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This photo was taken during the summer holidays in 1967. Some faces from the Youth Theatre will be familiar.

Regards John.

Matrix Orthopaedic Solutions Ltd.

e.volve Business Centre
Rainton Bridge South Business Park
Houghton-le-Spring
DH4 5QY

Tel: 0191 3055230      Fax: 0191 3055486 

E-mail: enquiries@matrixortho.com

http://www.matrixortho.com

Don’t forget to mention the Fence Houses website when you call, thank you.

Naughty Noughties Nite!

Hey everyone! We really hope that you can make it to our Naughty Noughties nite, we’ll be playing indie, rock, dance and chart classics from the last decade. Can’t believe it’s been ten years since the millennium so there’s going to be loads and loads of tunes to hear and big screen visuals to take you back to the glory days of your youf!

Cheap booze & great music guaranteed, perfect night out if you’re local or ideal to get you in the mood if you’re hitting the town afterwards!

Tickets cost just £2 and are available from the Comrades bar in Fence Houses.

Electrical Contractors est 1982 contact 0191 3859685

mobile 07855 786 840

jd.johnson65@hotmail.co.uk

Best electrician in fencehouses

http://www.connorsolutions.co.uk/

A NORTH east electronics firm is reaping the rewards of planning for and investing in its future after securing a major new contract with one of the world’s leading audio/visual equipment designers.

Connor Solutions will now provide electronics assembly services for manufacturing some of Arcam’s high-end industry-leading products, under an agreement which has an annual value of around £3m.

And having also just obtained accreditation from a high-level aerospace industry quality management programme, Connor will now be looking for further expansion into potentially-lucrative new defence markets.

Based in Houghton-le-Spring, Connor Solutions was set up ten years ago and now employs around 160 people.

It specialises in providing low to medium volume Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) to companies operating across a wide range of markets in the UK and Ireland, from industrial and audio/visual to telecoms/datacoms, medical and environmental.

Connor Solutions’ continuing development has been supported with a number of rounds of equity investment from regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers.

NEL first became involved with the company in 2003, with further investments following in 2004 and then in January this year as a large part of a wider investment package, and it has maintained a presence on Connor’s board of non-executive directors throughout the relationship.

Phil Hall, finance director at Connor Solutions, said: “The business has evolved and grown successfully over the years, but last year, we could see the difficulties that the coming recession would cause all parts of the commercial world, including our customer base, so took the time to review our operations and plan how we would take the business forward. With the recovery now on the way after the recent economic stablisation, we can see a number of new opportunities opening up, such as the new Arcam contract, and we are in great shape to take advantage of them.

“We’ve long recognised that our expertise would be well received in the defence and aerospace markets, and having now got the quality accreditation that the sectors’ leading companies demand that their suppliers have, we believe we will be able to swiftly develop new income streams based on the industry relationships we’re already building.”

Yvonne Gale, portfolio manager at NEL Fund Managers, adds: “Connor Solutions’ success is based on a clear commitment to quality, both in terms of the components they provide and the service they offer, and the management team is well set to grow the business even further.”

http://www.connorsolutions.co.uk/

Oct 21 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

It was after Hazel married and left her job working at Binns in Sunderland that the idea of starting up an Avon round came to her.

“There was a lady called Mrs Nicholson covering the area at the time,” she said. “I decided I’d like to have a go and started it up in the September.

“I really enjoyed it and decided to keep it on and here I am 45 years later.”

Hazel, 66, who also works at Hopes chemist in Houghton, has kept the same round covering Fence Houses all those years, and she has vowed to carry on serving her customers for years to come.

“I love meeting people and doing the work I do,” she said. “I’ve built up good friendships and got to know my customers over the years.

“In the time that I’ve been working there have been several changes.

“The product range has got wider. When I first started it was mainly just perfumes for sale with some make-up.

“Now, you’ve got all sorts. There’s underwear, jewellery, handbags, hats and scarves and a lot of children’s products. There’s a very wide spectrum now.”

To mark Hazel’s dedication to the company, she was invited to an exclusive lunch with 19 other long-serving Avon reps at Rushton Hotel, Northamptonshire.

Hazel said: “When I first started my Avon business I would never have expected to have been chosen to attend such a special event.

“Avon has been a big part of my life and I’m really proud to be here today knowing that I have been part of the company’s success.”

Hazel’s coup comes just weeks after the Echo revealed dynamic duo Debbie Davis and Dave Carter raked in a whopping £5.5million and were crowned Avon’s top earners for the fourth year running.

The two Avon senior executive sales leaders, of Leechmere Grange, have 2,500 people working for them up and down the country after spending five years building up their Avon empire.

Professional & Affordable Decorating

Time Served Painter & Decorator, Domestic & Commercial Works Carried Out.

Free Estimates

Interior or Exterior

No job too Big or Small

OAP Discounts

Fully Insured

Contact Stuart on Tel: 07837422747

Please feel free to visit the website: http://hendersonsdecorators.co.uk/

Still hair at 81!
Dec 10 2004 By Matt Casey, The Evening Chronicle

At the grand old age of 81 barber Alf Roxby is still cutting it.
And while grandad Alf is probably the oldest crimper in the country, he is also one of the cheapest.

Customers never complain about his prices. The pensioners’ rate is 70p and others range from £1.50 to £2.

He has been in the trade for 68 years and is still working four days a week.
Alf started as a hairdressing apprentice in 1936 and has no plans to retire.

He says: “When people ask me when I’m going to pack it in, I tell them `When I’m old!’”
Widower Alf has only had one break from cutting hair – the five years he spent fighting for his country.
Born in 1922, he was the youngest of five sons and, at 14, started work as an apprentice.

He has been in his present shop, in Front Street, Fence Houses, near Houghton-le-Spring, since 1946.
The only time he thought of packing it in was when Mary, his wife of 41 years, died in 1988 at the age of 66.

Alf considered moving to Hertfordshire where his son, Peter, 52, lives with his wife and three children.
But he decided to stay. Alf said: “I still enjoy what I do and my customers are my friends. I like a laugh and a joke with them all.

“I’m still in good physical condition and my mind is still there, so why should I pack it in?”
“My work keeps me in touch with people and what’s going on in the world. I’ve got no intention of retiring.”

Alf will be 82 on December 20 and says: “I used to tell my mother I was the best Christmas box she ever had!”

He served as a naval gunner for five years during the Second World War and was aboard HMS Webster when she was sunk by a German torpedo in the Mediterranean.

He said: “I never cut anyone’s hair during the five years I was in the war. I enjoyed the break, but I was glad when I got back to it.”

Most of his customers are pensioners but when younger men ask for more than the usual short-back-and-sides he’s prepared for them.

He said: “I can do anything they want – even the fancy stuff they ask for these days.”
Alf has hung up his scissors a couple of years ago now, he is retired and living with his son down South.

What a man.