ACCORDING to handwriting on the rear of this photo, this is the Darlington Albion football team in about 1905. We don’t know much, if anything, about the Albion, although at the foot of the picture are printed the names of the players.Back row, from left: J Park, H Johnson, W Stainsby, G Taylor, Q Phillips (capt), E Gamble, W Neave, R Brown (sec), G Whellan, A Harvey, T Young. Centre: W Brooks, J Ashton, W Waistell, J Taylor, R Smith, A Brack. Front: C Coles, J Morley, P Moore, R Gamble, H Anderson, J Dunbar, G Dover.Do you recognise any of those names, or the church which seems to form the backdrop? Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk if you can help.

The Northern Echo: ACCORDING to handwriting on the rear of this photo, this is the Darlington Albion football team in about 1905. We don’t know much, if anything, about the Albion, although at the foot of the picture are printed the names of the players.Back row,

The Northern Echo: The Stanhope Nursing Association trophy from 1928

THIS is the Stanhope Nursing Association Cup from 1928 – but what was the Stanhope Nursing Association, and what sport was contested for it?

“I was recently given this hallmarked cup by David and Christine Bee, who are on the committee of Stanhope Town Sports and Social Football Club with me, and they were given it by David’s late uncle, Sidney Bee, who was well known in Weardale for his all-round sporting prowess,” says Clement O’Donovan. “We would like to display it in the Weardale Museum with some information about it, but we know nothing: what is its provenance, who played for it and how many times?

“I assume it is a football trophy, but it could be for cricket or any other sport. Can anyone of your erudite readers help?”

The trophy is obviously from before the formation of the National Health Service in 1947 when nursing provision was largely funded by public donations or private money as opposed to a state provision.

It would seem likely that the cup was a fund-raiser to pay for nurses in Weardale.

Clement’s research has drawn him to the British Nursing Association, which was started by the first

State Registered Nurse Ethel Gordon Manson, whose organisation provided the first register of trained nurses.

Her organisation became the Royal British Nursing Association (RBNA) in 1893 when Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Helena, became its president.

The Stanhope association could have been affiliated to the RBNA, but because the Government set up a statutory register for nurses in 1919, the RBNA was fading away when the Stanhope cup was played for.

Elsewhere, we know of Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses, which was formed in 1887 with a £70,000 donation from Her Majesty to train district nurses.

The Northern Echo: The Northgate house, which until recently was a restaurant, which was the home of the Darlington Queen's Nurses Association

The Darlington Queen’s Nurses Association was formed in 1892, and in 1896, it bought a distinctive triangular-topped building on Northgate (above) for the nurses to live in. The town’s wealthy families donated to the association so that poorer people could get nursing help, and when Arthur Pease of Hummersknott died in 1898, the collection at his funeral paid off the association’s mortgage.

Even when the NHS was formed, Queen’s Nurses remained until 1968, so there was plenty of opportunity for the sportsmen of Weardale to be holding competitions to raise money to help their work.

So if you can shed any light on the Stanhope Nursing Association, or any other local nursing association that might aid our understanding of the trophy, we’d be delighted to hear from you. Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk