May 25 1955

The new Vicar of Newark, the Rev John Harrison Duphoy Grinter, is pictured with the Bishop of Southwell, Dr F. R. Barry, in Newark Parish Church after the induction and institution.

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The first major secondary school to be built by Nottinghamshire County Council in a rural area, the Collingham Woodhill School, was officially opened on Saturday.

In keeping with the agricultural bias of the new school, the opening was by Mr George Whyley, council secretary of the National Farmers' Union.

He said he was sure the Education Committee had shared the concern of many people that the rural areas were not enjoying the same educational facilities as the urban areas.

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Syncopating Sandy Strickland has beaten the world record for marathon piano playing.

At 11pm on Saturday there were 500 people in the Castle Ballrooom, Newark, to see Sandy complete his self-imposed task.

He had played for 132 hours, and had beaten the German-held record by two hours.

He expects to go to Germany, and compete later against Hans Schipper, the previous record holder, and Musical Marie in other marathons.

Immediately after ending his playing on Saturday night, Sandy went to bed for two days.
 

May 18, 1955

Slightly windswept after winning the boys 4 x 110 yards relay at the county sports at Kelham Road on Saturday was the Magnus team.

They were R. Hucknall (this year's Magnus Junior Ludorum holder) J. D. Hall, M. J. Allam and B. Adams.

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In many churches in Britain there hang the battle colours of local regiments. In Caunton Parish Church there is a ship's lifebuoy.

Mounted on a fine oak stand, it was presented to the village on Saturday by the ship's company of HMS Caunton.

Ten men had to stay at Portsmouth to look after the ship but all the rest - five officers and 22 ratings - made the 188-mile journey to spend the weekend as guests of the village.

Their coach was welcomed outside the Plough by almost the whole village (pop. 360).

They were taken to their billets and later met in Caunton School for a magnificent tea.

Rain stopped play in a cricket match between the ship's company and the village team in the afternoon, but there was no dampening of spirits at an evening dance in the village hall - once a prisoner-of-war camp.

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Newark gas works in Barnbygate closed on Saturday and the district will now be served by the Nottingham grid - similar to the electricity grid which runs from Sheffield to Leicester.

Eventually the Newark works will be pulled down and a new district control house built.

The district manager of the East Midlands Gas Board, Mr A. E. Simpson, said concern had been shown by Newark people about coke supplies, but he could assure consumers there would be no shortage as coke would be taken into Newark works from other undertakings.
 

May 4, 1953

An air of pageantry filled the Castle Ballroom, Newark, on Saturday when the Junior Advertiser Club's first King and Queen were crowned.

King for the coming year is 13-years-old Ritchie Bates of Winthorpe Road, Newark.

He is a pupil at the Mount School. The Queen is Kathleen Faisev of Chatham Street, Newark. Kathleen (13) goes to Sconce Hills School.

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Tubular metal stalls for Newark market have been tried and found wanting.

After testing a couple, the markets committee of Newark Town Council has decided that they are unsuitable owing to the frequency of erection and dismantling a proposed conversion scheme has been abandoned.

The committee will buy the two stalls with which it has been experimenting (at a cost of £41) and it will consider modification of the timber stalls at present in use.

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Nobody knows how it started - or why or quite when. But the person who stuck the first coin on the low oak beam of the bar at the Old White Hart Hotel, Newark, began a craze which has left the inn with a unique numismatic museum.

Today about 20sq ft of the beam surface bear a collection of more than 580 coins from all parts of the world, paper money, casino admission tickets and other mementos ranging from a summons to a class Z call-up notice.

And all the exhibits in the White Hart's strange overhead museum have one thing in common - they have all been stuck to the beam with beer.