WEREN’T those three young boys playing innocently and happily in the muddy waters of Darlington’s Denes in Memories No 34? Weren’t they the very picture of boyhood? Weren’t they cute little rapscallions, particularly the one on the left with his blond hair and the slightly diffident look on his face?

But little boys grow up… “It’s definitely me on the left,” says Councillor Bryan Thistlethwaite, who has just finished his year as mayor of Darlington. He was eight when the photograph was taken in 1960.

“I lived at 45, Brook Terrace, which overlooked the Footie Dene and the Bowling Dene, and that was our playground.

“We were probably looking for bloodsuckers. There even used to be sticklebacks in there.

“In summer we used to sit on cardboard and slide down the banks of the dene, and in winter we would make winter hand warmers. You’d get a handful of clay out of the bottom of the dene and make it into a rough pot with a lid and a hole in the side. You’d put a lighted rag inside, blow it through the hole to keep it burning so you had a little hand kiln to keep you warm.”

The Denes area of Darlington is a steeply banked park with the Cocker Beck flowing through it.

Roads passing over the beck split the park into distinctive denes.

“Our big adventure was wading from the Paddling Pool Dene underneath the bridge into the Footie Dene under the wooden bridge into the Bowling Dene, then into the Swingy Dene and then through to the Tennis Dene at the Woodland Road end,” says Bryan.

Before anyone gets too excited, the activity that went on in the Swingy Dene was, of course, playing on swings and a slide.

Bryan is pictured with Gordon and Geoff Toole.

The former mayor has recorded his recollections of the Denes for the area’s history project.

If you have a memory – or pictures – either visit the friendsofthedeneshistoryproject facebook page or email friendsofthedeneshistoryproject@gmail.com or call Lisa Kwok, at Groundwork North East, who is co-ordinating the project, on 01325-353791.