10 YEARS AGO

FAMILY REUNITED: After a lifetime of searching, Vancouver-born Sandra Wilson tracked down the family of her estranged father thanks to an advert printed in the Hexham Courant.

SUSPICIOUS SILENCE: Hexham Civic Society chairman Tim Tatman and the town's Mayor, Coun. Terry Robson, criticised Northmberland County Council over the handling of the proposed redevelopment of Hexham Bus Station.

PAYOUT BID: Opposition to the closure of housing schemes for the elderly in Tynedale gathered momentum, with residents about to be evicted from Abbyfield House preparing to pursue the owners for £1 million in compensation/

TRADER REBELLION: Turbulence continued behind the scenes at Hexham department store Robb's this week, as a clutch of concession holders indicated they were considering moving out.

25 YEARS AGO

TAKING CONTROL: The Tories were said to be "licking their wounds" following their worst-ever mauling at the hands of the Tynedale electorate, with 19 of the 47 seats on Tynedale Council going to Labour.

OUTCRY SPARKED: Tynedale Council caused outrage by evicting travellers , among them a World War II veteran, from a site near Aydon Castle in Corbridge.

EXPENSIVE FACELIFT: Work on a £600,000 facelift to Lambley Viaduct was scheduled to begin, with a two-year restoration programme set to be carried out on the dilapidated and forlorn historic monument.

ONLY PLACE: The Otterburn Training Area was the only site in the UK that the Ministry of Defence could use for training with its new heavy guns and record launchers, a newly published report said.

50 YEARS AGO

BRIDGE ASSURANCE: An assurance was given to Hexham Rural Council that the bridge to be erected alongside the Tyne Bridge at Corbridge would not affect the progress of the proposed Hexham-Corbridge Bypass.

PASSING THROUGH: Fifty of the army's new 16-tone tracked vehicles trundled through Hexham en route for Allendale during an exercise. Their journey through the town was arranged so that there would be no hold-up with traffic.

IN CONTROL: The Rent and Ratepayers Group on Prudhoe Urban Council retained control of the council following the local district council elections, winning eight of the 15 seats.

COSTLY SLIP: A landslip on the railway line near Stocksfield would cost Hexham Rural Council a further £22,000 ot divert its new sewer, the council's public health committee was told.

75 YEARS AGO

BUSY NURSE: A total of 2,611 visits, with 20 nights on duty, had been made by Nurse Black, it was reported at he annual meeting of the Allendale Nursing Association.

CHIEF PROMOTED: Deputy Chief of Staff (Air), Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, Air Marshall, Sir James Milne Robb, son of the late Mr and Mrs T. Robb of Hexham, was appointed Air Officer, Commanding-in-Chief Fighter Command.

100 YEARS AGO

ENTERTAINERS: The Hexham Entertainments Company Ltd. was registered as a private company, with capital of £15,000 in £1 shares.

FILLED: A vacancy on Alston Rural District Council, caused by the retirement of Mr E. Yielder of ALston, was filled by Mr William Raine, of Randleholme.

FAMILAR SOUND: It was reported that the cuckoo had been heard on Tongues Hill, near Capheaton.

125 YEARS AGO

GRAND TIME: Captain J.M Clark took the chair, and Mrs Robson, of the Red Lion Hotel, provided an "excellent repast" when a grand dinner was held in the Town Hall, Haltwhistle, in honor of Sgt. Noble, former drill instructor with the Haltwhistle (K) Company of the 1st Voluntary Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers.

FURIOUS PACE: At Hexham Petty Sessions, George Lamb was summoned for "furious driving." It was aid by Police that Lamb was seen driving a pair of horses attached to a rolley at West Wylam, "thrashing the 1 most unmercifully with a whip." He was fined £1 and told to pay costs.

150 YEARS AGO

LODGING ROBBERY: John Robinson and James Evans, two tramping labourers, were apprehended after stealing a purse containing £1 5s from a boarding house in Haltwhistle.

MAN DIES: Mr James Lowes, of Haltwhistle, died after suffering from a "severe liver complaint" for several months. The Courant said "His loss will be mourned by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance."

ATTEMPTED POISONING: A woman, Elizabeth Dobinson, was brought before magistrates at Hexham on the charge of wilfully taking poison with the intent to kill herself.