The week before the 2007 May Fair, the Hexham Courant ran a personality feature on Peter Aldcroft, concentrating on his role as Publicity Officer for the Allendale Lions. The idea, as I recall he bashfully explained it then, was that any publicity for the Fair was going to be a help, and so he had acquiesced to the biography.
As it turned out, the piece by Will Green was a delight in and of itself, extolling the virtues of village life and the organisations that help to make it tick. Peter was especially careful to emphasise the role played by the Lions, of course.
That time, back then in 2007, looked at from the perspective of 2022, seems like a hectic, but hugely enjoyable saga in the life of Allendale. And there would be several incredible events yet to participate in, as the year rolled by.
Surely we lived in enchanted times, as the vibrant village throbbed with accumulated excitement. It’s hard to believe, five years on from the devastating Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic, that such persistent and consolidated activities could be energising the community.
And yet, as the images that Nigel Baynes had collected for his archive show, yet indeed it was indubitably true.