April 27, 1955

Newark Thursday FC's 7-1 win made them holders of the Linden Cup for the first time for about 20 years.

Their opponents, British Railways Staff Association, were no match for the faster and more direct Newark side. Outstanding for Newark were Bower, Brown and Sibley.

Newark Thursday FC played on a Thursday because it was a half day for shopkeepers in Newark. Most of the players were tradesmen or shopkeepers or people who could get out of work early on Thursdays.

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Four generations of a Newark family are helping to build the coronation shelter for old folk in Newark's London Road gardens, now nearing completion.

They are 87-year-old Walter Kay of Hospital Lane, his 63-year-old son Robert of Chatham Street, his 35-year-old grandson Kenneth and his 12-year-old great grandson.

Three of Robert Kay's other sons are also working on the shelter. Walter was a joiner before his retirement; all the other members of the family are slaters and tilers - except young Robert who is still attending school at Sconce Hills. All their work on the shelter is voluntary.

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More than 5,500 people saw Newark Amateur Operatic Society's production of The Quaker Girl last week - a figure equal to nearly a quarter of the population of Newark. On Saturday evening a Full House board had to be placed outside the theatre.
 

April 20, 1955

Forty Newark grandfathers were wined and dined in a Newark hotel. Members of Newark Grandfathers' Club were guests at the Warburton Hotel.

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 For the second time in five years Newark licensee Mr Bertram Duckmanton has been robbed of a large sum of money.

A total of £187 was taken during the busiest hour of the evening on Sunday from an office and bedroom at the White Hind Hotel, Cartergate.

It is thought the burglary was committed between 9.15pm and 10pm on Sunday - for at that time radiogram music would have smothered the sound of footsteps in the room above.

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During the past year Newark, Norwell and Southwell Moral Association bought St Catherine's House for £662 19s 8d - but a large part of the cost was met by increased donations, it is revealed in the annual report.

During the year 31 girls and 19 babies had passed through St Catherine's House. The average length of stay of each girl was 71 days and of each baby 11 days.

Of the babies born during the year 18 were placed for adoption by the association and two by another adoption area.

Three were kept by their mothers and one admitted to Dr Barnardo's Homes.
 

April 13, 1955

Lowdham Young Farmers' Club held their eighth gymkhana at Marlock Farm, Gunthorpe, in a field which, two weeks earlier, had been submerged in flood water. Elizabeth Warner of Southwell riding Bambi and Elizabeth Caudwell, also of Southwell, wore genuine Icelandic costume for the fancy dress competition.

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An innovation decided by the Newark Hospital management committee was to alleviate the problem of nursing staff shortages by employing nursery nurses in the children's and maternity wards.

Nursery nurses are trained - often by bodies such as Barnardo's - and are registered, but their qualifications relate to the care of children rather than to the care of the sick.

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While some of the recommended improvement schemes that have been discussed by Newark Town Council in recent months are now getting under way some are still delayed.

An example is the proposed reconstruction of the cattle market.

It is being held up by the disinclination of the Minister of Transport to make a decision about the long-mooted proposal to divert the Great North Road so that traffic no longer faces delays at the Castle Station level crossing.

This diversion did not appear on the long list of major roadworks proposed by the Minister for the next few years and the Corporation is now pressing for a decision on alternative schemes.
 

April 6, 1955

Newark Sea Cadets' motor torpedo boat was left with its stern wedged on Newark Wharf when the floods subsided last week.

Winches were placed on the other side of the Trent but efforts to pull the boat into the water had to be abandoned.

Successful help came finally from a Trent Waterways tug. The tug pulled and the boat slid down the improvised slipway with a tumultuous splash.

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Behind the formal decision of Newark Town Council last week to purchase some land near the Queen's Sconce lies a plan for the most ambitious open space development ever undertaken by the Corporation.

It will make the historic Sconce - the finest example of a Civil War earthwork defence-post in Britain - the centre of a magnificent public park, containing a flower-lined drive to a carpark, a 400-yard riverside walk amid natural surroundings on the south bank of the Devon to an eight-acre picnic ground in a bend of the river for a children's playground, hockey, football and cricket pitches, tennis courts and bowls greens.

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Newark on Sunday caught some brief glimpses of one of British Railways' secret weapons in the battle for popularity with the travelling public.

Railwaymen who knew of the arrival of the diesel-propelled two-unit flyer, lined the track at points between Grantham and Newark to watch it pass.

One who timed the journey clocked 14 minutes - for a trip of more than 14 miles.