WE TAKE a look at the stories making headlines in East Lothian 25, 50 and 100 years ago.

 

25 years ago

 

NURSERY pupils were helping a woman to rebuild lives in Bosnia, reported the East Lothian Courier on February 16, 1996.

A refugee from Bosnia hopes her training at Longniddry Nursery School and supplies collected by pupils will help the people of her country when she returns home later this year.

Majda Topic, 33, is on work placement at the school as part of a one-year college course in social care.

The placement is until Easter, by which time Majda hopes to have learned enough about social care to return to her country and put her practical training to good use.

The past five years of civil war have separated families and destroyed communities, but now that a shaky peace deal is in place, Majda hopes to help rebuild her country.

There is still a desperate shortage of basic supplies and Majda and other teachers at Longniddry arranged a ‘shared assembly’ on Wednesday when pupils brought gifts for transport to Bosnia.

 

50 years ago

 

IT WAS a case of ‘surprise, surprise’ for one Tranent couple who thought they were going for a small meal for their silver wedding anniversary, as reported in The Haddingtonshire Courier on February 20, 1971.

Mr and Mrs David Stewart, 4 The Heugh, Tranent, thought they were merely going out for an evening meal, with their daughter and son-in-law, to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary.

Imagine their surprise then, when they reached the Woodside Hotel, Musselburgh, to find 40 guests ready to celebrate the occasion with them.

The ‘surprise party’, which had been organised by Mr and Mrs Stewart’s son and daughter, Mr J Stewart and Mrs I Thomson, was a huge success, and the Stewarts were completely overwhelmed by the sentiment.

 

100 years ago

 

THREE men appeared in court after being found drunk on Prestonpans High Street, as reported in The Haddingtonshire Courier of February 18, 1921.

At a J.P. Court, held in Haddington, on Monday – Mr Mark Ormiston and Dr J. G. Wallace-James on the bench – John Clark, miner, Morrisonshaven, pleaded guilty to having been found in a state of intoxication in High Street, Prestonpans.

Accused said he had gone out of the way of everybody.

A previous conviction was libelled, and he was fined 7s 6d.

James Connor, miner, Musselburgh, and Andrew Thomson, miner, Prestonpans, pleaded guilty to having been found drunk in High Street, Prestonpans, and having used objectionable language.

Mr Ormiston said this was a class of offence that the bench had tried to put down at Prestonpans, and the fine would be one of 30s each.