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

25 years ago

VIOLENCE halted a teenage disco in Tranent, reported the East Lothian Courier on March 5, 1999.

An outbreak of teenage violence cut short an under-18s disco at the Loch Centre, Tranent, on Friday and windows were smashed.

The disco, a fund-raising event organised by members of the East Coast Gym, was due to finish at 10.30pm but was abruptly ended at 9.45pm when two teenagers began having an argument.

Stewards at the disco stepped in but a fight began outside the building between two gangs of youths just moments later.

Police were called by a member of staff at the Loch Centre, but when the three patrol cars arrived, the violence had stopped and the gangs had dispersed. No-one was arrested.

A spokeswoman for East Lothian Council said: “There was a slight altercation within the disco when two males squared up to each other.

“The disco was stopped early because of the rowdy behaviour.”

50 years ago

‘CONSERVATIVES squeeze home at the post’ was a headline in the East Lothian Courier on March 8, 1974.

Michael Ancram is the new Member of Parliament for Berwickshire and East Lothian.

After votes had been counted at Haddington on Thursday night, the 28-year-old advocate found himself the only Conservative in Scotland to have wrested a seat from Labour.

Somewhere along the way to election day the slender Labour majority of 641 had evaporated and been turned into an even more precarious Conservative majority of 540.

Polling was heavy – over 86 per cent – particularly during the morning and observers felt that the three-day week had contributed to this apparent change in pattern, for it is usual in this scattered constituency for the bulk of the voters to arrive later in the day at the polling stations. Labour hopes were high as it was realised that the total votes cast would reflect a high turnout.

100 years ago

THE Haddingtonshire Courier of March 7, 1924, sought to remind readers, amid some confusion, of the Earl of Balfour’s proper title.

It is a common error in these slip-shod days to describe the statesman who was once Arthur James Balfour as “Earl Balfour.”

This is as inaccurate as it would be to describe the Earl of Birkenhead as, “The Earl Birkenhead.”

When Mr Balfour was raised to the peerage he assumed the euphonious and impressive title: - “The Earl of Balfour and Viscount Traprain of Whittingehame in the County of Haddington.” Thus he may properly be styled Lord Balfour, but never “Earl Balfour.”

The proposition “of” is as much a part of his full description as his patronymic itself, and as the half-way vowel “e” in Whittingehame, his Scottish home.