SOME features of life in Upper Teesdale are likely to be copied to improve conditions for families in one of the poorest parts of east Africa.

Bishop John Lupaa picked up some promising ideas when he spent four days here as a guest of Joyce Jackson and has taken them home to Tanzania.

He was impressed with the Day Club, in Middleton, when he visited and feels churches in his area could use it as a model for caring for orphans.

There are 120 of these unfortunate children in the village of Kilimatinde, which Mrs Jackson has helped greatly with funds raised in the dale in recent years.

The bishop was also impressed with the way power is generated and energy saved at the Langdon Beck youth hostel. He hopes some of its methods can be adapted to help his area.

Solar power is already used to run a blood bank, which Teesdale people helped to provide for Kilimatinde Hospital.

He also intends to pass on hints about small-scale farming. He wants to encourage pastors' wives to start keeping small numbers of cows, goats or chickens, with some shelter from the extremes of heat and close to home so they can be tended and fed.

Part of this plan is to grow crops to feed the animals, something that doesn't happen in his region. He hopes other families will follow this example.

He said this will be seen to give better results than the present way of trying to keep a large number of poor-quality animals which roam in search of fodder and harm the environment.

Mrs Jackson, who used to teach in Kilimatinde and has been back four times with aid since she retired, told me: "It is wonderful to know that the bishop learned things that will be useful in his homeland.

"It is lovely to think that some parts of life as we know it here can be copied to help many people."

RANTIN' RICHIE is starting a show on Radio Teesdale on Friday, from 9am to 11am. It will be his first daytime slot after featuring in the early evening until now.

"I mean to make it a lively bit of fun, something like the old-time variety shows," said Richie, whose official name is Peter Richardson.

"There'll be a bit of comedy, a spot of local history and a few eccentric characters. I want people to tune in and have a good laugh.

"I mean to give them a chuckle whatever else they are doing."

He is also starting a Sunday request programme, from 11am to 1pm, and is making a name for himself on the station, which is steadily becoming more popular.

Might he soon be tempted from his place behind the bar at the Black Horse and end up performing on a bigger wireless network? We'll have to wait and see.

MANY people from around Teesdale and beyond have enjoyed the new Sunday markets in Middleton this year, and the extra attractions have proved popular.

But perhaps it is just as well that they can't match the markets, or fair days as they were known, held in the village over a century ago.

Richard Watson described the hectic scene in one of his long poems.

Cattle, sheep and horses were sold, along with dairy produce and household items. Many visitors had fun touring colourful stalls and sideshows.

But some revellers had far too much to drink as they ambled around looking for bargains and mischief.

Dicky Coulthard, an ex-soldier who ran a small shop in Middleton, got into a fight with another former army man. Hundreds gathered round to cheer as the pair battered each other almost senseless.

Dicky won in the end but could hardly stand or see and had to be helped home.

A quack doctor offered pills that could cure every illness known to man. A local wag, Geordie Allison, pretended to have a sore leg. When the quack bent to inspect it, Geordie booted him to the ground.

One booth, admission tuppence, promised a performing dog, Brazilian python, Indian ape, Chinese pig, dancing bear and other wonders. But spectators who rushed in felt the show wasn't worth the money.

Three rough looking men from above High Force tried to sell a cow with an ugly leg wound.

It looked like a disease but they claimed it had only been bitten by a rattlesnake and would soon heal. They wanted £8 for the beast.

A farmer eventually offered £7 and after much haggling, they split the difference.

Parkin Raine brightened the day with his fiddle playing. But as darkness fell, two sets of drunks started a brawl, tearing in with fists, boots, stones and sticks.

So it's safe to say that most folk would prefer to keep the modern peaceful markets than return to one from those so-called good old days.

SUE ROBERTS, Kathleen Cosgrove and Kathleen Lodge were delighted with their takings of £875 from two market stalls they ran in Barnard Castle. Their annual fundraising is for one of the more unusual causes - to help with the upkeep of the Catholic cemetery in the town.

"It costs a lot to look after the burial ground, so we do our bit to support it," explained Mrs Cosgrove.

Customers are pleased with the stalls whatever the reason behind them, because the cakes and pastries baked by the threesome and their friends are said to be scrumptious - and the bric a brac they sell includes some useful pieces.