FORMER worshippers were reunited one last time yesterday when one of the oldest Salvation Army Corps in the country was disbanded.

The Spennymoor citadel, in Dundas Street, was full for the final service, ending 126 years of ministry in the town.

Memories of Sunday School meetings, choir nights and band performances were exchanged by members of a congregation drawn from all over the country.

Some had travelled many miles to say goodbye, joining the dozen or so regular worshippers who learned back in May that closure was coming.

Spennymoor was the UK's 31st corps, established on April 28, 1878, by Captain Russell and Lieutenant John Lawley, an outgoing character who used to climb lamposts to deliver his sermon. It was the first corps to sing the The Old Rugged Cross, brought back from the US in the early 1920s by travelling evangelist Sid Bakewell.

Former singing company leader Allen Denniss, 60, said: "It went all over the country from Spennymoor. We had it first."

The recently-retired postmaster remembers his uncle, Fred Tolley, leading the band in the 1940s and 50s with his brothers John, Allen and Norman playing alongside. He said: "Sergeant Major Lesley Piper led the Sunday School with 100 children. When it was the anniversary, they used to fill the stage."

The corps' last leader, Captain Pauline Ingram, left in May, but continues to work at West Cornforth.

Major John Carmichael, North divisional director for evangelism, said: "This was not a decision that was taken lightly. We had to be realistic and look at the finances."