May 26, 1954

A mother and daughter had a narrow escape when a van crashed through the front door of their Great North Road cottage in Newark on Wednesday morning.

The daughter, Miss S. L. Whitehead had just passed through an adjoining internal door which was knocked 2ft backwards by the impact. The 87-year-old mother, Mrs S. E. Whitehead, was lying in bed in the front room. Her head was only 2ft from the wrecked front door.

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Miss Jessie E. Taylor, a teacher at Barnby Road School, Newark, since it opened in 1908 is to retire at the end of August. Ald J. A. Markwick, the chairman of Newark District education committee, said that having taught at the same school for 46 years without a break was a wonderful record.

Miss Taylor, he said, must have had a great influence on the junior population of Newark in those 46 years.

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There has been no response to a £250 challenge issued by Mr Clifford Lawrence of Hawton. He offered this sum towards a Newark Public Hall Fund if 20 other people would give similar amounts.

The former proprietor of the Clinton Arms Hotel said: "I have endeavoured to foster the interests of my adopted town but I shall never make a similar gesture. I am disappointed there was no response, but not entirely surprised."

May 19, 1954

For more than 1,000 years Newark has welcomed the summer with its annual May Fair.

It was in 1133 that the first recorded grant of the right to hold a fair was made to the Bishop of Lincoln - but it is likely May Day revels had been staged in Newark since before the Norman conquest.

May Fair, held in Tolney Lane, has passed from the days of bull-rings, cock-fighting, gingerbread stalls and Morris dancing to the mushroom bed of canopied hoop-la stalls, coconut shies, rifle ranges and roundabouts.

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Newark people are the thriftiest in the East Midlands region. In the year ended March 31, their savings averaged 19s 7d per head a week.

Yet Newark remains a black spot on the National Savings map in one respect - it has only four street groups operating.

It was reported that there were now 37 savings groups in places of employment in Newark, 17 school groups, four street groups and one social group.

Total membership of these groups was 4,127 and their savings for the year were £41,750.

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As he sat in his car before driving to work early Thursday morning, Mr Patrick Smith, of Wigsley, saw an aircraft touch down in a field less than 300 yards away.

There was an explosion and the machine bounced back into the air in a cloud of dust.

As it belly-flopped forward on to the main runway of Wigsley aerodrome, both wings broke off and the machine burst into flames.

But the crew - Flight-Lieutenant G. H. Smythe and Pilot-Officer P. E. Collins - scrambled out of a rear window to safety and were unhurt.

May 12, 1954

Newark and District Agricultural Society's 72nd annual show, at Winthorpe Airfield on Friday and Saturday shattered so many records that officials lost count.

The biggest and costliest show ever, it was seen by a record number of 30,000 people - substantially more than the whole population of Newark.

Second-day gate takings rocketed £370 above last year's figure to reach a total greater than the entire receipts for two days at the 1952 show.

Most unusual of all the 171 trade stands at the show - a record number - was a magnificent Romany caravan, rich in authentic ornamentation and gilding.

Wearing bow-tie and broad-brimmed hat, Mr Hugh Morton, the fallen-stock merchant and bluebottle breeder, entertained the farmers who would rather call in on him than have to call him in.

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The X-ray apparatus at Newark Hospital has been working at maximum capacity for a long time, Newark Hospital's house committee was told.

It was stated that in all probability it would be replaced by modern X-ray diagnostic equipment in the near future. About 8,000 X-ray cases were dealt with every year.

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More people than ever before are eligible to vote in Newark's municipal election, but it is probable that more than half of them will not take the trouble to go to the polling stations.

This year, there are 16,592 eligible voters on the Electoral Register. Last year, only 2,500 out of 6,500 electors in the South Ward recorded their votes - the lowest proportion of any ward in the town.

May 5, 1954

Superintendent R. Youngs of Newark commanded a parade of 140 police officers, policewomen, cadets and special constables at the opening on Friday by the Home Secretary (Sir David Maxwell Fyfe) of Epperstone Manor as the new headquarters of the Nottinghamshire Constabulary.

Superintendent Youngs accompanied the Chief Constable (Mr J. E. S. Browne) and the Home Secretary on an inspection of the parade.

The police officers stood on the lawn in front of the house for more than an hour during the opening ceremony.

When a solitary policewoman fainted it was a Newark policewoman who helped to take her from the parade ground and the Mayor of Newark (Dr Denys Hine) who helped to revive her.

Presentation night for one of Newark's latest indoor sports - table skittles - came on Thursday at the King's Head, when league president, Councillor T. W. Howes, awarded the championship cup to The Turk's Head. The six-man team from The Turk's Head were also presented with replicas of the cup.

The Turk's Head team and league officials were: C. Rose; G. Hurst; T. Hollingworth (secretary) J. Coulby (league chairman and captain of the Turk's) councillor T. W. Howes; C. Banton; T. Pollard; and H. Coulby.

A bollard is to be erected at a suitable site in Mount Lane, Newark, to prevent its use as a thoroughfare for vehicles.

In the three months from December 1 to February 28 dogs caused 74 road accidents in Nottinghamshire - 22 more than the corresponding period last year, the county council has been told.