10 YEARS AGO

SO LUCKY: Hexhamshire aid worker Roy Dixon needed rescuing by medical teams himself, when his first attempt at paragliding ended in disaster, leaving him with two broke vertebrae.

PRAYING HOPE: Hexham Trinity Methodist Church was set to show all of England’s World Cup games on a big screen at the church, in a smoke and alcohol free, family friendly atmosphere.

HEFTY BILL: Despite only being built ten years earlier, the £500,000 Haydon Bridge Community Centre was falling apart, with local groups put off from using the facility because of its dilapidated state.

TREASURE HUNT: Treasure hunting vandals caused more than £1,000 worth of damage to Tyne Green Golf Course on the eve of a major competition, as they dug down four feet in search of treasure on the former Hexham tip site.

25 YEARS AGO

CENTRE POINT: A group of businessmen claimed that Haltwhistle was “the centre of Britain” and aimed to market the idea for tourism in a big way and put the town on the national and international map.

BYPASS BATTLE: Haydon Parish Council was to step up its campaign for a bypass road around the village, following claims it would not be built until 2006 at the earliest.

MEDICAL MARVEL: Seven of Tynedale’s female doctors were about to deliver something other than diagnoses, as in a curious coincidence all seven were set to give birth within a few months, and three of them were due at more or less the same time.

CRISIS LOOMS: A crisis was looming for Hexham Abbey Choir with the news that it was running short of choristers, with the situation becoming more and more obvious to the congregation.

50 YEARS AGO

RESERVOIR RUMPUS: The North Tyne Action Committee, a group formed to oppose the Northumbrian River Authority’s plans to build a giant reservoir in the North Tyne Valley, pledged to carry on its campaign despite the authority’s announcement that it had decided on a site at Otterstone Lea.

BONFIRE ROW: Hexham Round Table came under fire from town councillors about the damage caused to the Sele in Hexham by a bonfire it had held the year before. The council agreed that the charity should be asked to pay the bill for clearing up the site.

BRIDGE TALKS: Corbridge was the venue for a public meeting at which the county council’s plans to erect a temporary bridge over the River Tyne there were discussed.

75 YEARS AGO

POST PLEA: Prudhoe Urban Council called for a new post office to be built in the town, and for there to be two postal deliveries a day.

ELECTION ROW: The Liberal Party criticised Labour for putting up a candidate to stand against Clifton Brown, Hexham’s MP and Speaker of the House of Commons, at the then imminent 1945 General Election. By tradition, the Speaker was generally unopposed.

CONFERENCE CALL: Almost 100 Salvation Army officers attended a conference held in Hexham.

100 YEARS AGO

EXTRA SERVICE: North-Eastern Railway scheduled an extra afternoon train service from Hexham to Carlisle, following a request from Clifton Brown, then MP for Hexham.

OFF RAILS: At a meeting held in Whitley Chapel, Hexhamshire, Allendale and Slaley, residents called for the construction of a light railway line from Corbridge or Riding Mill that would serve their area.

125 YEARS AGO

READING DEATH: A builder died after an iron girder fell on him during the construction of Wylam Reading Room.

OFFALY BAD: Hexham butchers were criticised for dumping waste offal and blood in the town’s sewers. Councillors agreed to write to the butchers concerned to warm them against continuing to do this, saying it was a “dangerous practice that could not be too strongly condemned.”

150 YEARS AGO

DRUNK FINED: Edward Fox, a labourer, was found lying “helplessly drunk” in Hallgate, Hexham. He was brought before Magistrates and ordered to pay 5s and costs of 11s 6d, to be paid within a week.

FLORAL CONCERT: A concert was held in aid of the Haydon Bridge Floral Society at the Oddfellows Hall, with performances from Messrs Soulsby, Coulson, and other well-known vocalists from Newcastle.

TRYST HELD: The Stamfordham May Tryst was held, with mostly Irish cattle on sale. High prices were asked for and obtained, up to £9 for two-year-old cattle.

PUSHED BACK: Proceedings brought against the lady who styled herself Amelia, the Countess of Derwentwater, by the Lords of the Admiralty, were postponed. The proceedings related to a raid on a farm.