When a piece of the North East was to be taken to France

FIREFIGHTERS were preparing to take a piece of the North East to the site of a battlefield in France to honour the fallen of a famous regiment in a short but crucial battle, in October 2013.

A group from Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service would accompany a 1.4 tonne lump of County Durham stone to the village of Lingevres, near Bayeux, Normandy, where members of the Durham Light Infantry’s 9th Battalion took on elite German shock troops.

Read more: ECHO MEMORIES: Do the bodies of the foundrymen killed on Albert Hill still lie beneath Darlington?

The capture of the village on June 14, 1944, with the loss of dozens of lives, prevented the Germans holding a vital position blocking the Allied advance.

Watch manager Allan Pattinson, who along with a group of fellow firefighters had for several years visited Normandy to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day, said: “We always go the little village of Lingevres, which was the site of a key battle.

“It seemed sad that DLI veterans turned up and there was nothing to commemorate their sacrifices at the local church, where the wounded soldiers were taken after the battle.

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“We decided to do something about it.

“We wanted to take something from Durham and Paul Allison, of Dunhouse Quarry, near Staindrop, agreed to give us a piece of Durham coarse stone.”

Drawings hastily penned on scraps of paper, an impromptu canvas ripped from the side of a cardboard box and overflowing sketchpads were among the treasures unearthed for an art exhibition.

Northumbria University had put together a collection of previously unseen work by one of the region’s best loved artists, Norman Cornish, from Spennymoor, in October 2013.

The Lost World of Norman Cornish at the University Gallery, in Newcastle, featured work spanning the 93-year-old’s long artistic career.

Finally, a group of polar bears was trekking through the North East to raise thousands for charity in October 2013.

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Four polar bears were spotted enjoying the delights of pubs, grooming salons and local landmarks as they walked from Middlesbrough to Newcastle.

The bears – four workers from energy company Utilita – embarked on a 50-mile trek to raise money for Home Start UK, a charity that tackles family crisis.

More than £1,200 had been raised by Jamie Thomson, Callum Lyons, Daniel Hatton and Shaun Dollamore, at the midpoint of their walk.