Peterlee and Horden - Down Your Way

Year 11 students at The Academy at Shotton Hall are being invited to take part in an adventurous project that promises to change their lives and improve communities with the National Citizen Service (NCS). Last year, more students from The Academy at Shotton Hall than at any other school in East Durham took part in the programme and they want even more students to take part this time around. They can begin to take part in NCS during the summer holidays where the programme in East Durham will start with a week in the Lake District or Yorkshire Dales. Participants will try their hand at activities such as canoeing, hiking and rock climbing. The outdoor adventure is followed by a week living in accommodation in central Durham where groups of 15 participants will plan and deliver a social action project for their local area. Thanks to government investment NCS will only cost a maximum of Â£50 to take part, with bursaries availably for students on free school meals or parents claiming household benefits meaning that they would only pay Â£10.

Sophie Allen with Sara OBrien, left, and Kelly Lee, of KF Training.

Learn ways to keep your children safe at East Durham Trust with class starting on Thursday from 9.30am to 11.30am. Keeping Your Children Safe includes first aid and you can gain a certificate, free child care available for under-fives. For further information, ring 5693511 to contact Lindsay Wood.

KF Training has donated £1,000 from its community development fund to help finance a young gymnast’s travel and training expenses. Sophie Allen, 13, from Peterlee, is a member of the Deerness Gymnastics Academy in Durham and has competed in tumbling championships across the globe. Sophie was crowned British champion in 2012 in her age group, which enabled her to train with some of the country’s top athletes. Sophie has also won a silver medal for Great Britain in the 2014 Loule Cup, an international tumbling competition held in Portugal. She gained a silver medal at the British Championships, was ranked Britain’s number two seed and competed in the recent 2015 Tumbling World Championships in Denmark. She is the first beneficiary of the fund, which was launched by the Peterlee-based company to support worthy local causes.

Emma Benton, a Year 10 pupil at The Academy at Shotton Hall, cut off her shoulder length hair to raise money for Macmillan Cancer support. She raised more than £200 for the charity that supports people who suffer from cancer.

Students on health and social care courses at East Durham College helped raise money for The Salvation Army’s Christmas present appeal. They put together a sweet hamper to raffle, made cupcakes to sell and held a name a teddy competition and walked around with donation buckets to collect loose change, raising a total of £150 for the charity.