Bishop Auckland Food Festival
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Spring 2020 www.durham.gov.uk Bishop Auckland Food Festival More and better jobs Creating opportunities in County Durham £145 million spending plans Investing in our services Easter family fun Egg-citing activities and events Welcome to the spring edition of Durham County News Spring marks the beginning of another fantastic year of free events across the county, starting Councillor Simon Henig, with Bishop Auckland Food Festival on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 April. Find out more about Leader of the Council the great line-up of celebrity chefs and programme of tasty workshops on pages 16 and 17. On page 3 you can find details of an action-packed weekend for thrill-seekers, with the return of Durham Adventure Festival from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 April. Easter is the perfect time to get out and about and we’ve got lots of ideas on pages 22 and 23 to keep the family entertained throughout the school holidays. This edition also includes a feature on the county’s Year of Pilgrimage, information about the work we’re doing to increase employment opportunities for residents and details of our future spending plans and priorities. I hope you enjoy reading this copy of Durham County News. Simon Henig Inside... Page 10 Pages 14-15 Pages 22-23 Health and Budgets Easter Pages 4-7 Wellbeing family fun News Pages 18-19 Green living Pages 16-17 Bishop Auckland Food Festival Page 11 Pages 8-9 Towns and Durham’s Year villages Pages 24-31 of Pilgrimage What’s on Pages 20-21 this spring Willington Sacriston Fostering great prizes in our competitions... Pages 12-13 Enter online at www.durham.gov.uk/dcn. Or write the answer, along with your name, address, telephone number and email on a piece of paper. Pop your entries into one Jobs and envelope (don’t forget the stamp) and post to Durham County News, Durham County Council, Investment County Hall DH1 5UF, or drop them into reception at any of our customer access points. Entries close on Sunday 12 April (unless otherwise stated). Front cover: MasterChef co-presenter John Torode will headline Bishop Auckland Food Festival Look out for extra content… You can now view extra content wherever you see this icon by going to www.durham.gov.uk/dcn If you live in the Durham County Council area and haven’t received a copy of Durham County Durham County News is written and designed by Durham County News at your home address, please contact us. Council, printed by Acorn Web Offset Ltd and distributed by To contact the editorial team, call 03000 268 059 Smart Distribution Services Ltd and Royal Mail. It costs 16p a copy. or email [email protected] When you have finished with this magazine, please recycle it. 2 Durham Adventure Festival Ready for adventure? Discover your inner daredevil! Spring sees the return of Durham Adventure Festival – and the chance to be inspired by the great outdoors. Running from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 April, the popular event brings together top filmmakers, athletes and adventurers, as well as those who have had the determination to take on their own adventures, both big and small. From trail running and wild water swimming, to climbing and mountain biking, this year’s line-up of guest speakers has a wide range of stories to tell, but they all have one thing in common – the desire to share their passion for adventure. As well as a series of awe-inspiring talks, the festival will feature film screenings and the return of its free Basecamp sessions, which proved extremely popular with visitors last year. And with all activities taking place at Gala Theatre, Durham, you really don’t have to go far to enjoy the very best in adventure, exploration and endurance. View the full programme and get all the latest updates at www.durhamadventurefestival.co.uk 3 Contact us: News Take a stand against scams Volunteers are needed to lead the way in cracking down on scams. Visit our website It is estimated that 53 per cent of to use online services people over 65 have been targeted 24 hours a day by scams, with the average scam 7 days a week victim losing more than £3,000. The Friends Against Scams www.durham.gov.uk/ campaign, a national Trading Our trading standards team is Standards Scams Team initiative, doitonline encouraging residents to sign up to aims to protect and prevent people become a Friend Against Scams by from becoming victims of scams by completing an online learning If you need to phone us, call empowering communities to take a course. stand themselves. Customer Services The course covers the types of scams To become a Friend Against Scams, 03000 26 0000 to look out for, how to spot a victim, and complete the online course, visit what you can do to protect potential www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk/ 8.30am-5pm (Monday-Thursday) targets and how to report a scam. elearning/durham 8.30am-4.30pm (Friday) Out of hours emergency service available. For social care and independent living enquiries or adult and children’s welfare issues: Social Care Direct/Children’s First Contact Service 03000 26 79 79 @DurhamCouncil /durhamcouncil linkedin.com/company/ Wheels 2 Work goes countywide durham-county-council An initiative to help people travel to work has been rolled out /DurhamCouncil across County Durham. /durham_county_council The Wheels 2 Work scheme offers the loan of a moped and a full package of support to people who are struggling with transport. Please ask us if you would like this document What started as a pilot scheme in the north of the county is now available summarised in another language or format. across the whole county. Braille Audio Large print Since 2016, 168 County Durham residents have used the scheme to help get [email protected] into employment, apprenticeships or further education. 03000 268 059 Find out more or apply at www.w2wcd.org.uk or telephone 0191 303 8442. 4 News Durham Town Hall success More than 13,000 people have taken a look behind the scenes of Durham’s historic town hall since it opened its doors to the public just over a year ago. The building, which has been at the heart of life in the city for more than six centuries, is open every Saturday. Five large oil paintings and eleven wooden coats of arms have recently been restored and rehung in the venue’s Great Hall. These unique artefacts include a portrait of world-famous Scottish poet Robert Burns by local artist Clement Burlison. The town hall is open every Saturday from 10am to 3pm, and admission is free. Future Business Have your say on Magnates licensing scheme aim to We want to hear your views about plans to improve the standard of save the privately rented homes in County planet Durham. More than 120 A public consultation about a proposed students from Selective Licensing Scheme (SLS) which 17 secondary schools across County Durham are embarking would cover 64 per cent of the county’s on a challenge to come up with business ideas that will private rented sector and over 50,000 protect the planet. properties, is currently underway. Future Business Magnates, organised by Business Durham, the The initiative is part of work to enhance economic development arm of the council, will see teams of Year 8 housing provision and tackle issues pupils working closely with local businesses to develop, create and such as homelessness, empty homes present business ideas. and anti-social behaviour in our towns and villages. If it goes ahead, the SLS is Inspired by several countries and councils’ declarations of a Climate expected to improve the living Emergency, this year’s challenge is to come up with an idea that will conditions of tenants, while benefiting help save the planet or tackle the problems caused by climate change. the wider community. The SLS would require landlords within the designated areas to apply for a Celebrate diversity at Durham Pride five-year licence. This would involve on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May landlords demonstrating that they are ‘fit and proper’ and have adequate This year’s Durham Pride celebrations include a new 5-a-side football management arrangements in place. tournament on Saturday 23 May. The winning team will be presented with the Ron Hogg Memorial Trophy in memory of Durham’s former Have your say until Police, Crime and Victims Commissioner. Monday 27 April 2020 by completing the On Sunday 24 May a parade will leave Palace Green at 1.15pm and online survey at make its way to The Sands for an afternoon of entertainment until 6pm. www.durham.gov.uk/ Housing Find out more at www.durhamprideuk.org Solutions consultation or search for @durhamprideuk on Facebook 5 News Reduction in rough sleepers Boost for entrepreneur scheme A charity that provides a helping hand to The number of people sleeping rough in entrepreneurs has been given a financial boost. County Durham has fallen significantly since The Durham-based Finchale Group has been awarded we secured government money to tackle the £584,290 in match funding through our North and South problem. Durham Community Led Local Development (CLLD) Our housing solutions service successfully led a programme. regional bid for £1.6 million from the Ministry of The cash will be used to support the charity’s Business Housing, Communities and Local Government to Boost project, which offers business support and grants of boost rough sleeper services. up to £10,000 to budding entrepreneurs and small/ medium enterprises.