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1949 |
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In a day or so now 1949 will belong to the past. In all probability most of us are looking back over it already, trying to see what prominence it will assume in a log-book of bygone years, and more particularly, perhaps, to assess its importance in the annals of Newark's own history.
There is little doubt that the majority will agree that 1949 has been as eventful and pleasing as any of the peace years they can remember.
It owes us little or nothing on the score of progress or prosperity, or any of those live phrases that touch our happiness and well-being and determine our ambitions.
It should leave us with very bright expectations of 1950.
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Generation of electricity commences at Staythorpe Power Station this week.
The climax to two and a half years' work will be on Saturday, when the first "switch-on" is due to take place.
The turbines of the first set, producing 60,000kw of electricity, will start up and for the next three weeks Messrs Balfour Beatty and Co, the contractors, will carry out tests, prior to handing over the plant to the British Electricity Authority.
After the tests have been completed the current from this first set will be sent out on the new lines, which pylons carry from the station to the grid system at Kirkby-in-Ashfield in one direction and to Hawton in the other district.
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Although £60 in cash was stolen from The White Hind Hotel in Cartergate in the early hours of Thursday morning, the licensee, Mr Bert Duckmanton, is relieved that the intruder was apparently a non-smoker and a teetotaller.
None of the bottles of whisky was disturbed, neither were any cigarettes taken. Two watches, hanging on the bar, were also missed.
Even though the thief did not take any smokes he did steal a cigarette lighter.
It is believed that The White Hind was entered through the rear window of the bar.
Newarkers are posting early this year. On Monday night 153,000 letters had passed through the cancelling machine since yesterday week. The volume of parcel traffic is about the same as last year.
Sorting was going ahead smoothly yesterday when an Advertiser reporter visited the Post Office in Kirkgate and temporary postmen, many of them students, were busy setting off on their rounds.
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Newark television dealers have been swamped with orders following the excellent results obtained by viewers in the district when the new transmitting station opened at Sutton Coldfield on Saturday night.
Not only was the reception good where conditions are ideal, but TV owners in Newark's black spots - low-lying parts of the town and near roads busy with traffic - were more than satisfied with the results obtained.
Friends crowded into the houses of TV owners on Saturday night for the big switch-on. Mr T.W. Allis, who lives in Hill Vue Avenue, a road "screened" by nearby Beacon Hill, reported excellent reception, while Mr Ward, of Appletongate, who has watched TV. transmissions in the London area, says reception was far superior in Newark.
Now local dealers report a rush of customers. The demand in Newark far exceeds supply, and those anxious to buy sets will have to wait some time before they can be supplied. To date 48 TV licences have been issued.
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A councillor criticised the leniency of the Borough Juvenile Bench when Newark Town Council met on Monday night.
The comment was made by Councillor A. Menmuir and he was referring to a Parks Committee minute stating that proceedings had been taken against two boys who had damaged flower beds in the Friary grounds.
It was said the court had given the boys a warning and remitted costs.
Coun. Menmuir, who expressed surprise at the decision, said the court should have given the boys a whacking, not a warning.
Lucky to escape with her life is Miss Rose Cooledge, a 25-year-old Farnsfield woman, who was buried under the debris of her bedroom on Saturday morning. The room, built over a shop in Mansfield Road, Farnsfield, was destroyed when a double-decker bus, a Mansfield Traction vehicle, was returning to its depot when a skid developed.
The only occupants of the bus were the driver and a conductress. Neither was badly injured. Mounting the pavement the bus crashed into Miss Cooledge's shop, bringing it into the ground. Miss Cooledge who was in bed at the time of the accident told the "Advertiser" she thought she was dreaming.
She said: "I felt a heavy weight full across my shoulders and head. Something seemed to be smothering me. I still thought I was dreaming but I heard my brothers shout, "Are you all right?" They removed the debris, which completely covered me, and I found myself looking up at the sky. It was snowing."
Miss Cooledge added: "The business has taken 20 years to build up. Now there is nothing left."
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In many Newark homes this year it will be a television Christmas. Receiving sets in the district have passed last week's tests with flying colours and attention is focused now on the regular programme transmission which starts on Saturday night.
To-night in the Midland Home Service, at 6.55 Mr J.T. Dickinson, with the BBC Engineering Division, will give some expert guidance on the installation and maintenance of TV aerials and receivers, while on Friday, also in the MHS, a feature programme will be broadcast entitled Television is Here.
Muffin the Mule, puppet star of television, will open up the Christmas season with a fancy dress party, helped at the piano by Annette Mills, who wrote the songs, and by Ann Hogarth, who pulls the strings.
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Newark Arts Club members were entertained with an exhibition of puppetry at the College on Saturday night. Mr B. J. Cafferata presided and introduced Mr Walter Wilkinson who presented a number of short plays. Before beginning his show Mr Wilkinson briefly reviewed the history of puppets.
Mr Ralph Wightman, the famous broadcaster on countryside topics, visited Newark on Monday evening, when he addressed a large attendance of members of the local branch of the Farmers' Union.
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A protest against the new regulation affecting the 1950 and 1951 entry for the School Certificate examination was voiced at the Magnus School speech day ceremony on Thursday by the headmaster, the Rev. D. Campbell Miller.
He contended that the age restriction imposed would hold back a quick boy to the pace of the average pupil.
The headmaster also spoke of a scheme of his, approved by the county education committee and now in operation at the school, for a special three-year course transfer, or "Second Chance" for boys of 13.
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Renovations are now taking place at the ancient Saracen's Head Inn in Southwell, for which there is documentary evidence to justify its description as the oldest Inn in the country. In the 14th century the inn was the property of the Archbishop of York and it is certain that it has stood on this site for 500 years.
It may have been originally a religious guest house of which there were many during the 12th to 15th centuries and would therefore be contemporary to the minster.
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The effort which the Catholic community in Newark are making to raise a fund of £10,000 for the purpose of building a Catholic school a few years hence was carried further on Saturday with a Christmas Fair at Holy Trinity.
