Easter Adjournment

Alan Strickland Excerpts

Tuesday 8th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alan Strickland (Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Now that I know I get to go first, I might have birthdays more often.

It is a real pleasure to speak in this Easter Adjournment debate. In doing so, I pay tribute to the memory of our late colleague Sir David Amess. I was not a Member of the House at the time, but I hear that the number of community organisations that Sir David managed to cram into his speeches was the stuff of legend. I am unlikely to match that, but I wish to talk about three organisations in my constituency that make a particular contribution.

I start with Spennymoor Town football club. Players, fans, club staff and everyone else in Spennymoor are celebrating the club’s fantastic win against Rochdale at the weekend. Winning that game means they will play in the FA trophy final, which will be held in May at Wembley stadium—that is absolutely incredible. I am really proud of what the club have achieved, and it was brilliant to see them play recently in another fantastic match, so I congratulate everyone involved.

I am also hugely grateful to Spennymoor Town football club for the contribution it makes to the community. Since being founded as Spennymoor United in 1904, the club has been at the heart of the town’s life. Its community meals programme supports 100 residents a week; it engages 300 young people in Tudhoe, Cassop, Fishburn and Spennymoor through its youth work; and it is widening participation through its disability football scheme so that more people can take part in the sport. I thank the club for that work, congratulate it on its win, and pay particular tribute to chairman Brad Groves, manager Graeme Lee, and managing director Ian Geldard. Spennymoor Town FC is a reminder of what many football clubs used to be, and what all could and should be: organisations that unite communities, support local people and invest in the next generation of players.

Next, I pay tribute to everyone involved in running Coxhoe village hall and thank them for the wide range of activities they provide. It is a village hall like no other—a thriving community hub used by people of all ages, running a community pantry to feed local families and organising makers’ markets to sell local produce, as well as fitness classes, hearing loss support groups and many other great activities. I was pleased recently to be invited to its beer festival, for which volunteer Nick Young handmade a bar that held 40 different draught ales and ciders. I felt that it was my public duty to sample the available produce, and I am pleased to report to the House that, from my hazy memory of the evening, all the beer was excellent.

Sticking to the liquid refreshment theme, Coxhoe village hall also hosts the craft group Pimm’s and Needles, but there is no need to worry about either of those groups getting out of hand, because it also hosts rehearsals of Durham police’s male voice choir. While many villages have seen a loss of shops, pubs and other facilities, the incredible team of volunteers at that hall reminds us that it is still possible to have thriving anchor institutions at the heart of our communities.

Finally, I would like to recognise Friends of the Stockton and Darlington Railway for the leadership it has shown. Since 2013, its volunteers have led the campaign to ensure that the bicentenary of the world’s first public passenger railway is properly marked. I am really proud that 2025 marks 200 years since Locomotion No. 1 was placed on the tracks of what is now Heighington station in my constituency. That crucial moment was the birth of the passenger rail network, to which all rail around the globe can trace its beginnings. The friends group has championed the cause of the railway, encouraging investment in local museums and the establishment of a heritage trail, and has helped shape the international festival to mark the anniversary that we kicked off recently. I place on record my thanks to its chair, Niall Hammond, for leading that incredible work.

Celebrating this anniversary is not just of local interest; our nation’s defining contribution to the creation of the railways is something that I hope Members from across this House will join us in the north-east in recognising this year. It is a matter of particular pride that my home town is not only the birthplace of the railways, but central to their future, with modern battery-powered trains rolling off the production lines at the Hitachi plant, which I was delighted to welcome the Transport Secretary back to last week.

In closing, I thank everyone involved with Spennymoor Town football club, Coxhoe village hall and Friends of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. It is community organisations such as these that make my constituency and our country the thriving places of pride and opportunity they are today.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

With an immediate five-minute time limit, I call Rebecca Paul.