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Then in 1967 - The centuries old village pump at High Green Great Ayton, suffered severe storm damage, but thanks to a village benefactor - 83 year old Mr W. Harbottle, the pump, which was once the village’s only water supply, has been renovated, and it was officially unveiled by Mr A.K. Cumbor, Chairman of the Parish Council, at a special ceremony “Hundreds of people relied on it in the past, and it never let them down.” he told onlookers.
  
Although the fresh water supply to the pump still exists, villagers will no longer be able to draw water from it. “Because of vandalism, the pump handle has been made a fixture” said Mr Cumbor. Another villager - Mr S Fall of Piersonville Great Ayton, recalled the days when women used to queue at the pump with their heavy wooden buckets.

This article originally appeared in the November 1999 issue of Now & Then Magazine