Clarence Sylvestor Simon "Clarrie". The youngest son of Charles and Louisa, was born at Witton Park in 1904 and lived there all his life. Clarrie was a true Witton Parker who new everybody and everything. He put this knowledge to good use by newsgathering and reporting events, weddings, funerals, sport, anything of interest for local newspapers. Working full time for a firm of solicitors in Bishop Auckland meant the reporting had to be done in the evenings and weekends.

In order to ensure the remuneration for his efforts was correctly paid he laboriously pasted cuttings from papers into scrapbooks. Starting in 1926 and running through to 1969 these books give a unique insight into village life, from the trivial to the tragedy of Category D.

We are indebted to Mrs. Cath Sewell, Clarrie’s daughter-in-law for making these volumes available for future generations to appreciate just what it was like to be a true Witton Parker.