COUNCIL officers are currently wrestling with the question of what to do with Thirsk's World of James Herriot.

Readers will recall the combination of foot-and-mouth and September 11 dealt the centre a heavy blow last year. A 30pc drop in visitors meant a projected loss of £70,000-plus at the end of the financial year which is on top of the £85,000 Hambleton District Council has to pay towards the £1.4m cost of creating the centre.

There's a good chance that much of the lost income will return now life in the county is back to something like normality, but officers still reckon they could make a loss of £90,000 plus in the next financial year.

A variety of options are being considered to boost income and cut costs, including moving the tourist information centre out of the Herriot centre to leave more room for retail space, closing completely on quiet days and cutting opening hours and staff. But by far the most radical idea is to let the private sector operate the centre.

This is a tough one forHambleton. It was a considerable act of faith by the council to establish the centre and it remains one of its proudest achievements. But it should also acknowledge that as a local authority it may not be great shakes at running tourist attractions. The private sector might well make a better job of it and in doing so be less of a drain on the public purse.

Hambleton deserves credit for bringing about the birth of the centre but it may not be the best parent to deal with a adolescent with growing pains.

Trimdon teaser

THAT group of communities known collectively as "The Trimdons" has always been something of a mystery, particularly for those trying to find an address but unable to ascertain where one Trimdon ends and t'others begin.

Having the Prime Minister in residence doesn't seem to have given the area much of a profile either. Writing to an address simply given as "Trimdon" with no post code, a reader conscientiously rang the telephone number from which such things are readily available.

"We haven't got a Trimdon in County Durham," said the code supplier. "We've only got a Trimdon Station." That'll be news to many residents, then.

Undeterred, our reader rang the proposed recipient of his letter, who supplied not only her Teesside postcode but the information that phone numbers were puzzling too: "We have a Hartlepool number and Fishburn, just up the road, is on Stockton."

Oh well, borders have to be drawn somewhere. If only we knew where.

No births here

A sign outside a Darlington town centre pub will no doubt come as a relief to bar staff, drinkers and local midwives.

The blackboard outside Yates's Wine Lodge in Skinnergate proclaims: "Sorry, we are not permitted to have children on the premises."