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Thursday, October 29, 2020 30

NEWBURYNEWS Six months hard labour for work-shy ‘rogue’ ManfailedtoprovideforfamilyandtookadvantagoefPoorLaw, Nov3,1870 OLD MEMORIES REVIVED Extracttsakenfrompastcolumnosfthe Newbury Weekly News LOCALHISTORY

Newbury Weekly News

150 years ago November 3 1870

50 years ago October 29 1970

An incorrigiblerogue JEHURose was arraigned for being an incorrigible rogue and vagabond, and leaving his family chargeable to the union. Mr HD Greene prosecutedon behalf of the Board of Guardians and put in two previous convictions. Mr Ward, the Master of the Union, said that prisoner ’s family thoughhis neglect had been a burden upon the parish for the past eight or ten years. Prisonerwas a handy man, handier thanmost men of his class. Prisonermade an excuse that he could not obtainwork. The Recorder told himhis excuse was one which every idle vagabond couldmake. It was absolutely necessaryto teach him that every manwas bound to labour for the support of thosewhomhe was the means of bringing into this world. If there were no Poor Law they would starve. The Poor Law was made for the necessitousand those unable to work. Prisonerwas one of thosewho took advantage of that for the purpose of indolenceand self indulgence. He must be taught to fulfil those dutieswhich as father of a family were incumbenton him, and he would be wanting in his duty if he did not mark the case with some severity. He would be imprisonedand kept to hard labour for six months. 125 years ago October 31 1895 Goingdownwitha bang A CURIOUSthing happeneda few miles out of Newbury the other evening. A cleric was riding his cycle along the road, when suddenly there was a loud report, and the rev gentleman, sad to relate, went sprawling upon the ground.

Burglarssnatchjewellery JEWELLERY worth £3,000was stolen in a daring raid at MeridianHouse Stud, Lambourn on Saturday evening. RacecourseownerMrs HG Thurstonwas downstairs in the house playing cards following an afternoon at Newbury races when she heard a noise upstairs. “I listened to try and hear it again, but all was quiet and so I carried on playing,” she said. But when she went upstairs later she found the jewels had been stolen. “I think the noisemust have been a window being opened, but whoever did it closed it again afterwards so that everything would appear normal,” she said. Most valuable itemstolenwas an unusual pearl and jade necklace with six strands, which had been made specially for Mrs Thurston together withmatching earrings. Anotherpiecewas a diamond brooch of a racehorseenamelled in Mrs Thurston’s racing colours – scarlet with turquoiseblue hooped sleeves and turquoisecap. St Mary’s hitsthe jackpot IT may not have been you in the National Lotteryat the weekend – but St Mary’s Church, at Shaw- cum-Donnington,was a winner on Monday when it received £11,000 in the first cash handout by the lottery charitiesboard. The church was the only organisation in West Berkshire to receive anything in the first set of grantsmade to charities from £40 millionof lotteryproceeds. Embarrassingly for St Mary ’s, only 24 hours after its award was announced,the Council of Churches for Britainand Ireland condemnedthe lottery for sparking a gambling craze and undermining the country’s communityspirit. St Mary’s rector, the Rev Brian Taylor, said he believed it was fair for St Mary’s to use the money, despite objectionsto the lottery from the council of churches. WinchcombeSchool in Newbury to be part-fundedby selling off some of the school site for housinghave been submitted. Last year, a feasibilitystudy was carried out into the possible rebuild of the Maple Crescent school and last month, the school held an event to showcase the proposals for a redevelopmentof the school buildings. Now, West Berkshire Council has submitteda plan to redevelop the school through demolition, refurbishmentand new build to form a new primaryschool, with pre-school. The existingschool buildings were built in the 1950s andWest Berkshire Council’s executive member f or education, Barbara Alexander(Con, Compton)said there was a limit to how far the school could progress in its current buildings, some of which she describedas “awful”. In additionto the pr oposed rede- velopmentof the school, outline plans have also been submittedto erect 20 residentialdwellings on land to the north of the school. The land, which is currently under used by the school, has been identifiedby the council as suitable for 10 two-bedroom houses and 10 three-bedroom houses, together with space for 35 cars and 40 bicycles. 25 years ago October 26 1995 10 years ago October 28 2010 Plansfornewschool PLANS to rebuild The

WELFORDParkHomeGuardoperated between1940and1945. TheHomeGuard –immortaliseindthe TVcomedy Dad’sArmy –wasanarmed citizenmilitiasupportintgheBritish ArmyduringtheSecondWorldWar. Ithad1.5mlocalvolunteerosthewr ise ineligiblfeormilitayrservice,suchas thosewhoweretooyoungortoooldto jointheregulaarrmedservices(militayr servicewasrestrictetdothoseaged18 to41)orinresevredoccupations. Excludintghosealreadyinthearmed servicest,hecivilianpoliceorcivil defencea,pproximateolnyeinfivemen werevolunteers. Theirolewastoactasasecondayr defencfeorceincaseofinvasionby theforcesofNaziGermanayndother Axispowers  Anyonewishingtosubmiatnimage forthispageshouldemaiel ditor@ newbuyrnews.co.uk, attachinagcopyofthepicturewith detailsaboutit,orsenditto:Local Histoyr, NewburyWeeklyNews, NewspapeHrouseF,aradaRyoad, Newbuyr, BerkshirReG142AD.  The famous £5 has changed hands. Some Sundays since it was posted in a shopwindow with the notice that it would be handed to whomsoever was able to dispute the correctness of certain plans to be exhibitedthe followingweek. The plans were duly on view, and one of the firms concerned took up the challenge, and proved to satisfaction that the draughtsmanhad included other than the assessedproperty. The consequencewas that the fiver was handedover and a local charity benefitsby the unexpecteddonation. It was a sporting offer, and the challenger paid up like a man. It was better than throwing a brick, which would have done a lot of damage, and nobody been any better off. THATCHAMhas lost its oldest inhabitant by the death on Oct 25th of Mrs AlexandrinaLouise MaryAlberta Diggens at the age of 90 years. Mrs Diggens was the widow of the late Mr T Diggens, a well- known former resident,who was for many years verger at the parish church. Mrs Diggens was an ardent churchwoman and until quite recently a regular attender at services. She was the oldestmemberof the local branch of the Mothers’ Union. A large number of her friends, membersof the congregation and representatives of the Mothers’ Unionwere present at St Mary’s Church, where a funeral servicewas held on Oct 29th. The Rev BJMThackeray officiated. There was a large number of wreaths. 75 years ago November 1 1945 Oldestresidentdies

informed the nearest police-man. The PC was on the alert and proceeded to investigate with professionalpromptness, but fact No 1 settled the matter. The explosionwas causedby the burstingof the rev gentleman ’s pneumatic tyre!

Some young fellows who were working near, hearing the noise of the explosion,naturally ran to the spot. The curate accusedone of themof having fired a gun at him, and gatheringhimself and his machine together, went off and

100 years ago October 28 1920

Angerat ‘unfair’ tolls ATTENTIONhas been latterly drawn to the questionof market tolls. Traders have considered it unjust that outsidersshouldbe allowed to come and for the payment of a comparatively low sum carry away with thembig amountswithout any contribution to the taxes of the town. One has only to go into the market on a Thursday to see these itinerant salesmen disposingof stocks of clothing, boots, watches, china, ironmongery, and doing very brisk business. The Chamberof Trade has taken up the matter, and the Estate Committeeraised the scale, but not withmuch immediate result. Nobody wants to duly restrict the openmarket, but is felt that outsidersat least shouldnot have preferential treatment to traderswho have to help bear the burden of town expenditure. It was surprising to hear that the Fair Tolls showed a decrease last year, because there were undoubtedly more shows and stalls fromwhich to draw tribute. pleaded that spaces had been booked a long time in advance, and no notice given of alteration. There can be no questionthat the fair people shouldpay a much higher than they do for the privilege of makingmoney in the Market Place. The fair ought to be a source of considerable income, if only to make amends for its annual dislocation of traffic and trade. At Abingdon, they put up their tolls 50 per cent, and raked in £100. Why can’t Newbury do likewise? The new scale was not in operation, because it was