25 years ago

‘CLOSE call for pensioners as ceiling crashes’ was a headline in the East Lothian Courier of January 5, 1996.

The big freeze brought disaster for an elderly Macmerry couple when a burst pipe in their loft caused their living room ceiling to cave in.

George and Gabrielle Gibb, both 77, couldn’t believe their eyes when a torrent of water and plaster came crashing to the floor of their Station Row cottage last Wednesday afternoon.

George had just turned off the mains after he noticed water trickling down the light flex in the lounge and Gabrielle had gone through with a basin to catch the drops.

But it was too late... the ceiling collapsed, knocking family photos and a clock off the wall and smashing a table below.

Luckily George was in the kitchen at the time, but Gabrielle was drenched with water and narrowly missed being showered with lumps of plaster.

50 years ago

A SURVIVOR of the Ibrox tragedy told his story and tributes were paid to those who lost their lives, reported The Haddingtonshire Courier of January 8, 1971.

One East Lothian man died and two others fought for their lives in the tragedy of Ibrox Park, Glasgow, on Saturday.

Sixty-six people died at the end of the traditional clash between Rangers and Celtic when crush barriers on stairs leading away from the terracing collapsed under the weight of bodies.

Among them was John McGovern, an Ormiston man on leave in Tranent from the Army.

Twenty-four-year-old Bill Robertson, of Ormiston, who survived the horror, vowed this week that never again would he go back to the terracing at a football match.

100 years ago

A HADDINGTON man who became a journalist in Africa made headlines in The Haddingtonshire Courier on January 7, 1921.

Mr Robert Shaw, a son of the late Sergeant-Major Shaw, and of Mrs Shaw, Brae Villa, has left Reuter’s Cape Town Agency, and has joined the staff of a newspaper at Nairobi, Kenya.

Mr Shaw began his journalistic career in Haddington.

He was a keen volunteer, and served with the Royal Scots service battalion in the Boer War.

He did not remain long in this country after his return, but accepted an appointment on a Durban newspaper, and from this went south to Cape Town.

There are at present a considerable number of Haddington people in the Nairobi district.