Maurice Collinson told an amusing tale about Jim Douglas, the jovial policeman who patrolled the streets of Middleton in Teesdale in the Thirties, as mentioned here last week.

"He was always cheerful and became really popular with everyone in the village," said Mr Collinson.

His story was about the time the officer went for a family holiday in Blackpool. One night, when other guests were chatting, he heard one of them saying he had recently spent some time in a village in which a publican broke the law every night by locking up and serving after closing time.

He named the hostelry in which he had enjoyed these illicit sessions. And where was it? None other than in Middleton in Teesdale. Jolly Jim sat quietly taking in all this information.

But what was he to do with it once he got home and went back on duty? He certainly wasn't the type to take any drastic action.

He was the sort of wise old-style bobby, who knew just about everything that happened on his patch, so he may well have known about the lock-ins anyway.

He possibly decided just to have a quiet word with the landlord and advise him to take more care. Mr Collinson thinks this was most likely the case.

He was a boy at the time, living with his parents, Fred and Emma Collinson, in Wesley Terrace, Middleton, and attending the village school. He later became a printing compositor and worked for a number of newspapers, including The Northern Echo. He now lives in Crook.

Will you please settle a £10 bet? This request has come from friends Mally and Bev, who disagreed over whether a railway line once ran beside Ullathorne's Mill in Startforth. Mally insisted there wasn't one, and Bev was adamant there was a track, because he had seen a picture of it.

Unfortunately for Bev, the picture was a fake. Ullathorne's had it drawn by an artist to make the mill seem far grander than it really was.

The buildings were increased in number and size, and a railway was added between the river and castle, apparently to take away the vast output of threads and twines. The false scene was used in an advert sent to French customers, no doubt in an effort to give the company greater prestige. The mill was opened in 1760 and closed in 1932. In its heyday, the firm had branches in Paris, Australia and New Zealand, but the mill was in a sorry state before it was demolished in the Seventies.

The fake picture was largely forgotten before Glaxo discovered it and reproduced it on a brochure as an interesting feature of local history about 30 years ago. Sorry Bev, but this piece of deceit by the once-flourishing company has just cost you £10. But it was possibly no worse than modern artists' impressions, which show ordinary housing schemes as far more appealing than reality, with superb frontages, flowers and trees, and smiling, prosperous families.

Len Teasdale has made a splendid job of producing his latest DVD, recounting the history of religion in Woodland, following on from his previous one on local businesses that flourished in years gone by. It was to be expected that he would know all about the churches and people connected with them.

But he also seems to have mastered the technical side because this production, on two discs, has a professional look about it, providing an interesting show lasting well over an hour.

It was loaned to me by Colin Priestley, whose carpentry work can be seen in some of the scenes.

The DVD can be bought from Mr Teasdale by sending £12 and £1 for postage to him at 22 Garden View, Butterknowle, DL3 5PD. He has published two books on local history and is now working on his third DVD featuring sport and sports teams from the village.

Many people will be looking forward to viewing it and hoping to pick out faces they know in the many intriguing old photographs he is gathering.

Mr Priestley also gave me a copy of his CD, A Carpenter for Jesus, on which he sings 14 of his favourite numbers, including How Great Thou Art, I'll Walk Beside You and The Old Rugged Cross.

The recording was done some years ago in Woodland Methodist Chapel with Keith Wood at the organ.

This fine tenor singer, a veteran of many a concert, has given copies of the disc to his friends, and it must have given all of them a whole lot of pleasure.

Anyone who has missed the dale's history exhibition in the museum at Shildon will have a chance to catch it in Barnard Castle Methodist Church. All the top-rate tapestries, photographs and diagrams will be on display on Thursday, April 5, from 10.30am to 2pm.

It is advisable to make a note of the date now because this collection, organised by the Craft Works group, is well worth seeing. Those people who have seen it in Shildon say it has given them an excellent insight into the railways and the people who worked on them around the dale before they were closed by Dr Beeching in the Sixties