Summer Tea Party Launched in Royal Company
13th July 2025
A LIVELY summer afternoon tea party in the former Durham pit village of Waterhouses has proved yet another hit with local residents.
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Group Takes To The Road To Drive Home Prostate Cancer Message
8th July 2025
DURHAM-based members of the region’s only pro-active prostate cancer support and promotion group are taking their message on tour – thanks to the financial backing of the city’s freemen.
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Festival targets children and young people to build on success
27th May 2025
ORGANISERS of a successful performing arts festival, planning their fifth successive annual event in Durham City, are focusing attention on children and young people in the surrounding communities to help build on dramatic rises in audience numbers.
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A flash in time captures family's growing links to the Freemen
2nd May 2025
Photographer Geoff Kitson had to be quick on his feet to capture a unique three-generational family picture when his grandson Tom was sworn in as a Durham City Freemen.
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Time for tea and reflection in a peaceful woodland glade
28th April 2025
AMBITIOUS charity workers have transformed an overgrown woodland into a haven of peace and tranquility - which includes a public tea room in the trees – thanks to a second injection of cash from Durham City’s Freemen.
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Blood Bike Couriers Gifted an Infusion of Cash
28th March 2025
A DEDICATED band of life-saving motor bike couriers, spearheading a vital out-of-hours service delivering vital blood and medical supplies to the region’s hospitals, healthcare sites and the Great North Air Ambulance, have themselves received an important gift – a donation of £1,000.
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Freemen’s “Fantastic” Tonic For City Hospice
27th March 2025
A Crisis-hit hospice, forced into make a string of staffing cuts in the wake of the Chancellor’s autumn budget, has been given a major boost by Durham City Freemen.
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Obituary - Sir Paul Nicholson
21st March 2025
SIR PAUL NICHOLSON, who has died aged 86, was the last family chairman of the Sunderland-based Vaux brewery until its demise at the hands of City investors; a leading figure in north-eastern business and civic life, he was also Lord-Lieutenant of County Durham. Vaux (pronounced “vorks”) quenched the thirst of the steelworkers, miners and shipyard men of its home region throughout the industrial era; its best-known products included the Maxim and Double Maxim ales, named in honour of the Maxim Gun Detachment in the Boer War.
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Obituary - Alan Ribchester MBE
19th March 2025
Alan Ribchester, who was 79, lived all his life in Durham and was married to Gina. The couple have two sons, Richard and Robert, and four grandchildren.
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