menu_open Columnists
Peter Barron

Peter Barron

The Northern Echo

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Grandad At Large: itching to get back home after Italian island holiday

I DON’T know what it is about my blood, but mosquitos love it – never more so than during a recent holiday with my wife to the Italian island of...

11.10.2025 10

The Northern Echo

Peter Barron

Why I ended up lugging a drum-kit along Platform 4 at Darlington station

SO, here I am, on Platform 4 of Darlington station, waiting for the 3.58pm to Aberdeen – with a drum-kit. Yes, a drum-kit. I’m not even catching...

07.08.2025 10

The Northern Echo

Peter Barron

Grandad At Large: How Eric and his trusty metal detector saved the day

THE longer the marriage lasts – and ours has just reached the 37-year mark – the harder it is to earn brownie-points. The days when youthful...

07.08.2025 10

The Northern Echo

Peter Barron

A bird’s eye view – how I herocially solved the great starling mystery

SOMETIMES only raw courage will do – and that’s what it took the day the birds invaded the house. It started on Sunday morning when a startled...

11.05.2025 20

The Northern Echo

Peter Barron

Focusing on the growing challenges us oldies face with reading glasses

AS I head deeper into my seventh decade, I feel the need to focus on something that’s become an increasingly important feature of my life: reading...

07.02.2025 8

The Northern Echo

Peter Barron

The day a Durham headteacher wished he hadn't asked about a pupil's dog having pups

MANY thanks to former teacher June Clough for passing on a lovely story after my Dad At Large talk to Durham Friendship Centre in Belmont earlier this...

16.01.2025 3

The Northern Echo

Peter Barron

A case of mistaken identity that left our family shellshocked

TALK about being well and truly shellshocked… Christopher, our eldest, was woken from a deep sleep with the devastating news: “Nigel’s dead!”...

06.12.2024 8

The Northern Echo

Peter Barron

The answer to my 92-year-old mother's hearing problems – Nat King Cole

BEFORE I go any further, I should acknowledge the fact that my mum, now approaching 93, is a ruddy marvel. Still independent, still doing her own...

23.08.2024 3

The Northern Echo

Peter Barron