MAYORS of yesteryear gathered to take a trip down memory lane on Monday.

The current Mayor of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Eric Jackson, said he had hoped to reunite all the borough's civic leaders since the council was formed in 1973.

Councillor Jackson said: "Sadly, we have lost some of the mayors since those early days, but we have tried to ensure that family members came along to represent them.

"Being the mayor of the borough is always a milestone in any councillor's local government career, full of happy memories and very busy, too. I thought it would be a lovely chance to remember those times."

The former mayors were asked to take memorabilia of their time in office so they could be added to the council's collection of mayoral items.

Ten of the former mayors are still councillors. They are: Ivy Cole, 1979-80; Steve Kay, 1984-85; Arthur Harvison 1991-92; present Mayoress Brenda Forster, 1992-93; Sam Tombe, 1994-95; Peter Todd, 1995-96; Garth Houchen, 1998-99; Mike Stephen, 1999-2000; Arthur Dobson, 2000-01 and Vilma Collins, 2001-02.