Racecourse Banner, 1959

A third and last Tutill banner was commissioned in 1959.

On one side it shows a distant view of the Durham Miners’ Gala, as seen from Pelaw Wood:

On the other side is a unique aerial view of Conishead Priory, the NUM’s convalescent home:

It is the Racecourse Banner that most ex-Bowburn miners and their families still remember.

And it was this banner that was marched by them through Durham, for the last time, in 1967. (On the paper carrier bag is the motto: “Going on the dole next week”.)

However the banner returned to Durham for the 100th Gala, in 1983. But it now had new owners: COSA.

In 2005, thanks to the help of David Hopper of the Durham Miners Association, the banner was returned first to Durham…

… and then to Bowburn: