FROM this newspaper 100 years ago. - On Thursday afternoon, a donkey belonging to Mr I Weighell, farmer, Romanby, was being ridden home by his son from school, up Northallerton's main street, when it was startled by some mischievous boys holding a handkerchief in front of it. It backed up the cobbles across the footpath and into a plate-glass window at the side of the entrance of Mr Jas Cole's shop of China and Crockery. The window was smashed into a thousand pieces and the damage is estimated at about £3 or £4.

Also, the Winston station master found a woman very ill in the ladies' waiting room on Saturday afternoon. Assistance was at once obtained but before she could be removed she gave birth to a child. After medical attention she was taken to her mother's house. Both mother and child are doing well.

From this newspaper 50 years ago. - One might have imagined that Cockerton Docks had sprung into reality from the history books at Darlington the other day. Passing through the town was a 70ft banana barge - 24 tonnes of it - borne in triumph on a couple of haulage tractors along the main thoroughfare. The barge was en route for Africa and the docks were not on the itinerary. Piloted by the police, the barge had a good 33-minute trip through Darlington. Traffic was diverted this way and that, the manoeuvrings involving the mounting of a pavement by a bus, a crawl under the North Road Bridge and the crossing of the King's Head Zebra bar. The barge moved onwards, twisting into Blackwellgate and turning into Grange Road and on to Catterick, eventually to reach port in Liverpool. So now the Great North Road, including that part of it which runs an attenuated course through Darlington, is part of an overland route for banana barges.

From this newspaper 25 years ago. - The only suspension at Sunday's football match at Earl's Orchard, Richmond, was for the rules. Men regulars of the Oak Tree in Bridge Street, Richmond, played a team of women, but, by the end of the game there were more than 50 players on the pitch, outnumbering spectators. The match was organised to raise money for a Christmas treat for the pub's elderly regulars, but when the team took to the field, there the organisation ended. It was a case of every man for himself or woman for hers. The men's team played in wellingtons and one player wore full-length waders. The women played a combination of rugby and football to achieve a 4-2 victory. The organiser Miss Lynette Williams of Bargate, Richmond, readily admits to scoring one of her side's goals with her hands. The landlord, Mr Laurie Hamer, refereeing, put the result at 4-2, but the men dispute this.