10 YEARS AGO

COUNCIL CUTS: Schools would bear the brunt of the latest round of cutbacks ordered by Northumberland County Council. It was announced that week that nearly £2m destined for local education would be withdrawn as the Government looked to reduce public expenditure.

SCHOOL BASE: A site next to a Prudhoe school looked set to be earmarked for a police station and helicopter landing site, in addition to a new fire station that had already been approved.

COMING HOME: Much of Tynedale was painted red and white, as World Cup fever gripped the district, with homes and businesses showing their loyalty to the England team’s cause in South Africa.

SOLD OFF: Charitable multi-millionaire Brian Burnie declared he had one wish left - to die penniless. The rags-to-riches philanthropist started down that track by spending a large chunk of his own money setting up Daft as a Brush Cancer Care.

25 YEARS AGO

POT STIRRED: The budget funds available for hard-pressed schools in the Hexham constituency would leap by millions of pounds in total if they dropped out of the state system and became grant maintained, Hexham MP Peter Atkinson claimed.

BAD NAME: Devastated parish councillors lashed out at “heartless” vandals who had literally trampled the good name of Bardon Mill into the dirt by completely destroying a flower bed on the right side of the A69 that spelled out the name of the village.

BUNKER BUYER: Hexham’s Alemouth Road nuclear bunker looked set to be sold for a record £1.2m, making it the most expensive bunker in the UK.

RAVE RAID: Police broke up a rave in Slaley Forest in the early hours one Sunday morning, dispersing around 400 ravers who had gathered in the forest.

50 YEARS AGO

BUSES RETHINK: A public outcry prompted Tyne Valley Coaches to revise its proposed new timetable and retain some services it had planned to axe.

WINNING DOUBLE: Workers at Haltwhistle Cascelloid factory scooped up the top two places in national beauty contest held by the firm. Joan Gradwell, 25, was named Miss Cascelloid, and Carol Jackson, 21, was named runner-up.

TO GO: British Rail announced that the vandalism-beset toilets at Corbridge Railway Station were to be demolished.

CABINET POST: Hexham's MP Geoffrey Rippon was appointed Technology Minister.

75 YEARS AGO

TRADER TRIBUTES: Hexham Urban Council chairman praised the town’s traders for coping so well during the war.

HOSPITAL HOMES: Hexham Urban Council drew up plans for converting the town’s former isolation hospital into temporary houses, in a bid to ease the district’s housing shortage problems.

TOLLED OFF: Northumberland County Council took over responsibility for Ovingham Bridge - then 63 years old - and abolished the tolls previously charged for it.

100 YEARS AGO

TRAIN DERAILED: A North-Eastern railway engine being moved from one end of Alston railway yard to the other became derailed, smashed through a wall, rolled over and ended up in the River Nent. An engine cleaner aboard it at the time escaped by jumping off.

125 YEARS AGO

DOUBLE DAIRY: Corbridge dairymaid Maria Ord, of Stagshaw Farm, took top prize at a butter-making comtest held at the Royal Agricultural Show in Darlington. Prudhoe dairymaid Mary Carr, of Durham Riding Farm, was runner-up.

150 YEARS AGO

ALSTON ACCIDENT: A workman engaged in the erection of the new church at Alston fell from the roof of the chancel, and sustained serious injuries. Fortunately, the man recovered and was able to return to work, although he said he still felt the effects of his injuries.

ANNUAL EXCURSION: Staward-le-Peel and Allendale Town were the places selected for the annual excursion of the Newcastle Ragged and Industrial Schools. The Courant reported that the ‘romantic beauty’ of Staward-le-Peel had been compared to that seen in the valleys of the Tyrol in the Italian and Austrian Alps.

CARRIAGE WORKS: Reporters from the Courant were able to inspect the new carriage works which were opened in Priestpopple, Hexham. It was reported that the works would be “of great convenience to the gentry, inkeepers, and others of the district”.

GALA PICNIC: Quite a gala day was held at the pleasant village of Simonburn, the occasion being the holding of the annual picnic. The spot chosen had been kindly granted by Mr Moore of the village, and was described as “most delightful and appropriate”.