Romanby Post Office will close this weekend SHOCKED residents fear their community is being left high and dry after it was announced the post office and shop taken over just six weeks ago will close this weekend. The news came amid claims of a high rent for the Post Office and shop in Romanby, near Northallerton. It is understood the premises are owned by a private landlord. A distressed resident, who asked not to be named, told the Darlington and Stockton Times: The service it offered was doubly precious because it took over the Post Office services from the local shop and Post Office after the existing postmaster retired.
A FOOTBALL supporter received a surprise visit from a sporting hero when he dropped in to say ‘hello’ after hearing she was a fan. Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock made special trip to Appleton Wiske when he learned Yvonne Hills, who works at the local store and Post Office, had said she would like to meet him. The Boro boss confided in journalists that he had recently found himself in a picturesque North Yorkshire parish he did not know when he got lost while out cycling. Scott Wilson, the Northern Echo’s Chief Sports Writer, recognised it as Appleton Wiske as he lives there and told him next time he should visit the local shop.
THE light has appeared at the end of the tunnel but we have got a few more weeks yet before pubs and restaurants can take those first tentative steps to serving customers on the premises – even if we have to stretch the definition of premises to include the beer garden or terrace. This week’s local excursion in search of a takeaway meal took us to Appleton Wiske, a village at the centre of the Darlington/Stockton/Northallerton triangle. It’s about ten minutes from home – or would have been if it hadn’t been for the collection of half a dozen vehicles seemingly parked at random, lights blazing at various angles on the back round into the village from Deighton.
FIFTY years ago on Monday, Britain changed its currency. Out went pounds, shillings and pence, which dated back to Roman times and worked on a strange system of 12, and in came decimal pounds and pence, which counted in tens. February 15, 1971, was, as The Northern Echo said on its front page in big letters, D Day. This explained why the cost of the paper changed overnight from 7d to 3p. The pre-decimal currency was based on the Roman coins of silver denarii and gold solidi. Twelve denarii were worth one solidi, 12d = 1s. And 240 denarii were minted from a block of silver called a libra which weighed a pound. Therefore 1l = 240d, and 20s = 1l.