TRIBUTE: Cllr Richard Bell lays a wreath
TRIBUTE: Cllr Richard Bell lays a wreath

MORE than 500 hand-knitted poppies and an array of tributes were placed around Middleton-in-Teesdale’s war memorial as villagers made this year’s Remembrance Sunday extra special.
The efforts came in the 100th anniversary year of the memorial’s unveiling.
A large crowd turned out on Sunday as wreaths were laid and a service held by Revd Allison Wallbank.
The memorial was lit up last year but villages decided to go one better for 2021, placing more silhouettes of soldiers and historical figures in the garden.
Bob Danby, from Utass (Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services), said “It started last year when the Mitchell family instigated things.
“Then this year a number of people decided to do more. They knitted 572 poppies to go on the tree and more figures were added to the cenotaph.
“It’s down to all the wonderful efforts off all those people – there are too many to thank individually – who put in a considerable amount of work and put their hands in their pockets.”
People who attended a Tuesday drop-in coffee morning at Utass also helped created a battlefield window art display.