June 25, 1966

“WITH a crash that was heard four miles away, a thunderbolt struck the main bringing water from the Sowden Beck reservoir to the Leyburn area on Tuesday evening,” reported the D&S Times exactly 50 years ago. “It struck where the main is four-and-a-half feet underground in a field about a quarter of a mile from East Witton, and fractured the pipe.

“Mr H Braithwaite, the local engineer for the Northallerton and Dales Water Board, had the water cut off above the break to prevent flooding.

“Cllr Ernest Dinsdale, of Holly Tree Farm, East Witton, said the explosion was terrifying. It was fortunate that's it struck in the field instead of in the village, he said.”

Elsewhere, the paper reported that two Catterick Camp soldiers, John Scobbie, 18, and Curtis Weeks, 20, of the Signal Regiment, were each fined £10 after pleading guilty to wilfully smashing glass in a bus shelter in Tunstall.

“It is a pity you cannot be thrashed for this sort of thing," said the chairman of the bench, RW Waldie.

June 24, 1916

FIFTY years earlier, the D&S had reported on more bother squaddies’ shenanigans. “At a special sitting of the Richmond County Justices, seven privates from Catterick Camp were each fined 10s for stealing a 54 gallon cask of beer of the value of £5 9s 6d, the property of Samuel Smiths’ brewery, Tadcaster,” said the paper.

It explained: “The barrel was placed among some empty ones to be returned to the brewery, and when the rolley went round last week, the empty ones were taken and the full one left.

“On Sunday, the barrel was rolled from its position into a meadow field, and in the evening, one of the military policemen found four of the men sitting near it drinking beer out of a jar. They were all under the influence of drink, and were conveyed to the guardroom.

“Later on, one of the military policemen again visited the field, and found the three other men sitting near the barrel drinking beer out of a broken bottle.”

The privates insisted they hadn’t stolen the beer, but agreed that they – and many others – had drunk it.

The report concluded: “The bench said the contractors ought to exercise more care when they left beer. It was a great temptation to the soldiers leaving it at the bank side.”

June 23, 1866

THE fashionable sport 150 years ago was “pedestrianism” – long distance endurance walking. It seems to have evolved from the days when members of the gentry had their foot servants walking or jogging beside their coach as they travelled. One master who pit his foot servant against another’s for fun.

By the end of the 18th Century, there were professional pedestrians who walked for wagers – in 1773, Foster Powell walked from London to York and back in six days for a 1,000 guinea bet.

The heyday of pedestrianism began in the 1860s, when the “fair heel and toe rule” – either a heel or a toe had to be on the ground to prevent running – was introduced, and the first English amateur walking championships were held in 1866.

Exactly 150 years ago, there was a curious outbreak of pedestrianism in Teesdale. “During the present week, a young fellow has been trying his powers of endurance by walking for six days between Bishop Auckland and Barnard Castle,” reported the D&S.

“This distance, 15 miles, by no means favourable ground, he covers four times each day, thus doing his 60 miles every 24 hours. The weather has been against him, and the heavy rain on Wednesday night, in addition to the positive discomfort to the man, left the road very bird-limey.”

What a great description: bird-limey. But what can it mean?

The paper said soldiers were joining the unnamed lad to encourage him.

“The young fellow has undertaken the feat "for anything he may catch at the end of the job" and our informant expresses the hope that "when the hat goes round, not a few will see to it that there is a crown in it",” said the paper.