THANKS to everyone who has been in touch after the Echo Memories pictures of Coundon a fortnight ago.

We published a photograph of Wharton Street in May 1968 alongside a current view of the road from Coundon Gate, which is known locally as Jawblades or Dogtrack Bank.

Mr J Burns, who describes himself as “a Coundon resident”, and Gerry Rielly, who describes himself as a “former Leeholme resident (a long time ago)”, were among those to spot the confusion.

Tony Herrington, of Coundon, explained: “The old picture of Wharton Street was taken from near the War Memorial looking towards Leeholme and is approximately half a mile from where the new picture was taken.”

John Simpson, of Newton Aycliffe, said: “My father was knocked down as a child at the bottom of Wharton Street and was dragged underneath the car to the top of the bank in the picture. Fortunately, he only suffered a broken leg.”

Cliff Howe, of Billingham, near Stockton, sends a 1910 picture of Wharton Street to contrast with our 1968 picture.

“Most of the houses on the north, or left-hand side, of the 1910 picture were demolished in the Sixties, including the 17th Century Manor House, the 18th Century Old Hall and the 17th Century farmhouse where we used to live,” he said. “They also demolished Manners’ butcher shop, where we got our meat during the war.”

Our new picture shows an area of Coundon known as Broomside. The houses were built on the site of The Ship Inn, which was reputedly made from a ship’s timbers.

Near the inn was one of Coundon’s oldest collieries, the Jawblades Pit, which got its name because miners walked to work through an arch made from a whale’s jawbone.

In the Forties and Fifties, there was a greyhound stadium on the site of the pit.

SOMETIMES the memory can play tricks. Take the photograph of the young footballers of Bishop Auckland in 1960.

Last week we had more names than there were boys in the picture. This week we’ve got even more. We can’t say who is right, but we do say thank you to all who have been in touch.

The picture was taken in South Terrace to illustrate a story about the shortage of playing fields.

William Pannica is the boy in the striped jumper on the ball. “My grandfather had the Mitre on Newgate Street, so I played all my football in the back streets,” he said.

His other grandfather was an Italian who came over during the Second World War and ran an ice cream business at the bottom of The Chare.

The blond boy on the left is John Bentley, whose grandmother, Elizabeth Bentley, owned four houses in South Terrace. John died in 2008, but his widow, Patricia, still lives in Bishop Auckland.

Several people have identified the girl on the bike as Muriel Ord.

Ronnie Orton, now 67 and living in Coundon, recognises the diesel TK Bedford truck as one he used to drive for JR Harrison, the fruiterers who had the banana-ripening warehouse in the top left corner of the street.

The bananas were grown in Jamaica, transported unripe to Liverpool, then put on a train to Bishop Auckland.

Ronnie would collect three or four tons of them in his truck and drive them to the warehouse.

“They’d still be on the branches, wrapped in polythene, cotton wool and brown paper,” he remembered. “You used to carry the bunches on your shoulder, and in there would be spiders, rhino beetles and little snakes, yellow or green, with spots. You were frightened they would go down your neck.

“You used to open the truck doors, or go into the warehouse, and the first thing you’d do was look up at the ceiling to see what could drop on you.”

The warehouse was divided into small rooms. The bananas were hung on chains from the ceiling, and gas rings on the floor were lit to heat them. The hotter the gas, the quicker the bananas ripened, so each room was kept at a slightly different temperature to prevent a glut of ripe bananas suddenly hitting the Weardale market.

■ Next week: Cycling in Richmond

This is YOUR very own section of Memories. Your reminiscences, your photographs.

Write to Chris Lloyd’s Looking Back at The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington DL1 1NF, email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk or call 01325-505062