Backtrack

Farewell: the end of the Northern Echo era for Mike Amos

7:00am Saturday 7th December 2019

The designated driver being in Singapore, the bus service from Houghton to home not exactly frequent, the column missed the tribute night at Philadelphia Cricket Club to honour Malcolm Pratt’s 60 years service. It climaxed when the function room was formally named the Malcolm Pratt Lounge.

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After 55 years in journalism, 34 years of Backtrack, Mike Amos’s final column

6:10am Saturday 7th December 2019

Harry Stott, known more familiarly as Harrystottle, was my first chief reporter – today he’d probably be called a line manager – in the Bishop Auckland office of the Northern Despatch, conveniently situated above a money lender’s. It was August 1965.

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The new book on Geoffrey Smith and a bit of history on John Burton's football career

6:10am Saturday 23rd November 2019

TWO or three times in recent years we’ve reported from Barningham Cricket Club, in Teesdale, where biffing a six into the next county is made easier because part of the ground’s in North Yorkshire and part in Co Durham.

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The story of Jimmy Scarbrough and his football career

5:20am Saturday 23rd November 2019

JIMMY SCARBOROUGH, one of that select band of Football League players to have borne the name of another team in the league – Alan Sunderland, Colin Blackburn, Jermaine Darlington, Ricky Villa – has died. He was 88.

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Revisiting Murton to see how far their football team has come

5:10am Saturday 23rd November 2019

THE BBC blanketed Bishop Auckland last week – day and night, television and radio, edgy perceptions of what’s now politically a marginal seat.

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The strange phenomenon of a glaring pitch and other mid-game oddities

10:00am Saturday 16th November 2019

Reflecting, as it were, upon a strange phenomenon – and not just sunshine at Consett – the column two weeks ago noted that spectators had to swap sides during an Ebac Northern League game up there after being dazzled by the glare from the synthetic pitch.

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The once youngest hat-trick scorer in Football League history watches his beloved Oldham Athletic

10:00am Saturday 16th November 2019

Almost 65 years after he became the youngest hat-trick scorer in Football League history – a record claimed later by Trevor Francis – Ken Chaytor was back watching his beloved Oldham Athletic last Sunday.

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Broomfield runners mark their fifth birthday

9:20am Saturday 9th November 2019

One small step for the Broomfield Runners, the group marking its fifth birthday will for the first time “take control” – provide all the volunteers – at this morning’s Northallerton parkrun.

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A two man excursion on the Railroad to Wembley to see Shildon beaten by Lower Breck

9:00am Saturday 9th November 2019

Whether from feet-beneath-the-table experience or from noses pressed enviously against the banqueting hall window, faithful readers may be familiar with The Parable of the Rich Man’s feast.

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Diamond geezer

8:11am Saturday 2nd November 2019

Almost 60 years to the day since being told the assistant secretary’s job was his – “told” is the appropriate word – Malcolm Pratt marks 60 years unstinting service to Philadelphia Cricket Club with a clubhouse party on November 23.

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Matinee performance

8:01am Saturday 2nd November 2019

Before considering last Saturday’s momentous events in Japan – and today’s, come to that – it’s necessary to admit that Darlington Rugby Club and I have history, though some might suppose it pre-history.

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Help from The Prince's Trust to paint perimeter of Darlington Railway Athletic club

10:20am Saturday 26th October 2019

As Forth Bridge jobs go, nothing could gloss over the fact that Alan Hamilton’s was up there with the most optimistic.

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The replica Darlington nameplate and the "suggestions of skullduggery" surrounding it

10:00am Saturday 26th October 2019

The steam engine nameplate in the photograph says Darlington, but doesn’t say it all. The wheels are again about to come full circle.

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Greenswordsmanship

5:23am Saturday 19th October 2019

THAT extraordinary all-rounder Steve Greensword, now 75, finds himself included in Wisden Cricket Monthly’s Club Cricket Hall of Fame – No 25 it says, to which a reasonable response might be “What kept you?”

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Annual excursion orgy finally gets under way to see Crook beaten in first round of FA Vase

5:00am Saturday 19th October 2019

THE Railroad to Wembley has rather been delayed this season, problems with what might be called the permanent way.

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Former England winger returns to his roots signing his new autobiography at Waterstones in Darlington

5:00am Saturday 12th October 2019

HOME ground, Dave Thomas spoke at West Auckland workmen’s club last Friday. Great footballer, he’s fast becoming a best selling author, too.

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Healy delighted

6:44am Saturday 5th October 2019

GETTING on 40 years since first he helped tell the story of West Auckland’s World Cup wins, Geordie actor Tim Healy is reliving the role.

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Jim Elliott: Death of a Wolves cub

6:34am Saturday 5th October 2019

YOU’VE heard of 15 minutes of fame? Jim Elliott had his, almost set your watch by it, at Highbury on April 8, 1972. Then he headed to Kings Cross, a one-way ticket back to Bishop Auckland.

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Levels’ best

5:43am Saturday 28th September 2019

THE holiday was in Somerset, a chance to watch Wells City v Newton Abbott Spurs in the FA Vase, the gates outside the ground dedicated to Mary Bignall Rand.

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Guiding light: Dave Thomas’s uplifting autobiography is compelling reading

5:36am Saturday 28th September 2019

PUBLISHED this week, Dave Thomas’s uplifting autobiography makes for compelling holiday reading. The 90-minute chat in his conservatory should not be supposed hard labour, either.

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