Minutes:
The Leader wished all Members a Happy New Year and congratulated those who had received New Year’s Honours and also the Council’s new Honorary Aldermen.
The Leader encouraged Members as well as the public to help shape the plans for a new Durham History Centre, which would potentially bring together the county archives with other important collections at a single site at Mount Oswald. The Leader believed this would offer a tremendous opportunity in the future to open up the County’s rich heritage and history to greater numbers and views on what should be included would be sought over the next month.
The plans were part of a Cabinet paper on Aykley Heads which was agreed last week and would be formally reported to Council at its next meeting. Councillor Henig repeated that he believed this was a very exciting opportunity for Durham, not least the prospect of thousands of additional jobs on the current County Hall site and a real boost to the County’s economy in years to come.
The Council had continued its ‘Durham Place of Light’ campaign over recent weeks which had included a ‘Durham‘s got it covered’ supplement in the national Times newspaper over the Christmas/New Year break and another live broadcast from two of the County’s beautiful locations yesterday, these being the Durham Coast and Wharton Park.
Councillor Henig drew Members’ attention to the first exhibition in the new gallery space at the Gala Theatre which featured work of young children from schools, nurseries and early year’s settings in the east of the county. Entitled ‘Into the light’ it was inspired by Lumiere and the Council’s campaign to shine a light on all that was great in County Durham. Councillor Henig commended the work of the children, their teachers, art educator and County Hall Early Years staff. The exhibition ran until the end of the month and was a stunning display of the amazing work young children could achieve.
Finally, Councillor Henig drew Member’s attention to the exhibition in the Durham Room which marked Holocaust Memorial Day which was commemorated on 27 January each year.