WHERE do you live? Where are you from? Does it matter if the name of where you live, or where you hail from, changes over time?

The launch of the Enjoy Tees Valley tourist promotional campaign has stirred this debate up again. The split in comments on The Northern Echo’s various sites seemed to match that among callers to BBC Tees – half said this was a long overdue and positive way of talking up our area, which is true, but the other half said that it is pointless because no one understands where the Tees Valley is, which is partly true.

Some of those in the second half added in a similar vein that the name of the airport should be changed back to Teesside, “because everyone knows where Teesside is”.

This thought has been at the top of my head because of my new car. My son is obsessed with setting up the satnav so we never get lost. Before we go anywhere, we have to find the postcode for where we’re going: DL around Darlington, DH in Durham, and, inexplicably to a young lad, TS for our trips to Sedgefield and Saltburn.

And then, flicking through old papers from exactly 50 years ago, I found a Post Office advert for a First Day Cover it was releasing on April 1, 1968. The postmark would feature a stork carrying the date above the wording: “Birth of Teesside.”

This postmark was to be available until 4.30pm on letters posted at the Teesside Trade Fair which was taking place at Teesside Park (a new name for Stockton Racecourse). Special envelopes were available showing horses taking part in that day’s Teesside Celebration Handicap Hurdle, which celebrated the creation of the County Borough of Teesside (which comprised Middlesbrough, Stockton, Thornaby, Billingham and Redcar) which was to be run by Teesside Borough Council and policed by the new Teesside Police, which had been formed from the forces of Durham, Middlesbrough and North Riding.

It was Teessidetastic.

I reckon that most things Teesside date from the 1960s. The airport was first, known as Tees-side with a hyphen in 1964; Teesside Polytechnic (now university) was formed in 1969. The postcode was rolled out across the country between 1959 and 1974 – I bet TS was introduced in the late 1960s.

But Teesside was short-lived. In 1974 it was enlarged to take in Hartlepool and Guisborough which gave birth to Cleveland council and police. Teesside was scrapped.

In its day, Teesside was as artificial as Tees Valley is today, and I wonder if the concept of “Teesside” is only understood by those who lived through it.

But Teesside’s day is gone. Cleveland + Darlington = Tees Valley appears to be the future.

So perhaps on the 50th anniversary of the postmark that announced its birth we should publish a death notice formally announcing its demise. Then we can move on and embrace the future, and enjoy the Tees Valley.