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

25 years ago...

SCREAMS were waking up families in Haddington... but all was not as it seemed, revealed the East Lothian Courier on June 26, 1998.

The invasion of peacocks, whose eerie screams at dawn have been startling Haddington people, has been solved.

Two separate pairs of the gaily coloured birds have escaped from two separate country homes outside the town.

And their owners are finding them difficult to catch. Stewart Galloway and his wife Margaret got the fright of their lives when a peacock’s screams woke them at 6am in their Yester Place, Haddington, home.

“It was a horrible noise. A bit like an old fashioned klaxon,” said Stewart, a retired printer.

“My wife looked out the window. I could hardly believe it when she told me there was a peacock sitting on the roof across the road.

“It was sitting there quite happily having a good look around.”

50 years ago...

‘GET rid of pigeons’ was the call made by Haddington Town Council, reported the East Lothian Courier of June 29, 1973.

Haddington Town Council have a problem in the shape of hundreds of pigeons which inhabit roofs of the town and cause a nuisance to residents.

So the Burgh Surveyor, Mr T. C. Bathgate, has been instructed to try to deal with the pigeon population.

The Town Council decided to take action after receiving letters from two proprietors of shops in the High Street who both complained about the mess caused by the birds.

Mr Hay wrote: “We wish to complain about the amount of pigeons on our roof, picking the cement between the pantiles and generally causing a lot of damage and fouling the ronepipes and communal passage.

“You may also be aware this passage is the main entrance to our house and ‘dirt’ is carried in on our feet. We think this is very unhygienic since we are a foot shop.”

Councillor Roy Fawcett, who also lives on the High Street, said the pigeon population on the roofs was enormous and there was “half a bucketful of pigeons’ droppings every morning in the closes”.

“We might consider some method of birth control,” he suggested.

and 100 years ago...

THE tragic death of a lawyer made headlines in The Haddingtonshire Courier on June 29, 1923.

During the hearing of a High Court case in Edinburgh on Thursday, Mr William Purves WS, a partner in the firm of Messrs W&F Haldane, WS, became suddenly ill and died within a few minutes.

A keen and enthusiastic golfer, he was a member of Burgess and Luffness Clubs, and a former captain of the Dunbar Club.