Looking back at what happened this week in Tyndedale 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 125 years ago.

10 YEARS AGO

POWER SURGE: Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused by a mystery power surge in the North Tyne. Almost 300 properties in the Kielder and Falstone areas were hit by the blast, and many were left without power all day. Residents were furious when power company NEDL washed its hands of any responsibility for the damage, and said people would have to claim on their household insurance to recover the cost of wrecked equipment.

FACTORY CLOSURE: AzkoNobel announced plans to close its Low Prudhoe Factory, which employed 89 people, by the end of 2014. The move formed part of the paint company's plan to create a £100 million facility in Ashington. AzkoNobel took over the factory in 2008 as part of its takeover of ICI.

PARROT HOME: A parrot with a penchant for whistling the theme tune from The Great Escape who had fled from his perch at his Haltwhistle home was found. Owner Kevin Bibby and his partner Angela Turnbull were distraught when their African Grey parrot Scoobydoo went roaming, and has searched for him for five days. He was found at Vindolanda.

TV FILMING: It was lights, camera, action at Housesteads Roman Fort as filming began for a new BBC TV series. Historian Dan Snow and One Show presenter Michael Douglas dropped in on the English Heritage site for a five-part history series called National Treasures Live.

25 YEARS AGO

PAY RISE: Hexham's MP Peter Atkinson defied his party leadership for the second time in a year,- to vote himself a 26 per cent pay rise. Mr Atkinson was one of 317 MPs who voted against a Government motion to keep the pay rise to three per cent. His basic salary rose to £43,000.

TRAGEDY AVERTED: A Hexham woman cheated death when fire broke out at her home. Elsie Thompson, then 60, was rescued by Hexham firefighters with just minutes to spare.

WOMEN ALLOWED: One of Hexham's last bastions of male dominance took a step into the 20th Century when it allowed in women guests permanently. Two years prior, the Albert Edward Club in Hallgates had welcomed women on Saturdays and Sundays only if they were accompanied by a member.

BANK FIRE: Fire broke out at the TSB bank's Prudhoe branch. The blaze, in a staff room, was dealt with by firefighters from Prudhoe and Hexham. A faulty electrical appliance was believed to have been responsible.

50 YEARS AGO

FETE POPULAR: A fete held at Hexham's Queen Elizabeth High School raised almost £500 for the school's minibus appeal.

SELL-OFF SLAMMED: Hexham rural councillors branded plans to sell off council houses as a waste of money after learning that, as of then, no tenants had taken advantage of the £300 scheme.

MAJORITY EUROSCEPTICS: A ballot held in Hexham by the London-based Political Freedom Movement revealed that almost three times as many of those polled were against joining the European Community as were for it.

OFFICE BID: Swiss textiles firm Stotz and Co. was reported to have put in a £25,000 bid for the former ICI offices on the Low Prudhoe industrial estate.

RESERVOIR OPPOSITION: Northumberland Rural Community Council registered its objection to Northumbrian Water's plans to create a vast reservoir at Kielder.

75 YEARS AGO

RECORD MONEYSPINNER: That year's annual Falstone fete raised a record £115 for church funds.

WOODLAND BLAZE: Fire destroyed 10 acres of woodland near Dukes House, near Hexham.

FOOD PARCELS: Consignments of sweets and tinned meat from Australia and Kenya were sent to Humshaugh to be distributed among villagers there.

100 YEARS AGO

FIRE DAMAGE: A fire broke out at Stagshawbank pit, near Corbridge, causing £1,200 worth of damage. Another major fire broke out at Wark saw-mill that week, destroying timber and machinery and causing £1,000 worth of damage.

GAME OFF: A meeting held at Prudhoe with a view to setting up a tennis club there attracted so little interest that it had to be abandoned. Unabashed by this apathy, the meeting's organisers lined up a second get-together in the hope that it would generate more interest than its predecessor.

125 YEARS AGO

CHURCH FUND-RAISER: A bazaar was held at Haydon Bridge in a bit to help raise £1,000 needed to restore the village's St Cuthbert's Church.

BIKES BOYCOTTED: Members of Corbridge Cycling Club failed to get on their bikes and instead went by train to Hexham for an outing they had lined up. Inclement weather was the reason given for this snub to the two-wheeled form of transport from which the club derived its name.