By Martin Walker A state-of-the-art gym will form part of an exciting £1.5m football facility on Aycliffe Business Park, it has been revealed. The Soccer Factory now hopes to open its indoor five-a-side complex in the spring after problems with its refurbishment programme caused slight delays. But bosses behind the new facility are...

People in County Durham are being warned not to fall for a new type of scam which claims to offer protection from nuisance calls. Durham County Council’s fair trading team has issued the warning to make residents aware of a so-called service which offers to stop householders receiving unwanted telesales and marketing calls. The scam...

A number of Newton Aycliffe students got to meet the former Prime Minister Tony Blair during a special event. The youngsters attended the Tony Blair Sports Foundation’s sixth birthday party at the Copthorne Hall Hotel in Newcastle. Joshua McNulty, Gabrielle Welsh, India Roddam and Haydn MacLean – all from Woodham Academy – enjoyed...

Newton Aycliffe NPT Sergeant Mark Edwards returns with his first blog of 2014... Well I’ll start with the obvious one – Happy New Year! It’s been all change for the Police in Newton Aycliffe of late. I am sure you will all be aware now that we have again relocated – our former home on the Business Park at Parsons Court has closed...

By Martin Walker A Newton Aycliffe couple were duped out of £8,000 by iPad con merchant Kirsty Cox - despite knowing her nearly all their lives. Now they say they still feel resentment towards Cox, even after she was sentenced to a two-year prison sentence on Friday. Cox, 37, formerly of Hamsterley Road, was jailed at Teesside Crown...

iPad con merchant Kirsty Cox has been locked up for two years. The 37-year-old, who'd pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud last November, was told by a Teesside Crown Court judge she'd caused misery to her many victims after her £450,000 scam in 2012. And she's been told she now faces further investigations into her finances. Click...

By Dan Lewis Newton Aycliffe rounded off an inconsistent 2013 with a rare away win, which enabled them to finish the year in the top half of the Northern League table, and in a considerably stronger position than they were 12 months previous. The win at Sunderland RCA was as comfortable as Aycliffe have enjoyed for some time. The pitch...

By Martin Walker Police are appealing for witnesses to a fatal road accident to come forward. The accident happened at approximately 4.55pm on Saturday (21st December) at the junction of Parkgate and St Cuthbert’s Way in Darlington. Motorists from Newton Aycliffe may well have witnesses the incident, which involved two vehicles –...

Newton Aycliffe came up just short with a late comeback as Ashington prevailed in a seven-goal thriller in Moore Lane Park’s last game of 2013. The Royal Blues slipped to just a second home defeat in 13 Division One games this season at home to the title-challenging Colliers on Saturday. Goals from Glen Taylor, David Carson, Andrew...

By Martin Walker The A167 through Aycliffe Village was closed for a number of hours last night after a serious road accident. The collision, which happened near the North Briton pub at about 3.15pm on Friday, involved two cars, and resulted in three pensioners and a baby being air lifted to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough. Fire...