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

25 years ago...

A STATUE of one of Dunbar’s most famous sons was to be created, reported the East Lothian Courier on June 21, 1996.

Ukrainian artist Valentin Znoba has been chosen to create a sculpture to stand outside Dunbar Town House, following a keenly fought contest. The statue will depict John Muir as a boy feeding a bird.

The work of Znoba is famous throughout Eastern Europe.

He was the artist who sculpted a statue of Lenin in Moscow’s Red Square which was brought down when the Soviet Union collapsed.

His three metre bronze sculpture will be placed on a platform of local stone.

The contest had been whittled down to three finalists out of 34 original entries, and a judging panel which took into account public viewpoints made the final decision.

The judging panel, made up of representatives from Dunbar Community Council, Dunbar and District History Society, Dunbar Trades Association and East Lothian Council, had a difficult task in choosing the winner because the entries were of such high quality.

50 years ago

‘Bring Back the Empties’ was a headline in The Haddingtonshire Courier on June 25, 1971.

“Return your empties” was the plea made this week by Mr James Morrison, the Co-op Creamery manager.

He said that many bottles were being put into buckets instead of being returned to the milkman.

“We would appreciate if they were returned because they cost 2.5p each. We used to charge for bottles at one time but the public requested the charge be dropped,” said Mr Morrison.

100 years ago

DISAPPEARING chickens led to a court appearance for one Tranent man, told The Haddingtonshire Courier of June 24, 1921.

On Friday, in Haddington Sheriff Court, John Cannon, miner, Tranent, was charged with having on the night of Monday, 6th, or the morning of Tuesday 7th June, broken into the poultry-house at Dolphingstone farm steading and stolen 19 hens and a cock. He denied the charge.

Mrs Jane Moffat, poultry-keeper, stated that she counted the hens on Saturday morning, 4th June, as they left the henhouse.

There were 125, and two cockerels. One of the latter was a game cock, and the other a Rhode Island red. The henhouse was a stone-and-lime building. On the night of the 6th, the fowls were locked up as usual, and both doors properly secured.

On Tuesday morning, 7th June, when she proceeded to let out the fowls, she discovered that the inside door had been forced open, and the staple securing the inner door had been torn out.