EACH week in the Free Press we look back at what made the news 150, 100, 50 and 25 years ago. Here is a sample of the items featuring in the This Was The News column this week.

150 years ago – January 15th 1870

A gale of wind blew down a chimney stack of a house in Bampton Street, Minehead, and it crashed through a bedroom floor into the downstairs room. A woman named Sutton, who was bed-making, escaped injury.

100 years ago – January 17th 1920

Great floods swept the district, bringing discomfort to householders. Three families had to be rescued from their cottages by way of the bedroom windows when the river overflowed at the packhorse bridge, Dunster. Residents of Washford were in sorry plight, and pigs had to be taken indoors for safety.

50 years ago – January 17th 1970

A 22-year-old economics graduate travelled to West Somerset from the United States as Yakima’s ‘wassail girl’ ambassador for the annual celebrations at the Butchers Arms, Carhampton.

25 years ago – January 20th 1995

A driver was trapped in his van on the A39 near County Gate when it was blown over by high winds in storms that hit West Somerset. Elsewhere, trees were blown down and heavy rainfall caused flooding.