Minutes:
The Chair informed Council that since the last Council meeting in June she had attended various events including a French education visitors delegation who carried out visits to schools on 27 June and a visit by Parkside/Tubingen students to County Hall on 29 June. The Chair had also attended the Future Business Magnates Awards on 30 June and Haswell Mencap on 5 July for the official opening of their sensory garden and Patch to Plate project.
In addition to this, year-long celebrations had begun to mark 75 years of an East Durham town. Durham County Council had received a grant of £92,302 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to carry out a programme of events to commemorate 75 years of Peterlee being established as a 'New Town'.
On Saturday 1 July, Peterlee 75 was launched at Castle Dene Shopping Centre with ‘Peterlee: The Place to Be’, a unique photography exhibition tracing the origins and early development of the town. Over the next year, the Peterlee 75 celebrations would continue with a series of events, exhibitions, concerts, and workshops in and around the town, inviting people to reflect on Peterlee's history and have a say on its future. The programme would involve the whole community from the centre of the town to surrounding areas, including the villages from which Peterlee was founded.
Additionally, this year marked the 75th Anniversary of Newton Aycliffe.
Newton Aycliffe was designated as a new town in April 1947, but the actual birth of the town was widely regarded as being 1948.
The key dates in relation to the birth of the town were 28 June 1948 which marked the “cutting of the first sod” ahead of the construction of the first houses, and 9th November 1948 which was when the keys were handed over to the first resident of the town. A number of events had already been held as part of the celebrations.
Finally, the Chair thanked Councillor O Gunn and Councillor F Tinsley for extending an invitation to a 100th birthday event within their electoral division..