I was sat in the company of Neville (Sooty) Leonard and his brother Russell (Tupper) amongst others, in the Middle House last week. The crack was as good as ever!

Philip Milburn (The hedge burner!) was in having a quiet pint.

“Haven’t seen you in for a while” says Tupper, “Do you still get out for a pint?”

Now in the history of daft questions, that might take a bit of beating. But not when your names Tupper!

Paul (Oscar) Armstrong walked into the pub.

“Hey Oscar!” shouts Tupper.

“Where were you at when I saw you last week?”

Is it just me??

The lads got talking of times past, and some of the places we used to go to in the seventies and early eighties.

Cockfield Club was voted best place for a disco, with the Queens Head in Bish-Vegas (Bishop Auckland) coming a close second.

“We had some canny nights at the CB in Arkangarthdale” says Neville.

It was true; Cockfield lads loved it up there. Even in the worst winters, the local dale lasses would warm you up. The local lads didn’t care for us much mind. Cockfield lads have always had a bit of a reputation for trouble, but in my experience they rarely started any, but nearly always finished it!

Anyway back to the CB.

“I remember going up there” says Tupper.

“The meals were great. You used to get Soup in a Basket”

I bet you needed a big spoon to get that down quick!!

John (Dolly) Dalton chipped in with this now famous Tupperisem, and by the way, our hero is loving all this.

When the Olympics were being held in America, we were, as per usual, doing really badly. The first week was over, and all Great Britain had won was a silver, and a few Bronze medals.

Tupper was reading the medals table in the paper when he suddenly exclaimed, “Hey lads, we’re TOP of the medals table!”

Dolly explained that we couldn’t possibly be, as America were winning all the gold medals, and asked Tupper to show him the paper in case it was a misprint.

“It’s there in black and white lad,” says the main man.

“Top of the table…..US!”