January 25, 1956

Riding to hounds for the first time on Wednesday was 21/2- year-old Jane Green of Gunthorpe with her black Shetland pony, Muffin, and Mr Peter Green.
Jane was the youngest rider at the annual children’s meet of the South Notts Hunt and followed to the first cover.

The meet was in the grounds of Hawksworth Place at the invitation of Mr and Mrs Richard Peake, whose son David was the first whip for the day’s hunting.

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Recent pay increases are responsible for a £43,145 jump in the cost of the Nottinghamshire County Police Force this year.

Estimates before the standing joint committee in Nottingham last week showed that the total cost of the service this year will be £822,345.

Provision of new motor vehicles and equipment for the force will cost nearly £15,000.

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During a weekend of heavy rain, frost, sleet and snow, the wartime motor torpedo boat moored at Newark Town Wharf —for several years a meeting place for Newark Sea Cadets — has developed a noticeable list.
The boat was given up because repairs essential to have it kept afloat in safe condition would have cost more than the Sea Cadets Unit could afford.

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Masses of pottery fragments and other Roman material have been delivered to Newark Municipal Museum as the result of a recent Ministry of Works dig at East Stoke — and that was only an exploratory excavation to see if full-scale operations on the site would be justified.

The site, between the Roman Fosse Way and the River Trent, near the village of Farndon, is known as Ad Pontem which translates as to the bridge.

January 18, 1906

Six hams, 14 turkeys, 600 dinner rolls, and 14 pints of fresh cream were just some of the items of food that went into Newark Town Hall on Friday in readiness for the annual Farmers’ Ball.

The caterer for the supper, which consisted of hors d’oeuvres, turkey, ham, tongue, green salad and saute potatoes, fruit salad and fresh cream, and Stilton cheese, was Mr Cecil Hague, who also ran the licensed bar.

Nearly 40 staff were employed for the catering. Run by the Clinton Arms and Ram hotels was a gourmet bar in Number 2 Committee Room where salmon, ham, tongue and shellfish were served.

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Discussing danger to pedestrians crossing the road at Beaumond Cross, Newark, it was suggested at Monday’s meeting of Newark Road Safety Council that a subway be built from the bus station to the Saracen’s Head Yard.

The suggestion was made by Mr Eric Ashton and backed by the Mayor of Newark, Alderman G. R. Walker.

Discussion on the subject arose from the Junior Safety Council’s suggestion to install push-button traffic light controls for pedestrians.

Mr L. H. Hordle, secretary, said another junior council idea was the erection of traffic lights at the junction of Sherwood Avenue and Barnbygate.

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A former member of Newark Town Council, who was five times Mayor, is leaving Newark to live at Morecambe. He is Mr Charles H. Dale, of Harcourt Street, Newark.

Mr Dale was known as the Royal Mayor and the Children’s Mayor, for he insisted that local schoolchildren should have a good view of the procession when King George V and Queen Mary visited the town in 1928. He was the town’s first citizen in 1927, 1928, 1938, 1939 and 1940.
 

January 11, 1956

When children started the Spring term in a brand new school building on Monday they had their first lesson as soon as they stepped over the threshold. It was a lesson in the art of interior decoration, which needed no teacher or blackboard.

The building is the first phase in Coddington’s new primary and infants’ school. It is situated near the junction with the bypass.

This first phase, which includes two large classrooms, two cloakrooms, staff accommodation and two store rooms, is about a third of the size of the ultimate school.

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Cattle markets were held in Newark yesterday after a sudden scare that threatened last-minute cancellation.

The special centre set up in Newark to exercise controls after the confirmation of foot-and-mouth disease at Shelton closed on Saturday, its job apparently done.

But on Monday evening there came a report of foot-and-mouth at Flawborough. It was a false alarm.

A Flawborough farmer found one of his cows to be sick —and since his farm was only a mile or two from the Shelton outbreak, he at once suspected foot-and-mouth disease.

He informed police immediately but shortly afterwards a veterinary surgeon was able to confirm that the sick animal was not suffering from foot-and-mouth.
 

January 4, 1956

Notices offering rewards for the apprehension of children damaging trees were suggested at Newark Town Council’s meeting when the housing committee reported wilful damage caused to many trees on the Hawton Road estate.

The suggestion came from Alderman J. A. Markwick who is chairman of Newark District Education Committee, but the housing chairman, Alderman T. W. Howes, said his committee would prefer an appeal to the children.

Alderman Markwick said: “It is an absolute waste of time to make these appeals. The children take not the slightest notice. It is time much stronger methods were used.”

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Where both husband and wife are out when the coal arrives, they should arrange for a neighbour to count the number of sacks delivered, says Newark’s inspector of weights and measures, Mr Geoffrey Roberts, in his latest annual report.

He quotes a case where a householder suspected that he received short weight of coke. When it was weighed, the coke was found to be 80lbs short of its purported five hundredweight.

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Nearly three times the flow which it was designed to meet 30 years ago is being dealt with by Newark’s sewage disposal works.

Newark Town Council decided to submit an outline scheme for new disposal works to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.

The new scheme, prepared by consultants, will not only cope with further expected increases in the next 20 years — it will also provide main drainage for the first time in the Fosse Road area.