LOOKING back to the week that was November 11 to November 17, five years ago...

A MEMORIAL to honour a village’s miners was unveiled, more than 40 years after its pit closed, in November 2019.

Members of the Langley Park community turned out in force to have a look at the new statue, which was unveiled on Saturday, November 9, 2019 by Maurice Saville, one of the village’s oldest surviving former pitmen.

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Julia Dixon, one of the members of the committee which had worked to get the statue, said: “It was a fantastic day. We were overwhelmed by the turnout.

The village had been waiting for this for a long time. “There was a lot of feeling that we needed it and people have been really supportive.

“People have been saying we needed it so we’re so happy it’s there now to remember the miners who worked and died there.”

The five-strong committee, which also included Christine Pringle, whose father Eric Weighill was the last miner to die at work in the colliery; Mrs Dixon’s sister Donna Donaghy; Gwen Harvey and Denise Long, all had connections to the pit, which was at the centre of village life until it closed in 1975.

Mrs Dixon, whose grandfather Tommy Gardner was jointly awarded the Daily Herald Heroism Medal in 1947 for rescuing a fellow miner trapped in the pit, added: “The village has grown a lot since 1975 but there’s still a strong community spirit that comes from people having worked down the pit

A replica of the Darlington FC nameplate from a steam locomotive was going under the hammer in November 2019.

It was auctioned at Thomas Watson’s with a guide price of £2,000.

The replica, made in 2004 to replace the original which was sold when the club was in dire financial trouble, once adorned the grand entrance of the Neasham Road stadium, but has been without a permanent home since the Quakers were forced out in 2012.

“It is very difficult to put an estimate on it,” said senior auctioneer Peter Robinson, whose father, Harry, was chairman of the Quakers in the1960s.

“If it was the original, it would be worth £20,000. It has got provenance in terms of it being commissioned by the club directors so it does have some history.”

There was talk in the town of a crowdfunding campaign by football fans to ensure the name plate stayed with the football club.

Two original nameplates were made in 1936 when the London & Northern Eastern Railway was building the B17 class of locomotives at the North Road Works, where Morrison’s supermarket is today.

A range of handmade teapots from a Dales pottery depicting the best of British life were set to feature on US TV in November 2019.

Ceramic Inspirations, based in Leyburn, was no stranger to the US market, having had teapots sold in department stores in the past, but was preparing to feature on a popular US shopping channel.

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Owner Ian Williamson said potters at the workshop had been preparing for the large order for several months, but once it had been confirmed they had to work right up to the deadline to get them finished in time to ship.

He said: “Shopping channel Shop HQ found us through our other US contacts, and they decided to feature three UK makers in some of its November shows.

“They don’t just put the products on a table to sell them, they do a lifestyle story about where the products are made, and some background on the local area."