THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

Desperate fighting is reported from several parts of the front at Salonika. In the neighbourhood of Florina six Bulgarian battalions advanced against the Serbian positions into the Moglenika Valley. They were repelled with very heavy losses. Further deetails are not yet to hand. In the Doiran sector also there were several hand to hand fighting for the possesion of the village of Dodzeli which was occupied by the French yesterday. The village changed hands no less than three times.

50 years ago

The gaunt, skeleton framework of twisted metal girders was all that remained last night of one Angus’ most modern potato-handling plants. Earlier in the day fire completely destroyed the potato store at Hillhead, Kirriemuir, belonging to Mr David A. Lawson, the wellknown potato and fruit merchant. Damage was estimated at £40,000. Firemen from Kirriemuir and Forfar fought the outbreak for more than eight hours before the last pocket of fire was extinguished.

25 years ago

Today could see the end of a fishery that has operated on the Tay since 1275. The 1991 salmon netting season on the river ends at midnight and with the season’s end the nets on the Perth Town fishings will be hauled ashore, perhaps for the last time. The fishing rights were given to the people of Perth by Richard the Lion in 1275 and have been jealously guarded. They now form a major asset of the Perth Common Good Fund and are leased out commercially. However, this is unlikely to take place for next year.

One year ago

Many households are facing a shocking rise in their energy bills in September, a price comparison site has warned. A total of eight fixed-rate energy tariffs, including popular options from British Gas and EDF, are set to expire at the end of this month, with customers being automatically switched to their supplier’s standard rate tariff. Most customers will see their bills rise by an average of £77 a year as a result but others are facing a far bigger hike, according to Gocompare.com.