AVOVE PICTURE: This 1974 picture of Thirsk Market Place is a roll call of national retailers now no longer. The Fine Fare supermarket had just opened – the town’s first – but within a few years it became Gateway, then Somerfield as the supermarket industry consolidated. Other big names now defunct included Granada TV rentals and Foster Menswear. The Golden Fleece, of course, is an ever-present, here pictured with a full cladding of ivy.

FROM this newspaper 150 years ago. –

Middlesbrough Police Court.

Pitch and Toss. – John Fowler and Benj. Banks, both aged about 17 years, were charged by Sgt Hopper with playing at pitch and toss. The officer stated that on Sunday morning about 11 o’clock he was in the neighbourhood of the docks, and in a position to see a piece of spare ground behind the Turf Hotel, Commercialstreet, where the defendants and some others were playing at pitch and toss. After watching both defendants toss the coins for some time he obtained the assistance of PC Mann and went to apprehend the gamblers, but before they could up, the youths took to their heels and he and Mann only managed to get hold of defendants. The defendants assured the Bench that it was the first time they had been guilty of the offence.

They were both cautioned and informed that they had rendered themselves liable to a penalty of 40s and were fined 10s including costs, or 14 days’ imprisonment.

From this newspaper 100 years ago. –

A Greater Darlington. The most interesting feature of Thursday’s meeting of the Darlington Town Council was the announcement of the receipt of a letter from the Local Government Board intimating that the central authority was favourable to the grant of county borough powers to Darlington subject to one or two conditions which have yet to be made public. The application for extension of the borough boundaries has also been considered, and is granted in part, but here again the ratepayers must possess their souls in patience until such time as more definite information is forthcoming as to the extent of the area which is now offered for inclusion within the borough. So far as can be gathered from the very general terms in which the Local Government Board’s letter is framed, portions only of Cockerton and Haughton are to be added to Darlington, and we presume that before the Town Council proceed further in the matter they will carefully ascertain the financial effect of the Local Government’s Board’s modifications of the original proposals, and also of the conditions now sought to be imposed on the grant of county borough powers.

Darlington and Stockton Times:

Advertisement from 100 years ago

There is no obligation on the Town Council to accept the offer now made to them, and if the terms are found to be unduly onerous the way is open quietly to drop the whole project until a more favourable occasion. On the other hand, if the Town Council decide to go forward with their proposals they are by no means at the end of their journey. The Durham County Council, at its meeting on Wednesday, gave the requisite authority to its Local Government Committee to oppose the Confirming Bill in Parliament in the event of the Local Government Board making a Provisional Order, and it is commonly reported that the North Eastern Railway, which took a specially active share in the opposition at the local inquiry, is also bent on carrying its opposition to Westminster.

Darlington and Stockton Times:

Advertisement from 100 years ago

From this newspaper 50 years ago. –

Concern about the security arrangements at the Northallerton Young Prisoners’ Centre, where there have been three escapes, involving eight prisoners in the last month is being voiced by some people in the town. The latest incident was on Tuesday afternoon, when six prisoners made a short-lived dash for freedom, after tying up an instructor in the carpenter’s shop. He managed to free himself and raised the alarm.

At the next meeting of Northallerton Urban Council, Councillor Miss Pamela Bramley will raise the question of security and seek assurances from the Home Secretary about future safeguards. On Tuesday after getting over the wall with a “make-shift” ladder, the six prisoners set prison officers a pretty chase about the town and across fields. All of them were back inside the walls within about half-an-hour, after many dramatic incidents in the hunt, in which a farmer’s car was taken and wrecked in a ditch, and a former long-distance Army champion runner chased one prisoner across fields and gardens before capturing him. It proved far more exciting than the local elections, though many people saw something of the hunt for the escapees, as prison officers and police officers concentrated in the Valley Road locality.