Spennymoor and District Time Line 1973-1999

Original Compiled by Eric Coombes

1973

• Spennymoor Town Council was created.
• Spennymoor Health Centre opened.
• The re-development of Low Spennymoor cost £1,000,000.
• The Penny Rate Product was £18,500.

1974

• Spennymoor Branch Library moved to a new building in Cheapside on the site of the old Essoldo Cinema.
• Local Government Re-organisation occurred on 1st April. It saw the establishment of a new County Council and eight District Councils, including that of Sedgefield which embraced Spennymoor and took over the Green Lane Offices vacated by the National Coal Board. Spennymoor Town Council, representing the third tier of local councils in the area, established its base in the Town Hall. The County’s population was approximately 600,000, spread over an area of 600,000 acres. In the process of reorganisation, the historic county of Durham lost Gateshead, South Shields, Washington, Houghton-le-Spring and Sunderland to the north adding to the loss of some years earlier of Hartlepool and Stockton on Tees to the south. However, Durham gained from Yorkshire’s North Riding a large area south of the Tees which extended to the watershed with Arkengarthdale and included England’s highest inn at Tan Hill.
• Whitworth Colliery closed in July. and covered an area of 7,494 acres.
• Black and Decker expanded their operation to include a Design Centre.

1975

• Spennymoor Baptist Church in Church Street held its Centenary Celebrations.
• Edgar Jewitt’s Garage, adjacent to Ringtons Tea Depot on Barnfield Road was demolished under a Compulsory Purchase Order to make way for the new St. Andrews Road and the same year the Garage moved to new premises at the entrance to Cambridge Street.
• Shaw’s buses sold out to United. NB Bell Brothers, who, until recently, ran coaches from Coulson Street, Low Spennymoor were descendants of the sister of one of the Shaw brothers.
• Spennymoor By-pass was completed at a total cost of £1.400.000. It was one of three schemes in the Sedgefield District to have received EEC grants.
• Spennymoor Recreation Centre opened at a cost of £750,000.
• Gray’s (Soft Drinks) Ltd which was founded shortly after the First World War, ended deliveries made by horse and cart.
• Metal Bridge Colliery closed in July.
• Approval was given by the County Council on 21st September to the nomination of Spennymoor Slag Heaps as a potential for a national competition run jointly by the Sunday Times and the Arts Council.
• The population of Spennymoor was 18,300 persons.
• On November 12th Doggarts announced that it was closing all its shops down.

1977

• On 20th September, from a shortlist of four, the scheme selected for implementation in the Spennymoor Slag Heaps competition run by the Sunday Times and the Arts Council was that submitted by Dr Ronald McFadzean of Spennymoor and Dr Susan Luther Davis of Sheffield, entitled ‘Elizabeth Jubilee Park’.
• Gray’s Pop Factory was taken over by Jones Soft Drinks.
• Nelson’s bought Jewitt’s Garage at the entrance to Cambridge Street and developed the site to include a Petrol Station and Showroom, taking on a Peugeot franchise.

1978

• Spennymoor Salvation Army held its Centenary Celebrations.

1979

• Spennymoor Probus Club, meeting at Tudhoe Cricket Club, was formed on 10th April.
• Sir John Walton was knighted for his services to Medicine.

1980

• The last service was held at Holy Innocents Church at Half Moon Lane with St. David’s previously the Chapel of Ease, becoming the Parish Church for Tudhoe.
• The NCB Coal Depot at Merrington Lane was demolished beginning 5th November.

1981

• Doggarts Department Store in the High Street closed in January.
• Spennymoor Salvation Army Band held its Centenary Celebrations.
• The Thorn Factory was severely damaged by fire on 27th August and all 1,700 workers were evacuated. Rebuilding cost £8,000,000 and was completed in 1982.

1982

• Following the death of the last family resident, Miss Rosa Shafto, Whitworth Hall and Estate were sold to a local businessman, Mr Derek Parnaby of Parnaby Cyclones, a system for the washing of coal. He set about restoring parts of the Hall and Park. Works in the Hall included re-stocking the library with as many copies he could find of the original books, previously sold after Rosa’s death. In the Park he created a new and larger lake which incorporated, on a small island, a mock ruin using stonework salvaged from Holy Innocents Church.
• The old Kenmir Furniture Factory in Silver Street was demolished.
• Spennymoor Rosa Street Methodist Church was re-dedicated on 3rd May after alterations.
• A Centenary Memorial Service was held to commemorate the Tudhoe Colliery Pit Disaster of 18th April, 1882.

1983

• ERS Mining Development opened a Drift Mine off the A688 Spennymoor By-Pass at Middlestone Moor.
• Work began on the demolition of the multi-deck housing units within Bessemer Park Estate on 1st February.
• A new warehouse was built for Thorn EMI at Merrington Lane costing £2,000,000.
• Tony Blair was elected MP for Sedgefield. The constituency then included Spennymoor and Tudhoe.
• Spennymoor Town Band was re-formed.
• Unemployment was very high; 353 people were chasing every job vacancy in Spennymoor.
• Byers Green-born Sir Percy Craddock was appointed Chief Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
• William Fleming, Manager for approximately 60% of the NCB’s, national landholding, retired.

1984

• Miners went on Strike on 12th March.
• Spennymoor Leisure Pool, complete with Palm trees and flumes, opened on 26th November and cost £2,000,000.
• Middlestone Moor Community Centre was built.
• Jones Soft Drinks was sold to Whitbread.
• Page Bank and Whitworth Women’s Institute celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in August.
• Sir Percy Craddock, British Ambassador in Peking, was awarded the Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George.

1985

• N.U.M leader Arthur Scargill addressed an audience of 1,000 in Spennymoor on 17th January.
• Spennymoor Amateur Boxing Club was formed from Spennymoor Leisure Centre Boxing Club.
• Roof repairs to Spennymoor Leisure Centre cost £100,000.
• There were 2,875 people in Spennymoor on the Jobless Register.
• Victoria Jubilee Park was purchased by Spennymoor Town Council from the Shafto Family for £17,000.
• The Co-op opened a new Superstore off Oxford Road.
• Spennymoor's doctor-patient ratio was one per 2,700.
• The Royal British Legion opened a Club in Spennymoor costing £130,000.

1986

• Norman Watson an ‘Old Wraithian’, was awarded the M.B.E.
• On 4th January W.H. Williams Haulage and Furniture Removals business closed after 67 years in the area.
• Oil exploration work began in Tudhoe.
• Tudhoe Community Centre was built and a new Football field created
• George Courtney, Headmaster of Oxclose School and FIFA referee, was in charge of the World Cup Final between Mexico and Paraguay in Mexico.

1987

• Holy Innocents Church at Low Spennymoor was demolished. Work began in February.
• Middlestone Moor Community Centre was extended.
• Spennymoor Town Council won First Prize for the best allotments in the Country and were given the Waterlow Trophy by the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners.
• Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited the Black & Decker Factory at Green Lane on Wednesday 3rd June.
• In April the Thorn EMI domestic appliance factory at Merrington Lane with its 2,200 employees was taken over by Electrolux.
• Bruce Oldfield, Fashion Designer and former local Barnardo boy, opened Adan House Health Centre. He had been fostered in Hett Village and was for some time a choirboy at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Croxdale where his name can still be found scratched into the panelling within the vestry.
• The Neighbourhood Watch Scheme started in Spennymoor.
• The Caretaker’s house adjacent to Tudhoe Grange Comprehensive School caught fire.
• The New Gateway Supermarket (now (2018) ASDA) opened behind the Leisure Centre with a petrol filling station and 266 car park spaces.
• A plaque was placed where the Landscape Architect Thomas Wright had once lived in Byers Green.

1988

• The 104th Durham Miners Gala was held with only six collieries still operating in the County.
• Middlestone Moor Youth Centre was refurbished.
• Kirk Merrington Football Field was refurbished.
• New Pavillions were constructed in Victoria Jubilee Park.
• Spennymoor hosted the International Women’s Bowls Championships in the Jubilee Park.
• On 31st July Tudhoe Cricket Club won the Durham County League Division ‘A’ Trophy.
• The Town won the ‘Britain in Bloom’ award for the ‘Most Improved Town’.
• The British Bowls Championship was held in the Jubilee Park.
• The Presto Superstore on the precinct closed on 15th June with the loss of 50 jobs.
• Robert John Heslop, a local Pit Artist, born in James Street, Spennymoor, died on 28th September at his home in Hackworth Street, Ferryhill.
• The last of the Andrew Hall shops closed, having traded in the Town since 1919.
• An exhibition prepared by Joyce Urwin was mounted at the Tudhoe Village Show in September, proposing the formation of a local history society in Spennymoor.
• Tudhoe and Spennymoor Local History Society was officially formed on 16th December at a meeting in Joyce Urwin’s shop, ‘Poppies’, situated in 36, King Street Spennymoor, the home of the original ‘Settlement’ in the early 1930’s. William Flemming was elected President and Duncan Macintosh, its first Chairman. Other Officers and members of the Committee included Tony Coia, Joyce Urwin (Secretary & Treasurer), Maureen McKellar (Meetings Secretary), Bob Abley, John Banham and Tony Smith (Meetings Recorders).

1989

• The inaugural meeting of the Tudhoe and Spennymoor Local History Society was held on Monday 20th February 1989 in Tudhoe Community Centre where Tony Coia spoke on the 1839 Tithe Map of Tudhoe, marking its 150th Anniversary. On the 16th October Maureen Mackellar became the second secretary, replacing Joyce Urwin.
• St. Charles Church in Tudhoe was made a Grade II Listed Building. Other buildings similarly listed in Tudhoe Village at the same time included North Farm House.
• Byers Green Village Hall was extended and refurbished.
• Byers Green NUM Colliery Banner was re-dedicated after being re-discovered and undergoing restoration.
• A new bowling green was created in Jubilee Park.
• In April, Keith Taylor of Spennymoor won the North-East Press Photographer of the Year award for Freelance Photographers.
• At the Tudhoe & Spennymoor Local History Society’s AGM in October, Tony Coia was elected the Society’s second chairman.
• On 14th November Norman Cornish held a Retrospective Art Exhibition at Newcastle Polytechnic’s Gallery.
• Durham County Council commissioned Spennymoor artist Norman Cornish to paint a miniature of his County Hall Mural for the Duke and Duchess of York.
• The Bandstand in Jubilee Park was refurbished.
• In the Summer Sir Joshua Reynolds 1756 oil painting of Bonny Bobby Shafto sold for £50,000.
• Twenty-five brass bands competed to be National Champions at the Leisure Centre.
• Electrolux introduced a three day working week.
• A Stained Glass window saved in 1980 from the Holy Innocents Church by Duncan Macintosh, Sedgefield District Council’s Conservation Officer, was given to St. David’s Church in Tudhoe where it was mounted within an illuminated timber frame.
• Tony Coia, Head Teacher at St. Charles Roman Catholic Primary School, retired. A well-known local historian, he was also a founder member of Tudhoe and Spennymoor Local History Society.
• Binchester Blocks were renamed, Binchester.
• Dent’s Transport in Tudhoe went into receivership on 1st of November.
• Two members of Spennymoor Taekwondo Club won titles as British Champions.
• More than 600 competitors participated in the Shafto Run at Spennymoor.
• William Pearse (former Town Clerk) was awarded the British Empire Medal.
• In June Sir John Walton who was educated in Spennymoor, was made a life Peer to be known as ‘Lord Walton of Detchant’
• In November St. John’s Church at Kirk Merrington was burgled and £20,000 worth of historical silver vessels stolen.
• The Penny Rate raised £23,000 and Spennymoor’s Population was 17,630, Kirk Merrington’s 1,110 and Byers Green 770.

1990

• On 7th January, Byers Green born Sir Percy Craddock, Special Foreign Affairs Adviser to the PM, was sent to China to discuss the future of Hong Kong.
• On 17th January, ‘Enterprise City’ Business Park at Green Lane was opened.
• Spennymoor Town Council won the Waterlow Trophy for the best allotments for the fourth time.
• The Town Hall was refurbished.
• McClean’s began building 52 Houses at South View, Middlestone Moor.
• A.J.Coia, J.G Teasdale and B Wilcockson published the first of two books entitled Spennymoor and District – A Pictorial Recollection.
• The Town Centre was redeveloped.
• Kwiksave moved into the former Presto premises on the Precinct.
• Three ladies from Spennymoor competed in the ‘Victoria All England National Ladies Bowls Championships.’
• Tudhoe Grange School formed a Junior Brass Band under the leadership of teacher Adrian Biddulph, which soon became very proficient and well- known.
• Mr George Courtney, Headmaster and International Football Referee, who refereed The World Cup Final this year, was awarded an M.B.E.
• Hanselman’s Fish Merchants closed their last shop having started in Spennymoor in the last century.
• Spennymoor got its first Pelican Crossing.
• The Lonnen Drift Coal Mine in Middlestone Moor was still being worked by ERS Mining Developments.

1991

• Parkwood Precinct was refurbished and officially reopened as Festival Walk on 19th October.
• A new Bandstand was built in the Town Centre.
• Spennymoor Post Office was re-located from Festival Walk to the Co-op Store.
• Spennymoor held its 150-year Celebrations with a programme of various activities, including a memorable Performance Anniversary Review, written and directed by Joyce Urwin and staged in the Town Hall.
• Spennymoor Settlement celebrated its 60th Anniversary.
• Yuill began building 30 houses and bungalows at the Whitworth Meadow estate in Middlestone Moor.
• The Royal Shakespeare Company visited Spennymoor, giving several performances in the Leisure Centre.
• Tom McGinness, another of the local ‘Pitmen Painters’ who developed their skills at the Spennymoor Settlement, held an Art Exhibition at Newcastle Polytechnic.
• George Courtney retired from the FIFA list of Referees at the age of 50.

1992

• Livin began work on the 26 houses for rent on the Ivy Close Estate off White House Road.
• Durham County Council approved a contract on 8th May to undertake a hedge and tree planting Scheme at the north end of Tudhoe Village and along Chair lane, alongside the timber fences installed by the NCB during the restoration of the former Opencast Coal Site in the early 1960s. It sought to replace vegetation which had been lost during the workings, especially the trees which had once lined either side of the road leading down to the river.
• In Summer, the Jubilee Park won ‘Best Park’ in the small town category in the Regional ‘Britain in Bloom’ Competition, beating 45 others.
• Landscape improvements were carried out around Binchester Community Centre, following the well-publicised street improvements undertaken there in 1991 as part of the television series, ‘Challenge Anneka’, featuring Anneka Rice.

1993

• The Lonnen Drift Mine near Middlestone Moor closed in March, having become the last working pit in Spennymoor.
• Tudhoe Village Conservation Area was designated in May.
• Thorn EMI at Merrington Lane was sold to GEC.
• Doberman’s House Furnishers celebrated 100 years in business.
• H Raine and Sons Coachbuilders celebrated 100 years in business.

1994

• Spennymoor Drill Hall (the former Badcock Armoury) on Villiers Street closed down.
• Burn Hall was put up for sale at £1,500,000.
• Seventeen-year-old Spennymoor born cricketer, Alex Kelly, took 10 wickets for no runs for Bishop Auckland against Newton Aycliffe in July.
• The Old Tivoli/Essoldo Cinema became ‘The Venue’, a private members club.
• Bessemer Park Estate underwent a revitalisation programme, costing £15,000,000.
• Tony Blair M.P was elected Leader of the Labour Party.
• The Cow Plantation was given ‘Nature Reserve’ status.

1995

• The new Tudhoe St. Charles R.C, Primary School on Durham Road for 240 pupils opened on 27th May and cost £971,067 to build.
• Norman Cornish, an internationally known artist living in the town, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law by Northumbria University.
• Black and Decker Factory celebrated its 30th anniversary on 7th September.
• The Venue Rave Club former Essoldo/Tivoli cinema was destroyed by fire and demolished on 4th October.
• Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Thorn Lighting at Spennymoor on 13th October at 3pm.
• Bessie Dobson from Baff Street, the first woman to be elected to Spennymoor Urban Council and founder of Spennymoor WI and Ladies Bowling Club, who also worked for the Spennymoor Settlement, the Red Cross and Dunstans, was made an MBE.
• Perssimon began building 40 houses on the Atherton Close Estate off White House Road.
• Perssimon began building 40 houses on the Cragside Close Estate off White House road.

1996

• Cousins began building 28 houses at Westerton Close, Binchester Moor, Middlestone Moor.
• The soft drinks factory on Dobbies Bank was demolished and 35 new houses built on the site by Hassall Homes.
• The new bridge at Page Bank was opened by Tony Blair M.P in May.
• There were job losses at both Black and Decker and Thorn Lighting.
• Taylor Wimpey began building 149 houses on the Rushmoor Park Estate on land between St. Andrews Lane and Merrington View. Prices ranged from £35,250 to £46,750.
• A new Training Centre was built in Coulson Street, Low Spennymoor at a cost of £670,000.
• Freshwater Properties bought Festival Walk in July.
• Frank Kenmir, a well-known businessman and Town Councillor died on 17th August aged 88.
• The refurbished Woolworth Store re-opened on Thursday, 22nd of August.
• Vince Robson Jr., a well-known local Councillor, who had represented Tudhoe Ward on Sedgefield District Council from 1983, died on 12th September.
• Sedgefield District became a Borough by Royal Charter on 24th October.
• Home Secretary Michael Howard visited Bessemer Park.

1997

• The demolition of Bessemer Park Housing Estate and clearance of the site was completed. Fountains Meadow was the last properties to be cleared.
• Bellway began building 210 houses and bungalows at The Coppice/Seven hills estate, Tudhoe.
• The roof of Spennymoor West Infants School on Rock Road was severely damaged in an arson attack on 21st August causing £20,000 worth of damage.
• Bob Abley published the first of six books containing archive photographs of Spennymoor and District.
• The last Bus in the area to carry a Conductress, the OK number 724, left Bishop Auckland for Newcastle via Spennymoor on Friday 19th September.
• Spennymoor Chamber of Trade was re-formed.

1998

• The First issue of Spennynews was circulated in the spring and failed the same year due to lack of finances.
• ALDI opened a store in Cambridge Street (previously called Church Street) adjacent to the Town Hall, on the site of the old Baptist Church, on 29th October.

1999

• On 1st April, it was announced that 650 jobs would be lost with the planned closure of the Electrolux Refrigeration Factory at Merrington Lane later in the year.
• At the Tudhoe & Spennymoor Local history Society’s AGM in October, Joyce Urwin was elected the Society’s third Chairman, John Banham, its second treasurer and Silvia Wright, its Third Secretary.

Go To Time Line 2000 onwards.