DARLINGTON’S Brunswick Street was in the shadow of a giant power station for much of the 20th Century.

Margaret Lavender, of Salters Avenue, remembers the pre-Second World War wooden cooling towers. “As a small child, we passed them as we went to town down Haughton Road on the old trolley buses,” she says. “I was told they were condensers – whatever those might be.”

Bob West, of Wolsingham Terrace, also remembers the towers, plus the passage to the off-licence in Coburg Street where there was a workman’s hotel called Airedale House.

“There was also a choice of shops for such a small area,” he says, listing Snowballs, Spenwills, Bainbridges, Waltons, Weadons and a lending library.

“A very nice area to live and grow up in,” he concludes.