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The Auckland Project

Being retired seem to be a full time occupation - I have no idea how I had time to have a job - of course there are some disadvantages - loss of income but compensated by late mornings and no rush hour traffic. 

I am however, prone to losing sense of time and routine so I have to have a few bits in my week that remind me to get up at a sensible hour - and believe me whats sensible to me is very late to most people - and to keep track of what day is what.

One my forays in to time management is a stint volunteering at The Auckland Project (TAP) - I started out invigilating in the Spanish Gallery in the market Square of Bishop Auckland but soon decided that for various reason I preferred to chat with visitors about the Castle - also known as the Bishops Palace.  


Bishop Auckland was the home of the Prince Bishops - a long convoluted piece of history which warrants further investigation, but essentially in about 1066 the king couldn't quite control the north from the deep south and instead of totally ignoring it like nowadays, he gave special powers to the church allowing the Bishop of Durham to have a lot of rights previously unknown- this made the Bishop very powerful - own armies - own penal system, own coins minted, but for the purpose of this story they had their own rather beautiful Palace and grounds to live in.  


Most of the power was recalled in the mid 1800's but the Bishop of Durham continues to be a powerful  representative of the church and also continued to live in the 'castle' as it in known locally right up until 2012.  Now the building is part of TAP and open to visitors 5 days a week.  The whole place is steeped
in history and interesting stories.



The story of TAP is another interesting story - Google it - for it more info - it saved the famous Zurbaran paintings from leaving the town - restored the palace to some former glory and for me it presents an opportunity to volunteer locally, learn some history and meet some local people.  Its a bit of a talking point locally - and there are, as always, two sides to every story - but the North East continues to suffer neglect from central government in spite of 'leveling up' policies so any venture that promoted this interesting town and local area has to be welcomed. 

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