NOSTALGIA: Looking back 10, 25, 50 years ago (published Gazette, Thursday, February 11)

10 YEARS AGO: Thursday, February 16, 2006

The boss of a leading IT firm watched his company go up in smoke as a burning inferno ripped through a historic Alnwick building. Andrew Fisk, managing director of Tagish, was called away from his Morpeth home on Saturday morning after being told a giant blaze had taken hold of Bolam’s Mill. Mr Fisk arrived on the scene to join a crowd of hundreds who watched the plumes of smoke and roaring flames consume the top half of the Dispensary Street stone structure. “It was just an absolute shock, Mr Fisk said. “It was quite unbelievable.” Bolam’s Mill was home to Tagish, one of the country’s leading e-government businesses, and its 16 employers for 11 years. A Tagish employee discovered the fire when he entered the building to get to the top-floor office.

25 YEARS AGO: Friday, February 15, 1991

Alnwick Police Station became centre stage this week in a three-girl murder hunt. A man, unnamed by police, was taken to the station on Tuesday morning to be questioned about the murders of three young girls, including that of Susan Maxwell. It is understood that the man was a 43-year-old driver. He is being questioned at Alnwick Police Station by Felton born Deputy Chief Constable Hector Clark, of the Lothian and Borders force, who is in overall command of the joint investigations. He is being interviewed in connection with the abduction and murders of Susan Claire Maxwell in July 1982 from Cornhill, near Berwick, Caroline Hogg in July 1983 from Portobello, Edinburgh, and Sarah Jayne Harper in March 1986 from Leeds.

50 YEARS AGO: Friday, February 11, 1966

English and Scottish spokesmen described a Wednesday afternoon meeting in Berwick Town Hall as ‘historic’. It was the first joint step with Government officials to implement the Government’s White Paper proposals for concentrated assistance and development in the Eastern Borders, in which Berwick has been named as the focal point. The meeting was attended by Mr. B. E. Lincoln, Secretary of the Development Commission, who the paper stated will be responsible for promoting the development to arrest depopulation and encourage new industry in the area. Mr. Lincoln told a reporter after the private meeting of just over an hour: “This is the first step to find out how best to implement the instruction for development through a local development association.”