10 years ago

RUBBISH WARNING: Tynedale residents were warned they faced having their bins removed, and be liable for a £35 charge if they failed to abide by strict laws imposed by Northumberland County Council on what could and could not go in their grey bin.

GERMAN GONG: A Riding Mill woman was awarded the highest honour the German Government could give to individuals for their services to the nation. German Honorary Consul for the North-East and Cumbria, Josephine Chexal, was awarded the country’s Cross of Merit by the German Consul at a ceremony in Newcastle.

CULTURAL CAPITAL: The man behind the NewcastleGateshead cultural redevelopment outlined his vision for a similar arts status in Hexham. Andrew Dixon told the Hexham Arts Forum that the town has a “rich cultural mix of professional organisations, amateur groups, galleries, festivals and events”.

RETREAT REJECTED: An “outlandish” scheme to provide a CentreParcs-style holiday village at Langley was unanimously rejected by county planners. The proposal planned to use the disused Langley brickworks but was dismissed as being totally alien to the area.

25 years ago

POWER PLANS: Plans were unveiled for a £10 million ‘green’ power station, with a 120-foot smoke stack and giant cooling towers, in the heart of one of Tynedale’s biggest tourist attractions. EcoGen, the firm behind the scheme to create a huge windfarm in Kielder Forest, was considering building a power station on the shores of Kielder Water.

GOLF WAR: Controversy flared up at a Northumberland County Council planning committee meeting as county planners were given the task of deciding whether to allow the 50-acre extension of Bellingham Golf Club. However, local residents formed a strong opposition, warning of the possible environmental impact and the danger of being hit by stray golf balls.

MISSING MONEY: A Bellingham ex-serviceman was waging a war against authority, claiming that Tynedale Council was robbing World War Two heroes of the meagre financial reward they had earned. Mr Hatton, a member of the ‘Not Forgotten’ association, which represented ex-servicemen, said Tynedale was among a number of councils which did not disregard war pensions when calculating income-based benefits such as housing and council tax.

50 years ago

SOCIAL FUND: Hexham Urban Council voted its chairman an increased allowance of £50 because representatives from the twin town of Saint Lunaire in France planned to visit.

DOORSTEP THIEVES: A Hexham milkman felt suspicious when he saw five youths enter the street where he had just made a delivery, a court heard. He went back and found them drinking from pint bottles.

75 years ago

DYING BREED: County councillor J.R. Lee, of Wylam, hinted that boards of guardians and public assistance committees might be abolished because of the Beveridge Report.

STALAG FM: A Kirkwhelpington woman picked up a radio message on the Vienna wavelength, from a Hexham prisoner of war who wished to tell his Hexham parents that he was fit and well.

CLOTH-HEADED: A Prudhoe woman and her friend from Edgewell were fined for a deal in which one had sold clothing coupons to the other.

100 years ago

BONNIE BAIRN: Little Margaret Ainsley, aged six months, did Hexham Day Nursery proud by winning the first heat of the “Daily Sketch” baby competition.

MANAGING OKAY?: Corbridge parish councillors, told that there was a pressing need from the working class for housing in the village, discussed whether or not a bank manager was a working man.

MUM'S THE WORD: A Hexham man accused of using obscene language brought his mother to court to claim that, as he had only been out for ten minutes, he could not have made much noise in that time.

125 years ago

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER: An invitation went out to the people of Mickley to join a new baseball club. Baseball was called “rather like the old game of rounders, but of course much improved.”

PIT TRAGEDY: A miner was killed when a tunnel he was working in at Coanwood, near Haltwhistle, collapsed, an inquest was told.

HOWZAT: A couple at Eland Green, Ponteland, were presented with a silver inkstand for letting local cricketers use their field for many years.

150 years ago

NO IDEA: A man’s eye was knocked out by a woman in Hexham after she threw an earthware pint pot, and shattered his eye.