You are here:
Newtown
Newtown maps
Historic maps of Newtown and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Newtown maps
Newtown photos
We have no photos of Newtown, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Willington| Brancepeth| Ferryhill| Bishop Auckland| Langley Moor| Crook| Howden Le Wear| Shildon| Coxhoe| Ushaw Moor| Newton Aycliffe| High Etherley| Witton Le Wear| Durham| West Auckland| Sherburn| Sherburn Hill
Newtown area books
Displaying 1 of 3 books about Newtown and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Newtown
No memories of Newtown have been shared yet - be the first!
Add your memory of Newtown
or of a photo of Newtown.
County Durham memories
The Rink
Surely someone remembers Spennymoor Rink in the 1950s or am I the only one left? That last dance! 'Cherry Blossom Pink' etc played by that superb trumpet, the Teddy Boys. The fights, they were not so great! What about the pub next door. Was it the railway or something? Three Newcastle Brown Ales and a rum and pep then off to the dance. The late one... 12 Midnight till 4 am was it, the late buses or if you missed them that long walk to whereever. It seems like yesterday, a hundred years ago.
John Tully
Spennymoor Rink.
Dancing the night away at the rink, from 10pm until 2am on Friday nights, was the highlight of my teenage years. My boyfriend played in saxophone and clarinet in the resident band. Had some great times, felt so grown up staying out so late. George Pennington was my boyfriend's name. I have lived in Australia for the past 41 years but have never forgotten my nights at the rink. I lived in Leeholm but travelled to the rink every week. I would give anything to have just one more night dancing at the rink. Saw Johhny Dankworth and Emile Ford at the rink.
Music at The Rink
I played guitar with a skiffle group in a talent competition at the Rink during the 1950s. Frankie Vaughan appeared there and I saw the Temperance Seven and Screaming Lord Sutch, amongst others, on the Rink stage. Many of the country's biggest stars appeared in Spennymoor in those days - a tradition which continued after the Rink became a Variety Club. Everything revolved around the Friday dance (10pm until 2am) and my most treasured memory is of the Friday afternoon when Bandleader Matt Bell knocked on my parents' door at 5pm and invited me to play piano with his band at the Rink that very evening. His regular pianist had been taken ill and later that day (in the late 1950s) it was a great thrill to realise that I was playing with my favourite local band on that long, elevated stage. I was helped along by the bass player who showed me how to handle the musical score during the dancing! I subsequently played... Read more
West Cornforth
I remember the donkey wood, the pit ponies that used to roam in the wood. The old picture house now has the lop house at the time at the bottom of the pit bank. Also the hills and the holes where we used to play as kids. Back to back houses down old Cornforth. Johnson barbers at Slake Terrace. The tar beds where the gipsy used to stop. The big old lime pond. And Bolton cafe where all the lads and lassies met to listen to the juke box in the late 1950s. The old coal yard half way up the pit bank, picking coal up off the pit heaps. The old coke ovens on the way to Ferry Hill station. Good memory of Doggy. I was born in Laburnum Road in 1946.
Spennymoor Rink
I was interested in Doris's memory of the rink in that her boyfriend at the time was George Pennington, sax player. I knew Geoge and we played together from time to time in dance bands at the Rink. One band I remember was Bob Forbet. I played drums. Also another local band was Fernley Mitchell. It all seems light years ago but, yes, great memories. I remember one Friday night there was a group turned up to play in the interval who turned out to be the Shadows. They were just starting out. The guitar was just starting to be a recognised instrument and one or two of the older musicians in the band we saying 'Well, it will never catch on'. Thank you Spennymoor Rink for the great memories.
My Mother Was Born in Leeholme
My mother, Madge Ward was born at 10 Windsor Road, 5th Jan 1904, daughter of William Ward (Builder) and Margaret (nee Morrison). Madge was christened in St James Church, Coundon 18th Feb 1904. Always thought that she was born in Ferryhill. However, when searching for her birth cert after her death in Norfolk in 1997 aged 93 years I found out that it was in fact Leeholme. We made a journey a couple of years later in 1999 and took a photo of the house for my family records.
The Sweet Shop, Hight Street, Willington.
My grandmother, Joan Hobson (nee Charlton) owned the sweet shop here and ran it from about 1945 onwards, until the early 1960s. Her mother, Mrs Charlton, ran it before her. Joan was in the WAAF as a young woman, whilst her mother resided in Willington. After the Second World War she returned and lived with her mother in High Street, along with her husband. She went on to have 2 children, Elizabeth and Harry (Henry). Does anyone remember them at all? My mother, Elizabeth, has fond memories of playing out with local children, going down the burn and other things. She remembers going to a farm and helping with horses - can't recall the name however. I think they all moved away in the 1960s, sometime, about 1964. Joan died in 1980. It would be great to locate anyone who remembers her.
