10 YEARS AGO

SKATEPARK ROAD: The chairman of Corbridge Parish Council, Coun. Bill Grigg resigned as the village skate park fiasco rumbled on. Coun. Grigg resigned after it emerged that the council had no lease for the allotments where the skate park was planned, despite him signing two documents that said they had.

BURGER BAN: Objectors won their fight to get rid of an unlicensed burger business at Eilshaw, north of Otterburn. The business was popular with truckers and soldiers from Otterburn camp, but had incensed nearby traders.

COUNCIL CUTS: More than 200 council jobs were to be lost in Tynedale, with the new unitary Northumberland County Council set to go live in April. Just 90 would remain in Tynedale, while some would transfer to County Hall in Morpeth and others would be offered voluntary redundancies.

HOLIDAY OPPOSITION: A new bid by Langley businessman David Knowles to turn the derelict former Langley Brickworks site into a state-of-the-art holiday village was met with stiff opposition.

25 YEARS AGO

HOME INVASION: Some angry residents in Riding Mill were protesting about their gardens being invaded – by a pack of hunting hounds.

HOUSING CONCERNS: Objections were a building up to Tynedale’s biggest housing development since the 1950s – the proposed £20m, 500-plus homes scheme in Broomhouse Lane, Prudhoe.

OPPOSITION SCRAPPED: After more than 20 years, Tynedale Council planners finally accepted that the scrapyard at Acomb, operated by Mr Teddy Heslop, was a permanent feature.

PATH WARNING: Northumberland County Council warned landowners that it would take whatever action was needed to make sure that obstructed public rights of way were opened up again.

50 YEARS AGO

HANGING ON: Old people could die in an emergency, because Newcastle telephone operators were taking up to ten minutes to get calls through from Great Whittington, said a councillor.

DAPPER DELIVERIES: Hexham postmen were among the first to be issued with new grey Terrylene uniforms, without the traditional red piping worn since 1793.

75 YEARS AGO

CASH FIGHT: A “Salute the Soldier” week was being planned for Hexham, with a target of £250,000 to equip an infrantry battalion.

SUM SUCCESS: Bellingham’s Lt. E.W.I Johnson passed his Intermediate Chartered Accountancy examination – in a Nazi prison camp.

WAR BABIES: Doctors called for a new maternity hospital in Hexham – and said it could provide a fitting war memorial for the town.

100 YEARS AGO

COLD COMFORT: As a killer influenza epidemic struck again in Tynedale, people were warned to get plenty of fresh air, wear warm clothing, and avoid crowds.

ICY DEATH: The body of a 28-year-old cartman who went missing the previous December was found under thin ice at a reservoir in Hexham.

BURIAL HONOURS: Lance-Corporal Athole Ogilive Laing was buried with full military honours after dying suddenly while on leave.

125 YEARS AGO

PUNISHMENT TWIST: A schoolboy at Heddon-on-the-Wall stabbed his headmaster in the leg as he was being punished for bad behaviour, a court in Newcastle heard. The boy admitted a common assault on Mr Thomas Child, and it was ordered that he be removed from the neighbourhood. His father was bound over in the sum of £5.

HORSE SENSE: At a meeting of the Tyneside Agricultural Society in Hexham, one member asked if they could buy an entire horse for the district, instead of just hiring one.

NO ALMS: A scheme to build alms houses for elderly poor people in Stocksfield was abandoned after a lively public meeting.

GENTLEMAN TRAMP: Haltwhistle magistrates ordered a tramp to get out of town after he insisted: “I am not a rascal”.

150 YEARS AGO

HEXHAM POLICE: A Mr James Appleby, described as “an incorrigible fellow”, was brought before S. Mewburn Esq, charged with being drunk and disorderly.

MINE ACCIDENT: A Hexham man named Peter Winslow had a narrow escape from death, when the cage that carried the mine tubs set off before a tub was properly secured, causing it to fall on Winslow, dislocating his kneecap and fracturing his thigh.

VILLAGE ENTERTAINMENT: The first penny reading in the village of Allenheads took place, and resulted in a complete success.

BIRTHDAY PARTY: The seventh anniversary of the Mickley Coke Ovens Permanent Benefit Society was held. Members met in the Colliery Schools.