CROOK Town AFC, one of the North-East’s most successful amateur football clubs, has begun its 125th anniversary celebrations.

Last Friday, the club held the opening night of its celebrations at the Sir Tom Cowie Millfield ground, where officials, players, sponsors and fans past and present reminisced over old photographs and a DVD.

It was the start of a series of celebrations that will take place throughout the year for a club that has a rich history of success including five FA Amateur Cup wins, six Northern League titles and 16 domestic trophies.

There have been FA Cup adventures and tours to Barcelona (1913) to help establish football as the main sport in the Catalonia region instead of bullfighting, as well as trips to India and Norway that attracted huge crowds.

The club also had a brief stint as a semi-professional club between 1930 and 1937, and has various names including Crook FC, Crook Colliery Welfare and Crook Town.

Last month, the Northern Echo looked back on the day south-west Durham descended on Wembley Stadium to watch Crook Town take on Bishop Auckland in the 1953-54 FA Amateur Cup final.

Over 100,000 packed into the iconic stadium, including June Luckhurst, who sent in her memories of the game to us. Mrs Luckhurst admits she doesn’t remember much except getting the steam train down to London as well as the huge crowd and the noise it created.

Mrs Luckhurst also sent in her match ticket, but interestingly she also kept the official song sheet handed to each spectator inside the stadium, which included the national anthem, Blaydon Races and Auld Lang Syne.

Would you like to share your memories of following Crook Town over the past 125 years?

If you have any photographs, memorabilia or cuttings get in touch with the Northern Echo to have it featured on this page.