Dine InDurham Tuesday 8 – Sunday 14 July Venues across the City

Dine InDurham is a new event organised by the Durham BID to celebrate the fantastic food offering in Durham’s City centre. This week long event from 8th - 14th July will be promoting City Centre dining, and showcasing the offering of our local eateries through fantastic value meals, special offers, and great events.

“The Dine InDurham experience is not just about ‘dining’ but also about getting out and ‘doing’,” says Sonali Craddock, BID Manager, “so whether diners are passionate about food or simply want a new experience, Dine InDurham will offer something to suit every palate.”

Diners can take advantage of offers from the City restaurants as well as additional promotions from both bars and cafés. Dine InDurham will bring together a unique mix of special offers, exclusive competitions, City wide cooking demonstrations and a local producers market.
The climax of the Dine InDurham week will be on July 14 and will see a special ‘Local Producers Market’ in the Market Place. Organised by Durham Markets and TASTECLUB, it will feature over 20 stalls from local producers.

From Tuesday to Sunday the Love Food Roadshow Experience and their mobile kitchen will be across Durham City including the pedestrian bridges and the Market Place. There will be daily cooking demonstrations with well known chefs such as Richard Fox, catering to all tastes and age groups. – Full details will be released via social media during the week.

“There are such a lot of different tastes and events going on that we have put together a great directory that has everything you need to know.  It is available throughout the week and from participating venues across the City.” Said Sonali. 

Other highlights during the week:

Wed & Thursday (10 & 11) sees a special Seafood restaurant in Cafe Cenno in Durham Market Hall with special chef Richard Hindson.  Richard has a fine reputation for his seafood creations, having worked in top restaurants both here and abroad.

Keeping with the seafood theme, there will be a ‘pop-up’ Champagne and Oyster Bar at Up Market above Market Vaults in conjunction with IK Fish from 12pm – 7pm on Friday 12^th July.  Finally, don’t miss out on the exclusive Picnic Basket Shop – run by The Court Inn throughout the week

Follow us on facebook and twitter (@dineindurham, @DurhamBID) to get all the latest news and details on the event.

This event has been organised by the Durham BID (Business Improvement District).

For up to date information, please contact Durham BID on www.facebook.com/durhambusinessimprovementdistrict and on twitter @DurhamBID 

For more information and interview / photo opportunities, please contact Ed@littlewolfpr.co.uk 079473487058

Dodgy Headline Stanley Music Festival

Stanley Music Festival – Sunday Aug 25 – Oakey’s Field, Stanley

Organisers of this year’s Stanley Music Festival have now confirmed the headline bands that will be ‘wowing’ the crowds at Oakey’s field this August.

Top of the bill will be Dodgy, the event is part of their ‘Back to Back’ tour which see them up and down the country before hitting the Stanley Music Festival on Sunday 25^th August.

 Dodgy were originally together for seven years and sold over a million records worldwide, released three albums and 12 Top 40 singles including 'Staying Out For

The Summer', 'So Let Me Go Far', 'If You're Thinking Of Me' and the Top 5 hit 'Good Enough', all still a staple of radio playlists.  After a break up they got back together in 2011 and have been getting stronger ever since.

Also coming to the northeast are ‘The New Forbidden’, featuring Lloyd Grossman who is no stranger to festivals.  He and the band play produce a wild, catchy sound with a modern edge, with the influence of Blondie, Iggy Pop, The Killers, and The Doors. 

Local music lovers will be happy to see ‘Mitch Laddie’ on stage.  From the region, Mitch will be marrying his Police and Hendrix influences on stage as well as tracks from his second album ‘Burning Bridges’.

‘Ultimate Bowie’, ‘Dust Town Dogs’ and ‘Leesa Mae’ will also be performing across the day.

Carl Marshall, one of the organisers for this year is more than pleased with the line up:  “It is important that we get a good mix of music that will appeal to the type of crowds we get here in Stanley.  To get ‘Dodgy’ as part of their tour was a great coup for us and we think that the people will see we are organically growing the festival to become a great day in County Durham for music fans.”

The daylong event sees the gates open at 10am with the first band due on stage Shortly after

“The full line-up is on our website and facebook site and tickets are now on sale through Leisureworks and the Lamplight Arts Centre, Stanley. .  If last year is to go by, we are looking at a bumper crowd so our advice is to get tickets as soon as possible” said CARL.

More information see: http://stanleymusicfestival.co.uk/

Nate training hard for his unusual ride this September

Durham Big Ride and The Beast – 1September and 8 September

Nate McIntosh is training hard for this year’s Durham Big Ride, nothing unusual about that you may say.  But there is a difference!

Nate is set on completing the 10 mile route this September on his unicycle!

“I love getting on the unicycle and going around the City and I though why not do the Durham Big Ride on it.” He said during one of his training session.

The 17 year old lives in the City and has been using the ‘one- wheel’ since about nine years of age: “I started just for fun and took to it straight away.  Once you get used to it, riding slightly above everyone is a nice feeling and you do get some strange looks and comments.”

“I am out and about Durham City three times a week on this cycle as well as my ‘normal’ one.  I can easy do six miles at the moment so I think the ten will be tough but come September I should be fine.”

As well as keep his balance, Nate will be raising money for Teenage Cancer Trust who have a branch in the RVI Newcastle. www.justgiving.com/Nate-McIntosh/

Durham Big Ride is on 1 September this year with 3, 10 and 25 mile routes starting and finishing at Durham County Hall.  The Beast is a week later starting from Sniperley Park and Ride.  More information on all the rides can be seen at www.durhambigride.co.uk

Fire fighters Work and Play Together

Fire Service employees are once again getting out and about training hard for the double weekend of the Durham Big Ride and Beast in September.

In previous years around 50 County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service staff have taken part in one of the four rides on offer and this year looks set to be just as popular.

Pete McDermott, one of the firefighters based at Framwellgate Moor, is one of the people behind the push for all staff to get involved:

“When the first Durham Big Ride was introduced a few years ago we used the training as part of our fitness regime and it has snowballed since then.  There are some very keen cyclists amongst the staff and we will hopefully recruit even more this year.”

 

                                  Pete McDermott, Ian Cockburn, Stuart Thew

Pete and his colleagues are continually raising awareness of how easy fires can start in the home as well as encouraging people to use and maintain their smoke alarms.

 “We see the taking part in the Durham Big Ride as a part of our community commitment and it is another way of engaging with the people of County Durham and Darlington through handing out safety advice leaflets and talking to them after the event.  It is also a great way of socialising with workmates while keeping fit. ”

Colin Wilkes, Event Director:  “One of the reasons we have developed both the Durham Big Ride and The Beast is to get workmates and friends together on their bikes for a day of nice social riding and to take in some of the great scenery we have to offer around the City.  To have the team from County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue join us year after year shows what a good day it is.

For more information on the Durham Big Ride and The Beast, go to www.durhambigride.co.uk

 

Charities are recruiting for Durham Big Ride

Local and national charities are looking to ‘gear up’ for this year’s Durham Big Ride and Beast.

The events, on the first and eighth of September this year, are a great way of charities and worthy causes to get together and raise some money while having a great day out at the same time.

Colin Wilkes, Director of Durham Big Ride believes this is a prime example of the events becoming more and more part of the community in the Durham area: “The Durham Big Ride and Beast are there for everyone to get involved and to become a part of.  Local charities are always looking for fund-raising ideas and with our varied distances, there is a route for all ages and abilities to bring money in for their favourite cause.”

One such cause has already started recruiting for Durham Big Ride on September first.  Rainbow Trust is a national charity that has care teams across the country supporting families of life threatened and terminally ill children. The care team based in Durham supports families across the whole of the North East.

Emily Casson is Fund Raising Manager base in Durham City: “It’s great to be associated with the Durham Big Bike Ride as it is a great way for us to promote what we do to people in this area and to raise vital funds for our work. If you are interested in taking part and want to ride for Rainbow Trust, please get in touch.”

Indeed, one of the charity patrons, Kevin Whitfield, has taken part in the past two Durham Big Rides and will be on the line again this year promoting the cause.
Durham Big Ride does not have a ‘nominated charity’ encouraging riders to raise money for their own personal causes.

“It is great to see Rainbow Trust getting more involved this year” said Colin Wilkes, “and we would encourage other charities to log onto the website to see how they can use this great local event to help them in their efforts.”

For more information on Rainbow Trust and their team, contact Emily Casson 0191 386 4400 and for the Durham Big Ride and Beast, go to the website www.durhambigride.co.uk

Durham Big Ride is on Sunday Sept 1 2013 from County Hall Durham

The Beast is the following Sunday Sept 8 from Sniperley Park and Ride

More information from www.durhambigride.co.uk

RAINBOW TRUST

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity provides expert social palliative care to families when their child has a life threatening or terminal illness. Offering emotional and practical support, assistance is available for families 24 hours a day.

Rainbow Trust is a national charity with a care team in Durham supporting families across the North East with individually tailored high quality care from diagnosis through to treatment and, should a family become bereaved, the charity will continue to support them for as long as they are needed. Rainbow Trust relies almost entirely on voluntary donations and through the outstanding generosity of its supporters is able to help over 1,300 families a year throughout England. However, this is just 12% of the families that could benefit from its help. The charity’s vision is that one day all terminally ill children and their families will have access to a Rainbow Trust Family Support Worker.

Virgin Money London Marathon 2013

I know, I know,  I should have done this last week but I have been ‘ a bit busy’ with catch up stuff and making sure that my hound knew who I was that I am NOW getting round to putting my Virgin Money London Marathon thoughts down on paper – well on screen!

First I will talk about Boston.  Much has been said about it and in a far better way than I ever could.  We all got to know via twitter and the likes on the Monday night as a lot of the marathon ‘team’ are part o,f and have friends who work on Boston run.

Events like that certainly put things in perspective and made us all work that bit harder and be that little bit more vigilant.  The silent pause before the race was a fitting tribute to Boston and we had three runners who ran Boston on the Green start line with their Boston t-shirts on. One of them was from Newcastle – just goes to show eh!

But the week went as well as they ever do down in VMLM press office with a whole raft of people making sure it is all planned out, leaving the likes of me an easy job of ‘shouting at snappers’ for a few hours and getting the various elite athletes, fancy dress runners and our delightful celebs to smile at the aforementioned snappers.

New people this year included: Andrew Strauss, along with his delightful wife, Kelly Sotherton – who kept saying: ‘It’s a bit different from running a few times round a track!’ and Amy Childs who was very impressive during the press interviews and who really enjoyed the marathon experience.

Among the regulars who were back for another jog round the capital were James Toesen, who knocked around 15mins off his personal best this year, Mike Bushel from BBC sport who was wearing the t-shirt of the TV Times leukemia and lymphoma research charity, made popular by another one of the gang, Tony Audenshaw who again told me he was looking for ‘around 3.30’ and came in around 3.10. Amanda Mealing, who I had the delight to chat to a lot last year was back for more and  it wouldn't be Virgin Money London Marathon without Iwan Thomas supporting, once again, MacMillan Cancer Care.

Race day came and my first job was to make sure Michele Roux Jnr got to the start early for an interview on TV. Although it was his twelfth London marathon (I think) we had never had the time to chat for more than 2 minutes.  Let me say that he is as quiet as he seems on the telly but is a great conversationalist – even at 6.45 in the morning!  One of the things we spoke about, and I can’t remember how it came into conversation, was when his sous chef Monica Galetti saw snow for the first time!

Up at the green start we had our usual ‘gaggle of snappers’ of around 60 and most of them had been at the hotel for photos during the week. They were all there to make the most of the early sunshine and get as many clebs photographed before they got all hot and sweaty doing 26.2 miles on the roads.

All the runners were up for it as well, far too many to mention individually but the  BBC News reading girls all looked as if they had been ‘doing the hard miles’ so they could enjoy the atmosphere of the day.

When the race starts, our team have a 300 metre dash to get to the special buses to get us to the finish as quickly as they can.  Once there we all have a half mile walk up The Mall to get near the finish line to see the wheelchairs and then the elite runners coming across the line.

A while after they elite come though all my ‘friends’ from the Green start come into view.

As said before Jame Toesen did a very respectable time of just over 3 hours with Tony Audenshaw not far behind.  Could go on about them all but it is easier to say that all of them came in over the next few hours – in various states of tiredness, and were more than happy to cross the line as some of the pics show.

That evening all of the media team try and get out for a final meal together before we all go our separate ways. I am just a small cog in the media wheel at the event but the whole team are great to work with and very good company when out in the various bars and restaurants at St Catherine’s Dock.

Happy days until next year.

More orders, more customers means more jobs

Due to the continuing success of a Durham business, they are looking for more workers – now!

Workwear Express, based on the Belmont Estate on the outskirts of Durham City, is seeing its order book going from strength to strength and is now looking for staff to expand the current roster of 55. They are the UK’s leading supplier of customised Workwear, uniforms and promotional leisurewear and supply businesses, clubs, individuals and organisations all over the UK and abroad.

“We have invested in new machinery and I.T. that are making our jobs more efficient and also enables the staff to complete orders quickly, keeping the customer happy.” Said MD of the company Andrew Ward.

Workwear Express have been in the Durham City area for 22 years and over the past year have grown by over 30% in the last year and are on course for the same growth this year. 

National clients include: Aston Martin, Greggs PLC, 3 Mobile, and Tesco while they still keep close to their roots supplying local companies with workwear and promotional wear.

 “Our sales teams are doing a great job; in fact we are looking to expand the teams that are already in post. We are looking to take on eight new office- based sales staff to handle inbound sales enquiries and provide excellent customer service and twelve more production staff to work in our 24 hour factory.”  Said Andrew “All in all, in these times where a lot of firms are looking shed jobs, we are in the fortunate position of not only keeping the 55 staff but looking for more.”

 Anyone interested in working for the company can get in touch with us at careers@workwearexpress.com