10 YEARS AGO

NEW BUILD: Prudhoe Library was to be torn down and replaced by a £1.9m state of the art civic building. The new Prudhoe Town Hall would incorporate a new library with meeting places and offices for Prudhoe Town Council and other organisations in the town.

SWALLOWED UP: Tynedale’s principal housing provider, Milecastle Housing, was set to be no more, with the group that was set up as Tynedale Housing when the former Tynedale Council sold off its council houses in 1999, was to be swallowed up by parent company Isos.

BIG FLOP: Despite the personal endorsement of Prime Minister David Cameron, a public meeting in Alston to bring the electorate closer to their representatives backfired when not a single person turned up.

COURT CLAIMS: Hexham MP Guy Opperman was quietly confident that Tynedale Magistrates' Court could be saved from closure, with a meeting with Justice Minister Jonathon Djanogly scheduled later that week.

25 YEARS AGO

RUBBISH IDEA: Councillors finally admitted defeat in their attempts to prevent the building of a 50-bed nursing home on the site of the former Halliwell Dene rubbish dump in Hexham.

JOBS HOPE: Councillors in Prudhoe were hopeful that bids submitted for Government and European grants would bring 600 jobs and £6.5m into the town over the next few years.

SHOTS FIRED: A gun was fired inside Ovingham Post Office during a raid by two armed robbers - but the two men fled empty-handed after postmistress Anne Orr raised the alarm.

POT SALE: Falstone Village Hall had fallen on such hard times that the hall committee was considering selling off a giant teapot, which could hold six pints of tea and was given to the hall by the owners of the famous Maling Pottery in Newcastle.

50 YEARS AGO

TIP WARNING: Hexham Urban Council warned that trespassing at its Frankham tip at Fourstones could prove fatal. The warning was issued following reports of people being seen scavenging there at night.

MAGPIES LOSS: Prudhoe and Monkton Hospital team beat a team fielded by Newcastle United - at cricket. The Magpies XI - which included captain and legend Bobby Moncur and Irish goalkeeper Ian McFaul - lost by 13 runs to the home side.

NEW VICAR: George Chadwick was inducted as vicar of Corbridge by the then Bishop of Newcastle, Hugh Ashdown.

ABBEY RESTORATION: After several years fund-raising, Hexham Abbey’s restoration fund reached the £93,000 mark - just £7,000 short of the target.

75 YEARS AGO

SPEAKER RE-ELECTED: Hexham MP Clifton Brown was re-elected as Speaker of the House of Commons, a week after retaining his seat at the 1945 General Election.

OFFICER HONOURED: Mr John Riddell, of Barrasford, was awarded the US Silver Star medal for gallantry while serving in the Far East.

FAMILY APPEAL: An appeal was launched to raise money for a Wall family with seven children, whose home and belongings were destroyed by a fire.

FETE FUNDS: A fete held in aid of Corbridge Cottage Hospital raised £310.

100 YEARS AGO

MEMORIAL UNVEILING: Two stained-glass windows installed at Allendale’s Wesleyan Chapel as a war memorial, as was a lychgate at Corbridge.

SPEEDER FINED: A motorcyclist was fined £2 for speeding in Hexham. He was told by the magistrates who dealt with his case that the speed which he had been travelling, 25mph, was 'far, far too fast'.

125 YEARS AGO

MUZZLING ORDER: Haltwhistle magistrates granted the police’s request that a muzzling order, then about to expire, be extended indefinitely following reports of further cases of rabies in the area.

LIBERAL WIN: The Liberals held on to Hexham at the 1895 General Election after winning the seat from the Conservatives at a by-election two years earlier. Their candidate, Wentworth Canning Blackett Beaumont, of Bywell, took over as MP for the Hexham division, polling 4,438 votes - 435 more than the Conservatives’ candidate, Charles Hunter.

150 YEARS AGO

ANNUAL SHOW: The annual Tyneside Agricultural Society Show was to take place at Hexham on August 2. There was to be a gallery for the ladies, “so that the fair sex will thus be able to hear the speeches and witness the presentation of the prizes to the successful competitors”.

CHAPEL OPENED: The new Primitive Methodist Chapel at Langley was opened under “very auspicious circumstances”.

VILLAGE PICNIC: The popular Colwell Village Festival was to take place, with music supplied by the Eleventh Northumberland (Sandhoe) Rifle Volunteers.