WHEN Co-op shops were opened in many towns and villages all over the region most were a success right away.

A lot of families liked the idea of getting an annual dividend.

But it was a different story when Barnard Castle Co-operative Society was launched in 1862.

It began with a modest rented shop and only one assistant, a woman who often felt lonely behind the counter as so few customers came in.

The idea was to increase trade steadily in the hope of having enough money to buy or build premises after a year or two.

But the directors admitted they faced "a keen struggle" to attract shoppers, and it was 16 years before the funds were sufficient to enable a new store to be built in Bridgegate, close to tenements in which large numbers of families lived.

Three men were credited with keeping it alive during those hard times. It could have gone under but for the efforts of George Scott, John Cain and Hugh Wilson. The latter man served as president.

Gradually the business improved, so other departments were added to sell a wide range of goods such as china, clothing, kitchen utensils, furnishings and stationery.

The dividends went up accordingly, with sums totalling £1,800 paid out each year.

By the time the society celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1912 its sales were running at nearly £17,000 a year.

It was predicted that if progress continued at the same rate there could be a turnover of £30,000 in future.

A tea was arranged for members in the Witham Hall to mark the jubilee.

There must have been little elbow room for those who sat at the tables, for 600 turned up.

J.W. White, the president, was presented with an expensive clock for his services.

It was stated that the society had a second poor spell and was like a ship drifting towards the rocks and in danger of sinking when he managed to put things right. 

To round off the jubilee there were competitions which caused much hilarity: a boot cleaning one for men and a spoon cleaning one for women. There were three prizes in both of them.

Then came singing contests, one for men and one for women. As always at functions in those days there were many warblers eager to get on stage, so there were rousing choruses before three winners were chosen in each category.

It was a hearty way to mark the venture's success after such a rocky start.

Now the town's Co-op store is in Horsemarket but the movement's national problems are causing concern.

Perhaps some competitions involving boot and spoon cleaning would put it on the right road.

The death in Northallerton Prison of Joseph Head, recalled here last week, was followed a few weeks later in 1886 by another similar tragedy.

Isaac Waistell, who like Joseph was 33 and lived in Thorngate, Barnard Castle, was caught by police with rabbits he had trapped.

He ran into the River Tees to try to get away but fell and injured his legs badly before being caught.

He then hit a policeman before being overpowered. His head was cut in a struggle among sharp-edged stones in the river.

In court he was fined £2 for possessing the rabbits and jailed for a month for assaulting the officer. He had no money so was ordered to serve an extra month.

He was taken to Northallerton Prison, where he was treated in hospital for his wounds before dying.

Many people felt he was responsible for his own injuries, so there was less public sympathy for him than there had been for Joseph.

The prison was 103 years old at the time and had the world's biggest treadmill on which inmates could be made to work hard. T

he establishment had various different roles at times, but closed last year after being a young offenders institution in recent years.

Women's football teams attached to Premiership clubs get a lot of newspaper and television attention these days but ladies' sides put in good performances in the dales more than 60 years ago, as mentioned here previously.

One big match which attracted a good sized crowd in June 1949 was between Wearhead Amazons and Westgate Spartans.

Peter Nattrass, who lives in Westgate, loaned us a photograph of the teams as they lined up on the Wearhead pitch before the kick off.

In true sporting spirit the players mingled in one long line, with two small groups in front of them, rather than making up two separate elevens.

The Westgate Spartans are in the darker stripes. Their captain, Sally Nattrass (Peter's aunt, who died in 2011), is shaking hands with her opposite number, Betty Coulthard, close to referee Alan Rumney.

It was a popular Whit Monday attraction. Standing from the left are Bessie Gowland, Betty Nattrass, Nancy Wilson, Nancy Birbeck, Dora Emerson, Evelyn Thompson, Winnie Brown, Betty Coulthard, Kathleen Peart, Sally Nattrass, Audrey Coulthard, Alan Rumney (ref), Jean Graham, Joyce Simpson, Doris Fairless, Bessie Peadon and Jessie Gowland.

The trio at the front left are Nancy Hogarth, Edna Beevers and Connie Peart.

Those on the right are Doreen Douglas, Vera Hutchinson and Doris Marsh.

No record can be found of the score. It has been suggested that the whole point was to have fun so the result didn't really matter. But perhaps someone with a long memory can supply it..

A group of villagers ensured, perhaps unwittingly, that they would be remembered for a long time when they put up a stone cross at Gainford in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria's 60 years on the throne.

Their names carved into one side of it can still be easily read after 117 years.

But writing on the other side, with details of the monarch and her service to the nation, are badly worn and some words can't be made out at all.

Why? Because it faces west and has been continually pounded by the prevailing wind and rain.

The 15 committee members listed on the side facing east are R.H. Edleston (chairman), George Calvert (treasurer), W.D. Hickey, Henry Dix, Mary Atkinson, John Boddy, C.A.J. Bowen, F.E. Bowman, Alice Edleston, J. Ellerton, R. Hornsey, R.W. Marriner, George Place, C. Tennick and J. Turnbull.

Named below them are the builders who prepared the stone, Isaac Charge and Sons -- a firm still based in the village and doing fine work.

It seems unlikely that the team which raised money to have the cross put on the village green would deliberately position it to save their own names from the weather.

But the list is certainly more interesting than the tribute to the queen which is now mostly worn away. One of the base stones was previously a feature of a market site for many decades on a different part of the green.