IN 1906, the Corporation Road Methodist Church in Darlington produced A Manual of Domestic Cookery to sell at its bazaar.

The booklet was printed by Dressers on High Row, and for all its grand-sounding title, it was no more than a cookbook, with ladies in the congregation submitting their favourite recipes.

So this is what tickled the tastebuds of Darlingtonians more than a centenary ago.

Memories is very aware that our old car spotters are nearly all men and they will probably salivating right now over the pictures of the Morris J van.

So to even things up a little, perhaps we should create an old cookery bookers section where we encourage people to have a go at some recipes of yesteryear. We’ll call it Great Memories Bake Off. Whip up some Bachelor’s Buttons, a Queen’s Pudding or A Pretty Dish, send us a picture (email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk) and, most importantly, tell us what it tastes like.

Or if you have a good old local recipe, perhaps passed down to you, we’d love to see it.

Bachelor’s Buttons

6ozs of butter, 3 yokes and 2 whites of eggs, 1 teaspoonful of baking powder, ½lb castor sugar, 15ozs of flour, ½ teaspoonful of lemon essence.

Rub the butter into the flour, add the other ingredients and mix well. Divide into pieces the size of a walnut. Dip each with a fork into the third white of an egg, and roll in coarse sugar or fined chopped almonds, or desiccated cocoa-nut.

Mrs Martin

Queen’s Pudding

One thick slice of bread cut up into squares and put into a basin. Boil a gill or a little more of milk, and pour over the bread and leave to soak about ten minutes. Beat the yolk of one egg and a small piece of butter; and flavouring, and a little sugar. Mix all this into the bread. Cover a pie dish thinly with jam, pour in the mixture and bake in an ovenjust to set. Before serving, whip the white of the egg and pour over, and set into the oven for a few minutes.

Miss Sturdy

A Pretty Dish

Cover some dried figs with cold water, add a strip of lemon peel and a few lumps of sugar, cook gently until tender. Cut some neat square slices of sponge cake, arrange two stewed figs on each, pour over a little of the syrup to soak the cake, and pile a teaspoonful of whipped cream on the top. Dust the top with a little pink sugar or powdered cake crumbs.

Mrs Feetham T

he Corporation Road cook booklet is among the family possessions of Irene Ebers of Darlington, whose grandfather, William Allen, was born in the town in 1880.

He went off to become the manager of Grosmont Co-operative on the North York Moors, before returning to his hometown after the First World War to run a grocery shop in Louisa Street, off Yarm Road.

We are very grateful to Irene for showing us the booklet at a recent meeting of Darlington Breatheasy.