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

25 years ago

A FAMILIAR face was taking the helm of a town’s community council, reported the East Lothian Courier on October 22, 1999.

Kenny McLeod, the newly elected chairman of Tranent and Elphinstone Community Council, hopes to see the area “prosper” in the new millennium.

Having been brought up in the Northfield area, the insurance agent now stays in Bank Park with wife Catherine and children Nicola, 16, and Mark, 12.

A Justice of the Peace and qualified football referee, he took over the reins of the council for the first time on Tuesday.

Mr McLeod is involved with several local organisations and committees, and has been a community councillor for around eight years.

He admitted after his first meeting that it had been a bit “daunting” initially, but that he soon gained confidence: “I know them all and they have hearts of gold.”

50 years ago

A STRIKE by drivers was reported on the front page of the East Lothian Courier on October 25, 1974.

Repercussions of the transport drivers’ strike were being felt this week as drivers for local firms joined the unofficial strike or were laid off work as a result of it.

Following a visit by a delegation of strikers and pickets from Glasgow, 50 drivers walked out of the Tranent depot of William Baxter & Son Ltd., public works and haulage contractors.

Mr Duncan Hughes, of Robert Hughes and Son, haulage contractors, Dunbar, said the firm had been forced to lay 11 men off as the main bulk of their work was carried out in the Glasgow area and the South of Scotland. Only maintenance work was being done in the garage.

Twenty vehicles were lying idle at the Haddington Station of James F. Guy & Son where drivers had to be laid off because deliveries and collections could not be made because of the strike.

100 years ago

A MAN received a £1 fine at Haddington Sheriff Court after his daughter did not attend school, reported The Haddingtonshire Courier on October 24, 1924.

On Monday, in Haddington Sheriff Court, Adam Robertson, Main Street, Elphinstone, pleaded guilty to having failed to comply with the terms of an attendance order granted by the County Education Authority, in respect to his daughter, Jane, under fourteen years.

Mr J.W. Williamson, solicitor, who prosecuted, stated that during last quarter, out of a possible 114 attendances, the girl had made 56.

The attendance officer, on asking the accused for an explanation, was informed that the girl was required to keep the house, as her elder sister, who was between seventeen and eighteen years of age, had left. The accused stated that his wife had left him, and had succeeded in getting the elder daughter also to leave. He was, therefore, left dependent on the younger girl.

Sheriff Jameson said that the accused should make an application for exemption, which would be considered by the School Management Committee.

He imposed a fine of £1.