January 30, 1952

Robert Burns wrote poetry that expressed every emotion known to the human heart from his own experience of dire poverty and hard work.

Mr R. P. Blatherwick paid this tribute when he proposed "The Immortal Memory" at Newark Caledonian Society's Burns Night dinner at the Clinton Arms Hotel, Newark, on Friday.

Mr Blatherwick was the first Englishman to propose the toast at the Newark Burns dinner.

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Good news for Newark. There should be joy in the hearts of the housing committee, there should be hope in the breasts of people waiting for homes. Why? Because there is to be no more restriction on building houses.

The announcement was made in Nottingham last week by Mr Macmillan, the minister of housing and local government.

He declared: "From now on this is the slogan for every local authority for every housing contractor and for every workman: 'the quicker you build the more you will get to build,' for our policy is not one of stabilisation but expansion."

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Appearing on the site of a mill destroyed by fire in October, 1949, in Northgate, Newark, is a provender mill that will more than double the cattle pig and poultry feeding stuffs' production of Gilstrap Earp and Co Ltd.

The new mill should be in full capacity by midsummer.

The fire completely gutted part of the old mill. Rebuilding began in the summer of last year. Production was held up for a few days only, while the roof was taken down and replaced.

Eight 70-feet high concrete silos will stand where the burnt out shell of the mill was pulled down.

Alongside them will be a prefabricated warehouse for storing raw materials and finished meal ready for delivery.

The new mill has been planned by Messrs Gelder and Kitchen, architects, Hull and W. Foster and Sons, Grantham, are the builders.

January 23, 1952.

More than 20 Trent barges were held up in Newark yesterday because it was not safe for them to pass Wakes and Lamb's half-collapsed building near Mill Lane barge.

Half the roof and all one corner of the four-storey building, a former brewery, crashed into the river at about 9.45am on Monday.

Men worked under the supervision of W. Saunders and Partners, the Newark architects, to demolish the wall of the warehouse that fronts on to the river so that barge traffic can be resumed with safety. Nobody was in the building, used as a store, and nobody was injured.

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A group of tough Newarkers are spending three evenings every week at a recently-formed boxing club which has the principal object to put Newark back on the boxing map.

The Ajax Boxing Club has a solid foundation with the aid of Mr Reg Barrow, who loaned a barn at the back of his shop in Welbeck Avenue, and boxing instructor Albert "Spud" Joynes.

Star performers are Den Greenberry, a light heavyweight, Doug Riley, a welterweight, and Alf Phillips. Other young hopefuls are Jock Humphreys, Dick Daubney, and Jack Cooling.

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Newark district education committee are to ask the county education committee if the pattern of primary school holidays can be reviewed.

Works Holiday Week last year did not coincide with school summer holidays. At one school 46% only of the pupils were present that week.

January 16, 1952

Flowers, bunting, flags and balloons transformed Newark Town Hall on Friday night, when 360 guests danced at Newark and District Farmers' Ball.

The Mayor of Newark (Coun J. A. Markwick) was present, and representatives of the farming community from all parts of the country attended.

The entrance hall, red-carpeted, was a gaily decorated reception room, where cocktails and savouries were handed to guests as they arrived.

In one corner a waterfall and fountain played in a miniature rockery. Corsages of orchids and carnations were given to the ladies.

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Several appeals have been made to relatives and friends of those from Newark who fell in the second world war to assist in making the Newark Roll of Honour as complete as possible.

A preliminary list has now been made and can be seen in the entrance hall of the public library. The librarian has no means of knowing if the list is either correct or complete but the time has come when a record must be made to place beside the 1914-18 Roll of Honour which is in Newark Parish Church. If the list is incomplete or incorrect the responsibility must rest with those who have not co-operated in checking it.

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Searching for a weatherproof building, however broken it may be, which they can transform into a headquarters are students at Newark Technical College.

They are members of the College Students' Association who, no longer able to hold meetings in the College buildings, fear that unless they soon find a permanent home their membership will fall.

The question of finding a new home was one of the main topics at the association's annual meeting on Friday.

January 9 1952

Major James Seely from the South Notts Hunt listened as the Mayor of Newark (Coun J. A. Markwick) spoke out in support of fox hunting.

Coun Markwick said he expected to be "roundly condemned" for associating himself with blood sports when he welcomed the South Notts Hunt at their traditional annual meet in Newark on Thursday.

"I am a person who believes that one of the things that has helped to make England has been its fox hunting," he said. ''Whenever this country is in danger it is the fox hunting people, from all walks of life, who rally round and usually give an extraordinarily good account of themselves.''

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A tree grew in the middle of Lover's Lane, Newark, on the morning of Christmas Day. It had not been there the day before so when Mr D. Parker of Northern Buildings, came across it in its little green tub, he picked it up, took it home and looked after it, whom it belonged to he did not know.

He found a clue in the lost column of the front page of last week's Advertiser: Will two young men and the dark haired young woman who took the green tub plant from outside the Ram Hotel please return it.

The little tree in the little green tub was back at the hotel on Saturday.

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Frank Hedley Arnold, 22 years-old son of Carlton-on-Trent farmer F. H. Arnold, had a narrow escape from serious injury on Thursday when he was attacked by a bull on his farm.

He was leading the animal back into its box after it had been out in a field all night. It turned on him, knocked him down on the ground, stamped on him and then tried to gore him.

Mr L. Staples, who worked on the farm, saw what was happening and drove the bull away from Hedley. It then tried to attack Mr Staples.

January 1, 1902

A hammerhead shark, which weighed 1,300 lbs and was 13ft long, was caught in the seas off the west coast of Africa.

It became fertiliser after passing through Farramatic plant made by Farrar Boilerworks of Newark.

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The chain for the Mayoress of Newark, as a memento of the town's part in the Festival of Britain, was presented to the Mayoress, Mrs J. A. Markwick, at a meeting of the Town Council on Christmas Eve. The ceremony was open to the public, and took place in the Town Hall ballroom.

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A boy and a girl were born in Newark Hospital on Christmas Day. Mrs A. Wood, of Southend Avenue, Newark, will call her daughter Katherine, and Mrs Daybell, of The Homestead, Coddington, will call her son Hugh.

There were four Boxing Day babies: Mrs Bryan, of 65 Hawton Road, Newark, had a son, John; Carolyne has been born into the Hann family, of Wolsey Road, Newark, John Anthony has been born to the East family, of Boundary Road, Newark; and Paul has been born to Mrs Custance of 2, Chapel Lane, Farndon.

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The Lincoln Road playing field, Newark, was planned, at an expected cost of more than £17,000. It will have four football pitches, cricket wickets, bowling greens, dressing rooms, a community centre, shelters and a children's play park.

A suggestion that the town council should approve the scheme in principle only and not sanction the spending, was defeated at the council's meeting on Monday.