MEMORIES has long dreamt of having a pied-a-terre in Newcastle and now if we spend a penny we may be able to get one.

We are indebted to Moira Hunt for drawing our attention to the Lambert Smith Hampton auction at Le Meridien hotel in Piccadilly, London, on July 11 where several interesting items are under the hammer. For example, the former petrol station which stood beside the A1(M) until the current roadworks shifted the motorway to the east has a guide price of £45,000 on it, and the KwikFit garage in Darlington's Northgate has a price of £525,000 (KwikFit's lease has another 12 years to run).

But the real eye-catcher is the former public toilet in High Bridge, Newcastle.

It consists only of a 14ft long entrance passageway leading to a room 15ft by 7ft where thousands of people must have convenienced themselves over the years. But surely it could be converted into a place to rest your feet after a hard shopping session.

High Bridge, which links Bigg Market with Grey Street, is a historic area of Newcastle. The Lort Burn used to flow in a steep-sided dene down to the Tyne. Over time, the dene has been filled in – Dean Street was built over it in 1787 – and all that remains of it is High Bridge which used to cross over it.

The toilet does not have a guide price, so it could be a bargain – if you are flush with cash. Hopefully, there won't be a chain (any other toilet/property jokes we should include in here?).

SEDGEFIELD Local History Society is commemorating the eight men of the village who died in the Battle of the Somme with an exhibition and service.

Two of Sedgefield's men – Herbert Littleworth and William Smith – died on the first day of the Somme, and none of the eight have graves – they are all remembered on the Thiepval memorial.

The exhibition, therefore, is called Remembered at Thiepval. It is in Ceddesfeld Hall, and it is to be opened on Thursday at 11am with a service over the road at the war memorial. It will be available to view until 4pm, and then from 10am to 4pm on Friday and Saturday.

Society chairman Norma Neal said: "Forty-two Sedgefield men lost their lives in the First World War. We plan to commemorate each one on the 100th anniversary of his death. We have already held nine ceremonies and will continue through till 2018. This special ceremony and exhibition will bring together those brave men of Sedgefield who lost their lives together on that bloody battlefield at the Somme."

The other men who fell on the Somme were William Brumpton, John Usher Gladstone, Walter Winn, John Stamper Davison, Albert Bateman and Herbert Waite Ward. Anyone with information about any of them is asked to email norma@neal.myzen.co.uk or call 01740-620091.

MEMORIES is mapping the sites of Second World War and Cold War air raid sirens, and Doreen Duguid of Darlington writes with details of one that used to be on the railway works – known as "the Plant" – in Rocket Street at Bank Top.

"It used to sound at 7am, midday and about 5pm to end the day's work," she says. "We in Wesley Street got so used to it, we hardly noticed it, but if we had visitors, we had to warn them in case they thought the war was back on."

This area was cleared in the early 1980s of both houses and works. Modern housing was rebuilt, keeping some of the old street names, and Central Park is going up on the railway works.

IN Memories 283, we poking around the blacksmith's shop on Great Burdon green, on the edge of Darlington.

Mark Cooper kindly points us in the direction of britishpathe.com, which is an archive of old newsreel footage. If you search under "Darlington" on there, you will find a one minute 14 second clip filmed in 1943 showing the Great Burdon blacksmith, Arthur Booth, at work.

The film is entitled "Horse Shoes aka Horseshoes", and features stirring music and a clipped commentary which informs us that Mr Booth's family had been working the smithy for 200 years and there was still enough shoeing work to keep him occupied "from early morn to dewy eve".

The last Burdon blacksmith, John Gill, who we believe took over from Mr Booth, retired in 1981 and the smithy was later converted into a house.

ON Thursday, Chris Lloyd, who compiles the Memories supplement, is leading Darlington Historical Society's walk around South Park. It'll look at the history of both the park – the oldest municipal park in the North-East – and some of the unusual pieces of historical bric-a-brac within it. It starts at 7pm at the lodge. All are welcome.