What made Hexham Courant news in Tynedale 150 years ago?

10 years ago

TIMBER INITIATIVE: The Egger UK factory in Hexham was chosen for the launch of a strategy to invest £28m in forestry in the North, creating more than 1,000 jobs. It had the potential to give Tynedale its biggest shot in the arm since the creation of Kielder Forest in the 1920s.

FEAR OF REVELLERS: Residents were living in fear of drunken revellers who frequented a Hexham bar. They claimed that every weekend, particularly over bank holiday weekends, they were woken in the early hours of the morning by the rowdy behaviour of drinkers at The Phoenix. Glasses and bottles were regularly thrown into their back gardens, windows smashed and property damaged.

ANCIENT TREASURE: Boys from Alston became heroes of the archaeological world after unearthing a priceless 4,300-year-old artefact during a dig in Kirkhaugh. The two sets of brothers found a gold ornament, barely measuring 3cm long. The tiny hair decoration was one of only 10 of its kind ever found.

25 years ago

CRIME CRACKDOWN: A major crackdown on rural crime in Tynedale was to begin. The Home Office was expected to give the go-ahead for a pioneering trial of portable closed-circuit TV cameras for villages, by the end of summer. If confirmed, the Government was to hand £40,000 to Hexham police to set up a mobile CCTV system to be moved between participating villages throughout the district.

Hexham and Tynedale Music and Movement's end-of-term teddy bears' picnic on the Sele saw a huge turnout of teddies with their owners in 1999. The classes were held on Friday mornings at Hexham and Friday afternoons at Haydon Bridge (Image: Tony Iley)

JOB BOOST: Hexham was in line for an employment boost at the end of summer with almost 40 new jobs being created by the expansion of a care home. The workforce at Castlebeck Care Home at Oaklands, near Hexham, was to double following the completion of a 24-bed extension to the building. 

COSTLY AFFAIR: A Tynedale school had to change its school uniform, schoolwear badges, signs, backpack badges, notepaper and prospectus after the governors changed its name. The church-aided St Helen's First School in Corbridge decided to drop the long-held title of 'St Helen's' to become simply Corbridge C of E First School.  

50 years ago

ROYAL OCCASION: Huge crowds turned out to watch the Queen attend a civic service to mark Hexham Abbey's 1,300th anniversary.

OUT OF POCKET: Delays hitting work on the construction of Hexham's Gilesgate swimming pool would end up costing ratepayers £285,000, Tynedale Council heard.

CATTLE STRUCK: Three cows were killed by lightning during a thunderstorm at Healey. 

DRINK FOR CHARITY: A coffee evening at Heddon Banks Farm, Heddon-on-the-Wall, raised £200 for the Tyneside Leukaemia Research Association.

75 years ago

A SCORCHER: Hexham had basked in more than 180 hours of sunshine during June of 1949 and temperatures had soared to 80F on three days, it was reported.

CHURCH BOOST: A garden fete in Haydon Bridge raised £90 for the village's Catholic church, St John of Beverley. 

100 years ago

FINE FETE: A fete at Minsteracres raised £45 for Healey's parish funds.

125 years ago

TRAGIC SHOCK: A three-year-old boy called Charlton Lovat, a farmer's son, died of shock after falling into a pail of hot water while visiting Chipchase Mill, near Wark. 

GONE TO BLAZES: Fire broke out at outbuildings at Chesters, near Humshaugh, causing £800 worth of damage to the nine-year-old storage house at the stables. 

150 years ago

CASH PRIZE: A £20 quoits match at the Common House Inn, near Haltwhistle, was won by John Reed of Haltwhistle. He beat Thomas Armstrong of Greenhead, 61-63.