What was making the news in the Newark Advertiser in 1924, 1974 and 1999
The Advertiser has opened its archives to see what was making the news this week 25, 50 and 100 years ago.
25 years ago – March 19, 1999
ABOVE: Youngsters have created a colourful banner to liven up the font at Newark Parish Church.
Members of the junior church group have worked on the banner, based on the theme water of life, since October.
The cloth banner, which measures 4ft by 3ft, features six embroidered pictures of Bibical scenes.
• Fast-growing company Project Telecom is creating 100 jobs – most of which will be in Newark’s first major call centre.
The recruitment will make the mobile phone firm a major employer in the town with a workforce which will have expanded from fewer than a dozen to more than 300 in little more than a decade.
It has bought the 20,000sq ft final phase Glenholm Park fronting Brunel Drive.
• A coffee bar is being proposed in a bid to keep young people off the streets of Southwell at night.
Southwell Young People's Forum wants to refurbish a disused building to create a place with “a young atmosphere and cool image”.
• Parents were meeting the headteacher and governors of The Newark High School after being told it will be offering just six A-level subjects for the next academic year.
Five subjects, including history, art and music, have been dropped. There are no languages or IT options.
• Red noses were a common sight as people held wacky events to raise money for Comic Relief.
Staff at Newark cleaning company Maid 2 Clean dressed as French maids to collect money in Newark Market Place, and Miss Lizzi Rose and Mrs Angie Swingler, of Newark Storage, spent the day dressed as naughty nuns.
Roles were reversed at Bleasby Primary School when the children arrived dressed as adults and the children dressed as children.
• A clock is to be bought for Southwell Market Place to celebrate the millennium. The £5,000 will be set on top of a 10ft stand
50 years ago – March 23, 1974
ABOVE: A new £935 minibus was presented by Mr Guy Taylor, chairman of Newark Round Table, to the Whitfield Centre for the mentally handicapped.
The bus was the Round Table’s ‘73 project.
• Members of Newark Baptist Church Youth Fellowship are still waiting for the manager of the Newark cinema to meet to discuss the cinema programme.
Fellowship members staged a protest outside the cinema when Last Tango In Paris was being shown. They walked among the queue outside issuing leaflets.
They are disturbed about the showing of the film and of the proportion of X-certificate films being shown.
• The planners would like to see Newark’s imposing Ossington buildings, at present being used by Notts County Council for social services offices, keep its place in the life of the town – possibly as a restaurant.
The almost 100-year-old building may be floodlit and its surroundings landscaped to make a pleasant riverside feature.
No plans have been detailed for its future use when the council’s lease expires in the summer.
• Meals On Wheels in Notts are to cost less. The social services committee of the new Notts County Council agreed to lower the charge from 8p to 6p.
• Tufty Clubs in the Newark area have doubled.
At the December meeting of Newark and District Road Safety Committee there was concern that there were only six such clubs in the area.
Six more have now begun in Southwell, Farnsfield, Ollerton and three in Newark.
100 years ago – March 17, 1924
A scheme was proposed for increasing the accommodation at the Newark Girls’ High School at a meeting of the governors.
It was proposed that two front classrooms should be raised another storey, that a central hall should be built between the school and the School of Science and Art, the present dining room and cookery rooms be used as classrooms, and the heating apparatus be extended from the new central hall to the School of Art.
The whole scheme was estimated to cost £2,500.
• It was stated at the Newark Borough Police Court that it was becoming almost a daily occurrence for casuals to escape from the Newark Workhouse before their tasks were completed.
William Brighton, a carter, was charged by the workhouse master (Mr Harrison) with absconding, and Mr Harrison asked magistrates to inflict such a penalty on this man as would act as a deterrent to others.
The chairman, Mr Branston, said it appeared he was willing to be slept and fed and yet he went off as soon as some work had to be done.
He was sent to prison for seven days with hard labour.
• The death occurred at Elston at the age of 82 of Mr Thomas Hagues. The deceased was a contestant in the Federal Army during the American Civil War.
He was at Stone River, Chickamanga, Chaltanooga, Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountains as well as the defence of Nashville.
As a reward for his services, he enjoyed a substantial pension.
• Mr W. H. Franks applied to the Borough Magistrates for a billiards licence for the Palace Theatre, Newark.
The room which will be used for the purpose was on the left-hand side of the stairs at the top and was large enough for a three-quarter size billiard table.
The police had no objection and, if it were to be granted, were confident that the privilege would not be abused.
