THIS is an original noticeboard from Darlington’s bus station on Feethams. It is in the collection of Derek Ward, of Bishop Auckland, who managed to salvage it when the station was demolished in 2008.

It appears to date from when the station was built, in 1963, or perhaps earlier – did it originally hang somewhere in the Leadyard, near the town hall, which was the gathering point for United buses?

Derek has pinned a couple of other items from his collection to the board, including a newspaper preview of the 1950 FA Amateur Cup final between Willington and Bishop Auckland. Willington won 4-0 – you can bet that that didn’t go down too well on Newton Cap bank.

MEMORIES 497 told how the Crook Town players returning home after beating Bishop Auckland in the 1954 amateur cup final were ambushed as their bus went down the steep Newton Cap bank – all sorts of unmentionables were thrown at them from the upper windows of the terraced houses.

But this may not have been the only bus-related incident on the narrow bank.

“After demob from National Service in 1955, I was appointed as clerk at West Auckland Station and, living in Willington, cycled to work for a number of years,” says Eddie Scarlett, in York. “On one homeward journey, I recall an altercation on Newton Cap Bridge between the bus drivers of Bond Buses of Willington and United as to who should reverse and give way.

“I cycled past using the footpath so I don’t know the outcome, but I understand it may not have been the only case, even if buses were not involved.”