A historic souvenir from the co-op in Priestgate, Darlington

READ MORE: HOW DARLINGTON WAS ROCKED BY THE GREAT COFFIN LID SCANDAL

Sharp and to the point, we asked if anyone else had any historic pencils.

Lorna Wilkinson has a fabulous pencil from the Darlington Co-operative Society which once dominated the town centre, with a huge store spreading from Priestgate to Tubwell Row on many storeys.

READ MORE: A VISIT TO DARLINGTON CO-OP

“EVERYTHING FROM ONE PENNY TO SIXPENCE AT THE CO-OP BAZAAR, PRIESTGATE,” says the side of the pencil. “ADMISSION FREE, ALL THE TIME, TO EVERYBODY.”

Lorna says: “It came from my grandfather, Alfred Stallard (1871-1959). For a number of years, he worked for Thomas James at Darlington Paint Store which advertised that it was “an engineers’ factor and merchant”. The shop and warehouse were in Northgate, probably on the corner with Leadenhall Street.

“I am not sure when Alf started work there but in the 1901 census he is described as an “oil merchant’s assistant”.

“Nobody in the family worked at the Co-op but they must have shopped there to get the “divi” so perhaps the pencil was given away to loyal customers.”

Lorna also has a ruler from her grandfather that was supplied by the United Asbestos Company of Queen Victoria Street, London. It shows all the different types of asbestos one could buy, plus it gives “English” measurements (inches) and “French” measurements (centimetres) plus an 1889 calendar on its handle.

In 1883, this company was advertising the merits of its fireproof paint.

“The only paint publicly tested and submitted to open criticism is solely manufactured by the United Asbestos Co Limited,” it said. “It will undoubtedly protect woodwork coated with it against the spread of fire. The extensive wooden structures for the great International Fisheries Exhibition, South Kensington, are now being covered with this paint by order of the Committee.”

Perhaps the Darlington Paint Store had been given the ruler as a thank-you for stocking asbestos fireproof paint – let’s hope the town’s painters and decorators did not breathe in the fumes too deeply when they were applying it to the walls.

All of which leads to another question: has anyone else got any historic stationery items?

READ MORE: OPEN GARDENS IN THE HISTORIC VILLAGE OF CROFT-ON-TEES

READ MORE: THE FABULOUS FEAST THAT OPENED THE SOUTH GARE LIGHTHOUSE AT THE END OF THE WORLD

• With thanks to Lorna’s son, Peter Wilkins, for the photography