10 YEARS AGO

HISTORY PRESERVED: Allendale’s Lych Gate became a listed memorial. Secretary of state for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Ben Bradshaw, announced the listing, which made the gate outside St. Cuthbert’s Church one of 28 new listings in the UK.

MINING PLAN: More than 200 people packed out the Anchor Inn at Whittonstall to view draft proposals for an opencast mine near the village. UK Coal wanted to mine two million tonnes of coal as part of the Hoodsclose scheme, over a period of almost seven years.

HAIR TODAY: After almost half a century of cutting and crimping the locks of her loyal customers, a Corbridge hairdresser hung up her scissors. Elsie Sanderson (68) had been the face of Pat’s Hair Salon, on Front Street, for 47 years.

NATIONAL EXPOSURE: Hexham’s award-winning French restaurant, Bouchon Bistrot, was set to feature on national TV. The eatery, which won Best European Restaurant at the North East Restaurant Awards, featured in Channel 4’s hit show The F Word, with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

25 YEARS AGO

GOOD GRUB: Pupils at Allendale Middle School praised the culinary delights of the canteen during National School Meals Week.

Fancy that: A 25-year-old pigeon fancier from Hexham was facing eviction from his home, on Ashwood Road, after he put up a pigeon loft in the garden of his house. Tynedale Council said Tommy Shields had breached his tenancy obligations, but Mr Shields insisted he had written to the council, and had remained within the required guidelines.

Dead end: A joint bid by Northumberland and Cumbria county councils to take over the running of the A69 trunk road was unsuccessful. It had been hoped that the joint venture would have led to the creation of jobs.

50 YEARS AGO

MEDICAL MOVE: Plans to build a £100,000 x-ray unit at Hexham General Hospital were unveiled. The 5,400sq ft unit would be built on the site of the old staff canteen, and the site of a newer canteen.

BEST BARMAID: Sheila Lathan (35), a barmaid at Prudhoe’s Falcon Inn, made it through to the finals of Whitbread’s Ideal Barmaid contest. She was one of 12 pint pullers chosen from brewery’s 10,000 pubs across the nation.

LINK BROKEN: A 250-year-old tradition came to an end when Mrs Bertha Reay left Heddon-on-the-Wall’s Swan Inn, which had been managed by members of her family since the 1720s.

ROAD PLANS: Haltwhistle Rural Council approved plans to build a new stretch of road between Strand and Lipwood.

75 YEARS AGO

GOOD RELATIONS: A meeting of the Corbridge branch of the League of Nations Union discussed ways of improving foreign relations.

MILITARY MEDAL: Cpl Thomas Hildrew, of Haltwhistle, was awarded the Military Medal for saving two men’s lives while serving on the Italian front.

PROLIFIC SCORERS: The Hexham Hearts football team defeated Bleach Green 13-0 in a Ryton District League fixture.

100 YEARS AGO:

ABBEY BOOK: A new local history book, titled Hexham and its Abbey, by Charles Clement Hodges and John Gibson, was published.

FEVER OUTBREAK: Prudhoe Urban Council decided to set up an isolation hospital, following complaints that its four hospital beds were inadequate to cope with an outbreak of scarlet fever in the town at that time.

125 YEARS AGO:

TEETOTAL ENTERTAINMENT: The Hexham branch of the British Women’s Temperance Association provided tea and musical entertainment at the town’s half-yearly hiring day.

HARDY BIRDS: A keeper at Alston explained a shooting party’s failure to bag a reasonable number of grouse. He declared it was not due to the party’s members being poor shots, but because the grouse were so “hard” that the bullets weren’t effective.

150 YEARS AGO

COMMUNITY CELEBRATION: Members of Catton Primitive Methodist Chapel joined together for a special anniversary celebration. The event was well attended, as people of all ages listened to various speakers, who highlighted the benefits of the chapel to the community.

FAIR DAY: Hexham November Fair took place. The annual market was held in its usual location, in a field at the west end of the town. A good turn out of dealers and local farmers enjoyed pleasant weather. Cattle were in large supply, with the principle lots on the field being Irish. County cattle were only thinly represented, but those present were in good condition.