ONE hundred years ago, the telegram boys in the North-East were beginning one of their busiest periods of the First World War, delivering dreadful news to the families of young men out fighting in Flanders fields.
Last poppy of 19,240 sewn onto striking remembrance display ahead of unveiling in West Cornforth, near Ferryhill
Flossie Mainwaring-TaylorA STRIKING display of almost 20,000 hand-crafted poppies will be unveiled in West Cornforth in honour of boys and men who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the First World War.
CONTACT US
If you have any questions or would like to contribute to our centenary content, please get in touch by emailing chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk
DLI SOMME DIARY
Tony Kearney tells what the Durham Pals - volunteer soldiers from across the region - were doing 100 years ago, in the build-up to their date with destiny: July 1, 1916, and the Battle of the Somme.
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INTERACTIVE WW1 JOURNEY THROUGH NORTHERN ECHO ARCHIVES
Nick Gullon has been through The Northern Echo archives, selecting a story from each day of 1915, painting a vivid of picture of what life was like on the home front as well as in the trenches, and creating an interactive journey through the war years.
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SEARCH DATABASE OF SOLDIER RECORDS
Search our database of over 1,800 soldiers from the region who fought and died in the First World War.
Find out more here
Find out more here
SCHOOLS' POETRY COMPETITION
In 2014, we appealed to all secondary schools in the region to ask their pupils to write a poem to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.
Read their poems here
Read their poems here
HELP RAISE £100,000 FOR OUR HEROES
An appeal to raise £100,000 for the modern military heroes - those servicemen and women who return physically and mentally injured from war zones such as Afghanistan.
Find out more here
Find out more here
First World War wireless station in Stockton is preserved for posterity
The Northern EchoA RARE First World War wireless station is among five historically significant places listed today to mark 70 years of protecting England’s significant buildings.
Horrific deaths of seven North-East sailors, murdered by German who became Himmler’s henchman, remembered on 100th anniversary
Gavin EngelbrechtTHE deaths of seven North-East sailors 100 years ago today in one of the most heinous crimes of the First World War will be marked during a poignant ceremony.
Special status for war memorial to Arthur “Patch” Watson who lost his life at Battle of Passchendaele
Tony KearneyA WAR memorial dedicated to a soldier tragically killed as he waited to be transferred back to England carrying his comrades’ letters from the front has been given protected status.
How a North Yorkshire war hero was finally identified – after 100 years in a French field
Mark FosterA MUSEUM which was instrumental in the quest to name an unknown First World War soldier, has put on display some of the objects which finally helped identify him.
Parade to be held in Stanley to mark centenary of Michael Heaviside coming home with Victoria Cross
Tony KearneyTHE homecoming of a miner who won a Victoria Cross while serving as a Western Front stretcher bearer is set to be re-enacted in a pit town.
David Young journeys to Belgium ahead of the centenary of the Passchendaele battle
David YoungThis summer will mark the centenary of one of World War One’s most infamous battles – Passchendaele. Ahead of the anniversary, David Young journeys to Belgium to explore a still scarred landscape where 100 years ago his grandfather was wounded …
A poppy for each County Durham soldier who fell in WWI
Catherine PriestleyTHE boys and men who left County Durham to serve in the First World War, never to return, will each be represented on a community’s remembrance poppy display.
Great Ayton villagers mark exact moment their First World War soldiers died
Emily FlanaganA VILLAGE intent on marking the exact time of death of each of its villagers killed fighting during the First World War has just held its 27th memorial service.
War hero Tom Dresser who won Victoria Cross in First World War honoured with statue in Middlesbrough
Graeme HetheringtonA TRUE war hero has been honoured 100 years to the day since he showed unflinching courage in the face of the enemy on the battlefield.
Durham war hero’s battlefield bravery marked 100 years on
Bruce UnwinTHE centenary of a North-East miner’s gallantry on a First World War battlefield was marked with the unveiling of a commemorative stone heralding the act of valour.
Village history project will focus on the Fighting Bradfords
Dani WalkerA £50,000 project is being launched to explore the story of the only two brothers to be awarded the Victoria Cross in the First World War and the village in which they live.
Tributes paid to 24-year-old Durham Pal on 100th anniversary of his death
Chris LloydA WREATH has been laid in Durham cathedral to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of a 24-year-old Durham Pal.
The courage of Roland Boys Bradford enshrined in history
Chris LloydA VICTORIA CROSS winner is to be permanently commemorated as part of a day of events in the County Durham village of Witton Park, where he was born.
Walking in the footsteps of a Flanders hero
Chris LloydFOR the Durhams, the Battle of Passchendaele began at 3.50am on July 31, 1917, when the buglers sent the 20th Battalion over the top into the Flanders mud.
Celebrating courageous exploits of the British Army’s youngest Victoria Cross recipient, one of the famous Fighting Bradfords
Chris LloydAT 3.15pm exactly 100 years ago this afternoon, two battalions of the Durham Light Infantry rose up out of their trenches to attack enemy lines, led by Lt Col Roland Bradford.
Denied truth for 100 years – daughter of DLI soldier learns her father was wrongly shot at dawn as a coward
Gavin EngelbrechtTHE previously unknown truth behind the tragic and senseless death of a Durham Light Infantry soldier 100 years ago today has finally solved a life-long mystery.
Man learns more of mum and dad’s romance after Echo publishes First World War love letters
Chris LloydTHE Remembrance Sunday special edition of The Northern Echo provided an enormous shock for Arnold Stewart.
Graffiti left by Durham Light Infantry soldiers in tunnels beneath First World War battlefield is discovered a century on
Tony KearneyWARTIME graffiti buried deep beneath a French battlefield has been unearthed 100 years after it was written by North-East soldiers.
The 13 boys of one Darlington street who never came home
Chris LloydON the east bank of the River Skerne, there used to be a network of tight terraced streets with hundreds of homes that were cleared away in the late 1960s so the inner ring road could bulldoze through.
Whistles were blown to start one of the Somme’s bloodiest days… at home the wait for news was torturous
Chris LloydWHAT time are you reading this? At 9.10am this very day 100 years ago, hundreds of Durham men slithered up out of their rain-lashed trenches on the Somme and tried to wade through waist-deep sticky mud to attack a heavily …
Durham and Bishop Auckland suffered some of most losses in First World War, new research reveals
Katie RichardsonON the day the nation remembers our brave fallen, it has emerged two North-East towns suffered greater losses than most.
More than 50 war memorials given listed status as part of centenary drive to protect future of commemorative sites
Flossie Mainwaring-TaylorMORE than 50 memorials commemorating fallen soldiers across the region have been listed to mark the centenary of the First World War.
Postcards home from an Easington miner to his Chilton wife
Chris LloydRomantic, caring, both brave and afraid… the wartime experiences of a County Durham soldier are revealed through a series of treasured postcards – many sent home from the Somme. Chris Lloyd tells Private Abraham Stewart’s story.