100 years ago

The North of England had been raided the previous night by a Zeppelin airship during a 35-minute flight over East Northumberland and Tyneside.

In the course of the raid, six bombs were dropped at Blyth, eight at Bedlington, one at Benton and five at Wallsend. The airship was first sighted at Blyth at 8 o’clock, moving inland above the town. From Blyth a north-westerly course was taken with a result that the Zeppelin appeared above Choppington, one of the villages of East Northumberland.

A bomb was dropped there and one person was slightly injured. From this point the pilot directed his craft in a southerly direction, and passed over Bedlington, where bombs were dropped, indiscriminately with little damage. The Zeppelin continued over the eastern side of the coalfield, dropping bombs at Cramlington, where it descended to within 1,000 feet of the earth.

One of the bombs struck the gable of Pillery Farm and fire broke out which extended to the granary. The outbreak, however, was speedily extinguished by the Urban Council fire brigade.

 

50 years ago

It was wrong to jump to the assumption that just because a person had absorbed certain chemicals, this was necessarily a bad thing, said Sir Harold Sanders, in his summing-up at the end of a conference at Askham Bryan on Chemicals And Farming.

They had conferred tremendous benefit on Mankind. He denied allegations that the effect of chemicals on human beings, animals and the land was a neglected subject. While there was always room for more research, the Government and industry were already devoting considerable effort to the subject. But there were the inevitable limits drawn by the amount of money and the number of staff available.

 

25 years ago

York parents were warned of the dangers of children catching AIDS from discarded syringes used by drug addicts. The warning came after used syringes found in a snicket, led to a child AIDS scare at Acomb.

A three-year-old girl was awaiting the results of a blood test which could lead to a four-month course of jabs. The girl had found a syringe in a snicket between Tudor Road where she lived, and Middleton Road - and stuck it in her finger. Her mother, a York District Hospital nurse, said it was the fourth time her children had brought home syringes or needles, and wanted to warn other parents to be on their guard.

Chief Inspector Jim Boam, of York Police, said he would be asking junior schools to warn children at the beginning of the new term not to touch discarded needles.