ONLY a matter of 189 years separates members of the 68th Foot re-enactment group from their worthy originals.

The enthusiasts are enduring battlefield conditions on Teesside similar to what the forerunners of the Durham Light Infantry braved in the Peninsula Wars, under the Duke of Wellington in 1812.

There was noise and fire, not from the long-silenced cannons of Napoleon's army in Spain, but from chemical flare stacks across the road from their camp in the grounds of Kirkleatham Old Hall Museum, Redcar.

And there were all the other rigours of campaign life - biting cold, hail and mud.

Despite the chill wind and a blitz of hail stones, the group fired their muskets and demonstrated drills for the 1,000 visitors who converged on the museum at the weekend. And they will do it all again today.