FROM this newspaper 100 years ago. - Tuesday last was chosen as the occasion for the annual picnic of the Darlington & Stockton Times office staff, Scarborough being selected as the rendezvous.

Each department - literary, commercial, composing, lino., machine, and stereo - was fully represented, including members from Stockton, Northallerton and Thirsk. The party left Darlington by saloon attached to the 8.34am express and arrived at their destination shortly after 11 o'clock. The Salisbury Hotel was made headquarters for the day and after an excellent dinner a move was made, the party dividing into small sections in order to sample every form of amusement that Scarborough affords. Meeting at the hour fixed for tea the jovial company again did ample justice to the variety of good things. The homeward journey commenced at 8.10pm, York being reached shortly after 9 o'clock when the party alighted for a stroll of an hour and a half in the city. Darlington was safely reached shortly after 11 o'clock and the outing was on all hands voted a decided success.

From this newspaper 50 years ago. - It must be increasingly difficult for organisers of fetes to think up something new for raising money. Bowling for pigs, treasure hunts, tombola and the like are hardy annuals and while nobody minds untrousering coppers for a good cause, it is good to find something new now and again. At the British Legion fete in Ripon on Saturday, one money-spinner had more than average spectator interest. Behind a wire netting, tempting providence it seemed, walked a man in a tall hat. The idea was to knock off the hat - just above the netting - with a tennis ball and the excitement must largely have been in fact that only a wire screen saved him from what an onlooker called "a nasty bash on the beezer." It drew a big crowd.

From this newspaper 25 years ago. - It is reported that new moves are afoot to close a village school. If this is the case, the moves by Durham County to close Mickleton School are disturbing for two reasons. It seems to set at nought both the wishes of the villagers and a fairly recent decision by the Government in power two years ago, and it also set a disturbing pattern for the future. At a time when village schools are often fighting for survival, an attempt to close one becomes a very sensitive issue. Local authorities have reaffirmed many times their support for maintaining the character of village communities and this aim must inevitably be linked with the maintenance of a village school. To disregard a community's wishes on this razor-edge issue savours of blatant intransigence, or to use a good Yorkshire word - cussedness.