10 YEARS AGO

SILL IN MOTION: Plans for a £5m visitor centre on Hadrian’s Wall to showcase the district’s rural landscape were unveiled by Northumberland National Park Authority. The Sill was drawn up jointly with the Youth Hostel Association for Once Brewed, near Bardon Mill.

FOREST D-DAY: A controversial Government decision on whether to sell off Kielder Forest was due, with the Independent Panel of Forestry due to visit the area.

KILLER MUSHROOMS: A group of scientists had decreed that a killer toadstool in Kielder could put an end to the invasion of midges which had forever plagued the district.

BUFFERS HIT: Villagers in Slaggyford were chuffed as plans to bring more tourists to the area on the South Tynedale Railway via an extension would require a new planning consent, which was considered hard to come by.

FAREWELL PHYLLIS: Tynedale’s oldest resident, Phyllis Stephens, died at the age of 109, after a short illness. Mrs Stephens spent her final eight years living in Charlotte Straker Care home, in Corbridge.

25 YEARS AGO

SEXIST SWIMMING: A Haltwhistle man, Joe Gilbert, complained that Tynedale Council were in breach of the Sex Discrimination Act by refusing him admission at Hexham Pool as women-only sessions were in place. An expensive court case was expected.

MP BACKING: A group wanting to take over the running of Prudhoe Hospital claimed it had the support of nearly 150 MPs for its alternative to the Care in the Community programme.

STANDING UP: Hexham’s MP Peter Atkinson quit his twin posts as Parliamentary Secretary to two Foreign Officer ministers after breaking Parliamentary protocol by tabling amendments opposing measures in the Government’s Broadcasting Bill.

CELEBRITY RALLIES: Kathy Secker, who presented Tyne Tees’ Tonight programme, was due to be on hadn to officially open the Young Farmers’ Rally at Stocksfield.

RAIL DRIVE: The first steps to reopen the old Haltwhistle to Alston railway line, which had been closed for 20 years, had been taken.

50 YEARS AGO

FOUR MIDABLE: Rochester’s football team won the North Tyne League championship for the fourth year in a row, one of four trophies the team won that season, the others being the North Tyne Shield, Charity Cup and Bellingham Ambulance Cup.

RESERVOIR ANNOUNCEMENT: The Northumbrian River Authority announced it had finalised its plans to create a £27m reservoir at Kielder and was about to apply to the Department of the Environment for permission to press ahead with this scheme.

CATTLE RESCUE: Alston firefighters rescued a cow and calf that had become trapped at the bottom of a 35ft deep pit shaft near the town. The two beasts were lifted to safety using a sling made out of hose reels.

NICKNAME NOTORIETY: Prudhoe’s Castle Close estate was known as Dodge City among residents, and urban council meeting heard.

75 YEARS AGO

HOSPITAL REJECTION: The Ministry of Health rejected Hexham Urban Council’s plans to convert the town’s disused isolation hospital into temporary houses.

VETERAN DIED: Alice Walker, then Hexham’s oldest resident, died aged 94 at her home in Orchard House where she was born, raised and had spent her entire life.

SIREN RUMBLES: Hexham Urban Council took its complaints about the noise generated by the siren used to call out the town’s retained firefighters to Labour’s North-East parliamentary group after being rebuffed by the Home Office.

100 YEARS AGO

MEMORIAL UNVEILED: A war memorial was unveiled at Burn Tongues, near Allendale, commemorating 22 men from the Keenley and Broadside areas who were killed during the Second World War.

POPULAR PARADE: 5,000 people turned out for a parade and field day held at Haltwhistle by the Plenmeller and South Tyne Colliery.

125 YEARS AGO

LIBERAL INITIATIVE: A branch of the Women’s Liberal Association was set up at Nenthead.

SWARM SIGHTED: Bees were reported to be swarming at Redesmouth, near Bellingham, for the first time that year, a month earlier than normal.