THOSE who erroneously believe that these little essays are prone to a certain verbosity, should read the account of the opening on Friday, May 19, 1876, of Christ Church, Great Ayton. The Northern Echo had just four pages in those days, and most of that consumed by advertisements for hair restorer and rheumatism remover and other patent mendacity of the day. Much of the remainder that mid-May morning seemed devoted to an account, detailed down to the encaustic tiles, of the grand occasion at Great Ayton. As is the column's habit, we shall attempt succinctly to summarise:

1. The sun shone.

2. Great Ayton was considered "the prettiest as well as the healthiest of Cleveland villages".

3. The church in The Echo correspondent's considered opinion was among the most handsome structures in the North Riding - "so seemly, so beautiful and so commodious" and was full in every part.

The 125th anniversary approaches apace, the Archdeacon of Cleveland there tomorrow, the Bishop of Whitby on June 3, the column last Sunday.

1. It absolutely tossed down.

2. Great Ayton remains exceptionally attractive and, though subject to life's slings and arrows, is probably quite healthy, too.

3. Though Christ Church still looks seemly and so forth from here, the great architectural sourpuss Niklaus Pevsner sought to disagree - "a restless composition with an uninteresting interior," he wrote, though the village may not have lost much sleep over it.

The new building had been pondered for years, deemed impossible because of the down turn in the iron trade, was finally built for just under £5,000 to replace the 12th Century All Saints - which remains on the other side of the vicarage garden.

"It is felt that while the church is surrounded by scenery so lovely and beautiful that the House of God ought to have a corresponding character, such as behoves its sacred purpose," observed a contemporary account, adding that the size should be in proportion to the growing population, then around 1,500.

The 19th Century number crunchers therefore decided that Christ Church should accommodate 356 adults, 88 children and the choir - though how they came by their calculations can only be imagined.

All Saints, where the future Captain James Cook worshipped and some of his family are buried, was effectively abandoned. The Victorians just walked away, says Paul Peverell, the present vicar, and they hadn't far to go.

It was long cared for by Maurice Hodgson, who died aged 92 in 1997 and who would carry a hip flask - and not of tea - for when the weather was cold or the sermon long winded, or both.

All Saints, in humble contrast to its neighbour, is still used on summer afternoons, a photograph in the vestry depicting the extravagantly bearded Joseph Ibbitson, Great Ayton's vicar for 52 years and the man chiefly responsible for the new church.

A memorial in Christ Church acknowledges "a faithful preacher of the word, watching for souls and not shrinking to declare the whole causes of God."

Paul Peverell, formerly at St Martin's in Middlesbrough and doubtless of much the same calibre, greets his flock from just inside the rain lashed main door. His three-year-old daughter Hannah hugs his knees, his son David hands out the books inside. "There is a great sense of belonging to the church in Great Ayton," says Paul afterwards and whilst it may not have been as full as early mathematics supposed there are maybe 150 - including an unusually high number of men - nonetheless.

The service begins with Come Let Us Join Our Cheerful Songs and it proves a cheerful, singing sort of church, other resounding old favourites including Come Ye Faithful Raise the Anthem.

The epistle's from the road to Damascus, the Gospel from the shores of Lake Galilee - who counted the 153 fish? - the intercessions again acknowledge a lovely village and a delightful place in which to live.

The vicar announces that the dinner to mark the 125th anniversary will be at Middlesbrough FC's Riverside Stadium on May 19 - "I know that some younger people will associate the Riverside Stadium mainly with sadness" - and that, perhaps for the first time in those intervening years, the man from The Northern Echo is back among them. He is Mr Mike Moses, says Paul, clearly confusing his Old Testament heroes - but that's Great Ayton, in short.

l Principal Sunday services at Christ Church are at 9.15am and 6pm. The Archdeacon of Cleveland will join the celebrations at 6pm tomorrow and the Bishop of Whitby at 6pm on June 3. After a six month refurbishment, the Friends Meeting House in Great Ayton re-opens today. The Rev Paul Peverell is on (01642) 722333.