or motivation for other smokers to quit.

“There will be no hiding place for those who continue to flout the law and indulge in this criminal activity.”

Anyone with information on suspected counterfeit goods sales, such as tobacco, cigarettes, clothing, trainers, and alcohol,  should contact the Consumer Helpline on 03454 04 05 06.

Flying Scotsman Returns To East Coast Main Line

By on 25th February 2016in In & Around

Iconic locomotive 60103 Flying Scotsman officially returns to the East Coast Main Line alongside Virgin Trains’ modern day Flying Scotsman liveried train…

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Railway history is being made today (Thursday February 25th) as Flying Scotsman officially returns to the East Coast Main Line to launch a season celebrating its return to the track. The celebratory season, which is sponsored by Virgin Trains, starts with today’s inaugural London-to-York run.

The iconic locomotive is being showcased alongside Virgin Trains’ own ‘Flying Scotsman’, complete with its brand new interior, at King’s Cross station before setting off on its five-hour journey to York. The Virgin Trains Flying Scotsman express service takes passengers between London and Edinburgh in just four hours – around half the time of the original steam train. It was unveiled in autumn by Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon. Virgin Trains is investing £40m improving its fleet on the East Coast, including new leather seats in first class, new seats in standard, new carpets and lighting.

Virgin’s Flying Scotsman is the first electric train in the fleet to have the new investment, and enters service on Thursday. It also showcases the new mood lighting which is being installed in First Class in all electric powered trains.

David Horne, Managing Director of Virgin Trains on its East Coast route, said: “The Flying Scotsman has an incredible history. It was the first locomotive to reach 100mph in 1934 and, in the pre-war era, it symbolized speed and style – service qualities which remain important to our customers today.

“We’ve embedded these qualities in our own Flying Scotsman, which has had its own refresh, including luxury leather seats in First Class, a new red hot look for Standard Class, new carpets and coloured mood lighting. Looking forward to the future, new Virgin trains arrive in 2018 which will make the four-hour Edinburgh-to-London journey the norm – half the time it took the Flying Scotsman to do the journey non-stop before the war.”

Virgin Trains’ fleet upgrade is part of its investment in the London-Edinburgh route, which has just seen it granted permission to run an extra 42 services a week on the route, boosting seat capacity by 22,000.

The original Flying Scotsman will be on display in York until March 6th. Virgin Trains runs in excess of 60 services a day to York, providing a great way for train enthusiasts to visit the National Railway Museum and see the enormous heritage of the East Coast line. Additionally, Virgin Trains is offering 30 per cent off Advance fares to York to encourage visitors to the region as part of a joint promotion with Visit England.

Festival Of Thrift Relocates To Redcar For 2016

By on 24th February 2016in Lifestyle

Plans are afoot to take the fourth annual Festival of Thrift to the stunning location of Kirkleatham in Redcar on 24th and 25th September 2016…

The award-winning, free family festival shows people how to save money – and the planet – by being creative.

Heading out of its birthplace in Darlington for the first time since the inaugural Festival in 2013, the team wants to show how the event can inspire and support the economic future of communities throughout the Tees Valley.

The festival will return regularly to Darlington in future years.

A ten year plan is currently being drawn together for future festival locations, working towards 2025, the 200th anniversary of the world’s first passenger steam railway (which journeyed between Darlington and Stockton), and the year for which Tees Valley is bidding to be UK Region of Culture.

A proposal detailing the festival’s aims, values and programme will be presented at the Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council Cabinet Meeting at the Leisure and Community Heart on 1st March, where councillors will give the final decision as to the 2016 Festival taking place at Kirkleatham. HRH The Prince of Wales visited the estate last week as part of a wider visit to the borough, as The Prince’s Foundation is working with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to develop plans for its regeneration.

The proposal also follows the recent visit to Tees Valley by Lord Heseltine to discuss plans to drive forward investment opportunities to the region. Lord Heseltine has been appointed chair of the Tees Valley Inward Investment Initiative, with a specific remit to boost the region’s international profile.

The Festival of Thrift is the UK’s National Celebration of sustainable living. It brings together international and emerging artists, superscrimpers, makers and designers, as well as stallholders selling all manner of homemade, home-grown, upcycled, recycled and thrifty produce. The festival brings people together to share skills through workshops, talks, films and a whole lot of hands-on joining-in and making.

This year, the festival will concentrate on sustainable business development. If the move to Kirkleatham is agreed, the programme will also include locally grown produce, food and drink inspired by the kitchen gardens and traditions at Kirkleatham.

Stella Hall, festival director, said: “I’d be delighted to head out to Redcar this year. Redcar received such a huge blow in 2015 with the demise of the steel works, which coincided with last year’s festival.

“We hope to show how each of us has skills and creativity we can contribute to create a sustainable community. The Festival of Thrift is dedicated to shining a light on the Tees Valley, celebrating the area’s individuality and the strength of its people.

“We will be heading back to Darlington for 2017, but the opportunity of holding the festival at Kirkleatham this year was too good an opportunity to miss.

“The site is the epitome of great regeneration. Kirkleatham has a fascinating museum collection, a stunning church and mausoleum, almshouses, railway cottages, park and woodland within walking distance.

“Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council will be sensitively developing the stables on site, with an eye to business startups. Together with the new adventure playground, it’s a complete gem of a festival location.”

Leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Councillor Sue Jeffrey said: “The festival organisers and Darlington Borough Council have worked extremely hard to make the festival a huge success, and we would work closely with them to replicate that in Redcar.

“We would be delighted to welcome the festival in 2016, particularly to such a special site which perfectly suits the festival’s values. It would be a real boost to our communities to host such a fantastic event.”

Councillor Bill Dixon, Leader of Darlington Borough Council, said: “Darlington’s ingenuity gave birth to the festival, and we are delighted to see those ideas developed and explored in other settings and places, but look forward to welcoming the festival back home.”

The festival has continued to grow in size as well as reputation. In 2015 the festival welcomed 45,000 visitors throughout the weekend at its first home at Lingfield Point, Darlington, and scooped the Observer Ethical Award for Arts and Culture – a national coup for a home grown festival. In the same year, it won the North East Tourism Event of the Year.

This year’s festival will invite the UK’s thriftiest and most sustainable stallholders to build on some of the great programmes from previous years, including Alternative Village Fete with its mix of wandering performance and music stages, Oxglam recycled fashion shows, Bistros du Vin with local and amateur chefs, and Fix It Café, helping to save waste by fixing everything from a child’s music box to a broken computer. Workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions, The Big Talks and Peoples’ Encyclopaedia will all be about sharing skills, and showing how each of us has something special to offer. The most exciting elements will emerge from the history and heritage of the site itself, and will be announced in the coming months.

For more information, visit festivalofthrift.co.uk and sign up to receive email newsletters, keeping you up to date as the festival programme develops over the next few months.

Winner Of Gym Membership Heads From Couch To 5k

By on 23rd February 2016in Lifestyle

A hairdresser is hoping to go from her couch to running 5k after winning free use of Newton Aycliffe’s newly refurbished leisure centre…

 

Sophia Langan, 27, entered Durham County Council’s New Year fitness contest, with the prize being three months free membership for her and a friend.

Now, with husband Anthony, 36, she has visited her town’s freshly re-opened facility to start a journey to fitness she hopes will inspire others.

Sophia, from Newton Aycliffe, said: “I entered the competition when I decided I needed to do more exercise and get myself fit.

“In the past I’ve had severe back problems and haven’t been able to run, but now they are fixed, with my husband, I’m aiming for the NHS recommended ‘Couch to 5k’.

“I’m very excited to have won this competition, as it will really get us in the exercise groove for the long term.

“I’m hoping to increase my core strength and fitness levels, and the goal for us both is, by the end of the trial, to be able to run 5k with ease.”

Sophia and Anthony, an IT trainer for the NHS, visited the centre earlier this week for their gym inductions, and over the coming weeks the council will be tracking their progress in an effort to inspire others to follow in their footsteps.

Councillor Maria Plews, Durham County Council’s cabinet member for leisure, libraries and lifelong learning, said: “The council is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of all its residents and their families.

“This is a great opportunity for Sophia and Anthony to make a real change to their lives, and I hope others will follow their lead and make the most of the fantastic facilities we have at our council-run leisure centres.”

For more information about gym memberships at Durham County Council leisure centres, visit www.durham.gov.uk.

Northumbria Glaciologist Secures Funding For European Alps Research

By on 23rd February 2016in In & Around

A Geography researcher will spend his summer doing fieldwork in the Miage Glacier, after receiving a grant from the British Society of Geomorphology…

 

Dr Matt Westoby will travel to the Italian Alps to research how climate change is affecting the region’s glaciers and mountain ranges, after being awarded an Early Career Researcher Grant. His research will utilise advances in technology such as unmanned drones and photogrammetric surveying to focus on glaciers with a layer of debris on their surface. These so-called ‘debris-covered glaciers’ respond very differently to climate change than ‘clean ice’ glaciers. The ‘debris’ generally comes from the mountain slopes, with frequent rock falls onto the glacier surface being one of the common causes.

Dr Westoby said: “Traditional methods to monitor just how much and how frequently debris is added to these glacier surfaces are typically indirect, such as digging pits in the surface debris, measuring its thickness, and using these data to estimate a debris flux. This is an extremely labour-intensive undertaking.

“Instead, this research will use a low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and cutting-edge advances in photogrammetric surveying technology to undertake repeat surveys of rock fall source areas in order to refine our estimates of how quickly these slopes are back-wasting and contributing to the growth of the surface debris cover.”

The results of this research will contribute to numerical modelling to explore how such glaciers will respond to climatic change. It is hoped that the research will prime future projects in areas such as the Himalayas.

Dr Westoby is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant in the Department of Geography, at Northumbria, and is currently employed on a NERC-funded project to reconstruct the glacial history of the Heritage Range, Antarctica. He is also involved in consultancy-based coastal erosion monitoring for South Tyneside District Council alongside staff in the Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering. His research interests are broad and varied, and have to date included the 3D reconstruction and analysis of glacial landscape evolution using original surveying technologies, as well as numerical modelling of catastrophic Himalayan glacial lake outburst floods. He has undertaken glaciological fieldwork in the European Alps, Norway, and the Nepal Himalaya.

The British Society for Geomorphology is a registered charity with a mission of fostering geomorphological research and outreach. It administers a range of grants to support geomorphological research by postgraduates and early-career and established researchers. For more information, visit www.geomorphology.org.uk.

Northumbria offers a range of courses in Geography, and is ranked Top 30 in the UK, based on research power following the results of the Research Excellence Framework 2014. To find out more about studying at Northumbria, visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/geography.

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