A Look Back, April 30

50 Years Ago

■The Northampton High School Band returned Monday night after spending 10 days touring England and Ireland. Some 60 students and 10 chaperones with Band Director George T. Menousek played concerts to a standing room only crowd in Northampton, England, to the elderly in a hospital in Limerick, Ireland, and to the president of Ireland.

■The 20-mile “Ride a Bike for the Retarded” around Northampton yesterday raised some $7,000 in pledges from an estimated 600 riders, including one youth who pedaled the course backwards for two miles.

25 Years Ago

■Following a carefully plotted script, the Board of Health this summer will initiate a debate on whether a smoking ban should be imposed in bars. The board decided Thursday to call for a community forum in July to discuss a ban, a move likely to spark passionate arguments.

■The cost of additional staffing for full-day kindergarten and bilingual programs in Northampton threatens to push school spending beyond what the mayor recommends. Initial figures for fiscal year 2000 show $177,800 must be trimmed from the education budget to bring it in line with the mayor’s proposed amount.

10 Years Ago

■With construction of a roundabout and potential redevelopment of two prominent parcels on the horizon, the section of Pleasant Street that serves as the city’s southern entrance is at a crossroads. City planners, business leaders and a neighborhood association have called a meeting Tuesday to discuss potential changes to the street that will make it a more inviting gateway into the city’s downtown.

■A former president of the Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity board of trustees has been named interim executive director. Peter Jessop, 63, of Amherst, took over Friday as temporary head of the organization that builds homes for low-income families.