PATIENTS are mourning the end of an era now that one of the oldest family practices in the North-East is winding up.

Dr Arun Banerjee has been treating patients at the Red House surgery, in Crook, for the past 26 years, although the practice has been there since 1879.

But Dr Banerjee had to dissolve the practice at the end of last week, because he is retiring.

He hopes he will be remembered for arranging for the town's football team to visit India in 1976, making them the first British football team to play in the country after it became independent.

"I had visited Crook Football Club and they said to me, 'can we go to India?' so I asked them when they would like to go. Everyone thought I was joking, but I came home and immediately phoned my father.

"The trip was paid for by one of the most famous Indian clubs, the equivalent to Manchester United."

The team were put up in a five- star hotel and met high-flying dignitaries, including the president of India.

More recently, Mr Banerjee and his wife and practice manager, Jayasree, who have two sons who are also doctors, were renowned for running the Crook surgery as an extension of their own home.

They live in half the house while the rest is given over to the practice.

Mrs Banerjee said: "The staff have been here so long they know patients by their first names. Some patients don't even give their names when they ring up, because we know their voices."

Dr Banerjee said: "We didn't run an appointments system. If you were ill you walked in, if you were not ill you could come in for a chat."