Retired teacher Joyce Jackson plans to make her fourth visit later this summer to Tanzania with more funds from Teesdale residents to support a village hospital.

This time, the money will go towards an infusion unit for eye and ear treatments, so it will be a great boon to many local people.

Mrs Jackson has already helped to buy a lot of valuable medical equipment, including a blood bank, which has led to the setting up of a much-needed HIV unit for the remote community in Kilimatinde, East Africa. It is little wonder that her arrival there always causes massive excitement.

She will travel with two friends, Joan Lewington and Stephen Sandeman, who have never been to Kilimatinde before but are anxious to do what they can to assist. Conditions are promising there at the moment, as rains have filled a reservoir and crops have been planted successfully following three disastrous years in which there was hardly any water. Families had to be put on maize relief aid.

How much money will the trio take with them? It depends on how much is raised at a coffee morning to be held in the Masonic Hall in Middleton on Saturday, May 19, from 10.30am to 11.45am.

"I have a nice sum in the kitty already, but hope to get a lot more from the event," said Mrs Jackson.

"Teesdale folk have always been generous to this good cause and I'm sure they will be again this time. Any funds we take with us will do a lot of good for a whole lot of people."

One visitor from Kilimatinde marvelled at the amount of water in Teesdale when she was brought here on a visit. She gazed in wonder at High Force waterfall and asked: "What time is it turned off?"

Alex Johnston will soon be spared the arduous weekly task of winding up the clock on St Mary's Parish Church, in Gainford. A new mechanism to wind it and regulate the pendulum is to be fitted next month, averting the need to crank two heavy weights from the bottom to the top of the tower manually,

The clock, installed in 1865, is the only public timepiece in the village. It can be seen from many vantage points and chimes every hour, so it is extremely useful to residents. It was made by Williams Potts, who was born and learned his trade in Darlington before moving to Leeds.

Mr Johnson, the tower captain in charge of bell ringing, spends more than ten minutes every Sunday morning doing the cranking.

"It seemed easier about 15 years ago, but now it is more of a struggle and I need a good bowl of porridge before tackling it," he told me with a chuckle. "It will be lovely to give up the job."

Other bell ringers do the cranking when he is on holiday. The new system will cost £5,891, all of which has been raised. Work will start once formal consent has been given by officials of the diocese.

The clock was installed with guidance from Edmund Beckett Denison, a lawyer who became Lord Grimthorpe. Later he designed and supervised the installation of machinery for Big Ben, and it is felt, around this village at least, that his experience in Gainford helped to prepare him for his work on the nation's most famous timepiece.

Norma Smith, whose book about the Thompson family of Newbiggin was recently launched at Middleton Methodist Church, has a piece in it about her great-uncle John Thompson, whom she calls a man of few words. In fact, the only three words she remembers him ever uttering were addressed to his dog Spot: "Gie ower scratten." This of course was an order to stop scratching.

Start of dynasty - Page 29

What were hoggers, as worn by coal miners in the old days? Sarah Stainthorpe sent in this query after coming across the word in an old document. Million Makepeace of Butterknowle, who used to be a miner, gave me the answer. They were short trousers, named after pipes of the same name used to pump compressed air down pits.

"I never wore hoggers myself, but a lot of men did in an earlier era." he said. "It was often hot and wet down the mines, so shorts kept men cooler and didn't get soaked as much. They were more comfortable.

"Some men walked from home in ordinary trousers and changed into hoggers at the pit. Then they changed back before going home."

Anyone wishing to see these garments can do so at the Gaunless Valley heritage centre at Butterknowle.

There are several old photographs of miners wearing them at pits, which provided most of the work in the area. They came to just above the knee and looked quite smart, rather like the shorts which many men wear today, though not as baggy.

There is one good shot of Sid Shaw and John Tom looking very fashionable in them at a drift mine in Woodland.

Our extensive coverage of the local government elections on Saturday meant we were unable to publish Teesdale Talk in its regular weekend slot. We apologise to the column's many followers. Teesdale Talk will return to its regular slot this Saturday