Doris Crawford

Doris was born in a house in Ferryhill Market Place in 1933 where her father was a skilled carpenter and undertaker. Doris’s father, Edgar, made the carved furniture in St Luke’s Church and the Masonic Lodge in Ferryhill. With war looming Doris’s parents decided to come home to West Cornforth.

Doris and her brother Edgar, who was three and a half years older, moved to West Cornforth with their parents towards the end of the 1930s. Their father went to war shortly afterwards.

Doris started school in the nursery. Doris remembers one teacher in particular Miss Hampton who was quite scary and used the cane. Times were different then – it was an age before child protection. No one told their parents that they had the cane – if they did they were likely to get it again at home.

Doris left school went to Grammar School in Spennymoor where she played in the netball team.

A highlight of the year was the Salvation Army trip which went to Seaton Carew by train leaving from Cornforth Station. The club trip, a very grand affair, also went from Cornforth station until the station closed.

Part of a large and loving extended family Doris saw her aunts most days as they all lived close by.

When Doris left school she worked in Bennet’s store for a short while and then as secretary for the chief engineer at Ferguson’s factory in Spennymoor.

When Doris first married in May 1954 she was living in Linden Road. Doris was married at Holy Trinity on the Green. Her cousin Joan and her husband’s niece Patricia were bridesmaids. The reception was held in the Rosedale and the newly weds honeymooned in Jersey. They had to go to London to board the plane.

Doris and her new husband lived in Ryhope Street. Dawn, Doris finished work when Dawn, her first daughter was born in Hardwick Hall. Doris discharged herself and her new baby from the maternity unit because she couldn’t face the two week stay and the staff who she found overbearing.

Her uncle and cousin went to Sedgefield to bring them home.

Doris had a bubble car, which she was very proud of.

Doris’s first marriage ended and she remarried Steve Crawford. Steve, Doris and Dawn went to live in Penshaw. Doris’s second daughter Gail was born in Penshaw. With two small children the pull from West Cornforth and the support network of her mother and wider family was too strong.

Steve, Doris, and their young family returned to live in Garden Place and later Dean Street next door to her mother and aunt who lived in two back to back houses. Steve and Doris bought two back to back houses and knocked them through.

With her neighbours, Rita and Wilf and family living nearby life was never dull. Doris and her husband Steve had lots of fun with their family and friends.

Doris’s brother Edgar and his wife lived in the sweet shop in the front street. Her sister in law Joyce ran the sweet shop.

Doris’s family also had a wool shop in the front street which Doris ran. Her mother, nana Det, helped in the wool shop and the sweet shop.

Unfortunately the wool shop was struck by lightning and the roof collapsed. The shop had to be knocked down and there was no insurance pay out because it was deemed to be an Act of God.

Shortly after this Doris and Her husband took over the sweet shop and moved in there.

Doris’s brother Edgar died in 1976 aged 48. Edgar had bought a Camper Van and was looking forward to touring Europe.

Doris and Steve stepped in and a family trip was planned. Doris, Steve, their children Dawn, and Gail, Dawn’s boyfriend Nigel, Edgar’s widow, Joyce and her children Jean and John headed off for St Tropez. Doris made a net hammock that was slung across the roof to store the food. It was meals on wheels all the way. A favourite meal was cold Heinz (nothing but the best for Doris) beans. After three nights in Paris, they drove on to Lyon and finally to St Tropez in horrendous traffic. The whole of France was on the move. On arrival in St Tropez they didn’t get out of the van as there were no parking spaces.

Doris and her family moved out of the shop and into 2 Station Road which they virtually rebuilt. They ran their wholesale sweet business from the house. Sadly Steve died suddenly in 1982 on a trip to see Neil Sedaka in Newcastle. Devastated by Steve’s death Doris did her best to keep busy. Doris embraced a new career as a hairdresser and opened a successful shop in the High Street.

Doris also took up golf and became an avid golfer, she joined Woodham Golf Club where she became Ladies’ Captain and played for many years.

Doris retired in 1988.

With her daughters and grandchildren settled and living close by Doris was thoroughly enjoying her retirement when she became unwell. Doris had a heart by-pass in September 2014. In March 2015 she had a severe stroke and, with her usual determination and the love and support of her family worked hard to recover.

Summer 2016 saw another Family on Tour trip to Germany. To be completed