By Martin Walker A bunch of girls dubbed the Banana Army have announced their fundraising plans for the year – with a Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball being the headline event in September. The Banana Army, all from Newton Aycliffe, raised thousands of pounds last year, running a string of wacky stunts including a three-hour Zumbathon and an...

Aycliffe’s community cinema will be showing Disney’s animation hit movie Tangled this week. The half-term movie, which is completely free, is showing from 1pm on Friday (February 17) at Greenfield Community College, and from 2pm on Saturday at Neville’s Parade Community Centre. Everyone is welcome to come along and you may also...

Darlington manager Craig Liddle says he’s planning a heart-to-heart with his players – to see who’s up for seeing out the rest of the season. The Quakers interim manager must battle on until the end of April – effectively the rest of the current campaign – without the ability to bring in any players due to Conference rules, as...

Newton Aycliffe FC chairman Gary Farley talks to Aycliffe Today ahead of Saturday’s trip to Consett. Aycliffe's last two games - at South Shields and at home to Shildon last weekend - have fallen foul of the freezing temperatures. But they look to get the season back on the road with the defence of an eight-match unbeaten run at...

Proposals designed to implement a new pay and grading structure for some 9,000 Durham County Council employees will go before Full Council next week. Since its launch as a Unitary authority in April 2009, in which eight councils became one, a wide scale project of information gathering and job assessment has been undertaken. The aim of...

Chelsea star and Newtonian ROSS TURNBULL writes an exclusive blog for Aycliffe Today... Hi and welcome to my second blog for Aycliffe Today. A lot has happened since my last blog a few weeks ago. After our win at QPR we went to Mallorca for some warm-weather training and the atmosphere there was good. Results have been a bit...

Police are appealing for witnesses after a man tried to steal an 84-year-old woman's handbag in Newton Aycliffe. The incident happened on Greenwell Road on Sunday February 5, at approximately 1.30pm. The elderly woman suffered injuries to her ribs when the robber pulled her to the ground as he attempted to make off with her bag. The...

By Martin Walker Craig Liddle admits the uphill task of keeping Darlington in the Blue Square Bet Premier League this season is the biggest challenge he’s ever had to face. The Quakers slumped to their 13th league defeat of the season at promotion-chasing Southport last night. Karl Ledsham’s eighth-minute strike and Shaun...

Police are advising people to be alert for a money-raising scam operating in County Durham. The scam involves a phone call from someone claiming to working for a company calling themselves Ministry of Justice. They claim they can recover bank charges, credit card charges and cash associated with mobile phone contracts. They ask the...

No midweek game for Newton Aycliffe, but there was two other results in the Northern League first division on Tuesday night, while West Auckland’s derby at home to Shildon was postponed. STL Northern League Division One Dunston 1 (Shaw), Jarrow Roofing 0 Penrith 0, Consett 0 West Auckland v Shildon postponed  ...