Out & About Magazine (North East) May 2019 Edition 41

Your local interest & advertising magazine | May 2019 | Edition 41 Tow Law, Sunniside, Stanley Crook, Billy Row, Crook, Willington, Wolsingham & surrounding areas

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Years gone by - pages 8 & 14 • Crook Town AFC Youth - page 12 • Coal part 3 - page 16

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Firstly I’d like to say a massive congratulations to Mapps Mortgage & Insurance Ltd who recently won at the Nat West Local Hero Mortgage Awards. Check out their new advert on page 6. If you are looking to treat yourself or a loved one take a look at page 7 where Thomas Wright House are advertising their new Treat Time Tuesday with use of a private patio area and hot tub.

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Weardale Travel have some fantastic holiday offers on page 9, including a trip to Belfast and the wonderful Giant’s Causeway. On page 10 we have Golden Fry Crook who have lots of fantastic offers on at the moment, including fish & chips, pizzas & kebabs plus much more. The Wear Valley Community Action Group have lots of fantastic events coming up over the coming months, take a look at page 13 where they are advertising their latest trip to Whitley Bay, remember tickets are first come first served.

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Welcome to the May edition of Out & About Magazine, your friendly local interest & advertising magazine.

Lastly on page 15 we have Party Ark who are based in Crook and stock a range of party products suitable for your wedding or any other type of celebration you may be planning. Don’t forget to quote Out & About when replying to adverts & lastly we hope you enjoy this month’s edition, thanks for your support!

BOOK YOUR ADVERTISING SPACE TODAY THE DEADLINE FOR THE JUNE EDITION IS THURSDAY 23RD MAY AT 4PM. No design fees if you don’t have your own artwork • Discounts on 3 month bookings • No VAT • Debit & credit cards can be taken in person at Ritchie Coatsworth Photography or over the telephone.

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Call us on 01388 417 337 or 07963 635 568 or email us at ads@outandaboutmagazinenortheast.co.uk DISCLAIMER - Whilst we take every care to ensure accuracy in this magazine, we regret that we cannot accept responsibility for any incorrect information. All adverts are accepted in good faith as to their accuracy.

The copying of any material within this publication is strictly forbidden without the publishers consent.

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Years gone by...

Jonny Charlton playing in the snow with his Ma m during the harsh Winter of 1979. Photo supplied by Jane t Charlton.

General Booth passes through Willington (year unknown).

Image supplied by Douglas Glendenning.

Locals including Tommy Todd, Lloyd Smith, Richard Taylorson & John Thompson enjoy a pint in what is possibly Crook or Billy Row Club. Photo supplied by Janet Charlton.

son y Ferris & Alan Nichol Douglas Boughey, Bill d. Photo supplied by llan Ho & rd kfo Pic working at Evelyn Boughey.

9) with his sons.

Mr Crawford (died 191 Layburn.

Ann by d plie sup ge Ima

Miners congregate during the 1920s miners strike. Image supplied by J. Hetherington.

We URGENTLY need your old photos!!

We are running low on old photos of places & people from years gone by and would love to keep the feature going. Can you help? Email any old photos to: ads@outandaboutmagazinenortheast.co.uk or drop into Ritchie Coatsworth Photography, 80 Hope Street Crook.

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Spotlight on Crook Town AFC Youth.

This month we shine the spotlight on Crook Town AFC Youth, Sarah Harris answers our questions.

Hi Sarah, tell us a little bit about Crook Town AFC Youth.

friends. We also have the philosophy that all pumas are equal, and we play for fun.

Winning is awesome but its about more than just that.

Crook Town AFC Youth were formed in 2015. The club started with 3 teams, and we now have 9 teams, from under 6 through to under 13 age groups plus tots development session for ages 3-7.

I’ve been involved from the beginning, as my son has played from being 7 years old, when the club formed. Crook Town AFC Youth is a great club to be involved with as they have the kids at the heart and want to make grassroots football available to as many kids as possible in the area.

I got more involved when the Pumas were formed in 2016, a secretary was needed and I was volunteered! However it is now a full family affair, my eldest son is in the team, my husband took over as coach in 2017, so we are all involved, even my youngest son calls himself the team mascot!

The Pumas are lucky enough to have 2 coaches. Matthew Fyfe, a local lad joined as Coach in October 2018 and has been a great influence on the kids. We call our team the Puma Family, as that is what we are, we all stick together and the kids have made life long

What sort of age range is your team and what sort of competitions do you play in?

We are the current under 10 age group team and we play 7 v 7. We have a great bunch of players predominantly in the year 5 school year group, however we do have some from the year 4 age group as they are allowed to play a year ahead. We are proud to have players from every school in Crook and Howden Le Wear, and from a school in Willington.

Once the kids go into the under 11 age group and play 9 v 9 they have to have a home ground. As a club we’ve had a few bumps in the road finding suitable local pitches to play on. In June the Pumas will move to the under 11’s age group so we needed a good local base. We are thrilled that the club have just secured a great partnership with Crook Primary School, which is a real boost to the future of Crook Town AFC Youth. This enables us to play at the school which we are all thrilled about. We are thankful to the School and Club Committee for their tireless work in securing the future of the club.

This partnership means that that the club can play in their home town of Crook, wearing their black and amber strips with pride. The school will also be able to offer more football provision too once work on the pitches is complete.

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WEAR VALLEY COMMUNITY ACTION GROUP

Wear Valley Community Action Group

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SATURDAY 15th JUNE 2019 • £2.50 PER PERSON Non refundable • Payment to be made at time of booking to secure seat • Please book early to avoid disappointment there is only 1 coach • Pick up points: St Helens, West Auckland, Cockton Hill, Howden-Le-Wear, Crook, Billy Row, Stanley Crook, Willington. TIMES TO BE CONFIRMED NEARER THE DATE

Angela 07396 244 862 Mon – Thurs 10am – 2pm Facebook: wear valley community action group Mon – Thurs 5pm – 7pm or email wearvalleycommunityactiongroup@gmail.com anytime.

Emma Reed RVN

The Wear Valley Community Action Group would like to thank everyone that supported us at the Easter event at Crook Football Club on Saturday 13th April 2019.

Thank you to Durham Community Action for the funding from the “Bringing Communities Together Funding” & Councillor Anne Reed for helping to fund the event.

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What’s been some of your highlights over the years that you have been involved?

The Pumas play in the Russell Foster League and enjoy weekly competitive games trying their best to improve as a team each week. We win some, we lose some but always as a team. Pumas play to have fun and as long as they are smiling I am happy! Seeing the kids grow in confidence on and off the pitch is brilliant.

A highlight was wining the plate competition at our own tournament in 2017, this was a victory like no other as it came down to penalties, but just before the game our goalkeeper broke his arm, so we had an outfield player save a penalty and then go on to score the winning one!

It was a real team effort.

If you are interested in being involved you can contact the Club Secretary Angela Lonsdale on 07961 845 445.

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Years gone by...

Tee-total landlord William Nicholson celebrates his 80th birthday with at his bar The Miner’s Arms. Image supplied by Janet Nicholson.

regulars

Tommy Carter at Banty Emmerson’s pigeon sheds at Stanley Crook. Image supplied by John Clanfield.

originated from Ireland Catherine Kelly who ugh en at James Fairclo tak t having her portrai ok.

Photography in Cro

ing.

The old railway bridge at Willington. Image supplied by Douglas Glendenn

We URGENTLY need your old photos!!

We are running low on old photos of places & people from years gone by and would love to keep the feature going. Can you help? Email any old photos to: ads@outandaboutmagazinenortheast.co.uk or drop into Ritchie Coatsworth Photography, 80 Hope Street Crook.

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Digging for Coal (part 3) Story by Aaron Cowen

Following on from March and April’s articles we continue looking at how the mining industry expanded further in this area.

Work begun on a colliery at North Roddymoor by the Durham County Coal Company in 1836.

The Clarence Railway at this time ran from Port Clarence up to Byers Green and efforts were being made to bring the tracks into the West Durham Coalfield. However, efforts struggled and it wasn’t until 1840 that the railway extension to the Clarence Railway was completed. Reaching Old White Lea Colliery in 1841. It was simply a mineral railway for coal, lead and lime. It had no passenger rail services except for Durham market days. The Clarence Railway owned 12 locomotives each by Timothy Hackworth similar to the one shown below.

A quantity of coal wagons laden with coal were first taken down the line from White Lea and Roddymoor Collieries on their way to Hartlepool observed by a select party of gentleman, (friends of the directors from the Darlington, Stockton and Bishop Auckland Railway) on 22nd June 1841.

Meanwhile the big pit at White Lea Colliery was put down in 1840. Borings had taken place at Jobs Hill in 1838 proving the area had a wealth of coal. This colliery was not sunk until 1845.

Borings also took place on the Willington Estate in 1839 in the neighbourhood of Bowden Close proving the Brockwell Seam. The Norwich Pit at Bowden Close was sunk in 1840 but was not fully operational until 1845.

The new Roddymoor Colliery together with engine, engine-house, dwelling-houses, shops, stock and materials were put up for auction by 1842. The outlay to set up these early collieries was huge and a struggle for their owners. They had to convince the government that they had plenty of coal, and that it would be

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worth their while bringing rail into an area which was at the time pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The long wait for new rail links probably meant that greater investment was needed. Selling them was perhaps not as big a risk as actually trying to mine coal from them.

The Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway backed by the Stockton and Darlington Railway received Parliamentary backing to build a railway from Shildon via Bishop Auckland to the village of Crook in 1842. Traffic from the new tracks came through to Crook on 9th November 1843. Passenger rail services were granted on 3rd January 1844. It was then extended to Tow Law in 1845. This new route was a major improvement on the West Durham Railway Line which ceased operations west of Tod Hills in 1891. Woodifield Colliery was laid out in 1843.

In 1844 a shaft had been sunk at Roddymoor and the coal proved and won of first-rate quality in a seam 4 feet in thickness. An engine of forty-six horse power had been erected and the colliery was ready to go into full operation.

In 1845 builders and joiners were asked to tender for the erection of 50 cinder ovens and 30 pitman’s cottages at Roddymoor Colliery.

On 7th February 1846 the Yorkshire Gazette records that: “An extensive royalty of coal in the neighbourhood of Crook, has been purchased by Joseph Pease, Esq. of Darlington.

Two valuable pits, known as Roddymoor and Job’s Hill Collieries.

Roddymoor, henceforth to be called “Pease’s West Colliery,” commenced working at the beginning of last week. It is expected that in a short period “Job’s Hill Pit” will also be set to work.

Joseph Pease These collieries, for various

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causes, have for some time been inoperative.”

Joseph Pease (1799-1872) was considered as a railway pioneer having begun the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company in 1825 along with his father and other members of the Pease family.

It is not surprising therefore that the building of Crook’s railway, coincided with the opening of these new Collieries. Coal from most inland mines were transported by pack horse, then horse and carts as roads improved. The port at Stockton on Tees then took coal onwards by sea. The River Tees was straightened to allow better navigation and so people like Joseph Pease needed to recoup the costs of these efforts. Speculate to accumulate!

There were two main pits at Roddymoor. The Lucy Pit (the first to open) located at North Roddymoor was named after Joseph’s daughter Elizabeth Lucy Pease who married agricultural engineer and inventor John Fowler. The Emma Pit was named after Joseph’s wife Emma Gurney and was located between Roddymoor and the Mile Lonnen.

Over the years many accidents occurred at these collieries. The first at Roddymoor Colliery appears to have been John Grey who died on 29th January 1848.

Dreadful accident: On Saturday morning last, John Grey, the screener at Roddymoor Colliery, near Crook, lost his life under the following circumstances: The deceased, with his two sons and another man, had gone to their work about three o’clock that morning. In consequence of the frost, the slide of the apparatus for separating the large and small coal, and for lifting the coal after passing the screen to a higher level, would not act.

The deceased, in order to clean the slide, went down the apparatus hole, without telling the brakesman to cease working the engine, which went on. When Grey was down, the men at the bank heard him shout “ hold,” and they repeated it, when the engine stopped after running about three feet from the first call. A man named John Allan immediately went to the place, and found the unfortunate man jammed in between the wall and a tub partly filled with coals. Assistance was immediately procured, and the deceased removed.

He was dreadfully bruised all over his body, and both arms broken. He was quite sensible, and only lived about two hours. It appeared the deceased might have gone up the drift to the place without any danger. Blame was attributable to the brakesman, he had no notice of the deceased

still visible at Helmington Row The original bridge ilway.

Ra m rha Du st We from the

going down, and lie could not have seen him. An inquest was held on Monday last, on view of the body, at White lee, before WM. Trotter, Esq., when the above facts were detailed in evidence, and the jury returned a verdict of “accidental death.”

In 1845 Potato Blight had hit Europe and Ireland suffered most from this. The Irish Potato Famine didn’t officially end until 1852. It is not surprising then that with all this new industry coming to Crook that Irish Immigrants begin to appear in the area. Supposedly they would leave the ships at Liverpool looking for work and be pointed in the direction of the Durham Coalfields and Crook. It could be said that the North East due to the invention of locomotives became the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution, making places like Crook the centre of the world.

Edward Johston a coal miner living at Woodifield Colliery in 1851 arrived in Crook in 1846 and appears to be the first of these Irish Immigrants.

Although in 1851 the census shows a great number of Irish immigrants, the majority are concentrated around the Woodifield Colliery area and many of them are lodgers rather than tenants.

No wonder the woodland on the Barratt’s Estate is known as Paddy’s Wood although this may also be reference to Thomas Wilkinson who became Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle and who lived at Thistleflat House.

To demonstrate just how fast things were changing in the once quiet hamlet of Crook and Billy Row the population in 1831 was 200. In 1841 it went up to 538 but by 1851 it had boomed to 3946.

Aaron is a keen amateur historian and one of the admins of the Crook Town and District History Group Facebook group, he is also Chairman of the Empire Electric Palace group.

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The Travellers Rest

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Call us on 01388 417 337 or 07963 635 568

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Call us on 01388 417 337 or 07963 635 568 or visit www.rcphoto.co.uk for up-to-date pricing.

80 Hope Street, Crook, County Durham DL15 9HT

CCCCC 5 star rated wedding & portrait photographer

“Ritchie has been amazing from booking through to the wedding! On the wedding day he managed to just blend in, getting amazing natural pictures. He put us at ease throughout even convincing Jamie to do a first dance! Thank you so much for everything!�

Jess and Jamie Reed

JOIN OUR CUPCAKE DAY FOR ALZHEIMER’S SOCIETY Saturday 15th June 10am - 2pm Come and have a cuppa and a cake with us at our Crook office.

Let’s raise as much ‘dough’ as possible to help beat dementia!

Hardy’s Funeral Service 1 Belle Vue Crook Tel: 01388 765 069 24 hours

Alzheimer’s Society is a registered charity in England and Wales (296645); the Isle of Man (1128) and operates in Northern Ireland.