Year-long celebrations to mark Peterlee's 75th birthday

Durham County Council has received a grant of £92,302 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to carry out a programme of events to commemorate the "new town’s” birth.

On Friday, June 30, Peterlee 75 will launch at Castle Dene Shopping Centre with Peterlee: The Place to Be, a photography exhibition tracing the town’s origins and early development.

It will also mark the start of the Living Memory project, which aims to unearth more images and artefacts that tell the story of the town’s people by inviting present and former residents to share items from their private collections.

Over the next year, the Peterlee 75 celebrations will continue with a series of events, exhibitions, concerts, and workshops in and around the town, inviting people to reflect on Peterlee’s history and have a say on its future.

The programme will involve the whole community from the centre of Peterlee, which was named after miners’ leader Peter Lee, to surrounding areas.

Councillor Elizabeth Scott, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for economy and partnerships, said: “With support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the local partnerships that have made Peterlee 75 possible, our local communities will have the opportunity of being involved in what promises to be an incredibly exciting programme of heritage projects and cultural events over the next 12 months.”

The full Peterlee 75 programme is led by the council and has been put together through a partnership of key stakeholders involving Apollo Pavilion Projects CIC and East Durham Creates, supported by The Story at Mount Oswald, Peterlee Town Council and Praxis, the owners of Castle Dene Shopping Centre.

It has also been supported by the local education sector including the School of Architecture at Newcastle University.

David Taylor-Gooby, chair of Apollo Pavilion Projects CIC, said: “As an organisation that has long been involved in cultural developments in Peterlee we are delighted to be part of such an important project for the town and its wider area.”

Jess Hunt, director of East Durham Creates, added: “Peterlee is the place our programme calls home and this project is part of our long-term commitment to telling the vital stories of our people and place.”