Peterlee and Horden - Down Your Way

Alison with staff and students from the East Durham College hair and beauty department.

Take a toddle around Castle Eden Dene National Nature Reserve on Friday, from 10am–noon for toddlers and families.

Call 0191 586 0004 for further information.

Student Cara Coatsworth with her iPhone prize.

East Durham College are holding a series of apprenticeship sessions especially for school leavers during May half-term.

Students can find out about apprenticeships, from how to apply, to progressing on to university via the apprenticeship route.

During the sessions, students will take an assessment in both maths and English.

Once completed, this will then enable the college to hold interviews with local employers.

There will be a mini beast Hunt at Castle Eden Dene tomorrow at 10am.

Join Steve Metcalfe to discover what’s hiding underneath rocks and leaves of the dene.

The hunt is expected to last two hours.

Meet at the Dene Lodge, SR8 1NJ. Tel. 0191 586 0004 for more information.

Two hard-working East Durham College students are the proud owners of new iPhones after impressing with their maths and English skills.

The two winners were, level 2 sport student Jake Christie, 16, from Murton, and Cara Coatsworth, 19, from Newton Aycliffe, who studies level 3 animal care.

To encourage students to work as hard as possible towards their mocks earlier in the year, East Durham College ran a competition where every student that improved their score by 5% from their September test, would be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win one of two iPhone 6s.

Stonham are running a series of group workshops in Horden Children’s Centre.

They start on June 17 and will run weekly for four weeks.

The workshops will look at finance, physical health, tenancy plus much more, and will be fun and informal.

For more information or to book, contact 0300 026497.

Learn about Little Terns on Friday from 10am–noon.

They nest on the beach at Crimdon every year and are one of Britain’s rarest seabirds.

Meet Trevor Stephenson, the site warden with experience in protecting these beautiful birds. It starts with a short talk on the story of the Little Terns journey and problems they face, before heading back to West Africa.

The colony can be viewed at a safe distance without being disturbed.

Don’t forget your binoculars!

Little Tern Hut, is past the Equestrian Centre, Crimdon, TS27 4BL.

A number of different courses from East Durham College have come together to put on a number of events to help raise awareness for the Childhood Eye Cancer Charity Trust (CHECT).

Events included visually-impaired bricklaying, blindfolded mannequin beard trims, hair styles and beauty treatments, visually impaired art.

The sport department have held blindfolded boxing spars and blindfolded penalty shootouts.

The Scene1 restaurant held a dinner in the dark event and the week was rounded off with a walk in the dark around Peterlee.

College lecturer Alison Cattergood, from Peterlee, organised the events as she was herself diagnosed with the rare eye cancer retinoblastoma at just six weeks old.

She was successfully treated for the condition at the Sunderland Eye Infirmary.