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

25 years ago

A COUNTY landmark was to be at the heart of a new £1 million film, according to the East Lothian Courier on August 15, 1997.

A London film crew and cast of professional opera singers have descended on East Lothian’s most magnificent stately home to produce a modern version of Sir Walter Scott’s tragic love story the ‘Bride of Lammermoor’.

Gosford House, near Longniddry, was chosen as the location for the film after an extensive search for a suitable setting.

Producers looked at around 50 homes.

But when East Lothian film director Don Boyd returned to his roots and saw Gosford, he knew it was the perfect place.

Gosford, the estate of the Earl and Countess of Wemyss, has been used for various small filming projects before.

However, this is the first time it has been the backdrop for a big budget feature film.

50 years ago

ON AUGUST 18, 1972, the East Lothian Courier reported on a new house in Belhaven... that had been built facing the wrong way!

All the new houses in Beveridge Row, Belhaven, are being built parallel to the road ... all, that is, except one.

For someone, somewhere, has slipped up.

The foundations of one of the houses has been built at an angle to the road. And it would cost £600 to put right.

In a letter to East Lothian Planning Committee, the Planning Officer, Mr Frank P. Tindall, suggested that no action be taken to correct the mistake but that “any future mistakes might not be tolerated so lightly.”

The committee agreed.

Celtic Homes Limited, Duns, designed the house – a four-apartment timber framed bungalow.

But a spokesman for the firm said: “We supplied the super structure but did not make the base which was built wrongly.”

100 years ago

A LONG-SERVING minister was delighted to receive a gift, told The Haddingtonshire Courier on August 18, 1922.

The present week, being the fiftieth anniversary of the induction of the Rev James Coullie to the church and parish of Pencaitland, the Kirk Session have taken the opportunity of offering the rev. gentleman their united hearty congratulations, and, at the same time, enclosing for his acceptance a handsome congregational gift in connection with the outstanding occasion.

The spontaneity and generosity of the gift took Mr Coullie by surprise, but was gratefully accepted, not merely for its intrinsic value but for the kindly feeling it indicated.