IN The Northern Echo's photo-archive, there are a several contact sheets – small, trial prints of photographs to see which ones were worth blowing up – from a very wet Durham Miners' Gala. Although they are undated, we reckon they are from 1964, when a terrific thunderstorm drowned out the speakers on the platforms and the meeting was abandoned. The speakers that day were due to include Harold Wilson, the newly-elected leader of the Labour Party who before the year was out would become Prime Minister.

"It began to bucket down once the speeches began at the racecourse," says Ian Wright, an Echo photographer who took some of these pictures and who now lives in Las Vegas. "Wilson put his pipe in his jacket pocket and it began to smoulder, so he passed it to his wife, Mary, who in return gave him her umbrella."

Let's hope the 132nd gala is a little drier.

If you recognise any faces – who are the ladies on today's front page – or have any information connected to the pictures, please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk. For more pictures from this year, please go to the galleries section on The Northern Echo's website.