http://www.lambtoncastle.co.uk

AN aristocrat has announced plans to transform part of his North East estate into a wedding and entertainment venue.

Renovation work is being carried out by Lord Durham on the grade II-listed Lambton Castle, near Bournmoor, County Durham, to turn it into a venue for upmarket civil weddings, classical concerts and parties.

Biddick Hall, an impressive grade I-listed country house that was home to the Lord’s mother, Lady Lambton, until her death in February 2003, will also stage small weddings, celebrations, weekend breaks, a monthly supper club and it will also host the bridal party for weddings in the nearby castle.

The estate is also home to a small chapel which will be available for religious wedding ceremonies. Estate chiefs have been in touch with the Bishop of Durham to have it re-consecrated.

They are also looking into licensing a walled garden and a pavilion for a variety of entertainment as well as a large field by the river where they hope to hold proms in the park-style events and large concerts.

Edward Lambton, the 7th Earl of Durham, hopes transformation of the 1,400-acre private estate will generate income which will go towards the vast upkeep of the historic properties and land.

Estates manager Bob Duff said: “The estate has always been owned by different generations of the same family. The area of Washington used to belong to them before it was compulsory purchased from the family to build the new town.

“The Lord of Durham’s mother lived in Biddick Hall until her death a few years go. After that the home was just used by the family periodically.

“Lord Durham got in touch with me about a year ago about the progression of the estate. Estates such as this get more expensive to run and difficult to keep. The family has an estate in Northumberland and a home in Italy.

“The plans were his idea and he employed me to oversee the development.”

Lambton Estate has already set up a number of events. These include a music night on April 15 featuring tenor George Bartle, soprano Susan Parkes and pianist Warren Mailley-Smith and Universal Horror on April 16, a film night hosted by Oscar-winning film maker Kevin Brownlow. On May 8 Lord Durham will open the estate to the public when they stage the Lambton Run, a 5k and 10k race, in aid of Willow Burn Hospice in Lanchester, County Durham and The Rainbow Trust.

North East chef Anthony Brown is also holding monthly supper clubs and cookery classes.

Lord Durham inherited the Lambton estate after the death of his father, a one-time Tory MP for Berwick, in 2006.

The current Lord married for the third time earlier this year, wedding 29-year-old model Marina Hanbury at a register office in London.

Lions Lived in grounds of castle

LAMBTON Castle, the family’s ancestral seat, is steeped in history

In 1800 the first Lord of Durham commissioned the building of the structure which was built around the existing Harraton Hall, an 18th Century mansion.

The Lord – also known as “Radical Jack” and a son-in-law of Earl Grey – wanted the property to be in the style of a Norman Castle.

The family lived in the property but there was a problem with subsidence, ironically caused by the mineworking in the area on which the family fortune was built. It was rebuilt in the 1860.

In 1930 the family moved out of the property following further issues with subsidence and it fell into disrepair.

In 1972, Lambton Lion Park opened on the estate. It closed in the early 1980s due to lack of funds and problems with escaping animals.

Mr Duff said: “The county council took it over as a teacher training centre for a while then in the seventies the estate was ran as a safari park.

“There are wonderful stories about baboons on the A1 and hippopotamus in Chester-le-Street.

“People still talk about the safari park now with the giraffe house and the bear pit.

“A lot of people came to the estate back then and they still think of it like that today.”

For more information please goto http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2011/03/16/lambton-castle-to-become-wedding-venue-61634-28343663/2/

Aug 25 2007

Evening Chronicle

For three decades Donald McBride has been a stalwart of Newcastle’s Live Theatre, meeting many famous faces along the way. Here he talks to GRAHAM ROBSON

IT was apt that actor Donald McBride won a part in the award-winning film Billy Elliot, based as it was on a story about a miner’s son beating the odds, and emerging a star in the world of arts.

Just like Billy, Donald is the son of a miner, and instead of following his dad down the pit, forged for a career in acting.

But as Donald points out: “Some of the best jobs are the one’s you don’t do but you still get paid.”

Donald had been due to play Billy’s friend’s father.

But due to lack of filming time, his part was reduced to his voice being heard on screen.

“But I was paid, as I signed a contract,” he explains.

This month, the 54-year-old from Fencehouses, County Durham, is celebrating 30 years of treading the boards.

Along the way, Donald has acted with such luminaries as Sean Bean, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Kitchen, Jimmy Nail, Robson Green and Tim Healy.

He’s appeared on our screens in Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Our Friends In The North and Spender. He’s done an 18-month stint with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but mostly he’s been a stalwart of the Live Theatre.

He first discovered a love of acting when he was at school with friend and fellow actor David Whitaker.

“In my village, people viewed acting as little more than a pastime. Being an actor just wasn’t something you aspired to be. Of course, David and I had a great interest in acting, but we never said while at school, ‘we want to be actors’. It just happened,” recalls Donald. And while his mother Eva and dad Bob were not thespians, they did inspire him.

“My mother used to attend the Bankhead Methodist Chapel and do readings. I’d watch her and study the way she told those religious stories.

“Dad used to sing me those beautiful, old nursery rhymes, which had such gorgeous imagery. Some actors say, ‘oh, so and so is my biggest inspiration’, but for me it has to be religion and a stable family life.”

His father, who was a coal miner for 37 years and “quite stuck in his ways”, believed that acting would be a precarious profession and unsuitable for bringing up a family.

“That was absolutely fine,” says Donald, who never married.

“When I’m at work, the company and the show come first. Sometimes I wake up and wish I’d had children, a wife and the white picket fence, but then I look at what I’ve achieved in the theatre. Could I have done that with three children and a wife to satisfy? I don’t think so.”

While at school, Donald remembers his English teacher, Miss Anderson, directing him.

He fondly recalls how the cast had to bring props from home.

“My poor mother must have thought I was a kleptomaniac” he jokes. “Oh, but it was great fun, we dived right in. Nowadays the innocence of theatre is lost. The blockbuster and bigger budgets have killed it.”

After school, Donald enrolled at the University of Hull to study English and Drama. He’d considered moving to London to study, but his heart was in the North and he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Which might explain why he still lives in the house in which he was brought up.

After university it was time to register his name with Equity.

“They said I’d need to choose another name because Donald Reed (his real name) was already taken.”

Inspired by a song, Donald opted for McBride.

But then he later learned that the actor who had supposedly taken his name had actually opted for the name Dom Reid.

So there had been no need to change his name after all. But back to the career. Thanks to a recommendation from pal David Whitaker, he auditioned for the Live Theatre and landed his first job.

Over the decades, Donald has had parts in Shakespeare plays, comedies, drama and panto.

“Pantomime was hilarious. To perform for children was just amazing. And they didn’t care if I died on stage.” he laughs.

At Hexham one year he had to step into the shoes of actress Val McLane and had a weekend to learn the lines of the Oscar Wilde character, Mrs Bracknell.

He recalls with joy a play staged at the Live Theatre called Kiddar’s Luck in which he played a variety of characters alongside Denise Welch and Robson Green.

“We all played mothers, fathers and children. I gave a memorable performance as Mrs Buchan, who made her entrance with a jug of beer under her pinny.

“There’s nothing like hearing an audience laugh. That’s a feeling you can’t buy and hearing them clap and knowing you’ve done a good job.”

Donald’s next job is in October when he takes to the stage in Swan Song, part of the Live Theatre’s Bite Size season at Apartment in Newcastle. “It’s an excellent play and I urge people to come and see it.” he says. In the play, he takes the role of a drag queen, who does a fair imitation of Ethel Merman. So will this mark his personal swan song?

“Retirement? I hope not. I still hope to be performing in 20 years time.” he says.”

Swan Song opens at Apartment, Newcastle, at 1.30pm on October 30, and runs until November 2. It is repeated on the November 2 at 7.30pm at Queen’s Hall, Hexham. Tickets are £10, £8 concession and include a meal at Apartment performances. Telephone (0191) 232 1232 for the Apartment box office or 01434 652 477 for Queen’s Hall.

Wynyard St, Fencehouses, Houghton Le Spring, Tyne and Wear DH4 6LS
Tel: 0191 3852283

WHAT’S ON

Dubmire W.M.C

Ladies Darts presents

Old codger

Sunday 14th September 2008

All proceeds go towards

St. Benedicts Hospice

Bingo, Raffle Tickets £2.00

Click on music, then Bands see a video clip of Robin Kerr, Steve Colledge and the gang.

The left handed guitarist and drummer are fantastic musicians.

It will be a brilliant night and a very good cause.

20th September 2008

Face The Music

If you phone for a ticket tell them you spied this on this website.

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