10 YEARS AGO

BOWING OUT: Peter Atkinson’s 18-year stint as Hexham’s MP was to end when parliament dissolved the following Monday. Guy Opperman had already been announced as the Conservative candidate for the upcoming election.

BOWLED OUT: Veteran bowlers were skittled in their fight to save the indoor bowls hall at Wentworth Leisure Centre, which would be replaced by a ten pin bowling alley.

PROVE IT: The mother of 20-year-old Katie Rees was outraged when staff at Hexham swimming pool demanded Katie, who had severe learning difficulties and used a wheelchair, provide a doctor’s note to prove she was disabled.

PARKING UPROAR: Traders in Haltwhistle claimed Northumberland County Council’s proposals to introduce car parking charges would be the death knell for the town.

25 YEARS AGO

SIBLING CEREMONY: Brothers Anthony and David Wood, from Riding Mill, were key players in the swearing in of the High Sheriff of Northumberland when David, a circuit judge, swore in Anthony, a businessman, to the post. It was thought to be the first time it had happened in the country.

TRIP TROUBLE: Henry Buckley, a former social worker and chairman of Corbridge Parish Council, had a year-long work trip to Albania cancelled at the last minute due to unrest in the country.

COP THAT!: A Hexham policeman was in hot water for causing traffic chaos in the town, after he parked his panda car on double yellow lines on Beaumont Street to give evidence at court, blocking a lorry from completing a turn and causing it to get stuck.

BIG GUNS: Army plans for a £23 million upgrade of the Otterburn Training Area would bring 15 new jobs to Redesdale, along with some of the biggest and most powerful guns in the world at the time.

50 YEARS AGO

BUS BUSTED: Hexham Urban Council was told that the introduction of new transport regulations might lead to the time of the last town service bus being brought forward by over four hours, to 6.05pm.

ROAD RUMPUS: Haltwhistle rural councillors called for the Greenhead to Gilsland road to be improved.

PLANS AFOOT: Newcastle Marriage Guide Council announced plans to open a counselling centre in Hexham, at the town’s community centre.

75 YEARS AGO

RATE RISES: Hexham Rural Council vice-chairman Robert Anderson warned that the district’s residents would be faced with greatly increased rates bills in the aftermath of the war.

COURANT THANKED: Hexham Rural Council gave the Courant a vote of thanks, for the fairness and accuracy of its council reports.

CLIFF CRASH: Passengers travelling on a bus from Allendale to Hexham had a narrow escape when they crashed above a steep cliffside.

100 YEARS AGO

BALL BACK: The first Tynedale Hunt ball since the outbreak of World War One was held at Beaufront Castle.

RECORD TURN-OUT: A Clayton Charity Cup semi-final match at Bellingham between football teams from Plashetts and Hexham Comrades attracted a record crowd for the venue. Hexham won 5-1.

125 YEARS AGO

RAILWAY FATALITY: A farmer was killed when a train collided with him as he was crossing the railway line near Tarset Railway Station.

MINERS REDUNDANT: Some 40 miners at Prudhoe’s West Wylam colliery were laid off as were a further 45 at mines at Low Prudhoe and Mickley.

POOR SHOWING: a Conservative rally at Stocksfield drew a turn-out of only seven.

150 YEARS AGO

MEN PUNISHED: Two young men were “made to smart pretty heavily” for assaulting one of the tradesmen of Allendale. The men had loitered around the chemist, and were fined for assaulting the chemist after a disagreement, and for damaging his hat.

SUPPOSED SWINDLER: A sergeant from the 13th Hussars on the march from York to Edinburgh stopped in a shop in Market Place and asked for an egg, which the little girl standing behind the counter handed him. He went to leave without paying, but upon realising his mistake, paid a full shilling and left eleven pence with the shopkeeper to put in the poor box.

ANOTHER CAMPAIGN: The Countess of Derwentwater had been in Corbridge and Hexham, making arrangements for another campaign to attempt to secure the May rents for the tenants on the Greenwich Hospital Estates.

MART OPENS: Hexham’s new auction mart was inaugurated in “a most auspicious manner” and Mr William Cook was congratulated on the success of his first sale of fat stock.