150 years ago - September 2nd 1871

* The first Minehead Regatta was watched by a large crowd, many of whom took vantage point on North Hill. A large party came by steamer from Watchet. Novelty events included a duck hunt and a greasy pole.

* There were 35 registered ship owners at Watchet, according to a published list. The largest vessel was George Passmore’s Crystal Bell, 104 tons.

* A Watchet sailor, Alfred Jones, lost his life when his vessel, the Crystal Bell, was sailing up-river in Holland. He fell to the deck while reefing the topsail and broke his back.

100 years ago - September 3 1921

* Something had gone wrong with the weather vane on Minehead pier. A correspondent wrote: ‘There stood the Welsh coast on the south side of the channel, the sun was rising in the west, the mouth of the channel was due east and Exmoor guarded Minehead on the north!’

* Cutcombe Sports, a pre-war event, was revived. The men’s 100 yards was won by W J E Phillips, the high jump by W Norman, the steeplechase by H French, and the boys’ 100 yards by Ted Webber.

* The Continental Circus visited Minehead and Williton. It included ‘the only talking bear in the world’. He asked for “a little drop of rum”.

* Stogursey Choral Society decided to perform Elgar’s The Banner of St George. The vicar, the Rev W J Stuart-Crump, was appointed conductor and Miss M M Warner pianist.

50 years ago - September 4th 1971

* The old chapel in Stogursey, abandoned as a place of worship in 1959 because of a partly collapsed roof, had been restored and was rededicated before a full congregation.

* Police in Somerset launched a campaign to encourage the wearing of seat belts. In the first eight months of the year, 1,288 people had been killed or injured on county roads and only 149 of them were wearing safety harnesses.

* Residents of Nether Stowey sent a petition to the parish council over the ‘disgusting’ state of a footpath, with overhanging branches and stinging nettles. The matter was referred to the divisional highways surveyor.