The QT

Monday 21 October 2024
21/10/2024

Author name: Peter Barron

Lyndon Longhorneโ€™s iron will

With typical understatement, Lyndon Longhorne calls with what he describes as ‘a little bit of news’. โ€œJust to let you know, Iโ€™ve called it a day,โ€ he says. โ€œIโ€™m retiring from swimmingโ€ฆbut thereโ€™s a challenge on the horizon.โ€ For someone whoโ€™s just taken the agonising decision to call time on the dream heโ€™s had since …

A life well lived: Les Coates 1946-2024

As a boy of seven, Les Coates watched โ€” mesmerised โ€” as neighbours crowded round a small black-and-white television set to watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. On June 2, 1953, in the village of Croft-on-Tees, near Darlington, it was the moment that sparked Lesโ€™s imagination and went on to define his life. โ€œFrom …

The triumph of their lives

No matter how Englandโ€™s male footballers fare as the Euros get underway in Germany this week, it surely canโ€™t compare with the special achievements of an amateur womenโ€™s team from the grass roots of County Durham. What the Chester-le-Street Amazons have done goes way beyond football. Theirs is a victory for the human spirit. Not …

Appealing to our better nature

Half a century has passed since the last shift clocked off at Elemore Colliery and emerged from the darkness into an uncertain future. Today, the landscape is very different. The grey spoil heaps have been replaced by vibrant, green countryside, with woods alive with birdsong โ€” and the future is about to get even brighter. …

Itโ€™s been a hard dayโ€™s Knight

It hasnโ€™t been easy but Stephen Lock is living his dream โ€” a dream that took flight as a boy when he couldnโ€™t wait for the shop to open so he could buy his favourite comics. Beano, Whizzer and Chips, Tiger, and Scorcher were the first to capture his young imagination, along with Monster Fun, …

Remembering the remarkable Mary Butterwick

When Mary Butterwick was born, the drunk midwife, who delivered her, took one look and declared: “This one’s no good.” Blue and seemingly lifeless, with an umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck, a life that was destined to be remarkable, might have ended at its beginning. Thankfully, Mary’s dad, James, heard his wife’s cries, …

When the going gets tough

When Stephen Berry arrived for work at Redcar Racecourse at 5.30am on Monday, he had no reason to think the dayโ€™s meeting wouldnโ€™t be going ahead as planned. After weeks of hard graft by Redcarโ€™s track manager and his team of seven full-time ground staff, the 2024 season was finally poised to get underway at …

A diamond in the ruff

High on a hillside, in beautiful Bannau Brycheiniog โ€” until recently known as the Brecon Beacons โ€”  one man and his dog are justifiably feeling on top of the world. Border collie, Gem, has just passed the biggest test of her young life and her handler, Tim Cain MBE, is beaming with pride in the …

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