From this newspaper 50 years ago (July 31, 1965)

The D&S Times said: “A “little idea” that Northallerton with a present population of 6,740 might expand to a township of 30,000 in the next 15 years seems to have been seized on by everyone.”

The idea had been put forward by the chairman of Northallerton Urban Council, Cllr CH Sawdon, who said he favoured “natural growth”. He said: “It would be far better if Northallerton goes on growing steadily as it is now than have a great influx of bulldozers.”

The council was working closely with the Northallerton Rural Council on the project. The rural council covered a population of 8,900, and it “would be closely affected by any such expansion as Romanby, which adjoins Northallerton and which is expanding rapidly, is in the rural district.”

Today, Romanby has practically been consumed by Northallerton, and the town’s population in the 2011 census was 16,832 – barely half as large as Cllr Sawdon’s vision.

There was also concern 50 years ago about the fate of the town hall in the High Street, which is such a characteristic of Northallerton.

Cllr DH Willoughby “asked if the council was taking down the town hall, if it was going to be made into a market hall, or whether provision would be made in the building for new public conveniences. A lot of ratepayers are asking about it.”

However, he was “unable to elicit much fresh information” at the urban council meeting, which was rather surprising as the council had imposed a deadline on its itself on getting the problem of the town hall concluded within three months.

From this newspaper 100 years ago (July 31, 1915)

Under the headline, “Life on a shilling a day”, the D&S Times showed the effects of the First World War were hitting home.

It said: “A professional man, whose income has been reduced by the war, writes to the Times describing how he has economised by adopting the following system, which has kept him in normal health and made him able to work 11 hours a day. He is 63, has a sedentary occupation, and has not had a holiday since 1913.

“I breakfast at 8am, bread and butter, washed down with hot water and milk (.5d a day) – tea has no nutritive qualities. Luncheon at 1pm, 2oz of cooked meat, bread, half-a-pint of ale, one apple. Dinner at 7pm, 2oz of meat or, if cold, a small lettuce (or half a large one). 1oz of cheese, one apple or other fruit, water to drink. A 2d loaf of standard bread suffices for all meals, and the whole costs less than 1s a day.

“My wife and daughters do not follow my system.”

Meanwhile, the august ladies – Mary C Harbottle, H Blanche Pease and Elziabeth Brennan – on the committee of the Darlington Woman’s United Service Club, which met in 6 North Terrace on High Northgate, were appealing for help.

“We have just had to return the chairs that were lent to us from one of the halls in the town,” they wrote. “The club is being well attended, and a hundred chairs will be needed. If any friends interested in this work can either give or lend an odd kitchen chair, it will be a great help.

“The piano that was so kindly lent to us has also had to be withdrawn, and it is imperative that we should have another. Will some sympathetic friend come to our aid?”

From this newspaper 150 years ago (July 29, 1865)

THE bitterness of the North Riding election, which we’ve been following in this column for several weeks, had reached the ears of The Times newspaper in London. It had written an editorial about the victory speech by the Liberal candidate, Frederick Milbank, in which he turned upon his two defeated Tory friends, William Duncombe of Helmsley and William Morritt of Rokeby.

He roared: “I have torn down the blue flag which floated from the towers of Duncombe Park – the symbol of the degradation and thraldom of the North Riding. I have broken the neck of Conservatism.”

The Times, though, was not impressed by the “high dithyrambic tone of Mr Milbank” (our dictionary suggests this means vehement, wild and boisterous), and it couldn’t understand any gentleman who, having beaten an opponent, “kept on hitting at him”.

Meanwhile, the D&S Times also reported how a lady, Mrs Emmerson, in Durham, had been “most shockingly bitten” by a dog while visiting her neighbour, Mr Steel, in South Street.

“The flesh (on her legs) being torn and jagged dreadfully”.

The dog laid low for a couple of days before being spotted, when it “was chased by some men, who ultimately ran him down near Mr Colpitts’ brewery.

“Lynch law was immediately carried into effect. It was without judge, jury or trial, sentenced to a death it richly deserved – that of hanging, which was carried out at once.

“Two dog fanciers examined its mouth, which they pronounced perfectly clean and healthy, and gave their opinion that no madness, or symptoms of it, existed.”