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The Project Genesis Trust works hard to support the local community. Here are a few photos of cheques being presented to some amazing local groups. Photo of latest donations showing Durham County Councillor Stephen Robinson presenting two cheques for £500 to Steve Watson representing  C-L-S Washington and Derwentside District FA and The Shotley Bridge & Blackhill Charitable Trust (for their Christmas event). 

The Project Genesis Trust works hard to support the local community. Here are a few photos of cheques being presented to some amazing local groups. Photo of latest donations of £500 to White le Head Bowls and Kennedy Care Centre. 

Exciting News at Soami’s Trio 📣 Exciting News! 🎉 We had the absolute privilege of serving the renowned BBC chef, Si King of Hairy Bikers fame, right here at our restaurant! 🍽️✨ It was an incredible honor to have such a culinary legend dine with us, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to share this unforgettable experience with all of you! 🎩👨‍🍳🍲😋 We strive to provide an exceptional dining experience for all our guests, and having Si King choose our restaurant is a testament to our commitment to culinary excellence. 🌟 We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for gracing us with his presence, and we hope he enjoyed every moment of his time here. 🙏 Join us on this gastronomic journey and discover why our restaurant is a favorite among food connoisseurs! 🍽️✨ Thank you for your continued support, and we can’t wait to welcome you all to our restaurant very soon! 🥂🍴

Alan Swinburne Building Self Belief Podcast hcswrichard Jun 21   Alan Swinburne – Consett Heritage Podcast Alan worked at the Steelworks for 17 years in the Technical Research Department. Over the last 20 years he has researched the History of the Steelworks given several talks about his memories of his life at the Works. He also has an extensive collection of photographs and memorabilia from the steelworks. Many of the talks have been to the members of the community to tell them about the heritage of the area. This project is a perfect opportunity for Alan to share his memories and ensure the history of the steelworks lives on. https://www.buildingselfbelief.org/insights/alan-swinburne-consett-heritage-podcast?fbclid=IwAR1vgsYAnXG8DAtk_PrHDhRT02sCWVzH3Wa28XAVGAV6E4VvcS-2mFlO7qw Well worth a listen Building Self Belief are going to do a number of podcasts so if you would like to be interviewed please get in touch https://www.buildingselfbelief.org/what-we-do/projects/consett-iron-company-community-heritage-project Working alongside young people and the wider community, we shall ensure that the institution that literally built Consett has its heritage recognised by the people who lived and worked there. Engaging new generations of local people with no memory of the former steelworks along the way. With grateful thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Players of the National Lottery.   […]

Sunday 30th April Spartan Performance hosted the British Weightlifting (BWL) Northern Schools Weightlifting Championship.   It was fantastic to see so many children from around the North of England taking part in physical activity and enjoying being part of the day, as well as lifting impressively too.   Participants ranged between 6 and 16 years old and embodied the ethos of Spartan, where training is open to all.   A special shout out to Consett’s own Baker family Arthur, Chris, Terry and Rhys who helped ensure the day was a success.   The event drew a big crowd and will be returning in September 2023. All local schools and gyms are encouraged to take part then and can reach out to Spartan Performance owner for help in doing so.

The Red Dust Company Choir is the recipient of the 100th small grant that Project Genesis Trust has delivered.    £50,000 has been paid direct to community groups across Derwentside with the minimum of admin.   The choir are looking for a local business to sponsor them and the contact is Clare Suddes  reddustcompany@gmail.com   Below is their application:   “Red Dust Company Choir was established in 2019. We were meeting monthly at Citizens House, until the pandemic when we suspended the sessions from February 2020. Before that time, they were attended by up to 40 members, each month paying £5 to attend, which covered the choir leader fees and room hire. We have 143 people registered who’ve attended sessions with us. We’ve members with dementia, Parkinson’s and Autism along with many who are older, living on their own and find comfort in coming together and singing, which impacts on their wellbeing.   We restarted sessions in March 2022 and have struggled to attract the number of attendees as we did previously for many reasons. Some of our older members have lost their confidence, following a long time isolating. We plan to relaunch the choir and reengage with previous members and encouraging new people to attend, as we firmly believe that everyone […]

Project Genesis has confirmed that The Heritage Trail footpath off Pemberton Road has now been re-opened…just in time for the Christmas holidays!    

Have you seen what fun Christmas parties are planned in your area over the Christmas school holidays? There will be discos, inflatables, crafts and other fun activities and Santa will be making an appearance!  There will also be a free packed lunch included. Have a look at their Facebook page for more information on parties organised by Durham County Council Fun & Food. Booking is essential.  Please click here below for booking details:      

The Project Genesis Trust works hard to support the local community. Here are a few photos of cheques being presented to some amazing local groups. The latest photo is of a cheque for £500 going to Virginia, director of the CBS see https://cbsmusicalandstage.wixsite.com/cbsmusicalandstage. . 

The Project Genesis Trust works hard to support the local community. Here are a few photos of cheques being presented to some amazing local groups. The latest photo is of Shelley accepting chq from PGT in support of Rose and Robin. 

Thanks to funding from DVAAP (and additional support from Project Genesis) professional theatre company Mad Alice, based in Blackhill, will be touring their lovely, fun, quirky, poignant and hearwarming theatre show ROSE and ROBIN this summer 2022. Join Rose and Robin in their story from childhood to old age, their days of dances and dreams, music and memories. Playful and serious, sad and happy, this is a show that celebrates life in all its richness; a story of love and loss, for old and young. The performance is followed by music and refreshments providing a great opportunity to enjoy a chat and a dance too! July Dates: Friday 8th July 7pm followed by refreshments and music – Dipton Jubilee Community Centre: £5 Adult £3 Child/OAP Tickets: 01207 570 366 / bjbell@btinternet.com Saturday 9th July 2pm followed by refreshments and live music with Dean Marty – Medomsley Methodist Hall: £5 Adult / £2 Child. Tickets: 01207 562 633 Saturday 9th July 7pm followed by refreshments & live music from Moorside Elvis: St John’s Church Hall Moorside:  £5 Adult £3 Child/OAP Tickets: 07722241407 / 07483284206 Sunday 10th July 2pm followed by refreshments and live music with Dean Marty – Delves Lane Village Hall:  £5 Adult £3 […]

Consett Rugby Club hosted an amazing Platinum Jubilee Celebration Funday on Friday 3rd June. More than 3,000 people attended and there were over 20 community groups involved.  The weather was perfect and everyone enjoyed a fabulous afternoon of activity.  There was a lot of hard work that went into the organising of the event and a massive thank you in conveyed from John O’Connor on behalf of the Club and Project Genesis.

Newcastle Falcons players helped make a brave boy’s dream come true this week when six-year-old Seth Murray Heighway was the guest of honour at training. Seth, from Consett RFC Minis, is due in hospital on Friday after being diagnosed with a brain tumour just under a month ago, and as he and his family prepare for a difficult course of treatment they were invited to Kingston Park to spend the afternoon with the team. This visit to Falcons was organised by PGT trustee Dean Richards.    Seth had a biopsy three weeks ago which identified a pilocytic astrocytoma tumour in a difficult-to-reach part of his brain, with a complicated treatment process set to begin on Friday with the installation of a Hickman line in his chest ahead of weekly chemotherapy which will last for a full year. Seth was joined at Kingston Park by mam Leanne and 13-year-old brother Matthew Cleaver, with the family getting rare access to watch training before meeting the players, taking part in some on-field games with the team, dining with the squad and being presented with a signed shirt and ‘Flash the Falcon’ cuddly toy. Leanne said: “Seth has been incredibly brave so far, and […]

The Project Genesis Trust works hard to support the local community. Here are a few photos of cheques being presented to some amazing local groups. The latest photos is for the presentation of cheque to Delta North. This is the 87th small grant we have made to community groups.   Also cheque donation to Bishop Ian Ramsey School in support of their trip to Parliament.  

Pictures of Consett boys visiting Carnegie Museum in Dunfermline to see Roll of Honour of the 9 men who were awarded the Carnegie Hero award and are featured on the Consett Steelworkers Memorial.

The Gala Theatre in Durham are touring a free family theatre show, ‘Billy Shakes: Wonder Boy!’ to Blackhill and Consett park this summer and would really appreciate some help to spread the word to local families. The performances will be on Thursday 12th August at 11am & 2pm. The shows are free to attend (no booking or ticket required) and running time is approx. 1 hour. All shows will be BSL interpreted. Find out more  

PROPOSALS for a riverside ‘glamping’ site offering hot tubs and fishing activities for visitors in County Durham have been approved. Last year, a planning application was lodged with Durham County Council to erect six glamping pods in the Shotley Grove area, near Consett. The structures were planned for a parcel of land to the south of Shotley Grove Road, next to the River Derwent. According to a design and access statement from the applicant, the glamping pods would be of “modest, modern design with materials in keeping with the site’s setting”. Read the full article in The Northern Echo …

A lovely over the garden wall chat with David Lavery on a dry, sunny day for a change.   He has done fantastic work with revamping the Leadgate Community History Club website and even using his exercise walks to meet up with locals like Bernard Nixon.   The recording, sharing of local community history for people to enjoy now and in the future all done for educational reasons not commercial.   The history belongs to all of us and should be free to access where ever you or what ever your circumstances   We are just custodians and helping to share it – cant wait to be able to explore holding another Then and Now Exhibition when the current times improve   Link for website http://leadgatecommunityhistoryclub.co.uk/Welcome.html Link the Facebook page below https://www.facebook.com/Leadgate-Community-History-Club-1913827755567448

Teddy bear’s picnic has been going for 28 years, originally from an idea by a regular at the Crown & Crossed Swords in Shotley Bridge, to bring festive cheer to older members of the local population. Usually patrons are collected from 3 local care homes, (these are St Mary’s Convent, Shotley Park Care Home and Kaydar in the village of Shotley Bridge) and brought to the Crown & Crossed Swords. Other local residents who may be alone or vulnerable are also contacted and invited to join us. Here they are treated to a full Christmas dinner, dessert, drinks and entertainment.   Fundraising takes place throughout the year to raise enough to cover costs, and volunteers to help with serving meals and washing up are always welcome.    This year we had to be more creative, but didn’t let it hold us back. There were care packages assembled for staff and residents at the 3 care homes, including home-baked goodies, and sweets, biscuits and mulled wine generously donated by Tesco Consett.    The marvellous Anna Reay provided some amazing sing-along songs in car-park and roadside concerts with her amplifier and microphone powered from her car! Where there’s a will, there’s a […]

2020 sees a number of major anniversaries and commemoration’s for the Consett area and the  Consett & District Heritage Initiative (CDHI). On 12th  September 2010 the CDHI opened its doors for our first ever exhibition which saw more than 1000 people attending at the Lodge in Blackhill & Consett Park. The date was of a major significance as well being exactly 30 years from the closure of Consett Steel Works. It was for this very reason that our group was initially founded to help commemorate that monumental date.  After that event the CDHI was cemented and took up our place in the area as an archive and also to help spread the proud heritage of our area for now and future generations. Read the full article on Consett Magazine using this link.

*** Information provided by Karbon Homes *** For those of you who might not be aware, Karbon runs a telephone befriending service for over 55’s, Silver Talk.   Since the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK 4 months ago the demand for Silver Talk has rocketed and we have tripled the number of service users who receive a weekly social call from one of our volunteers.   Many of our existing volunteers were keen to support this growth and take on more calls each week, however to bridge the gap and make sure that new service users were able to benefit from the service as quickly as possible, we turned to Karbon colleagues for help.   This worked fabulously and we’re incredibly thankful for the time our colleagues gave up to help, however now that lockdown measures are easing and many of our services are back online a number of our colleague volunteers are having to return to their original roles and aren’t able to support to the level they were before.   Unless we’re able to recruit more community volunteers to fill the gaps, we’re afraid that some of our service users, who have grown incredibly attached to the service […]

The History of the Consett Steelworks project (supported by the Leadgate Community History Club) are delighted to announce the launch of a website which has now got its first content added   We are grateful to Gavin from the Northern Echo for his time and now producing this article which online from now but will in the hard copy paper on Monday next week   Link to article   https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/18465452.forging-links-past-preserve-history/?fbclid=IwAR0ARlZlznxPZijknrPEapB5zNgGAJQonqHOAGjGXYirEsH1yvSbwBi1cyM   The project team are keen to start to collate stories and pictures to add to the website and also for the “Last Day” on line event on Sat 12th Sept 2020 which of course will be the 40th anniversary of the closure of the Steelworks back in 1980   More details on that event will follow in due course https://www.facebook.com/events/598337434100901/   Link for the website please do have a look and share- please bear in mind its a work in progress and will have content added regularly   https://historyofconsettsteelworks.com/      Email to make contact with the project group with any stories, pictures or questions is   historyofconsettsteelworks@gmail.com   If you are on Twitter please follow and re share Tweets for us https://twitter.com/ConsettWorks?lang=en-gb    The Facebook group which is already […]

The Rugby season is over.  It may have been officially cut short, but it has been a remarkable effort by the players at Consett RFC who contributed week in week out to maintain a 100% record, 22 games 22 victories!  There can’t be too many teams across the country who have wrapped up their league championship by the middle of March with a 100% record. Thanks to official Club photographer George Ledger we have pictures of the presentation of the League Championship Shield by Mark Short representing our main sponsor Amethyst Homes.  Receiving the trophy is Captain Courageous, Connor Petch, who gives 100% every week and has played all 22 games along with the other 100%’r Dave Adams. It remains to be seen what will happen following the current crisis but, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’, and I’m sure whatever the RFU decide to do with the leagues the lads will be up for the challenge and all our players will be ‘champing at the bit’ to get back on the field. Finally, you can check out all the accurate 1st team squad statistics https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/consett/teams/28999/statistics revealing the 100% record with an average of 40.4 points per game scored and […]

A popular theatre in County Durham is set to receive significant investment to carry out improvement works. Durham County Council will invest over £500,000 to upgrade Consett’s Empire Theatre which will see a number of improvements made to the building. The project will involve refreshing the décor of the theatre’s auditorium, enhancements to the stage and lighting, and improving backstage facilities for visiting acts. There will also be essential repairs made to the roof and cosmetic updates to the café and Box Office areas. Empire Theatre’s upgrade means the 500-capacity venue will close temporarily from Wednesday 1 April and will re-open in early September with an exciting new programme of Autumn shows and events. Cllr Joy Allen, Cabinet member for transformation, culture and tourism, said: “The Empire Theatre is a popular venue and is the heart of Consett for live theatre, the latest blockbusters, cultural events, and as a place to unwind at its café. “These improvements will give the venue a real boost so it can continue as a hub for family-friendly entertainment when it re-opens in the Autumn season.” Tickets for upcoming shows will still be available to purchase in advance during the closure, either online at the […]

A group of volunteers are setting up as Land of Oak & Iron Trust. They have already achieved some brilliant work, including a Heritage Orienteering project around Blackhill and Consett Park (all fresher students from Derwentside College, plus pupils from 3 local primary schools working together); bringing Tales of Derwentdale and Men of Iron back into print, and a fantastic mapping project where 30 people are involved in digitising changes to the area over time.  Next spring the group will be bringing back to life ‘Thread of Iron’ by Douglas Vernon https://helensteadman.com/2016/11/12/literature-review-4-thread-of-iron-by-douglas-vernon-a-definitive-history-of-shotley/10983141/  This will be in Consett, possibly the library. The timing is of course linked to the 40th year anniversary of the closure of the steelworks. Susan is the main contact for this on our team and can pass on details to you.