Hi Does anyone remember a visit to Bishop of a robot called 'Tobor' (which is robot spelled backwards) he was currantly "starring" in a film making the rounds, called Tobor the Robot, They had him on the back of a lorry and went to the market place, for a photo shoot with all the local kids. a photo was in the Northern Echo soon after. I was one of the kids in the picture, it happened sometime in the fifties, cant remember exactly when. Perhaps there is someone out there with a better memory than I have.

One character from the 1960-70 was Boxer Taylor you would see him with his hand cart going around washing the shop windows in Newgate Street. Never did under stand why he was called Boxer, I think he played football for either Bishop or Willington.

i rememember her well she lived just round the corner from me and as kids used to call her wicky wack ,she lived with a pipe smokeing guy who used to paint the artwork on the odean,she once grabbed me near to sydney terrace and tried to strangle me ,a lady mrs kitchen ran to my rescue and pulled her off me ,i was probable about 10 yrs old at the time ,i once climbed over her back gate and her boyfriend grabbed me by the hair and knocked 7 bells out of me ,i remember she had loads of cats ,im glad to hear she is still alive and well though ,i probably deserved the beating i was a little devil back then..
ken

Bobby OLLEY. There's a name from the past. I was frightened of him. He would sometimes come and stand at the gates of the playground at St. Annes School and shout at us. But kids being kids we used to shout back and run away. Great memories.

MR Taylor cleaned the windows in Newgate street for many years i cannot remember his first name , never heard him called boxer,I think he retired in the last couple of years he was cleaning windows in bishop auckland in the 60s when i started work he was still there when i retired, HE would have been well over retirement age.very well liked
his family might well be carrying on the family firm.

I also remember a character called Bobbie Ollie -- I also remember the large green expanse of land where I now believe the police station is --- before this it was in Bondgate .I used to get off the shildon bus at cabin gate and walk across this field that used to come out in Vart road (I think) by the catholic church and then walk up to Proudfoot drive .
Pat

I lived in cosgrove avenue. we used to listen out for gabriels ice cream van,
He would always blow a whistle. Mario was a great bloke and always had a great smile with a cheeky sense of humour. You never get that nowadays.

I remember Boxer well from his days cleaning the shop windows of Bishop. When he retired he took up golf and joined the town golf club and plays there 3 or 4 times a week.
I always assumed he was called Boxer because in his youinger days that was just what he was. I see him at the golf club every 2 or 3 weeks or so. Next time I see him I'll ask him

Thursday 27th May 2010 saw the funeral of one of Bishop's characters: Tom Wright.
Many will remember Tom as the landlord of the Bay Horse pub in the seventies and eighties. It was Tom who opened the Bostonian and later the second hand book shop in Bondgate.
Tom was born in Bishop and spent a happy childhood at Newtoncap. He spent happy days at the Dam Head as a lad with his friends of the Ross family(seventeen girls and one boy) the Amos, Harrop, Shields, Pickering and Barker families...all great names among the hawker community.
He went to school at Etherley Lane and left one Friday and began at Chilton pit on the Monday...aged 14.He got one pound and one shilling and thought he was rich.
Tom left for America (to Boston) when he was nineteen with his bride Antonietta and returned to Bishop to run his businesses.
He will be remembered in America as a dapper Englishman and in Bishop as a Yankee Dandy always dressed in coordinated shirt and tie, taylored suits, camel hair or gaberdine top coat.....and that unique Stetson hat. He always a story to tell about his life.
It was during what he knew was his last visit to his beloved Bishop Auckland that Tom took ill and died.

anyone remember mrs pickering (nellie) with lots of kids, it was my great nana, any info ???