What a coup! Our favourite pigeon is to get a plaque

Last week, we launched a £300 Go Fund Me page to pay for the plaque and the target was reached within a few days.

Kal Singh Dhindsa, the Derby enthusiast for history and pigeons, who found the Prince of Rome’s body languishing in a storeroom in Derby museum, is delighted that the plaque has taken off.

READ MORE: THE FULL AMAZING STORY OF THE PRINCE OF ROME

“I’m over the moon,” he said. “I never doubted that the target would be reached because the Prince’s story has touched many hearts over the years. Now I hope the plaque will raise the spirits of many more in Spennymoor and beyond as they learn of his inspirational story.”

READ MORE: LAST WEEK'S LAUNCH OF THE FUND FOR THE PLAQUE

The plaque is to go in the Black Horse pub opposite Attwood Terrace which was the location of the Prince of Rome’s loft. He dropped into it on August 18, 1913, having taken 51 days to fly back from Rome. This was 20 days after the only other bird to make it home, the King of Rome, who reached Derby.

Both birds became northern celebrities. When the King died, his stuffed body was presented to Derby museum, where he is still on display. Kal has erected a plaque near his loft, and The Unthanks have made a song about him globally known.

But the second-placed Prince has been forgotten about, with his taxidermied body relegated to the storeroom. Now we are putting that right…

Details of the unveiling to follow, and huge thanks to all who contributed.

SIGNAL HOUSE (above) once stood beside the level crossing over which engines left Darlington’s North Road railway workshops following repairs.

It has a curious chamfer down the side of it so locos could squeeze past it without knocking its bricks as they crossed over Whessoe Road.

We told how Signal House has been saved from demolition and given a new lease of life by developer Francis Ward in Memories 618, and featured a picture of a “shiny new engine”, No 48294, steaming past it.

“It is, in fact, a Stanier Class 8F that had just had a general repair in 1965,” says Mike Barnard. “It was over 20 years old, so Darlington had done an excellent job to make it look like new.

“This class of locomotive was introduced by the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1935. It was a very successful design, so over 600 were built, with 50 8Fs being built at Darlington.

“However, 48294 was built in Manchester by Beyer Peacock in 1941 with the works number 7038.

“During the Second World War, the War Department ordered that some 8Fs be used in France, and 7038, now with the War Dept number 70443, was one of these, but instead it was loaned to the LMS.

“British Rail bought it in 1948, renumbered it 48294, and it spent most of its life based in the Liverpool area until it was withdrawn in August 1968.

“Your picture was taken in 1965, which was the final full year for operations at Darlington Works. That year, Stanier 8Fs were the most numerous locomotives in for overhaul. On a typical day, there were 44 locomotives in the works. These were 34 steam and 10 diesel. Of the 34 steam locomotives, 14 were Stanier 8Fs.”

AT 8.45PM on March 7, 1933, George Simpson came into this world, no doubt kicking and screaming, at Clairmont in Bishop Auckland – and he has the birth certificate to prove it (below).

George’s parents were Sarah and Surtees Simpson, of 39, Flora Street, Spennymoor. Surtees was a miner as was George, who, now in Shildon, celebrated his 90th birthday only 11 days ago.

Clairmont was built as a Victorian boarding school for girls and then became a maternity hospital before ending its useful life as a health authority headquarters. Now it is derelict, as we’ve been telling in recent weeks, awaiting a new future.

READ MORE: THE PUPILS OF CLAIRMONT AND THE LOST GRAVEYARD OF BISHOP

READ MORE: THE STORY OF CLAIRMONT, A DERELICT BISHOP AUCKLAND BUILDING

George Simpson, a son of Clairmont