TAKE a trip down memory lane to read about some of the stories that were hitting the headlines 100, 50 and 25 years ago in the newspaper

100 years ago

A WOMAN who warned two soldiers’ wives that their husbands were about to come into harm’s way in sham fortune-telling sessions was spared jail.

Mary Elizabeth Seymour, who had a history of similar offences, initially pleaded not guilty but later admitted taking six pence from each of the women.

The first of the women to be duped, Alice Bullock, was told to expect a letter from her husband, who was serving abroad in the war, informing her that he had sustained serious injuries.

In an even more bizarre case, Louise Hatton was told by Seymour that her husband would return from war unharmed, but would then die soon afterwards.

When Mrs Hatton started to cry, Seymour made an attempt to console her by changing her stance.

She claimed ill-fate could be in store for any one of her family members.

The defendant was found guilty and fined £3.

50 years ago

POLICE faced a backlash from the owners of some pubs and clubs over the use of breathalysers.

While the drink-drive limit had been imposed two years earlier in 1965, it was only from October 1967 that officers started to use breathalysers.

One pub owner complained of being hit the hardest of all the region’s clubs after being thrust into an ‘almost impossible’ situation.

A spokesman for the club told the Guardian that lemonade and ginger beer were now the order of the day as people were ‘frightened to death’ by the new law.

25 years ago
A MISSING man was found safe and well after travelling to America shortly after his mum’s death.

Relatives feared the worst after the man disappeared from contact on his 35th birthday.

Josie Hill, a neighbour and close friend of the family, said: “He told us he was safe and well and when he gets himself together he will write to us. 

“It is a great relief to all the friends and neighbours in this street and his sisters, they were heartbroken.”