North East England recruitment company TechConsult UK has decided to target the growing energy market as part of its strategy for the coming year.

TechConsult UK Ltd, based at The Wilton Centre near Redcar, Teesside, operates within the offshore, fabrication and maintenance, process, shipbuilding, and civil engineering industries, and has a large number of workers on its books, including engineers, technicians, project managers and administration personnel.

Students at a Darlington Academy are being encouraged to learn about sport from the referee’s viewpoint. 

As part of the Junior Athlete Education Programme at St Aidan‘s Church of England Academy, gifted and talented PE students have been taking part in a programme of sessions in coaching, umpiring and refereeing in sports including football and basketball. 

The Rt Rev Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, called for the Church to stand up for the world’s poor, when he addressed the Anglican Alliance for Development at Bishopthorpe, York, in a keynote speech called 'Good News for the Poor – at home and in the wider world' on Monday 30th April. 

Present at the Seminar hosted by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu was an audience made up of 52 people engaged in Diocesan and other forms of overseas development links and activity. The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the work of the Anglican Alliance for Relief, Development, and Advocacy. 

North East England recruitment company TechConsult UK has appointed a key member of staff to develop its links with firms from the region. 

Techconsult UK Ltd, based at The Wilton Centre near Redcar, Teesside, operates within the offshore, fabrication and maintenance, process, shipbuilding, and civil engineering industries, and has a large number of candidates on its books, including engineers, technicians, project managers and project administration personnel. 

Students at St Aidan’s Church of England Academy in Darlington staged a fundraising week to raise money for African villagers in danger from contaminated water. 

 The students, from Cuthbert House at the Hundens Lane Academy, are raising money to purchase an Aquafilter, a pump that turns dirty water into drinking water without the use of electricity or chemicals. 

More than 200 people took part in a Passion Play today (Good Friday) as a 19th Century graveyard in a North East quarry was transformed into Jerusalem at the time of the Crucifixion. The Houghton le Spring Passion Play will be staged at Houghton Hillside Cemetery in the Wearside town at 11am on Good Friday (April 6) and the audience will be encouraged to make up the crowd, jostling for a view of Jesus as he drags the Cross.

The Houghton le Spring Passion was staged at Houghton Hillside Cemetery in the Wearside town at 11am with local people in the key roles, supported by a rock band and with the audience playing the part of the crowd.

Easter is a time of great renewal for all Christians and I feel that more strongly than ever this year. This is my first Easter as Bishop of Durham and I am thoroughly enjoying the challenges that come with the job and finding myself inspired by the people I meet. 

Perhaps the thing that has encouraged me most is the impact of the prayer campaign that I launched just after becoming Bishop. The idea behind Prayer for the People was to invite people to join me in sharing their hopes and dreams and prayers for the region. 

The Right Revd. Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham confirmed today (March 29th) that he will be the Patron of the North East Call to Action on Global Poverty and Climate Change (NE-CAP).

 Speaking about the announcement Bishop Justin said: " I am delighted to have been asked to continue to support this worthy initiative as was the case with the previous Bishop of Durham The Right Revd Tom Wright. 

A veteran flower arranger from Tow Law, in County Durham, has been honoured for his community service by being invited to the Royal Maundy Service is at York Minster.
Norman Deacon, 79, has been invited to represent the Diocese of Durham when the Queen distributes Maundy Money at the Minister on Thursday April 5.

Norman, who has always lived in Tow Law, is being rewarded for many years of service to the local community. A former stonemason who became a builder, and built the house in which he and wife Betty MBE, live, he has a number of passions, including flower arranging.

He became interested in the pastime when the then vicar of St Philip and St James in Tow Law, The Reverend Anthony Driver, asked him to organise a flower festival in the church in the mid-1980s. The event coincided with a conference in Durham which celebrated the church’s most famous vicar, the Reverend Thomas Henry Espinell Compton Espin, a noted astronomer who was born in 1858 and died in 1934, aged 76. The conference coincided with the visit of some of the world’s leading stargazers to Durham.

Norman said: “I had always enjoyed growing flowers. I showed the likes of Chrysanthemums and won some prizes - you have joy and sorrow when it comes to entering shows. However, I had never taken part in flower arranging, although I had seen the work that some of the women did and admired the skills they showed. When I was asked to organise the flower festival, I set out to learn.”

He did that by attending classes at Bishop Auckland Technical College and went on to to teach flower arranging classes both at the College and all over the County.

Norman said: “I like the creative element of flower arranging. It’s a challenge each time. You have to come up with something new and original with each arrangement.”

He is looking forward to the Maundy Thursday event, where he will be accompanied by Betty, who was awarded the MBE in 1997 for 51 years’ of service to the Post Office.

Norman, who has been a church warden at St Philip and St James for 18 years, said: “It was a real surprise to hear I had been invited to the service and I am looking forward to it.”
* Norman also has a long association with Tow Law Football Club, including 35 years on the Committee.

A 19th Century graveyard in a North East quarry is to stage a dramatic open-air Passion Play in which the audience will be able to play a part as Jesus is led towards the Cross for his crucifixion.

The Houghton le Spring Passion Play will be staged at Houghton Hillside Cemetery in the Wearside town at 11am on Good Friday (April 6) and the audience will be encouraged to make up the crowd, jostling for a view of Jesus as he drags the Cross.

The Cemetery is in an 18th Century limestone quarry and the first graves date back to the 19th Century, with burials having stopped in the early 1970s. Today, it is a closed cemetery, which is part of St Michael’s Church in the town, part of the Diocese of Durham.

The Passion Play, which is its tenth year and was written locally, is usually performed in the church and this is the first year it will be staged in the open-air. The music is written by Stuart Clappison and the lyrics by Andy Slater; a group of musicians will accompany the event with instruments including guitars. Jesus will be played by the Reverend James Menzies, the Assistant Curator of neighbouring Hetton Lyons.

The Reverend Canon Sue Pinnington, the Rector of Houghton le Spring and the producer of the Play, said: “The Passion Play has been successfully produced in the church in recent years, but this year we are taking it outdoors for the first time. The cemetery, with its back-drop of cliffs, is a terrific ampitheatre and will create a great atmosphere. “There will be a lot of movement during the Play. The narrator and members of the cast will move around the quarry and the audience will be able to follow the story, exactly as happened when Jesus was crucified. There will be guards in modern military dress, complete with guns, who will move people away if they go too near, to give it a realistic feel.

“The whole idea is to show that the story may be 2,000 years old but it is still relevant and contemporary. People will be able to experience what it was like for those people watching the crucifixion of Jesus. There will be an edginess to the show. People will be able to accompany Jesus on his last journey. It will be a living play.”

The crucifixion scene itself will provide a reminder of the area’s historic links with quarrying and mining because it will take place in front of the Miners’ Monument, a cross which commemorates the many miners whose bodies lie in the cemetery. They include some of those who lost their lives in the Houghton Colliery Disaster of 1850 when firedamp and coal dust were accidentally ignited by a safety lamp, killing 27 miners.

The Passion Play is supported by a number of local community groups, including the Friends of Hillside Cemetery who have worked tirelessly to restore the site over recent years. Local businesses and the local council have also supported the event. More information can be obtained from www.stmichaels.hls.org.uk