SYMBOLIC PROTEST: Chris Foote-Wood, John Whetstone, Kathy Burrage, Jane Hackworth-Young and Tony Craig protesting on the day of the closure of Barclays, the last remaining bank branch in Teesdale  					     TM pic
SYMBOLIC PROTEST: Chris Foote-Wood, John Whetstone, Kathy Burrage, Jane Hackworth-Young and Tony Craig protesting on the day of the closure of Barclays, the last remaining bank branch in Teesdale TM pic

A SMALL group of protestors gathered outside Barclays, in Barnard Castle, last week to “mourn” the closure of the last bank branch in Teesdale.

Organised by Chris Foote-Wood, who is part of a group campaigning for a banking hub in the town, the protestors sang Goodbye as the bank’s doors closed for the last time at noon, on Wednesday, September 11.

He said: “We are mourning the closing of the last bank in Teesdale. [The protest] is absolutely symbolic because the closure is a fait accompli. Now we want an all-singing, all-dancing hub with all five banks in it.”

He also complained that Teesdale, as a tourist area, lost its last 24 hour cash machine. Fellow protestor Jane Hackworth-Young, a customer for 60, years said: “Backhouse Bank became Barclays.

“It funded the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) and it will celebrate its bicentenary next year – they have missed out on such an opportunity.”

Ms Hackworth-Young’s great-great grandfather, timothy Hackworth, was the first superintendent of the historic railway line.

Kathy Burrage, a client for the past 35 years, described the closure as devastating.

She added: “I have been in the dale for 35 years and have been using the Middleton branch and then the Barney branch. It is really sad not to have face-to-face banking support and the use of the 24 hour bank machine.”