WHEN one of Spectator's colleagues finally got round to looking through all the clubs' and societies' magazines and newsletters which had poured through the letterbox, and been put by, over the holiday period, an item in the RNLI's journal The Lifeboat caught her eye.

Exploring its social history, the RNLI printed a photograph from the long-defunct News Chronicle of October 30, 1941, of Sheringham lifeboatmen sharing a cup of tea with "the rescued crew of the Canadian steamer Eaglescliffe Hall".

Eaglescliffe Hall? Eaglescliffe being a comparatively recent spelling of the place name, anything old enough to be called "hall" would surely have been Egglescliffe. Maybe the steamer was built on Teesside and had ended up in Canada; maybe there is an Eaglescliffe in Canada complete with hall. Unless a reader can help, she will remain one of life's little mysteries.

Great set

AFICIONADOS of the Frank Skinner Show on the television will be familiar with his house band - a group of elderly musicians who look sprightly enough but clearly have been drawing their pensions for more than a few years.

Spectator spotted their equal on Friday night at the Cleveland Farmers' Charity Ball at the Marton Hotel and Country Club. The John Ray Set looked like four retired bank managers but played like young bucks. Their rendition of the Spencer Davis Group standard Gimme Some Loving was among the most bluesey Spectator has heard in a long time and they managed to keep the dance floor filled for most of the evening.

All credit too to the ball committee for their excellent organisation of what must be one of the biggest events of its kind in the area.

Apart from a break during the Second World War, the event has been held annually since the Twenties. However, the year of the very first ball is unknown. Can any reader help?

Paper economy

They are a canny lot at Pateley Bridge auction mart.

For years they have sent us their sale results on a plain piece of paper (no fancy letterhead) which has routinely omitted the name of the mart. Luckily our farming page supremo, having spent almost a lifetime deciphering illegible scrawl sent in from all corners of the region, has always been able to recognise the handwriting and we have published the correct information for the correct mart.

The economy with words now stretches to the paper the report is written on. This week's report was submitted on the back of a page from last year's calendar