Today's Object of the Week is a memorial to a visionary County Durham coal miner and lay preacher, whose legacy lives on.
Joseph Hopper, born at Windy Nook, Gateshead, in May 1856, was a stalwart of the miners of County Durham and spent years actively involved in social and political movements.
This determined dynamo of a man also pursued religious endeavours as a local preacher in the Gateshead circuit of the Methodist New Connection, and served on the Felling Local Board and the Heworth School Board.
It was Hopper's tireless commitment to the miners of Durham that led to the provision of homes for aged miners in the county.
As secretary of an association dedicated to establishing and maintaining these homes, Hopper was also an essential figure in the Durham County Council.
Hopper, who remained unmarried all his life, was driven by the belief that a miner who devoted his life to the coal mines deserved better than to be stripped of his tied colliery home upon retirement.
Hopper's vision gave birth to the Durham Aged Mineworkers’ Homes Association.
Built with donations from voluntary miners' wages, land and materials from mine owners and others, the homes were constructed without cost to the inhabitants.
Formerly grand mansions acquired in places such as Boldon, Shotton Colliery and Shincliffe were converted into homes.
Additionally, an entire village was bought at Haswell Moor.
By 1909, more than 200 homes and several single men’s hostels had been built.
The influence of the association extended across every Lodge area in the county during the 1910s.
In 1913, the association received royal recognition when Queen Mary visited some of the houses.
By 1914, the association had built 475 homes and hostels.
Despite the tight times endured during war years and beyond, the association persevered.
The 1980s brought changes as the association registered with the Housing Corporation, thus tapping into government grants for new construction and modernisation.
The association undertook the task of modernising 1,200 homes and initiated its first development programme.
Today, Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes Association stands as the UK's largest almshouse charity, offering more than 1,700 affordable homes across former mining communities in County Durham and the North East.
More than just affordable roofs over heads, these homes provide retirement housing for more than 2,000 residents, also featuring sheltered accommodation and leasehold schemes for the elderly.
Hopper died in April 1909, aged just 53.
The legacy that he left behind is not just in the aluminium and mortar of the homes, but in the hearts of the people living there, and of those who offer support, looking for opportunities to provide housing solutions that foster community and solidarity.
A memorial, which still stand today, was erected in St Alban's churchyard in Windy Nook by by the Durham Aged Minworkers' Homes Association in June 1925.
An inscription says it was erected "in grateful appreciation of his rare gifts of mind and heart and of his untiring and self-denying labours" and adds: "His permanent memorial is the large and ever-increasing number of Aged Mineworkers Homes in this County."
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