in the community, with the community, for the community

THE NEGATIVES If all you looked at was the national news, you could easily come to the conclusion that we live in a broken world, and Newton Aycliffe is not immune. The Newton News was alarmed to read about the large number of people living in fuel poverty in County Durham, and we would support the call for more to be done to ensure we protect the most vulnerable in our society.And who would not agree with Daisy Grainger for getting cross about litter – we have never found anyone who thinks that littering is a good thing, yet bewilderingly this does not seem to affect the behaviour of so many people, spoiling the enjoyment of all of us.

THE POSITIVES However, there are other articles in this week’s Newton News to remind us that the world is not all doom and gloom. It’s only a small notice, but have you seen that application forms for Great Aycliffe Town Council’s FREE Senior Citizens’ Excursions will be available from 9.00am on Wednesday 24th April? As far as we’re aware, GATC is the only town council in the country to provide this amazing service. More information on the excursions will be published next week.Local firms CPI and M5TEC both have good news to report, and this week’s edition of the Newton News seems packed with the successes of our local sports teams and young people. Then we read about Shanaya, whose well-received gig raised £1,167 for charities Bright Red, St. Teresa’s Hospice and Junction 7, and we see that Durham County Council Chairman John Lethbridge is to throw himself out of an aeroplane to raise money for the Royal British Legion (you can sponsor him here: http://bit.ly/JLJUMP).The old hymn bids us “shine you in your small corner and I in mine”, and sometimes it does seem that it is as much as we can do to keep up to our own ‘small corner’ of the world. But all our individual successes and good deeds add up, and they have certainly made this week a week of good news for Newton Aycliffe.