THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

Negotiations have now been completed for the acquisition by the Arbroath branch of the Young Men’s Christian Association of the property contiguous to their present hall in High Street, and which is at present occupied as law offices by Messrs D.& W. Chapel, and as the registration for births, deaths and marriages. The property has been purchased from the Messrs Chapel for the purpose of extending the premises in connection with the Social Centre Institute scheme which it was recently agreed to carry out.

50 years ago

Police fired about two dozen shots to protect themselves from a hail of petrol bombs in Londonderry. About five shots were fired after a shower of bombs from an empty warehouse at the Sackville Street junction with Little James Street in Bogside. Then another volley of petrol bombs were thrown and several guns fired at the building. Disturbances spread to several other towns in Northern Ireland as the Bogside battles raged on. As the Bogside violence flared up with the fall of darkness, the police were forced to retreat.

25 years ago

A Fife driver managed to stop his express train just seconds before a head-on collision with a runaway locomotive in Edinburgh. Tam Campbell (65), of Dunfermline, suffered multiple leg injuries in the accident. Mr Campbell had received a warning from signalmen two minutes before the collision and barely had time to stop his train and get into the back of his cab, a Railtrack official said. He was trapped for about an hour after the 110-ton unmanned diesel locomotive collided with his InterCity express at Abbeyhill.

One year ago

A Dundee man celebrated his 90th birthday in the home where he has lived all his life. Stuart Bannerman’s three-bedroom West End home was built in 1927, just a year before he was born. Little has changed in the house, with noticeable features including prominent dark brown mahogany wood throughout. The entire home, including the front and back gardens, cost £1,247 to build. It will likely now be worth more than 200 times the amount it cost to build but Stuart has “never for even a second considered selling”.