10 YEARS AGO

IN TATTERS: Northumberland County Council’s Liberal Democrat administration had their budget torpedoed when opposition councillors teamed up to refuse it.

TROUBLE BREWING: Residents of Corbridge complained that a 1967 Morris Minor bearing the logo of village tea room Martha’s had been parked in the Market Place for months, something denied by the car’s owner.

COURT DOUBT: There were doubts over the future of Tynedale Magistrates’ Court in Hexham, although HM Courts Service claimed they were not consulting on the closure of the court.

SCHEME LAUNCHES: Northumbria Police relaunched its high profile Farmwatch scheme, after more than 150 animals were stolen from local farms in the previous weeks.

25 YEARS AGO

BLITZ ALERT: Staff at Hexham Mart were put on red alert for possible letter bombs, after animal rights activists stepped up their activities in their campaign to halt the live export of all animals.

SCAREDY CAT: Fourteen protesters climbed on to the roof of Hexham MP Peter Atkinson’s house in Birtley, near Wark. Mr Atkinson said: “Apart from the damage, the disturbance to my neighbours and frightening my cat, they achieved nothing.”

TAX HIT: Council tax payers in Northumberland looked set to have to pay nine per cent more in council tax from April, while there would also be cutbacks in education and other services.

DING DONG: A campaign was launched in Allendale to restore the parish church bells, with the work designed so the sound of the peals would not upset people.

LAST CHANCE: The planning and environment manager for Northumberland County Council officially called for a halt to Green Belt development around Hexham, calling it the last chance to save the town.

50 YEARS AGO

YOUNG DRUNKS: The problem of young people drinking worried Hexham Licensing Justices, when a report stated that more young people than ever before were frequenting the town’s licensed premises. The court also heard that convictions for drunkenness during the year were up 12 per cent on the year before.

WALK OUT: The screening of “sportsmen’s films” of a type said to be popular at men-only gatherings, prompted the Vicar of Greenhead, Rev. Michael Ryan, to walk out of a Royal British Legion annual dinner in Haltwhistle.

FACTORY SHELVED: The food firm Ross postponed plans to open a £4m poultry processing plant in Prudhoe, following the takeover of Allied Farm Foods by its parent company.

FISHY FEAT: While fishing on the River Esk, Hexham timber merchant Joseph Pickering caught a 27.5 lb salmon, said to be one of the biggest to have been landed there for several years.

75 YEARS AGO

NO DRUNKS: At Bellingham Sessions it was reported that for the second year running there had been no convictions for drunkenness.

CINEMA BAN: Hexham Magistrates ruled that children under the age of 16 should not be allowed to go to the cinema on Sunday afternoons.

100 YEARS AGO

MEMORIAL CEREMONIES: War memorials were unveiled at Whittington and Newbrough.

WORKERS KILLED: Two workmen died and another two were injured in an accident on the Newcastle/Carlilse railway line at Haltwhistle.

125 YEARS AGO

COURT CLAIM: A mole catcher from Langley took a former employer, a Haydon Bridge farmer, to court claiming that he had been underpaid. A judge at Hexham County Court found in favour of the farmer.

DRUG DISCUSSION: A lecture on the evils of opium trafficking was given at Hexham Temperance Hall.

150 YEARS AGO

ANOTHER SEIZURE: The Countess of Derwentwater attempted to seize land belonging to the Greenwich Hospital, and demanded a year and a half’s rent from a farmer, Mr Hunter. Mr Hunter refused, and was assaulted by one of the Countess’s bailiffs, leading to a warrant for his arrest.

RAILWAY ACCIDENT: Mr Robert Short, the driver of the North Eastern Railway company’s trolley, was crushed by a crate weighing around 300 pounds – but escaped with just a swollen leg.

SOCIAL GATHERING: A party was held at a house in Chipchase were Mr D. Wood of Birtley was presented with a purse of gold containing more than £26 and an “exceedingly beautiful” silver ink stand as a token of their respect.

SAD DEATH: Local solicitor Mr Robert Pattinson, who was also clerk of Hexham, Haltwhistle and Bellingham Highways boards and a keen member of Hexham Rifle Corps, died after a short illness at the age of 42.