For the first time the Village Trust has registered an event during the HODs festival. It is organising guided tours and self guided walks around the village this coming weekend, based on the Shotley Bridge Heritage Trail booklet that was published in April last year.
If you want to explore other places have a look at the Heritage Open Days website.
The festival runs from 10-13 September and you can experience local history, architecture and culture for free.
The next Meeting of the Village Trust is to be held at the end of June, on Tuesday evening 30 June.
The AGM will be followed by an Open Meeting, when the ‘Friends of Red Kites’ group will be giving an illustrated talk on Red Kites in the Derwent Valley. Everyone is welcome.
For more information about the Red Kites go to …
http://www.friendsofredkites.org.uk
The Consett & District Heritage Initiative is holding another exhibition which will include old photos of Shotley Bridge and the Consett area. There is ample parking on the Sherburn Road car park and refreshments are available each day.
The Trust will be displaying some of its own photos and collections from local residents.
The damaged coping stones around the ‘Kaydar’ bed have been repaired and new turf laid. Two new parking bays have been added outside Rumi’s and are expected to be marked out by the end of April, including a 2 hour waiting restriction. Durham County Council has also completed the new paving and bollards in front of the shops on Front Street.
The replica Pant is to be commissioned and work on its foundation and the new paving and seating area around it is expected to start at the end of this month and completed in May. The new ‘Victorian style’ lamp posts are on order and hopefully will be installed and working by the end of June.
These improvement schemes have been funded using S106 money from the Storey Homes development on the former hospital site.
David Wright and Ian Pattinson gave a very informative talk last evening at the Trust’s Open Meeting. 38 persons listened intently about the origins of the Memorial Cottages, one of only two such memorials in County Durham, built in memory of men from this neighbourhood who died as a result of service in the Great War. It was evident that a huge amount of research had been undertaken by David and Ian about the cottages, those named on the original memorial and the additional 15 persons that were added to the new plaque, unveiled last Remembrance Sunday. They intend to publish a book on the subject.
Shotley Bridge Village Trust 