A LOOK back at what made the headlines 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 125-years-ago. Do you remember any of these stories?

10 YEARS AGO

LEAK INQUIRY DEMANDS: A grandmother from Heddon-on-the-Wall led a battle against airport chiefs as investigations into alleged fuel dumping in the village appear to have been abandoned. Edith Simpson said she will continue her fight to prove a plane dropped masses of highly flammable kerosene on to the road, gardens and driveways at Aquila Drive earlier that month. The Civil Aviation Authority looked into the incident and said it will not be pursuing further investigations unless new evidence emerges.

CHALET DESTROYED: A derelict wooden chalet in Ovingham was burned to the ground after a fire. All that remained of the hut at Whittle Dene is brickwork from a chimney stack. The chalet was not occupied.

WYLAM ATTACK: Two men were hit with a broken glass bottle during an assault outside a Wylam pub. The 28-year-old and 25-year-old men were taken to the RVI in Newcastle for treatment after suffering cuts during the attack outside the Black Bull.

25 YEARS AGO

RAIL WAGON MISHAP: A Carlisle bound goods train travelled through Tynedale for about two miles with a derailed wagon at the back. No-one was hurt but both the track and wagon were damaged.

CENTRE OF BRITAIN: There was jubilation in Haltwhistle when it was reported that the Ordnance Survey had backed its claim to the prestigious title. From the rival claimant, Allendale, there was anger. But now things were back in the melting point when an Ordnance Survey official condemned the reports and insisted that neither claimant had its backing.

HE NETS £10,000: Hexham man John Porter scooped the £10,000 jackpot in the Newcastle United Super Sevens lottery draw and was presented with the cheque on the hallowed St James’ Park turf.

NOTORIOUS ACCIDENT SPOT: The notorious accident spot on the A68 at Catcleugh Reservoir suffered six more crashes in two weeks. These included two within the space of just ten minutes on one day.

50 YEARS AGO

ROAD RUMPUS: Plans to raise the speed limit on the A68 through West Woodburn from 30mph to 40mph met with opposition from Bellingham rural councillors, who called for the limit to stay as it was.

PLAY AREA VETO: Hexham rural councillors turned down Corbridge Parish Council’s request that a grassy area on the village’s Milkwell estate be turned into a children’s play area following objections from the estate’s 24 residents.

VILLAGES STAY NORTHUMBRIAN: Ponteland and Heddon-on-the-Wall would remain within Northumberland, instead of being swallowed up within the Tyneside metropolitan area, following the local government review then in the offing, a local government bill revealed.

MAGAZINE MAKES COMEBACK: Haydon Bridge’s parish magazine was revived after having been in abeyance for some time.

75 YEARS AGO

LIBRARY SEARCH: The Workers’ Educational Association’s Hexham branch was desperately seeking premises for a library of 3,000 books it had collected following a public appeal.

OPEN DAYS: The barbed-wire fences around the Featherstone Park prisoner-of-war camp. near Haltwhistle, were taken down, making it the first open prison of its kind in the country.

GOALS GALORE: The Hexham Hearts football team beat Burradon Wefare 12-3 in a Northern Alliance Challenge Cup tie and, according to a report in the Hexham Courant, could have gone on to score at least another half-dozen goals had they exerted themselves.

EXTRA TIME: Tynedale rugby club were able to scrape a draw against Carlisle, thanks to the match referee’s watch stopping. Ten minutes passed before the timepiece-challenged referee realised what had happened, during which time Tynedale equalised.

100 YEARS AGO

REDESDALE FUND-RAISER: A fancy-dress dance held at Otterburn rifle range raised £30 for Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

MEMORIAL TO FALLEN: A war memorial tablet was unveiled at St Cuthbert’s Church at Elsdon, near Otterburn.

125 YEARS AGO

TEMPERANCE TALK: There’s nothing manly about drinking and it would be fallacious to think there was, the then rector of Wark, the Rev. R. Ross-Lewin, told a meeting of the 200-strong Birtley branch of the Church of England Temperance Society. The rector backed up by this argument by pointing out how manly soldiers and sailors that were also teetotallers were.

FATAL CRASH: A pony was killed in a head-on collision between two traps in Station Road, Corbridge.