Wearside stories you might have missed this week

Kayleigh Laverick struggled with postnatal depression after the traumatic birth of her second child

A mum's walk-and-talk group, funding for a new miners' banner and the refusal of a housing estate over fears about losing a field dating back to 1843.

Here are four of the stories from Wearside you might have missed this week.

Walk-and-talk group 'saved me' as a new mum

Mamma Social Co brings mums together for walks

When Kayleigh Laverick was struggling with postnatal depression, she did not imagine a social media post would create a community of more than 70,000 mums three years later.

The 37-year-old, from Peterlee, County Durham, experienced a traumatic birth with her second child, which affected her mental health and made her feel like she was in "a dream-like state", and not being "all there".

One day, she said she experienced suicidal thoughts, something which she said scared her, having never had them previously.

In that chaos, she knew that she needed to take action and "find real-life connection" for her recovery. Mamma Social Co was born.

• Read more about it here

Campaigners awarded funding for new mining banner

Langley Park's old banner used to appear at events but is now beyond repair

An old miners' banner will be remade after campaigners were awarded a Lottery grant of almost £15,000.

The Langley Park Miners' Banner Group was created last year after chair Jack Pringle attended the Durham Miners' Gala and found his village was not represented because its banner had been beyond repair for several years.

Mr Pringle said they were "delighted" with the funding and were going to work with the local community on the design, starting with a public meeting later this month.

Chairman of the Durham Miners' Association Stephen Guy said: "I anticipate that the whole community will rally behind what I know will be a magnificent new banner that the whole village can be justly proud of."

• Read more about her experiences and others here

Housing estate refused over heritage loss fears

Residents raised concerns over highway safety, flooding and infrastructure capacity

Plans to build 156 homes as part of a £20.7m housing estate project have been refused over concerns it would "destroy" a village's link to its heritage.

Durham County Council turned down the estate, planned for land near Westerton Road, in Coundon, Bishop Auckland, after it said it received hundreds of objections.

Partner Construction wanted to build a mix of apartments, bungalows and multi-bedroom houses, on 10.6 hectares (26 acres) of greenfield land.

But residents raised concerns that building there would "destroy the open countryside character" of the field, which dates back to 1843.

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Morning peak rail service saved in new timetable

The service is popular with people commuting from Durham to Newcastle

A peak time rail service which was in danger of being scrapped has been saved.

The LNER service to Edinburgh, which calls at Durham at 08:22 and arrives in Newcastle just after 08:30 was in danger of being axed from December 2025 in a timetable shake-up.

This would have left Durham with only two trains to Newcastle between 08:00 and 09:00, with about seven carriages between them.

However, it has now been confirmed LNER will continue to provide a link between the two cities during morning peak times at weekdays, with trains leaving Durham at 08:24 and arriving in Newcastle at 08:44.

• Read more about it here