DCLHS NEWS

JOURNAL 89 has been published.

  • ‘A Maritime County’ – reflections on Durham’s coast. by John Banham.
  • The Coast of County Durham – A Personal Recollection. by David Miller.
  • A Life in Archives. by Liz Bregazzi.
  • A Tale of Two Towns – Aspects of the history of Sunderland and South Shields in the years 1831-68. by Glen Lyndon Dodds.
  • When beehives made the world go round. by Win Stokes.
  • Dame Elizabeth Bowes: pioneer of early coal mining?. by Stefan Szablewski.
  • The Ebenezer Project (gazetteer of the chapels and meeting houses of the North East). by Win Stokes.

Emma Yeo’s article in DCLHS Journal 87 on ‘Living and Dying with the Plague in Civil War Durham’ was chosen as one of the winners in the short article category in the British Association of Local History publication awards 2024.

Emma, a research student at Durham University, will be speaking to her article at a Day School entitled Stockton-on-Tees 1600-1835: Urban History in Regional Context organised by the Surtees Society and Cleveland & Teesside Local History Society.

This will be held on Saturday 5 April 2025 9.45 - 16.00 at the River Tees Watersports Centre, The Slipway, North Shore Stockton on Tees TS18 2NL

Places MUST be booked in advance. Places are FREE for members of the Surtees Society (including staff and students of institutional members) and Cleveland & Teesside Local History Society. Otherwise, the cost is £5 (including refreshments), refundable when either Society is joined. The venue is fully accessible with free parking. There is accommodation nearby, including a discount at a local Hampton by Hilton hotel. Coffee/tea and refreshments provided. Lunch can be ordered in advance when booking a place or you can bring your own.

Please contact martin@peagam.co.uk for further details, including the option to order lunch, additional information and booking.

Free Wordpress Training

In collaboration with Thorpe Thewles History Group the County Durham Forum for History and Heritage are pleased to announce the availability of a limited number of free training places on a series of IT and heritage related skills development courses and workshops to be presented throughout 2025. The first of these courses will provide attendees with the skills and confidence to allow them to build and maintain a professional website using what is arguably the world’s most popular and easy to use platforms, i.e. WordPress.

The timing for the delivery of this first training course is presently under discussion with the professional organisation presenting it. However, it is likely to begin within the second quarter of this year and comprise a series of up to 10 weekly sessions, each of between 1 and 1½ hours duration. The course will probably take place in a location either in the southeast or northeast of County Durham. The regular weekly timings for the delivery of each training session has not yet been fixed. However, to enable the widest possible age group and demographic of attendees, the organisers believe there is merit in holding them outside of normal working hours, possibly at weekends.

Those attending the course need no prior knowledge of website design, only basic IT skills and the requirement to provide their own Wi-Fi enabled laptop computer. Attendees of the course will be provided with course notes and a WordPress users guidebook.

While this website design and maintenance course will be totally free, the organisers will request each attendee pays an upfront attendance guarantee deposit. This will be fully redeemable on completion of the course and will help ensure that all its limited spaces will be actively used. If you would like to know more about the aims and scope of the course and/or register your interest in taking part in it (on a totally noncommittal basis for now) please contact Margaret Hedley: e-mail: history.club2@btinternet.com

When replying please state any preferences you may have for the final selection for the weekly timings of the training sessions and their venue in either of the above two mentioned regional locations.

To qualify for selection to attend this course prospective attendees must be able to prove their current membership of one of the Forum’s 40+ membership group or must be a registered private/individual member of the Forum. They are also encouraged to provide basic details of their group’s or project’s need for a website.

We will announce more about the final detailed plans, timing and venue for the above course in the Forum’s next quarterly newsletter and at its AGM to be held at Bowburn Community Centre on Saturday 29 March. A further list of the other heritage related skills workshops, referred to above, will be announced in due course. These are being planned for the second half of this year.

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Durham County Local History Society

The Society is a registered charity (no. 235597) formed in 1964 to encourage and promote interest in the study of the history of County Durham.

It particularly focuses on recent centuries when County Durham was playing a major part in the economic and industrial growth of Britain and also making its individual contribution to the social, religious and political development of our country.

The Society attends events promoting local history, issues a range of publications, arranges occasional talks free to non-members and maintains this website.

The Journal, available free to members, includes original contributions on Durham's history, articles on sources and reviews of books.

Other publications, covering original research on a wide range of local topics, are made available to members at reduced prices.

If you have any questions about DCLHS you can contact the Secretary Dr John Banham on 01388 816209, e-mail at jdbdclhs@gmail.com or write to him c/o 21 St. Marys Grove, Tudhoe Village, Spennymoor DL16 6LR

See our Membership page for details of how to join the Society.

DCLHS

The Society is 60 years old this year. It was formed in 1964 to encourage and promote interest in the study of the historic County of Durham (the Palatinate). The Society’s Journal has focussed on publishing research covering recent centuries when County Durham was playing a major part in the economic and industrial growth of the country. Our research has also recognised the County’s contribution to the industrial, social, religious and political development of Britain. Information on the large range of articles published in our Journal (formerly Bulletin) over the last sixty years is on our Publications page.

The Society is keen to expand its website to give access to these articles and is looking for new members with the skills to help organise this initiative.

If you are interested please contact the DCLHS Secretary, Dr John Banham on 01388 816209, e-mail at jdbdclhs@gmail.com or write to him c/o 21 St. Marys Grove, Tudhoe Village, Spennymoor DL16 6LR.

History & Publications

Research into the history and people of County Durham.

Our Journal Editor, Dr Mark Egan, would like to hear from members interested in writing for the Journal, who have suggestions to make about the Journal’s format and contents or who wish to suggest subjects to be covered and possible authors (details on the Publications page).

He says As ever, I appeal for more content! As editor, I am also happy to assist potential contributors pull articles into shape. Whether you are an experienced writer, or are just for the first time considering writing up some research, please get in touch at marksanddancer@googlemail.com

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