THE church column happily out of the way, a couple of pints on Sunday lunchtime at the launch of Mithril Ales, the region’s newest brewery.

It was held at the Quaker in Darlington, recipient of many Campaign for Real Ale awards, shirtsleeved pollisses seemingly saturating the town centre.

Either they were expecting a much bigger turnout than the Quaker was, or the other pubs must have been showing some football match or other on television.

Since we’d missed one another on Fathers’ Day, the bairns were also in attendance, both drinking something called lager top. Paternal exasperation forbade asking what the top was: could this be the 21st Century equivalent of the ill-conceived lager and lime?

Mithril – something to do with Lord of the Rings – is the brainchild of Pete Fenwick, who lives in Aldbrough St John, between Darlington and Richmond, and who’ll continue his day job as a transport planner in Middlesbrough.

Someone whispered that he’d not only once been a punk, but that he’d drunk snakebite, too. “I still do if there’s no real ale,” he confessed, unabashed.

Brewing began on his kitchen table, continues out the back. The experimental No 2, 6 and 10 ales have been tweaked, rebadged as Local, Flower Power and A66, where some may get their kicks.

“Real ale’s the one corner of the brewing industry that’s bucking the recession,” he said. “I just fancied seeing my name in pubs, hearing people say that they were enjoying my beer.”

They certainly seemed to be; by 6.45pm it had all gone. Hit or Mithril, Pete’s cautious. It’s just possible that, like the rest of the forlorn footballers, Darlington was drowning its sorrows, too.

BLOOMING wonderful, as doubtless has been suggested before, the flower festival season continues this weekend with Once Upon a Time – each display based on a children’s story – at St Mark’s church in Eldon, between Shildon and Bishop Auckland.

No doubt considering the lilies of the field, I shall be conducting the official opening at 7pm tomorrow.

The church will again be open from 10am to 5pm on Saturday – refreshments all day – with entertainment on Saturday evening (7pm to 9pm) from Diane White’s school of dance and from Mike Lee, a magician.

All proceeds from Saturday evening, including a separate raffle and adult and children’s tombolas, will go to the Teenage Cancer Unit at Newcastle RVI.

The church will be open from 2pm to 5.30pm on Sunday, the weekend culminating with a songs of praise service at 6pm, led by Canon Christopher Atkinson.

Other upcoming flower festivals include Hamsterley Methodists (August 13-15) and St Andrew’s in Aycliffe Village (September 3-5) which already is turning into a villagewide weekend celebration.

The ideas, the inspiration and the enthusiasm will be as fresh as the flowers themselves. Only the opener remains the same.

SPEAKING of Hamsterley – you know, edge of the forest – Simon Raine wonders if we might mention the Hamsterley Players’ production of Ladies’ Day, in the village hall from July 22-24. “It’s about four female fish filleters from Hull who go to Royal Ascot ladies’ day when the meeting’s transferred to York,” he says. Tickets are £4, recommended age 15-plus. We contact Simon: X-certificate in leafy Hamsterley?

“It’s not too bad on the language front but we have to be a bit careful,” he says. “It is four fish filleters so it can be a bit earthy – or salty, at any rate.” Filleted or otherwise, the f-words fly from at 7.30pm.

THE piece a couple of weeks back on internationally acclaimed lute player Jacob Heringman – American born, now enchanted by Richmond – said that Susanna Pell, his wife, was a singer. We must have been hearing things. Apologies. Susanna plays the viola da gamba – “like me, in the field of early music,” says Jacob – is a member of an ensemble called Fretwork and is no less anxious to spend more time around family and North Yorkshire.

THE Eating Owt column wrote the other day about the Honest Lawyer, the At Your Service column about the splendid Whitworth church, near Spennymoor.

Ray Gibbon, whose book recalling constabulary duty appeared in John North at much the same time, unifies them all.

Ray, former polliss and mayor of Durham, remembers – as the Whitworth column had – the great flood of 1967 that wiped out the nearby village of Page Bank.

On duty that November night, Ray and his dog Rebel were called to Croxdale – then on the A1 – where the Wear had also burst its banks.

The police job was to try to keep traffic moving – which they did with little help from their four-legged friend.

“Rebel claimed that he’d never had traffic control training in dry or wet conditions. He spent the night, apart from the occasional comfort break, curled up warm and dry in the van.”