Five years ago a Darlington theatre secured £4.5 million of funding

The Northern Echo’s report on the funding to then Darlington Civic Theatre

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) money, would enable the restoration of the exterior of the Theatre and the Edwardian auditorium and building of a modern new entrance and promenade gallery.

There would be an increase in seats to 1,000, which together with improved back stage facilities for touring companies, will enable larger shows to be accommodated.

Disabled access would also be upgraded, adding two new lifts, which would provide access to all levels both front and back of house.

The theatre would close at the end of May to allow work to begin and is planned to reopen in autumn next year with a new name – Darlington Hippodrome.

Lynda Winstanley, Darlington Civic Theatre director, said at the time: “I am very proud that the importance and value of the Theatre as a cultural and community asset has been recognised by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

"I’m very grateful to our audiences and supporters locally and nationally for their loyalty and support.”

Cllr Nick Wallis, Darlington Borough Council’s cabinet member for leisure, added at the time: “This project represents the biggest investment in the theatre since it opened its doors in 1907."

Also that week, amateur archaeologists discovered a long-lost Roman road which shed new light on North-East history.

Members of the Northern Archaeology Group dig team at the site near Ebchester

The Northern Echo’s report on the archaeology dig

Enthusiasts from the Northern Archaeology Group found evidence of a ramrod straight road, which stretched from Lanchester, in County Durham, up to Hadrian’s Wall.

Divers working with the team also found underwater timbers and paving stones from a Roman bridge where the road crossed the River Derwent, at Bludder Burn Dene, near Ebchester.

Historians had long thought the Roman legions used the famous Dere Street, which meanders between the forts of Lanchester, Ebchester and Corbridge, as the route to reach the Wall and Scotland.

Meanwhile, a copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio – a book containing 36 of his plays published seven years after his death – had been discovered at a stately home on a Scottish Island.

The copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio which has been discovered at Mount Stuart House.

The Northern Echo’s report on the shakespeare book

The book, which had languished in the library of Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute for more than 100 years, was confirmed as genuine by Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Oxford University.

Published in 1623, the First Folio brought together the majority of Shakespeare’s plays and without it there would be no copies of more than half of them, including Macbeth or The Tempest.

The confirmation brought the total known number of copies to 234 ahead of the 400th anniversary of the playwright’s death on April 23.

Mount Stuart House’s copy belonged to Isaac Reed, a well-connected literary editor working in London in the 18th Century, Professor Smith confirmed.