A Mission Impossible

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The Other Half used to enjoy a pleasant stroll by the river in Darlington. It was in the honeymoon period. As a leopard that hasn't changed spots over the years, there was of course a purpose to the walk. The destination was one of the more pleasant football grounds in England. The old Feethams, tucked in behind the manicured turf of the Darlington Cricket Club and wedged in beside the River Skerne. There are some that would say picturesque. 30 years on and I look on with a disapproving stare. The cricket club is still there, watched over by the 1905 pavilion. Alas, the old home of Darlington FC is no longer. There is no longer that opportunity to reminisce over the passing game perfected by Little Brian and his charges, as they swept aside the world of non-league footie. Charles Church had completed the destruction of the memory with a range of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom houses. In some circles, they call this progress. I wonder how many of the new residents will realise that they will be living on top of the memories of so many?



Darlington. On Teesside, it is never referred to as Darlington. It is Darlo! The town is at the crossroads. The River Skerne is a tributary of the River Tees, so Darlo technically lies in the Tees Valley. However, anyone present at those 2 FA Cup games with Boro in 1985 will know the locals do not always see eye to eye with the steel neighbour. The town is in County Durham, but is a million miles away from the old world of coal just up the road. It could be said, they don't see eye to eye with them either. The Northern Echo apparently reports scenes of a "shameful, detestable, dirty and brutal" incident as early as 1893, when players, officials and crowd had a bit of free for all during a game against Bishop Auckland. It must be true. Harry Pearson said so in The Far Corner. North Yorkshire is on the edge of town. Watch out Richmond Town. Darlo identifies most strongly with railways and bridges. We are all familiar with the works of George Stephenson and the establishment of the town as the birthplace of railways. It was fitting therefore that I arrive by train. The 9:58 special again. Is there any other way to travel? The railway heritage is celebrated at the Head of Steam Museum, but there would be no time for that today. The rather fetching red brick statue of a steam train on the edge of town was also off limits in the timescales. A shame, as it would have made a striking panorama. The bridge story is somewhat less well known. The Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company is based in the town. It has constructed spans across all corners of the earth. The list is endless - the bridge across Sydney Harbour, the high level Tyne Bridge, the bridge over the Zambesi at Victoria Falls, the iconic Transporter in Middlebrough, the bridge over the Bosphorus ..... the list goes on. An example of changing with the times is the arch at the "new" Wembley.



The Barker & Stonehouse furniture store is still across from the "ground" on the corner. The adjacent terrace houses on Victoria Road, once the offices of the legal and accountancy professions, now seem a mixture of businesses in tune with modern living. A nail bar for one. The world now seems full of nail bars. Cricket aside, the new centre of entertainment in this part of town is the Feethams complex. A huge cream coloured block features Vue cinema, a Nandos, a Prezzo, a Hungry Horse pub and in case you need to rest after the over indulgence, a Premier Inn. The old bus station had gone the way of the football ground. The Dolphin Centre - part of a Healthy Darlington - opened in the 1980s by none other than Sir Roger Bannister appeared closed for the day. Leisure would need to be found elsewhere today. A fun fair was set up at the bottom of the Market Place. It was already springing to life at 11:30 on this Bank Holiday Monday, although customers were few.



The statue of Joseph Pease stands tall at the end of High Row on the junction with Bondgate. Pease was the first Quaker permitted to take his seat in Parliament and along with his father Edward, was a leading light in the development of the railways. He shrewdly became the largest owner of collieries in the South Durham area to provide a steady supply of freight for his railway and then bought up land at Middlesbrough to develop a port to export the coal. The statue was erected in 1875 to mark the 50^th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the opening was attended by the great and good of the day, along with the cheering thousands. Pease paid for both the town clock and the Town Hall in Darlington, as well as contributing to other local causes. I am sure he would be as disappointed as I with how the building where the first public railway was inaugurated turned out. We are talking the first public railway in the world here too! It is now Best Kebabs 1. There is no mention of what the other team has scored, but Best Kebabs 1 Railway History 0 probably sums it up. The Istanbul Barbers were busy cutting next door. The Pease family were also big in the abolitionist movement. Darlington FC fielded what is recognised as the first professional footballer of mixed race heritage. Arthur Wharton arrived in town to study as a Methodist missionary. He soon turned his back on that to become the goalkeeping Ghanaian, although he doubled up as a winger. He recorded a 10 second time for the 100 yards. After a brief sojourn with the then dominant Preston North End, he became a journeyman pro as well as running a pub in Rotherham, a tobacconists in Ashton under Lyne and then ending up working in a colliery on retirement. The Pease family were instrumental in building the North East Premier Seaside Resort and you can see evidence of the same white brick works in Darlo town centre, that are prevalent at the coastal end of their railway empire.

Darlo and the NEPSR both carried the distinction of being Quaker towns. This had a profound effect on our youth, as we grew up without a pub in town. The only places you could get a drink outside The Ship beyond the new town boundary were in the private clubs and hotels. I noticed no such prohibition in the centre of Darlo and settled on an establishment with an ironic name for a lunchtime refreshment. The Quakerhouse. A real ale emporium and CAMRA Town Pub of the Year. A small bar, no frills and a small stage at the end of the room. A poster on the wall announced that a tribute band to Adam & The Ants were due to perform later in the month. The only minor disappointment was they were featuring a lot of East Midlands ales – fine in their own right, but I can get those in my normal haunts. However, I was pleased to note that they had the new reinvented microbrewery version of Vaux Double Maxim on draught. I recall it fondly from my youth. My mum often used to go out every other Friday night. Dad was meant to be staying in on these occasions, but we reached a compromise deal involving him returning home before mum came home and 2 bottles of Double Maxim being left in my charge whilst he was out. The alcohol on his breath could then be explained by the empty bottles in the house. A good solution until I could officially go out and underage drink. Everyone is a winner, as they say!



The start of Northgate is typical shopping fayre. The usual High Street chains. It doesn't really warrant comment. Marks & Sparks looked a little abandoned by the underpass at the far end of the other shops. I crossed the main road using the 1960s underpass. The brutal, ugly building on the far side remains. I think back and am convinced it was a BT hub, before hubs were invented in the modern sense. I could be wrong. It is empty now. Available for let - or demolition. The old Town Hall lies just beyond. It is a fine majestic building with significant financial contributions towards the completion no doubt provided by the Pease family. A foundation stone marks the contribution of architect., G G Hoskins. Hoskins was responsible for much of what could be described as “Victorian” Darlington and was responsible for a number of major public building funded by the Pease family. The Kings Head Hotel is his work, as is the former Backhouse Bank on High Row (which is now Barclays). He first arrived in the area to oversee the building of Pilmore Hall at Hurworth. The Hall would later become Rockcliffe Hall, which ironically is now from where super Boro have masterminded their attempts at footballing genius over the last few years. G G has other connections with Middlesbrough and perhaps his finest project was the completion of Middlesbrough Town Hall in 1889. He won a design competition for the £130,000 budget out of a total of 11 entries.



A large rock is lodged into the railings at the front of the old Darlington Town Hall – The Bulmer Stone. A plaque describes it as the original northern town boundary. The name derives from the former Town Cryer, who relayed the stagecoach news from London in the days before it let the train take the strain. The new Town Hall incidentally happily stands across from the Dolphin Centre with an interesting sculpture on the forecourt. It features on a website called "something concrete and modern". A website devoted to all things modernist architecture in the North East. I am not sure about this concrete block, but then I look at what constitutes Redcar Library today and I look back at what was there before - now demolished. As I said earlier, some call it progress!.



I turned on to Bondgate, where a piece of pure Art Deco is now restored to former glory. The Majestic opened in 1932, but fell on hard times in 1981 when the video changed the cinema going habits of the nation. After a few years of neglect and operation as a snooker hall, the Majestic is now once again operating as a theatre. Skinnergate was home to the independent shops and clothes boutiques, offering something different to the chains elsewhere in the town centre. I noted that my pub venue of earlier, The Quakerhouse, could also be accessed from the yard behind the old Mechanics Institute. The Quaker Friends Meeting House was further along, nestling next to a Lloyds No 1 and Pizza Express in an equally fine building. After a food stop in the Sainsburys on the corner of Grange Road, I headed towards the football.



As an avid collector of football fanzines, I purchased the first 3 copies of Mission Impossible. The Darlington Football Club fanzine, as opposed to anything linked with the TV series of spin off films. The 1980s onwards for Darlo and many clubs was a rollercoaster time of crumbling grounds, violence on the terraces, rising admission prices, all-seater stadium debates and all usually coupled with failure on the pitch. Mission Impossible was launched as I recall around the time Darlo were heading rapidly out of the Football League. I believe the title reflected the pessimistic mood about the chances of avoiding the eventual outcome. League status was restored and an eventual takeover by local businessman made good spawned talk of higher league challenges and the eventual move from Feethams to the new Arena on the edge of town. The project and the size of the Arena was always over ambitious. The debt spiralled. Her Majestys Revenue & Customs got involved and the club went under over unpaid debts. The local businessman made good found himself doing a stretch. The information suggests he is out now and running an e-cigarette shop. The white elephant Arena remains - populated occasionally by sparse crowds watching Mowden Park egg chasing. I passed it on the train on the way in, surrounded by a couple of rugby training pitches and a traveller site. I noted from the cars on display the inhabitants favoured the local BMW and Mini dealerships, although their use for pulling the huge caravans seemed open to question. Darlington relaunched as phoenix club, Darlington 1883 and found an eventual home playing in the Northern League and using the ground of Bishop Auckland. It appears no grudges were held after that bust up in 1893! It was a bizarre experience watching them swamp the likes of Billingham Town with a 1000 boisterous supporters, when the previous home game perhaps pulled in 60. The promotions have been rapid on the long climb back to League status, so much so that the return to a spiritual home of playing back in Darlo itself has had consequences. The new Blackwell Meadows ground was a rugby ground owned by Darlington Rugby. The ground was redeveloped in time for Boxing Day 2016, but with limited covered seating to keep budgets down. Alas, the National League have decreed that it is not up to standard for the next level and so today's game was a little pointless unless the appeal is successful. The opposition today, FC United of Manchester, are another fan collective. A reaction to the Glazer family buying into Manchester United, they have set about restoring taking football back to its affordable roots. Darlo wiped the floor with the Mancunians to consolidate their Play Off place, but for this year at least promotion looks like it will indeed be a Mission Impossible.



Appendix 1

National League (North)

Darlington 1883 FC 4 FC United of Manchester 2

Date: Monday 17th April 2017 @ 1500 Hours

Venue: Blackwell Meadows Stadium, Grange Road, Darlington, County Durham



Attendance: 2147(inc 287 FC United)

Goals: 1-0 Ferguson (5 Min), 2-0 Beck (14 Min), 3-0 Galbraith Pen (26 Min), 3-1 Brown (34 Min), 4-1 Brown (80 Min), 4-2 Adeloye (90 Min)




Darlington: Bartlett, Hunter, Ferguson, Turnbull, Galbraith, Brown, Thompson, Syers, Beck, Cartman, Gillies Subs: Scott, Wilczynski, Marrs, Saunders, Falkingham



FC United: Schofield, Williams, Chantler, Kay, Fagbola, Ashworth, Glynn, Sheridan, Greaves, Brown, Wolfenden Subs: Wright, Tonge, Thompson, Lowe, Adeloye

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Photos

Darlington
Building where the First Public Railway was inaugurated

Darlington
Quaker Friends Meeting House

Comments

[Rainyb]

Impressive! I love old corner buildings!