10 YEARS AGO

ASH CLOUD: Stocksfield couple Chris and Rosie Anderson were among hundreds of holidaymakers stranded miles from home by a cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, which brought air travel across Europe to a standstill.

DUKE DISMAY: Horrified residents in Harlow Hill were preparing to fight proposals which they feared would see their tiny community swamped by a holiday village, under plans submitted by Northumberland Estates.

BIN BAN: Residents who left their bins out overnight could be charged as part of a crackdown by Northumberland County Council, with fears they could be targeted by vandals or arsonists.

RAKING IN: National charities set to reap a £2m payout by flogging Abbeyfield House in Hexham and Blackett Court in Wylam were described as “immoral asset strippers.”

25 YEARS AGO

PAY LEAP: A decision by Northumberland County Council to boost the allowances and expenses by, it was claimed, up to several hundred thousand pounds that year in total, was criticised by Education Secretary Gillian Shepherd in the House of Commons.

BULLY BOYS: Tynedale’s first anti-bullying group was set up, in response to a desperate plea from Haltwhistle doctor Dr Graham Ridley, who was “appalled” by the number of cases of serious bullying he had seen over the years.

ALL QUIET: Tynedale’s voters were set to go to the polls to wind up the quietest local election campaign seen in the district for many years, with very few posters or election leaflets seen.

WRONG COUNTY: Residents living in the south of Northumberland were told they would have to keep their Durham address and phone number - because British Telecom and Royal Mail refused to change them.

50 YEARS AGO

SEAT LOST: Long-standing Hexham rurual councillor, Major G. H. Pele, lost his seat on the council because his home was 147ft outside its area, which, under the terms of the then new Representation of the People Act, precluded him from standing at elections forthcoming at the time.

BRAVERY AWARD: A 15-year-old Newbrough boy, Robert Edward Dixon, was given a Royal Humane Society award in recognition of his bravery in saving a swimmer from drowning in the River South Tyne near Allerwash the previous summer.

BRIDGE GO-AHEAD: Northumberland County Council gave the go-ahead to plans to put up a £43,000 temporary bridge at Corbridge.

FIRST FORAY: Bill Garrett, future chairman of Tynedale Council, made his first foray into local politics by standing for a Prudhoe Urban Council seat.

75 YEARS AGO

COSTLY CARE: The average cost of looking after patients at Corbridge’s Charlotte Straker Cottage hospital was twice as much in 1945 as it had been six years earlier at the start of the Second World War, the hospital’s annual meeting heard.

CHURCHES CALL: At a meeting of churchwardens held in Hexham, the Archdeacon of Northumberland, the Ven C.H Ritchie, urged parishes to adopt the Church Commissioners standard table of fees.

CUT COST: Giving owner-occupiers the two-and-a-half per cent rates discount they had requested would cost Prudhoe Urban Council £395 a year, a ratepayers association meeting heard.

100 YEARS AGO

LAND BOUGHT: Prudhoe Urban Council bought a field in Mickley to build houses on, and set about acquiring other pieces of land in the village.

COLLIERY PLANS: Mickley Coal Company had plans drawn up for the building of a new colliery office complex to the west of the Adam and Eve Inn in Prudhoe.

METHODISTS MEET: Preachers from Tynedale, Allendale, and Alston’s Wesleyan Methodist circuits attended a conference in Hexham.

125 YEARS AGO

GRAVE STATE: Haltwhistle Graveyard came under fire for being in an “unsanitary and disgraceful” state. One of the critics, Mr R. Hastewell, described it as a disgrace to civilisation and produced a box full of human bones found lying around there.

ORANGES OMITTED: The Courant published the following correction: “In our report of the Haydon Bridge Wesleyan Sunday School anniversary, we omitted to state that Miss Carrick kindly presented each scholar with oranges."

150 YEARS AGO

TRAMP JAILED: A tramp named John Brown was sentenced to 14 days in the Hexham House of Correction for sleeping in a barn near Bellingham.

DONKEY DAY: A 16-year-old girl, the daughter of a pitman, immersed herself in a cistern of coal tar and rode around the colliery naked on the back of a donkey, waking other miners.