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

25 years ago

A PLAGUE of rats made the front page of the East Lothian Courier on June 18, 1999.

In scenes reminiscent of ‘The Pied Piper of Hamlin,’ a group of Cockenzie residents in the New Street area, are currently enduring what they describe as a plague of rats.

They claim that building work nearby has disturbed a multitude of rats, forcing the rodents into their homes and gardens, creating a fear of disease.

The rats began to appear at the beginning of May when an old potato shed was demolished and work began on foundations for new flats.

“There are rats everywhere! There are around 20 houses in the street and everyone has had experience of them coming into gardens and houses.

“I was in my greenhouse the other day when a huge rodent came up and started sniffing at the glass,” said Dougie MacFarlane, of 5 New Street.

MEANWHILE, parents gathered at the roundabout in a busy Tranent street as they attempted to stop drivers using the road as a shortcut.

Concerned for the safety of their children, parents in Coalgate Road and Avenue are planning to block the road on a weekly basis in an attempt to stop drivers using the housing estate as a shortcut.

They are also hoping to persuade East Lothian Council to introduce traffic calming measures, including speed bumps, as a matter of urgency.

50 years ago

A MINISTER’S appeal after an attack on his church was reported in the East Lothian Courier on June 21, 1974.

A Dunbar minister spoke this week of a “curse” of vandalism which has resulted in widespread damage to his church and property.

Church windows had been smashed, the offering box broken into, and even goldfish taken from his garden pond.

The Rev E. M. Ivens, of St Anne’s Church, this week described the vandalism as a “curse” of “epidemic” proportions and he appealed to the vandals, believed to be small boys, to stop their rampage.

But the church is not the only target for the vandals. They have raided Mr Ivens’ garden at the Rectory and forced open a padlock on an enclosure where he keeps pigeons.

And the vandals even came with nets and dragged the fish pond, taking goldfish, some of which Mr Ivens has had for years.

100 years ago

A MEASLES outbreak forced a camp to be cancelled, reported The Haddingtonshire Courier on June 20, 1924.

Owing to an outbreak of measles, the observance here of the Scout Week has been postponed until later in the summer.

MEANWHILE, students visited the mines at Prestonpans.

The mining students attending the day classes in mining at the Heriot Watt College, accompanied by Professor Briggs, visited Prestongrange Colliery on Saturday, when they were met by Mr Donald Boyd, manager, who took the party below ground, where coal-cutting machines and conveyors were explained to them.