Newton News Online

Thanks to funding from GAMP the Youth Centre will be holding activities throughout the school holidays from 10.00am till 1pm Monday to Friday for young people aged 8 to 13 years for fun and games and its all free.
A special date is on Tuesday 3rd August which has a Chinese Theme making Dragon Puppets, Chinese Food, and Games.
On Tuesday 10th August Football Coaching and Jewellery making has been arranged.
On Tuesday 17th Julies Pets will be in the Centre with little creatures and pet advice. All the usual games will be available each day. No Booking forms needed - just come and enjoy!
Later on during the school holidays other special days and trips will be offered - Don’t miss out on this opportunity for a great time at the Youthy.

Get Set Kids magazine based in Newton Aycliffe host a fantastic Ladies Night in aid of Cash for Kids on Thursday 16 September, 7.30 pm at the Xcel Centre, who have kindly donated their auditorium. It will be a great girls night out with stalls, beauty treatments, a fashion show, entertainment and a raffle/auction. We need help to raise money for this local charity. Tickets are £3, call 07971 577572 or 07534 997875. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  for details on having a stall.

Live jazz returns to town on Tuesday 3rd August, featuring Aycliffe Jazz Quintet "Infusion" at the Navy Club. The performance will include a selection of modern jazz and poupular standards. Admission £3 starts around 8.30pm.

Dear Sir,
In recent weeks a number of letters have criticised me claiming I abstained from voting at the Labour Group meeting on the future of Shafto House. This is not true!
In fact, I was not present when the Labour Group debated the closure of Shafto House being unfortunately required to attend a hospital appointment.
I appreciate the anger of protesters and even understand their desire to identify publicly those local Councillors who have not supported them.
However, people who make accusations in public need to be very careful to get their facts correct and I am disappointed to have been misrepresented, particularly as I have to the present time always openly opposed the closure of Shafto House.
Sarah Iveson.

Editor: We received the information in good faith believing the correspondents had obtained the voting figures from a Labour Party member who chose to leak the news. We regret printing incorrect facts and apologise to Sarah. who we know has resisted the closure of Shafto House.

At a recent PACT Meeting for the Woodham Ward held on 14th June 2010 there were concerns raised regarding vehicles speeding along Agnew Way in to Woodham Way. As a response to this issue the Neighbourhood Policing Team launched a Community Speed Watch programme.
In this short period of time 247 vehicles have been caught over the 30 mph speed limit. 102 of these vehicles were travelling 35 mph or over. All of which were issued with warning letters in hope of educating the drivers of speeding in residential areas.
The next phase of the Community Speed Watch Programme is to involve the Road Policing Unit and issue tickets and penalty points for these offences.
The nest PACT meeting for the Woodham Ward will be held at the Woodham Community Centre, St Elizabeths Way on the 16th of August at 7p.m.

Sugar Hill School Year 6 gave a stunning performance of their version of "Oliver" in the last week of term before moving to Senior School. The youngsters were brilliant and produced a very confident show demonstrating not only excellent singing and acting, but a well researched narration of life in Victorian England.
The audience of parents and relatives really enjoyed the enthusiasm the kids showed in their performance and indicated their appreciation with applause. The teaching staff should be thanked for the hard work put into rehearsals and the children congratulated on achieving such a high standard.



Jack Richardson was awarded the "Student of the Year" trophy after the performance of "Oliver" last week. He is shown here with Headteacher Miss Cummins.

On 15th July volunteer walk leaders helped a sponsored walk by pupils of Stephenson Way School involving 180 children and staff. They walked the Burn to Woodham and then followed the Bridle Way to South Agnew Plantation, skirted Cobblers Hall onto Byerley Park School.
The walk was cut short by bad weather and the walkers returned to school to dry out. The walk was 7km and took 2½ hours.
Earlier the volunteers led students from St. Francis School on a similar walk of around 7km, but the weather was kinder. On both walks the children behaved very well and seemed to enjoy the walk and being out of the classroom in the open air.
The walkers meet each Tuesday and Thursday at the PCP Centre for healthy walks and invite others to join them. Ring 319228 or call in for more information.

Dear Sir,
On behalf of all residents at Simpasture Court may we thank the town’s Freemasons for the gift of garden furniture for our use. It is very much appreciated.
Mrs B. Hodgson

Dear Sir,
Could not help but notice that in this latest issue of the Newton News on the very same page there were 2 very contrasting viewpoints. A letter from a Mr Palmer pointed out that Labour had changed from nationalising to privatising and have swapped roles with the Tory Party. He then to asked the electorate what they thought.
Yet just across from that letter was Mike Dixon talking about using available funds for the majority. But the biggest point for any member of the electorate to take way from this long winded letter is that of "None of this was mentioned in the election campaign."
Get real Mike! When did Labour tell the electorate what they were really planning to do. I don’t remember them telling us they would sell our Council Houses to a private company, close Care Homes, close our Post Offices, and from a personal perspective close factories for disabled workers. Just examples of a multitude of sins.
But the real problem today is the attitude of politicians be it national or local or whatever. The party system ensures that we continue to elect bunches of sheep. We have started a Great Aycliffe Independents group to give the electorate a real choice of continuing to vote for this system or not in our next local elections.
Kenneth Stubbs
Secretary
Great Aycliffe Independents

We would like to thank all those families and sponsors that supported our recent Toddle Waddle around Moore Lane Park in aid of the Meningitis Trust. The weather on the day was not the greatest, but you all managed to turn out and show your support on the day.
We would also like to thank Karen Everson from Birthday Buddies who allowed Pepper Pig to play out in the rain! Your combined efforts raised a total of £752.20. Once again, thank-you for your support. Chris & Emma Selby