June 27, 1956

Mr A. W. E. Bishop, manager of the Newark branch of Blacknells Motors Ltd, took his 680cc Zenith twin to Banbury on Sunday for the eighth annual Vintage Motorcycle Run and was runner-up out of 348 competitors in the 1915-30 veteran class.

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Mr Hugh A. Morton of Elston Towers was packing 2m maggots and worms for dispatch to the USA on Monday evening when a fire started at his home in a 90ft clock tower, a familiar landmark to Fosse Road travellers.

The top 25ft of the tower, including the clock, crashed to the ground and set fire to an adjacent maggot house.

Mr Morton reckons that about 3m maggots were either burned or drowned by the firemen’s hose. “It’s not so bad,” he said. “I’ve got about 60m maggots here.”
The clockhouse, constructed mainly of lead and wood, now lies in a charred heap in the yard.

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A dream by their superintendent enabled the children of Charles Street Methodist Church Sunday School to produce the most original and topical religious device and win the first prize in the 1956 festival of the Newark and District Sunday School Union on Saturday.

When they met to consider their entry, the Sunday School teachers could not think of anything new.

But the previous night their superintendent, Mr D. P. Blatherwick, had dreamed about Archbishop Cranmer. He suggested the martyrdom of Cranmer — the 400th anniversary of which was marked this year — as the theme.

The tableau, showing Cranmer about to be burned at the stake, won the verdict of the judges.
 

June 20, 1956

The first two competitors to start out in Newark Road Safety Council’s cycle reliability trial were David V. Flower and Rodney Cousins both of Barnby Road School.

Before the trial the Mayor of Newark, Mr R. A. Hurst, told the children: “I want you to remember you are not entering a race — you will compete to show you know how to behave correctly on the roads and know the Highway Code.”

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The number of television licences issued in the Newark district is now rising at the rate of more than 1,500 a year.

The district, an area bounded by Ollerton, Dunham, Flintham and Oxton, now has nearly 9,000 television licences.

The jump from 7,500 in August was anticipated with the advent of commercial television.

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British people have been too near to the habit of living “on tick” said a speaker in Newark yesterday. There has been an unhealthy tendency to buy things on hire purchase because people were too impatient to wait to save for luxuries.

Mrs S. M. Gatehouse, speaking at a luncheon meeting of the Women’s Advisory Committee of Newark Division Conservative Association said she had recently been talking to a woman who was getting into difficulties over hire purchase.

“She told me: ‘I must have my washing machine.’ I thought well I don’t know so much.

“There was a time when women managed with a zinc bath, a bar of soap and the health and strength the Lord gave them in their own arms.”
 

June 13, 1956

A car with two steering wheels appears on the roads of Newark this week. The first of its type in the area, it provides for a completely new type of driving instruction.

No longer will instructor and pupil have to change seats when a difficult manoeuvre has to be demonstrated. No longer will instructor and car be completely at the mercy of the learner during his first drive.

For it is not only the steering wheel that is duplicated. So are the clutch, brake pedal, accelerator, horn button and driving mirror. Gear lever and hand-brake, centrally placed, are equally accessible to both.

It has been brought to Newark by Mr J. P. Flanagan, director of Flanagan’s School of Motoring, of London Road, Balderton.

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Reports that Nottinghamshire County Council was planning to take over the Potterdyke estate in Lombard Street, Newark, for extensions to fire and ambulance stations or for new stations were denied yesterday.

It is this land which has been suggested as a possible site for Newark’s much-needed new bus station.

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The last surviving earthwork built by Cromwell’s armies for the attacks on Newark will disappear as the result of extensions to the Corporation’s sewage disposal works.

The eighth annual report of Newark Archaeological Committee, to be presented to the annual meeting, notes with regret the decision of the Minister of Works, which constituted the last evidence of the lines of the attack on Newark is to disappear.
 

June 6, 1956

Eight records were broken and one equalled at the Newark and District Schools Athletic Association’s eighth annual sports day at Barnby Road School, Newark.
“I was greatly impressed by the improved standard,” commented Mr D. E. Paul, chairman of the association.

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When a radio set caught fire in the living room of 31 St Mary’s Gardens, Newark, the owner had the presence of mind to take it outside and throw a bucket of water over it. The fire was out when Newark firemen arrived.

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Public transmitting stations set up by Newark Amateur Radio Society for the national field day during the weekend established more contacts then ever before.
With their tiny battery-operated transmitters they also reached out farther than ever before, including contacts with the American mid-West.

Altogether, two stations made 244 controls and scored a total of 648 points. Last year’s total was 321.

“Although it will be some time before we know the results, it does seem that we shall be in quite a respectable position,” said Mr C. Crisp, leader of the B station at Claypole.

High winds made the work of erecting the ariels and tents difficult on Saturday. The A station at Kirklington, led by Mr G. Banks, used three ariels, two of 270ft and the other of 140ft.