HISTORY
Robert Stephenson & Company relocated their locomotive works from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Darlington in 1901 and brought 1000 workers with them. Initially the Company provided Religious Education for their workers but this duty was handed over to St George’s Church in 1903. The Elders decided to establish a Mission Church and approached Robert Stephenson & Company for assistance.
The Company donated the land in Hercules Street and offered a canteen building from their factory in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The building was dismantled and subsequently reassembled on its present site and opened on the 20th January 1907.
FUTURE
The recent centenary celebrations (2007) of the building on the Springfield site have now been overtaken by the exciting new development on the site arranged jointly by Northgate URC and the Darlington Corps of the Salvation Army, with the new building opening in August 2009.
Springfield Church Centre on a snowy day
The Church Centre Building as it was
The new development by the
Salvation Army
Inside the new
Salvation Army centre
Former community users of the building:
- Brownies (now relocated to Northgate URC hall)
- Girl Guides (now relocated to Northgate URC hall)
- Co-operative Guild
- Over 60’s Club
- War Games Society
- Slimmer's World
- Mothers and Toddlers Group
See pictures of the new building as it progressed.