LOOKING back to the week that was December 18 to 24, fifteen years ago...

WHEN Charlie Harrison started playing for Cockerton Prize Silver Band, George V was king, and the Second World War was still 12 years in the future.

In December 2008, Mr Harrison, then-84, was about to approach his 80th year as a member of the band, which on December 17 played to a packed house at Cockerton Club, near Darlington.

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The tenor horn player first joined the band in 1927 when he was five.

His great-uncle Charlie Pawson founded the band in 1870, the same year as The Northern Echo began printing, and at one point his family accounted for nearly half its complement.

Mr Harrison was taught music by his father and was playing the cornet by the age of three.

After leaving the Army, he played professionally with a number of dance bands around the country before returning to the area to play in the house band at the Middlesbrough Empire.

He then spent 25 years working as joiner in the steel industry, but was made redundant at the age of 61, at which point he went to Birmingham School of Music and spent four years getting a degree in music.

"I've played in a number of bands but there's always been Cockerton Band, " said Mr Harrison. "My father made sure of that.

"To be honest, there's been times when I thought about packing it in as a player. I practice every day and I think that maybe I've improved a little."

Middlesbrough FC players and the Milky Bar Kid joined Father Christmas to spread some festive cheer among a dozen youngsters, on December 23, 2008.

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Champion Children who represent worthy causes in the Teesside area were nominated to attend the Nestle Golden Ticket Party by Teesside Hospice, Zoe's Place and Middlesbrough FC supporters.

The children, aged three to 13, enjoyed a tour of the Riverside dressing rooms as well as meeting special guests Father Christmas, Boro mascot Roary the Lion and Nestle's Milky Bar Kid.

Boro stars attending the event included Julio Arca, David Wheater, Stewart Downing, Tony McMahon, Jeremie Aliadiere and Didier Digard.