THE organisers of the fete were right in deciding to set up a bit later than usual: the downpours on Saturday morning would have severely affected the process.

Fortunately it all dried up beautifully and by the time the first visitors were beginning to turn up, the sun was out and the afternoon turned out to be bright and sunny.

There was a real buzz about and there seemed to be lots of people browsing at the bric-a-brac, the book stall and the jumble. The raffle tickets sold out and the bottle stall was constantly busy.

You know my views about the Wark teas and last Saturday’s was no exception.

I understand the fete raised a whopping £2200 to support St Michael’s Church – an excellent result.

Thanks to all the people who turned out on the day and especially the volunteers who made the fete such a success.

YOU may have spotted that the scaffolding is finally being removed from the bridge and next week will see its official reopening.

On Tuesday, July 14, everyone is invited to enjoy the formal opening of Wark’s refurbished bridge.

The bridge will be closed for about an hour, from 10am until 11am, to allow the plaques to be attached and the ceremony to take place.

The celebrations will involve the children from Wark First School, who will sing a special song, and the Monday Men.

There will be refreshments in the town hall and an exhibition on the history of the bridge.

I’VE been asked to let you know that Birtley Village Hall invites you to a family barbecue on Sunday, July 19, from 1pm.

Apart from delicious food to enjoy, there will be lots of games for children to play and a live appearance from local talent Amy Ridley.

YOU will have spotted the scaffolding on the town hall which went up last week. This is to allow restoration work to be carried out on the clock tower.

The roof of the hall has continued to leak on and off and the problem seems to be round the tower itself.

Fortunately the timbers are still in good condition, but new flashing will be fixed, the missing boards will be replaced and the whole thing will be repainted.

As the town hall is a listed building, the town hall committee has appointed a specialist contractor with extensive experience of historic buildings. The work is supposed to take two to three weeks.

There isn’t currently the money to restore the town hall clock, but funding applications are being made in the hope that this may also happen later in the year.

HAVE you heard of Joe the Quilter, who was murdered near Warden in 1826?

Beamish Museum is using his story to engage people from this area to come and find out about the new plans for Beamish, which go under the banner Remaking Beamish.

You’re invited to come and find out more on Wednesday, July 15 at Newbrough Town Hall, starting at 7pm.