10 YEARS AGO

LONG WEEK: Hexhamshire residents faced the prospect of seven days without running water and washing in an outdoor cabin – the price that needed to be paid for a new water mains network.

UNDER THREAT: The future of Robb’s store in Hexham again appeared to be hanging by a thread, after it emerged that concession holders in the shop were owed tens of thousands of pounds.

OFFICES CLOSE: One of the principal council offices in Hexham, Prospect House, was to be mothballed before going on the market, meaning Hexham would be left without a council chamber for the first time since the Victorian era.

WHAT THE!: A new traffic island at Hexham’s Aldi caused chaos when several drivers drove into it after failing to spot it until it was too late.

25 YEARS AGO

BYPASS WAIT: Haydon Bridge would not get its long-awaited bypass until after 2006, the Department of Transport revealed to Tynedale Council’s director of planning.

CHOPPER RESCUE: A young motorcyclist had to be airlifted to hospital from the middle of the A69 in Haydon Bridge, after he was catapulted from his bike and hurled across the busy main road into a wall.

TOUGH TRIP: A five-strong delegation of councillors and officers returned from a five-day mission to Malta, with the council’s chief executive describing it as “really hard work.”

VE DAY: The Courant marked the 50th anniversary of VE Day by re-publishing the front page from May 1945, as well as offering 50 framed copies of the original paper for sale.

50 YEARS AGO

VOLUNTEERS’ VACUUM: Hexham Civic Society reported that its appeal for volunteers to help plant trees alongside the River Tyne to screen factories there had fallen on deaf ears, no-one having responded to it.

MP’S BACKING: Hexham MP Geoffrey Rippon criticised the Government for urging that South African cricketers should be given the cold shoulder. Such behaviour was “sheer hypocrisy,” he said.

GO AHEAD: Haltwhistle Rural Council gave the go-ahead to plans to build a £325 public car park at the town’s Fair Hill.

75 YEARS AGO

EUROPEAN VICTORY: VE Day celebrations in Tynedale were marked by thanksgiving and “subdued jollification” the Courant reported. Almost 1,000 people attended a thanksgiving service at Hexham Abbey. Bonfires were lit throughout the district, including one at Lonkley Hill in Allendale that was set alight by former POW Tommy Shield, who served as a parish councillor in the village until the 1990s.

FALSTONE FAREWELL: The Rector of Falstone, the Rev. William Hartley, left for another parish after 11 years of service there.

BID FAILS: Hexham Urban councillors turned down an application to hold a 10-day fun-fair on the Sele.

FOOD FAVOURITISM: Hexham Urban Council complained that German prisoners of war were being given better food rations than British civilians.

100 YEARS AGO

TYNE TRAGEDY: A six-year-old boy drowned in the Tyne after falling in at Ovington. He had been playing with friends at the time.

WHIST DRIVE: A whist drive and dance held at Wylam Institute raised £19 for church hall funds.

125 YEARS AGO

MINISTER MELEE: A drunken labourer assaulted a Methodist minister who remonstrated with him for ill-treating a child in Battle Hill, a court heard. Hexham magistrates fined the labourer 10 shillings for drunk and disorderly conduct.

BRIDGE PLEA: Hexham Rural District Council backed Chollerton parish councillors’ calls for a bridge to be built across the River North Tyne near Barrasford to replace the ferry service in operation at the time.

150 YEARS AGO

VILLA FIRE: A fire “of an alarming character” occurred at Rose Villa in Haltwhistle.The property, which belonged to Mr W. Carrick, auctioneer, was thankfully saved when the owner speedily succeeded in extinguishing the flames.

RARE AVIS: Mr Robert Whitfield, an angler and ex-gamekeeper, was fishing in the Tyne near Hexham when he came across a nest of young woodcocks. He kept one of the five week old chicks, which were seldom, if ever, seen in these parts.

POPULAR RACE: The steeplechase meeting at Work was to go ahead in full glory that year, with very valuable prizes on offer for the winner.

EASTER SPORTS: The Courant reported that the sports on the Sele - spelled Seal at the time - were carried out “exceedingly well,” and the town brought in such a large sum of money for prizes that some of the best athletes in the kingdom were attracted to compete. Prizes were also on offer for the neatest costume.