Haltwhistle » Local News

The Vindolanda Trust PRESS RELEASE – 30th March 2010

The Tourist — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 07:58:08 +0000

The 2010 archaeological excavation season at the world famous Hadrian’s Wall site of Vindolanda will start (weather permitting) on Easter Sunday.

Applications from volunteers for the 2010 season have been at an unprecedented level. Over 90% of the 550 places available places were booked within just 2 weeks after the applications opened on 1st November 2009 and all were booked by the start of 2010. Excavation volunteers come from all walks of life, from professionals and students with an academic interest in archaeology to those who just want to experience taking part in an excavation. Volunteers travel from all over the UK and Europe and this year a number of individuals are travelling from the USA, Australia and New Zealand to take part.

Excavations will be taking place both inside and outside the walls of the fort to continue the work of the previous year and, if 2009 was an indication of what may be uncovered, we can expect another fascinating year of archaeology at Vindolanda.

Excavations will be in progress at Vindolanda 7 days a week (weather permitting) from Easter Sunday 4th April 2010 until Thursday 16th September 2010 (except 9th & 10th April, 4th & 5th July, 27th & 28th August and 3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th September). Visitors are encouraged to come along as see our excavation volunteers at work and to chat to them about what they are doing and what they have been finding.

The Vindolanda Trust’s sister site, The Roman Army Museum, at Greenhead, now features a wonderful temporary exhibition about Hadrian and life on the Roman Frontier of Hadrian’s Wall. The exhibition , which will run from April to October, is housed in the newly refurbished lower section of the museum and includes a superb graphic display covering different aspects of Roman life as well as the Emperor Hadrian and Hadrian’s Wall. This is all enhanced and illustrated by artefacts from the Vindolanda collection and a range of life sized figures and full size replica chariots. The Eagle’s Eye film, always a highlight for all visitors to the Roman Army Museum, lets visitors fly with an eagle along the line of Hadrian’s Wall from the Roman Army Museum to Crag Lough, before turning south to Vindolanda. This aerial tour gives a wonderful view of Hadrian’s Wall as it is today. Once you reach Vindolanda the site is reconstructed using computer graphics and you fly back along the Wall as it was in Roman times, really bringing it all to life!

Vindolanda & The Roman Army Museum are both open 7 days a week from 10am and full details can be found at www.vindolanda.com

Supplementary Excavation Information
Inside the fort
The excavations inside the last stone fort at Vindolanda will continue to explore the very last periods of occupation on the site from the 4th century to post Roman. The excavation area of 2009 (displaying 4th century shops, houses, workshops and yards) will be lowered from the 4th century levels to examine the earlier 3rd century barracks which are situated directly below the remains of the 4th century buildings. This will be achieved by lifting the floors of the 4th century structures whilst carefully retaining the framework of the buildings themselves which are to be preserved for future consolidation and display. The trenches will extend further to the east of the 2009 area to include the main road running from the north gate of the fort to the headquarters building. It is hoped that this road remains largely intact and will offer further evidence of 4th century commercial activity within the walls of the fort.

Outside the walls of the last stone fort
The 2010 excavation of this area will continue to build on research surrounding the extramural garrison settlement. The buildings situated outside the 3rd century fort walls will be examined to establish their size, form and probable use. It is expected that various houses, shops, workshops, and perhaps religious buildings, will be identified. This data will allow us to identify potentially different zones of use, as well as establishing when the settlement was finally abandoned. Ultimately the information gathered from the excavation will tie in with research conducted inside the fort to establish the extent and nature of the divide between the military fort and its associated extramural garrison settlement outside the fort walls.

Andrew Birley – Director of Excavations

ENDS

For further enquiries contact Fiona Watson- Information Officer on 01434 344 277 or fionawatson@vindolanda.com

Haltwhistle Library set for a £2.2 million facelift

The Tourist — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:44:50 +0000

The residents of Haltwhistle will soon be able to enjoy a state-of-the-art library which replace the old library currently situated on the high street. The new £2.2 million development will also contain a community centre and is being partly funded by a £1.5 million donation from the Big Lottery Fund. Local residents recently had the chance to look at the final plans for the three-storey development at the current library base now situated, temporarily, in the Clive Brown shop on the high street.

Despite the fact that many of Haltwhistle’s better-known employment opportunities disappeared some years ago the town has enjoyed something of a resurgence of late. With the Haltwhistle Heritage Centre appearing to be on track we now we have a £2.2 million redevelopment of the town’s well-established library services.

Often neglected by local council in the past it seems that Haltwhistle is now set for a period of significant growth in the short to medium term. What other developments await this reborn town?

E Scarth & Sons to close

The Tourist — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:29:37 +0000

E Scarth & Sons, one of the oldest building firms in Tynedale, is set to close with the loss of 12 jobs in and around the Haltwhistle area. This is a company which has been around since 1973 and became a prominent part of the Haltwhistle economy offering jobs to many people over the years. The closure of the business seems to have been prompted by a failure to win a number of recent public sector housing maintenance contracts which came up for grabs.

While the building side of the operation will cease to trade from 8 April the property division which focuses upon house letting will continue to operate as normal. These are tough times for one of Haltwhistle’s long-standing building companies although the decision to cease trading was not taken without deep consideration by the family.

The company was for many years the centre of the Haltwhistle’s apprenticeship scheme but there are fears that school leavers may well have to look further afield and potentially leave the area to find the same opportunities in the future.

Support grows for Haltwhistle Heritage Centre

The Tourist — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:28:34 +0000

Support for new Haltwhistle Heritage Centre continues to grow with a recent public meeting in the town attracting significant support. It is hoped that the new heritage centre would be able to house important local documents, artefacts and research material on Haltwhistle and the surrounding area. This will be a major coup for the local council and further strengthen the town’s claim to be the “Centre of Britain”.

Over the last few years there has been growing demand for more tourist related and history related services in and around the area. It is understood that if the Haltwhistle Heritage Centre does receive the go-ahead then surrounding towns and villages will be invited to forward their own particular documentation, artefacts and research material to increase the profile of the project.

A number of prominent councillors and ex-councillors in the town have taken up the baton regarding the proposal and it seems that sooner rather than later we should see movement in favour of the project.

Haltwhistle chef lands top job at London restaurant

The Tourist — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:10:45 +0000

While Haltwhistle chef Daniel Graham may have been beaten to the title of Master Chef after reaching the final, he has been offered a position by Michel Roux at his three Michelin star London restaurant Le Gavroche. It seems as though the seasoned chef from Haltwhistle did is enough in the final to at least catch the eye one of the judges and land himself this plum role.

As we mentioned in one of our earlier post, having studied at Carlisle he had moved back to the Tynedale area holding positions at Slaley Hall and Langley Castle, two of the better known hotels and restaurants in the area. Just by chance he spotted entry forms for the BBC Master Chef show and chanced his arm in what is one of the U.K.’s most fiercely competitive food programs. Just making it to the final was something which many people can only dream of but landing his plum role just days after has put Daniel Graham in heaven!

It will be interesting to follow the onwards and upwards career of Daniel Graham, somebody who has worked his way up from the bottom to one of the prime positions in the UK restaurant sector.

Haltwhistle business Kilfrost continues to blossom

The Tourist — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:32:30 +0000

While Kilfrost may have moved its base to the Newcastle region, the company still has a significant exposure to Haltwhistle where all of the company’s deicing products are produced and then forwarded to one of three overseas factories to be mixed into the finished product. This is a company which has massive exposure to the likes of the aircraft industry with significant business from countries as far afield as America, China, Holland and Japan.

Despite the fact that the UK is in the grip of a financially recession the company expects sales to improve by a further 25% over and above the £50 million figure of last year, over the next two years. This is a company which is so important to be the icing industry that it has a protection from the authorities which very few other companies in the world can obtain. The Haltwhistle factory is running around the clock to keep pace with growing demand in this most specialised of industries.

At a time when the Haltwhistle economy has been undergoing a significant change, from a retail environment to a more tourist-based economy, companies such as Kilfrost still remain a focal part of the local economy.

Haltwhistle promised more care for the elderly as Greenholme closes

The Tourist — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:21:41 +0000

After the Northumberland county council finally admitted that the Haltwhistle elderly people’s home at Greenholme is to close it has been revealed that £3.7 million is to be injected into another scheme to build 35 one and two bedroomed “extra care homes” in the centre of the town. The controversial decision to close Greenholme has caused much anger in Haltwhistle with 27 members of staff taking voluntary redundancy out of the 28 who worked at the home.

Many people are wondering how and why the council decided to close Greenholme, which has seen residents shipped out to other establishments over the last few months, when they have in fact agreed to inject a further £3.7 million into elderly care in the town. The home itself has been there for many years and was in fact a focal part of the town’s care for the elderly system.

The council has been very secretive in its approach to the closure of Greenholme and was only finally forced to admit closure last week. However, this was possibly one of the worst kept secrets in the region with those in and around Haltwhistle well aware that slowly but surely Greenholme was being wound down and residents were being moved out.

Haltwhistle chef down to the final three in Masterchef

The Tourist — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:10:55 +0000

Daniel Graham, 27, from Haltwhistle is down to the final three on the BBC programme Masterchef : The Professionals. The show is set to hit the BBC again this week when the final three will be reduced to the winner under the watchful eye of expert judges Michel Rous and Gregg Wallace with the best chef set for a potentially lucrative career in the future.

After studying at Haydon Bridge high school, Daniel Graham moved to Carlisle to complete an NVQ in his chosen profession and has since been employed by a number of hotels and food establishments in and around the area of Northumberland. His rise to fame on Masterchef has not surprised those who were aware of his talents from an early age but it is yet another feather in the cap of the Haltwhistle region and brings more focus upon the area.

All eyes will be glued to the BBC programme this week where slowly but surely the winner will emerge with everybody in Haltwhistle keeping their fingers crossed that Daniel Graham can take the title!

Greenholme on the verge of closure

The Tourist — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:22:15 +0000

Haltwhistle care home Greenholme would appear to be under threat as more and more of the elderly residents are moved elsewhere. Despite the fact that the there are still a small number of residents in the care home it seems that unofficially Greenholme is on the verge of closure. Indeed, one resident, Maude Thompson, who is 102 years young, is likely to be forced to move despite the fact she has spent the last 14 years of her life in Greenholme and all of her life in Haltwhistle.

While officially the Northumberland Care Trust, which operates the Greenholme care home facility, issued a statement suggesting that no final decision had been made regarding the closure of Greenholme, it would appear to be almost inevitable. The potential closure of what has been a central part of the Haltwhistle and district care home service is a reflection of the growing cost of running such facilities up and down the country.

Council budgets the length and breadth of the UK are currently under pressure as the UK budget deficit continues to balloon with national debt currently over £1 trillion. It is likely that many other services will see their budgets cut over the next few years as the UK government looks to rein in spending and at least attempt to reduce the ever-increasing national debt.