Wrekenton is where Pritchard met Cottam.  Nellie Cottam (1904) was commissioned as a Salvation Army Officer in 1927 and posted to Durham as a Lieutenant at the Wrekenton Salvation Army Corps.  The story goes:- George Pritchard (1897) lived in Eighton Banks, liked a drink and spent quite a lot of his leisure time in the Half Moon public house.  The Salvation Army held their Sunday evening ‘Open Air Meeting’ close by and one Sunday George stood listening with some of his mates and fell head over heels for this Salvation Army Officer.  He attended a meeting, ‘signed the pledge’ never to drink again and became a ‘soldier’. He had set his sights on Nellie and eventually won her over.  He proposed and she eventually accepted.  It was a very big decision for her because as a Salvation Army Officer she was only allowed to marry another Officer.  It meant that she had to resign her commission.

It wasn’t until about 1822 that Wrekenton was established as a village. Prior to that date it was just one large house, a Public House, the Coach and Horses and a row of cottages on the Durham Road.  Wrekenton was chosen as the name because the ancient roman road known as Wrekendyke was close by.  As the village grew it became a very rough place indeed with a considerable amount of crime and disease.  Most of those that were employed were either miners or quarrymen but the village had more than its share of vagrants.  There were many slums and much of this housing still existed in the village in 1927 when George and Nellie met.

The whole area was still suffering from the ravages of the 1926 miners strike when George and Nellie decided to marry.  Following their engagement they left Co. Durham and went to live with Nellie’s mother in Denton, Lancashire.