September 26, 1956

A kleptomaniac with a predilection for Cucurbita Pepo Ovifera caused chaos at Hawtonville on Friday.

In plainer English the Newark housing estate is puzzling over the mystery of the wandering vegetable marrows.

On Friday morning Mr J. Grosse of Elizabeth Road, went to feed his son’s pet rabbit. He found it crammed into a corner of its hutch. The rest of the hutch was occupied by an outsize vegetable marrow.

A neighbour a few doors away went into her garden and found it decorated with large pieces of vegetable marrow.

Nearby Mrs E. Staples found her garden more bizarrely decorated. One large marrow was stuck on top of the clothes post. There was another impaled on each of the side pegs.

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The Ministry of Transport is about to report on the alternative proposals for a Newark bypass or a new Great North Road carried by bridge over river and railway it was revealed by a ministry engineer in Newark on Thursday.

But there was no hint whether the minister will favour the bypass from Balderton to South Muskham or the viaduct road from near Newark High School to the far side of the Castle level crossing.
 

September 19, 1956

Youth took its share of the work when the Newark Division of the St. John Ambulance Brigade held a gala on Saturday.

Each of the four sections of Newark’s St. John Ambulance Brigade combined to stage the gala and a dance to raise funds for their headquarters — the George Reed Memorial Hut, Appletongate, Newark. They worked in the Friary gardens throughout the day and took more than £350.

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More than 300 serving members of the RAF, members of the Royal Air Force Association, the British Legion and Royal Observer Corps, and Cadets of Newark Air Training Corps squadron, marched past the Mayor of Newark, Mr R. A. Hurst, in the Market Place after a service commemorating the 16th anniversary of the Battle of Britain on Sunday.

The sermon was by a RAF chaplain, Squadron Leader Rev N. L. Cribb, who said that if the RAF had lost the Battle of Britain, life today would have been vastly different.

“We should be a defeated country knowing what it is to be downtrodden and degraded,” he said.

“In September 1940, our enemies held sway over the whole of Europe. Our armies were driven from France. Only one thing remained to be done before England was invaded and beaten - just to knock out the Royal Air Force.”

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Colour television was seen in Newark for the first time on the evening of Thursday September 13 when Commercial TV (Midlands Region) transmitted a colour test.
The test, consisting of three short advertising films, was the same one that was seen by viewers in the London area the week before.

Viewers were asked to write to the Commercial TV studios telling of the colours seen, and of the quality of the test.
 

September 12, 1956

On Thursday the Advertiser cameraman met some of the girls who travel to the Lilley and Stone Girls’ School, Newark, daily by train, and photographed them on their way to their first day of Autumn term complete with satchels and hockey sticks.

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Cattle belonging to Mr J. Hallam of Holme became mixed up with the cattle of Mr G. Taylor when a fence was removed during road construction.

The cattle were being driven to Mr Hallam’s farm buildings for sorting and had to pass machinery being used to construct the road. One or two took fright and the fright was quickly translated into a herd panic.

The cattle made straight for the river and 50 were in and swimming before anyone could stop them. Although the river was in full spate the swimming 50 went well, and landed on the farm of Mr W. Bourne at North Muskham.

They were brought back by road in five lorryloads. Mr Hallam said : “We were lucky they found a low spot on the far bank to land on. Had they swum to an overhanging part of the bank we would have been in for trouble.”

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When an Avro-Vulcan bomber, the world’s largest delta-wing aeroplane, left Britain on a round-the-world flight this week, a member of the crew was 20-years-old Corporal Kenneth Gibson of Farndon. The aircraft has been averaging 500mph on the trip.

Corporal Gibson, who is the son of Mr and Mrs A. Gibson of Sandhill Road, Farndon, joined the RAF as a boy entrant at the age of 15.
 

September 5, 1956

Princess Barbara Lobkowicz judged entries in the children’s fancy dress competition at Brant Broughton Church fete on Saturday. The Princess, whose home was in Yugoslavia but who now lives at Arnold, opened the fete.

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During the weekend the Newark branch of the Salvation Army celebrated its 71st anniversary when Brigadier Thomas Lewis, under-secretary for missionary education at international headquarters, was the guest leader of the meetings.

The celebrations opened with a tea at headquarters on Saturday evening arranged by Mrs Wells and other women comrades of the corps.

Among those present at the tea was Sergeant Major John Bull, who is 70-years-old and has completed 52 years in the Salvation Army.

At the meeting that followed the tea, Brigadier Lewis, a qualified teacher who was for 12 years principal of the Howard Institute, Rhodesia, spoke on experiences during his 24 years in the African missionary field.

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In an effort to strengthen and develop the spiritual life of the community a Roman Catholic Mission opened at Holy Trinity Church, Parliment Street, Newark, on Sunday.

Conducting the mission are the Rev Father Ethringham and Rev Father O’Dwyer of the Catholic Missionary Society.

It is understood that the first week will be chiefly of a devotional character for Roman Catholics. During the second week the instructions and sermons will deal with the teaching of the Catholic Church on moral and dogmatic subjects.

A question box will be provided at the back of the church to enable non-Catholics to find out at first hand what Catholics really believe.

The two priests who are conducting the mission hope to visit every Catholic home in the parish, but they will find time to meet any non-Catholics who wish to contact them.