February 5, 1966

"DRINK record is spoiled, Leyburn court informed", said the headline in the D&S Times 50 years ago. Supt Field of Richmond police was giving his annual report about the sobriety of the Hang West Division of Yorkshire (Hang West covered Wensleydale west of Thornton Steward).

The article said: "Four male persons had been convicted of drunkenness in 1965. Two were residents. There had been no convictions for drunkenness in 1964. This spoils the unblemished record of the past two years, and there were people who had been convicted of offences relating to drinking and driving. Supt Field said none of these persons convicted were residents in the licensing area but figures of three persons being convicted emphasised the national rise in offences related to drinking and driving."

Supt Field was obviously busy that week for the same edition of the paper contained the headline: "Sober Gilling East: only drunk was non resident". The report said: "Only one person, a non resident, was convicted of drunkenness in the Gilling East division last year compared with two the previous year and ten in 1963, but five people were convicted of driving or being in charge of motor vehicles while their ability was impaired through drink, an increase of one compared with 1964.

"Supt Field said this small increase mirrored the national trend, and it appeared that some people did not realise the dangers of drinking and driving."

It had been an offence to drive while drunk, or impaired through drink, since 1925, but no limit on the amount of alcohol you could have in your bloodstream was introduced until 1967 when Supt Field must have got a new breathalyser to play with.

February 5, 1916

"EGG collection by school children", said the headline in the D&S 100 years ago. "During the past week, there has been established at Masham, under the management of Mr H Lupton, schoolmaster, a central depot of the National Egg Collecting Society, which collects eggs for the wounded soldiers and sailors."

Mr Lupton, said the article, had engaged children from the Masham Charity School who had collected "170 new laid" eggs for despatch to the society headquarters. It was an impressive effort, but further down the page was a headline "Patriotic entertainment".

The article said: "Kirbymoorside and district has done well in collecting eggs for our wounded soldiers, there having been collected since August 18 over 27,000 eggs, but efforts are not to slacken. On Tuesday evening an entertainment was given in the Church House, Kirbymoorside, by members of the women's and girls' club, the proceeds being for the National Egg Collecting Fund. There was a large attendance."

The idea of a national egg collection was hatched in November 1914 by Frederick Carl, the editor of Poultry World. He wanted to collect 20,000 eggs a week for soldiers in hospital in Boulogne. His egg cups soon runneth over, and by Easter 1915, 200,000 eggs a week were coming in. Queen Alexandra became patron of the scheme and in the week that Kirbymoorside joined in, one million eggs (1,030,380 to be precise) were collected for the first time.

There were at least 2,000 egg depots across the country, putting the eggs collected in places like Masham into special boxes which were then transported free on the railways to a central warehouse in London for onward distribution. Collectors sometimes wrote messages on the eggs which enabled wounded soldiers to send them a thank-you letter in return. Prolific collectors received certificates and postcards to encourage them (we'd love to hear from you if you have an ancestor's egg collection certificate).

The egg collectors were stood down in March 1919, by which time they had collected more than 41m eggs, 32m of which had been sent to the hospitals in France and Belgium.

The fund-raising night in Kirbymoorside 100 years sounds like an eggy event that could not be beaten. "The programme opened with the chorus England, excellently rendered by the Troupe," said the D&S. "The song A Little Bit of Heaven was effectively sung by Miss Lily Cooper, and Sgt-Maj GH Leek gave a fine rendering of the tenor song Mona.

"Creep Mouse was a clever piece of child acting in which Miss Annie Potter took the solo part... The song Switch Me On To Ipswich was given with real spirit by Miss Eileen Markham, who was encored and gave The Tin Gee-Gee with equal success. "

February 3, 1866

THE lavish way in which members of the upper classes celebrated notable events in their family's life with their wider community was shown by this report from Grinton, Swaledale, 150 years ago. It said: "The Rt Hon Lord Bolton, of Bolton Hall, Wensleydale, having amply and generously provided dinners in ten parishes for all his tenants and all miners and other workmen employed at or in connection with the workings on his estates, in celebration of his son, the Rt Hon T Orde Powlett, attaining his majority, on Wednesday last an excellent dinner was given at the the house of Mr T Winter, innkeeper, Grinton, when 40 sat down." Neither of the right honourable gentlemen was present although their health, said the D&S, was "drunk enthusiastically" – perhaps unsurprising, as they were footing the bill.