at the 2006 Gala. They have paraded through the village and at the Miners’ Gala every year since then. Other events also celebrated the village’s centenary year, including a party and firework display in Bowburn Park, exactly 100 years after Gertrude Bell (as daughter of the Chairman of Bell Brothers) cut the first sod on 23 July 1906 to commence the sinking of the downcast shaft. Facilities Following the closure of the colliery and latterly the Cape Minerals Works, Bowburn declined. More recently the location of the village, near Durham City and close to the A1(M) junction 61, has meant that the village has become a prime site for new commuter housing and industrial estates. Much of the housing in Bowburn is still relatively low cost in terraces or on post-war council estates. However there has been significant development of owner occupied housing along the eastern edge of the village, and on the old secondary school site. From 2004, a village regeneration project began, involving the demolition of some council housing on the northern estate and the building of a mixture of housing association and private housing. As part of the regeneration project, the park was upgraded, with new football fields, an outdoor gym and an excellent children’s play area, as well as significant improvements to such community facilities as Bowburn Community Centre and the DJ Evans Youth Club (aka Bowburn Youth Project). A local community partnership has met monthly since the start of the regeneration project, and welcomes all residents interested in contributing to the improvement of the village and surrounding area. A village newsletter, Bowburn Interchange, is produced by a local community group, Bowburn Village Celebration, and delivered by volunteers throughout the village four times a year. One of Bowburn's claims to fame was its parish church, Christ the King, built between 1963 and 1978. It had a detached spire described locally as 'The Rocket' standing alongside the main church building, which featured a spiked dome roof which led some to call it "The Pineapple Church". The church ceased to be used for public worship due to its poor condition and was demolished in June 2007, while the adjacent spire fell over due to gales on 3 October 2009. In May 2008 construction of a new church building began on the site, completed in Autumn 2008. Bowburn currently (2022) has its own primary school, formed by administratively amalgamating