A TRIP down memory lane, we take a look back at the stories to have hit the headlines 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 125-years ago. Do you remember any of the events?

10 YEARS AGO

BUS STATION PLEA: County councillors were handed a petition bearing nearly 2,000 signatures, arguing Hexham bus station should remain where it is. The petition was organised by Hexham pensioners Anne Pickering and Aileen Henricks, who said it demonstrated the strength of feeling against the county’s plans to move the bus station to the Loosing Hill car park. After handing in the 1,875-name petition to a full meeting of the county council, Miss Pickering said instead of being moved, the bus station should be improved, with toilets and a waiting room opened to the public.

HOTEL FIRE: Fire crews were called to a Hexham hotel after a fire broke out within the building. The blaze at The Royal Hotel on Priestpopple was believed to have started within the Rajasthan restaurant.

ANCIENT INN CLOSED: One of Tynedale’s most historic hotels shut its doors, fuelling uncertainty over its future. The Lord Crewe Arms in Blanchland was closed by administrators of its operator J&G Inns. Administrators Begbies Traynor handed the lease back to owner the Lord Crewe’s Charitable Trust, which was understood to be planning a £1 million-plus refurbishment.

25 YEARS AGO

PLEA TO SAVE HOMES: The Prime Minister was brought into the fight against Forestry Commission plans to sell off pensioners’ homes to the highest bidder. The headmaster of Kielder School, David Lewis, wrote to John Major urging him to halt the controversial sales.

JUMBO PLANS: Carlisle was offered a multi-million pound deal to redevelop the city’s airport so that Jumbo jets can land and take off, distributing goods from North America to Europe.

50 YEARS AGO

ORDEAL FOR ELDERLY: Catton pensioners Frank and Lily Timberlake (69 and 71) and her sister Jenny Allon (85) were stranded overnight on a desolate stretch of moorland near Wark Forest after their car got stuck in a bog. The trio walked five hours in pitch darkness before finding help in the form of a forestry wagon.

LAZINESS LAMBASTED: Prudhoe councillor Ron Prockter criticised townsfolk that made it their practice to lie in bed all morning instead of getting up early and clearing the paths outside their houses of snow.

PRUDHOE PROJECT: Prudhoe High School announced plans to equip itself with a new £60,000 sports hall.

DEMOLITION IN HEXHAM: Buildings were demolished to make way for a link road between Hexham’s Beaumont Street and nearby St Mary’s Chare.

75 YEARS AGO

WINTRY WEATHER: Snowdrifts up to 15ft deep blocked all roads out of Hexham, bar the A69, and cut off numerous villages, including Allendale and Blanchland.

UNDERTAKING: Local councillors considered plans then afoot to set up a crematorium in Hexham.

MARATHON MARRIAGE: Wylam nonagenarians Mr and Mrs F.J. Herbert, believed to be the oldest married couple in the country, celebrated their 74th wedding anniversary.

PORKY PROJECT: A pig club was founded at Alston.

100 YEARS AGO

APPLE ACTION: A London court awarded Stocksfield man Robert Shaw Pallister £130 damages against a south-east railway company that three years earlier sold 300 baskets of apples it was transporting for him after they were held up by a strike and it became apparent that they would not reach their destination, Leith in Scotland, while still fresh.

FEVER FINE: Haydon Bridge man William Thompson, of Shaftoe Street, was fined 20 shillings for sending his scarlet fever sufferer son, also called William, to school despite being ordered not to by a local medical officer.

125 YEARS AGO

CUP EXIT: Newcastle United went out of football’s English Cup competition after losing 5-0 to Aston Villa.

PLENITUDE OF POULTRY: Prudhoe and District Poultry, Pigeon and Rabbit Society’s sixth annual exhibition, held at the town’s West Wylam school, attracted a record number of entries.