10 YEARS AGO

WAGE WAR: Residents in Whittonstall said proposals to build a huge open cast mine and giant wind turbines would have a catastrophic effect on the area and would ruin lives.

DOUBLE ACT: Clariza McAdam, a 24-year-old trainee accountant from Wall, stunned crowds in Newcastle when she stood alongside her spitting double – singer Myleene Klass – at the launch of the then I’m A Celebrity star’s clothing range.

HIGH STANDARDS: Derring-do pilot Jim Martin, who had cheated death on three occasions, was unceremoniously released from his contract by the Great North Air Ambulance, after failing the stringent medicals needed to get back in the air.

CARE SPARED: Tynedale would have to wait for a decision on the future of day care in the district, after Conservative and Labour councillors joined forces to defeat a recommendation that they be closed.

25 YEARS AGO

YOU’RE OUT: Tenants on Tynedale’s council estates – labelled as “rowdies” – were set to be thrown out of their homes as part of a new crack-down on anti-social behaviour.

BUS STOPPED: Thirty-eight children from Haltwhistle were taken to hospital suffering from shock after a crash involving a school bus on the A69. The bus, which was travelling to Hexham, hit a tipper lorry at Acomb Road.

SCHEME FIGHT: Angry families living on a Haltwhistle housing estate clashed with county councillors over their proposed new neighbours – a group of adults with learning difficulties.

SHYING AWAY: The new owners of Slaley Hall Golf and Country Club moved in – but were still not prepared to say who exactly they were.

50 YEARS AGO

TREND SETTER: Hexham Rural Council became one of the first authorities to approve a £1,000 improvement grant under the new Housing Act.

FINAL EDITION: Plans were announced to incorporate the Haltwhistle Echo into the Hexham Courant after the former ceased trading.

NEW SUPPLY: The “dry” chemical toilets on the A69 near Catcleugh reservoir were in such a state that a water supply had to be installed in the toilet block to provide water for washing the floor.

ANONYMOUS GIFT: An anonymous donor gave £100 to the cash-strapped Hexham Community Association, after members found it was in the red to the tune of £281.

75 YEARS AGO

DON’T WALK: During Hexham’s Safety Week, anyone seen “jay-walking” in the town was photographed and reprimanded by the police.

SET FREE: After nearly five years internment in a Nazi prison camp, Hexham’s first war prisoner, 25-year-old warrant officer, Alfred Ronald Gunton, RAF, returned to the country.

SWITCHED OFF: Corbridge Parish Council agreed to defer the lighting of street lamps in the village until there was a complete relaxation of wartime lighting restrictions.

100 YEARS AGO

CLOCK THEFT: A West Wylam miner was fined £2 after he admitted stealing a clock worth 30 shillings from the West Wylam and Prudhoe Society.

HEAD RETIRES: After 40 years as headmaster of Henshaw School, Mr E.J. Carroll, retired and was presented with a gold watch by parishioners and past students.

HOSPITAL FUND: The joint war committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John donated £2,000 to the fund to build a cottage hospital in Hexham.

125 YEARS AGO

CATTLE SHOW: Nenthead Agricultural Society held its annual cattle show at Overwater, followed by an after show dinner in the band room provided by the publican of the Miner’s Arms.

MINE ACCIDENT: Fifty-year-old miner, George Forster, was seriously injured in an accident at Settlingstones Mine, when a large stone fell on him.

AT PITCHSIDE: Members of the recently formed Corbridge United Football Association started practising on their new pitch near the village’s railway station.

150 YEARS AGO

A RUNNER: A description was given of a man who arrived in Haltwhistle and stayed at Mr Saint’s Temperance Hotel. He stated he would be staying until Monday, but left on Saturday without paying his bill.

FALSE PRETENCES: A man named John Davis, who had been working in Hexham for 12 months, was taken into custody having obtained money from traders and people in the town by telling people his boss had sent him to borrow money.

INSTRUMENT PURCHASE: A harmonium was to be purchased to allow the choir of St John Lee to practice singing.