Local Heroes Plaque Unveiling

Our Local Heroes Project was inspired by a memorial to ordinary people who have committed acts of extraordinary bravery, often sacrificing their own lives in order to save the lives of others, in Postman’s Park in London. A group of Year 7 students (as they were then!) as well as pupils from St Charles’ Tudhoe, St Cuthbert’s Crook and Our Lady and St Thomas Willington visited Durham County Record Office to conduct research and identify their own local heroes. With ceramics artist Christine Constant each group then created a panel of ceramic tiles relating the story of their chosen hero’s act of bravery.
The panels have now been installed in the gardens of all four schools and on Wednesday 18 September an unveiling ceremony took place here at St John’s. Watched by Governors, staff and 11 of the young artists, Governor Mary Wood, after explaining the background to the project , drew back the curtains assisted by Adam Lavery to reveal the story of Dennis Glass who, in 1963, rescued a girl from drowning in the River Wear. Happily Mr Glass survived and was able to retrieve his false teeth which he had left on the river bank!