Diary and Events

Friday 2 Mayor’s Coffee Morning, Sedgefield Parish Hall, 10-11.30am. £2 for coffee and biscuits. Cakes and scones on sale.
Sedgefield & District U3A, Sedgefield Parish Hall, 2pm. “The Life and Times of a Mumpreneur”. Visitors welcome, £3.
Sedgefield Rock and Blues Club: a bouncing night of rock and blues planned with DC Blues and award nominees Five Points Gang. Tickets from www.sedgefieldblues.com

Sunday 4 Sedgefield Farmers Market, Village Green, 8:30am-12:30pm.

Monday 5 Sedgefield Local History Society, Ceddesfeld Hall at 7:45pm.

History of Mining in the Northeast by Peter Sagar.

Wednesday 7 Sedgefield WI, Sedgefield Parish Hall, 7:15pm. Keith Thompson talks about “Baxters” of the tasty soup fame. Please bring soup bowl and spoon! Members competition: decorative Scottish item (e.g. brooch). Bring and Buy Harvest stall. Visitors are most welcome, £4.

Thursday 8 Sedgefield Show Planning Committee, Sedgefield Social Club, 7:30pm. New people welcome. Email Ian Mason at ian@sedgefieldshow.co.uk.

Friday 9 Sedgefield WI, coffee morning, Sedgefield Parish Hall, 10-11:30am. Everyone welcome.
Ferryhill, Sedgefield & District Flower Club, Live music night with “In the Bag”. Sedgefield Parish Hall, 7:30pm-10:30pm. Tickets £12 including pie and peas supper. Bring your own drinks. Tickets from Elaine 01740 629761 or Sandra 07533 752870. Sedgefield Social Club, quiz, 8pm

Saturday 10 Sedgefield Area Churches Together, coffee (or tea!), cake and friendly chat. Sedgefield Methodist Church, 10-11:30am.

Monday 12 DIDO, trip to Skipton, meet at Sedgefield Parish Hall at 9:15am. Coach leaves at 9:30am. Call 07597 116847 or 01740 629574 for details.

Wednesday 14 Sedgefield Neighbourhood Watch, Ceddesfeld Hall, 7:30pm.

Thursday 15 Sedgefield Memory Café, Sedgefield Fire Station, 10:30am- 12pm. For those living with dementia and their carers.

Friday 16 Ferryhill, Sedgefield & District Flower Club, Coffee morning, Sedgefield Parish Hall, 10-11:30am. £2 for coffee/tea and scone or cake. Includes raffle, cake stall and sales table.

Tuesday 20 Ferryhill, Sedgefield & District Flower Club, Sedgefield Parish Hall, 7:30pm. Flower demonstration by Lynda Fraser titled “Reflections”. All welcome, £5 for non-members.

Thursday 22 Citizens Advice, Sedgefield Parish Hall, 10am-1pm. Sedgefield & District U3A, Fletcher Room, Sedgefield Parish Hall, 10:30am-12pm. Come along and see what U3A has to offer. Have a coffee and chat and discover a variety of interest groups available to members.

Saturday 24 Sedgefield Twinning Association Bier Festival, Ceddesfeld Hall. Tickets (£7.50) available at sedgefieldtwinning.org.uk or from Judith Edgoose 01740 620244.

Sunday 25 Sedgefield Area Churches Together, reflective, meditative Taize-style ecumenical service near Michaelmas. Followed by refreshments. St. Michael’s Church, Bishop Middleham, 6:30pm.

Tuesday 27 Ferryhill, Sedgefield & District Flower Club, first flower arranging class of the autumn/winter course with Val Guest. 10am-12pm in the Fletcher Room, Sedgefield Parish Hall. All levels of ability welcome. First class to depict changes of season, autumn leaves, berries, and seed heads. No flowers required! For information, call 07721 767408.

Friday 30 Sedgefield Village Veterans, coffee morning, Sedgefield Parish Hall, from 10am


More dates for your diary


Kynren - An Epic Tale of England – Bishop Auckland
A mighty potted history of England’s past re-enacted in a stunning setting Every Saturday from 6th August to 10th September 2022.
https://www.11arches.com/kynren

Unity is Strength: Durham Miners' Gala – Bishop Auckland
A celebration of Durham’s ‘Big Meet’ in mining art at the Mining Art Gallery Each Wednesday to Sunday 11:00 - 16:00 until December https://aucklandproject.org/whatson/unity-is-strength-durham-minersgala/

Arts Update with Geoff Millichap

Local Folk Festivals


Our much-loved festival returns in September at limited capacity. With many venues capped at 70 audience members do book early to avoid disappointment.

Later in the month comes another treat for folk fans, with the 3-day Hartlepool Folk Festival commencing 30 September.

The festival began in 2015, and centred today on the Borough Hall.

After a two-year hiatus the full festival is back, alongside this year a family festival centred on outdoor events, puppeteer performances, crafting, singing, dancing and circus entertainment. The ticketed acts include folk with international flavours from Ireland, Jamaica, and the Middle East, a tribute to English folk legend Norma Waterson, an intriguing retelling of the 'Babbacombe' Lee case made famous by Fairport Convention, and literally dozens of other performers.

A full programme of events can be found here hartlepoolfolkfest.co.uk.


Last Train Home

One-day festival of music & comedy at venues within Darlington on Saturday 3 September. tracksdarlington.co.uk


EJK Collective – The Witham Art Gallery, Barnard Castle

Exhibition of 3 landscape artists working in a diverse array of different styles 31 Aug - 1 Oct 2022. https://thewitham.org.uk/exhibition/ejk-collective/


Bottled Ocean - Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, Marton

Plastic bottle seascape installation from international artist George Nuku until 6 Nov 2022. https://www.enjoyteesvalley.com/event/bottled-ocean/


National Reading Group Day

Local author Jessica Redland discusses her 17 published novels at Norton Library on 13 Sep 2022 from 6-7pm, £3 ticket includes a cake! More information on Facebook ’Stockton-on-Tees Libraries’ or call 01642 528130.


Blood Brothers at Sunderland Empire

Willy Russell’s hit musical Blood Brothers returns to the North East in September, and it’s musical director is Sedgefield’s Tim Jasper.

Following Tim’s success in Jersey Boys, covered previously in these pages, Tim will oversee performances at Sunderland Empire from 20 to 24 September.

Since debuting on Shaftesbury Avenue in 1983 Blood Brothers is one of only 3 West End musicals to have notched up over 10,000 performances. In that time, the role of Mrs Johnstone has variously been filled by Barbara Dickson, who was awarded Best Actress in a Musical in 1983, Kiki Dee, Helen Reddy, Petula Clark and Carole King.

The timeless nature vs nurture tale has won critical plaudits and devoted fans for decades and continues to go from strength to strength, not only touring nationally but internationally too. Join us in wishing Tim every success for the Sunderland run or, better yet, attend in person with a ticket from: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/blood-brothers/


Mayor’s Corner

My Grand Bring and Buy sale last month was very well attended and lots of bargains were sold, realising £182.10 for my charities. Grateful thanks go to my hard-working army of helpers, (some pictured!), to all those who donated goods and all who came along. Thank you.

Don’t miss my coffee morning on September 2 from 10am to 11:30am in the Parish Hall. Coming up on Friday 21 October will be firm favourite, the Mayor’s Quiz in Ceddesfeld Hall. Pie and peas will be served that night too.

The Moondogs (50s/60s tribute band) will be back by popular demand on Friday 18 November from 7:30pm to 11pm in the Parish Hall. Tickets from the Council Offices are just £10 each. David Jasper


BAMS ‘22 Concert Series

Bishop Auckland Music Society rounds out the 2022 concert series by welcoming the multi awardwinning Mithras Trio.

Formed in 2017 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the trio comprises cellist, pianist & violinist, all accomplished & experienced performers.

They took first prize at Trondheim International Chamber Music competition with extensive repertoire including Shostakovich, Beethoven, & Tchaikovsky.

Tickets: https://bvemv.orpheusweb.co.uk/BAMSWeb/bams.html Friday 2nd September 2022, 7.30pm Bishop Auckland Methodist Church.