Snow Moon out of this world
See ‘little king’, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, and Mars during March
THIS beautiful image of the Snow Moon, perched next to Newbury’s Town Hall was captured by our photographer Phil Cannings on Saturday morning.
See page 12 and 13 for more of your stunning pictures, from across the district, as February’s full Moon gave everyone a reason to turn their gaze – and their cameras – skywards.
THIS month the constellation of Leo is very visible looking south.
To find it, start by locating the famous saucepan shape of The Plough (Ursa Major).
Follow the two stars that make up the right side of the saucepan downwards and you will see what looks like a back to front question mark.
This is part of the constellation of Leo which in its entirety looks a bit like a horse shape.
The star forming the dot of the question mark is Regulus (‘little king’ in Latin), one of the brightest stars in the night sky (actually a group of at least four stars) some 79 light years from Earth.
Regarding planets, Mars is a good one to spot this month. The orangey object is just to the right of the Moon around 10pm on March 19.
Find out more about astronomy via Newbury Astronomical Society, which hosts monthly meetings for both beginners and experienced astronomers.
See www.newburyastro.org.uk
tonyhersh@ hotmail.com
150 years ago
March 9 1871
Battle of the bell ringers
AT the Marlborough Petty Sessions, on Saturday, George Alexander, William Merrett, and John Jerram, three respectablelooking men, were charged with drunken and riotous behaviour, at Aldbourne, on the 7th ult. It appears that there is a “young set” and an “old set” of bell-ringers at Aldbourne.
On the day in question there was a wedding, and the “young set” took possession of the belfry, refusing to leave until ordered out by the churchwarden.
The “old set”, to which the three defendants belonged, then rung away to their hearts’ content, and seemed to have imbibed plenty of beer to honour the occasion.
The defeated set then jeered them in the evening, and so incited them that a row ensued. Alexander and Merrett committed a breach of the peace by taking off their coats, and challenged them to fight.
As for Jerram, he determined to have nothing to do with it, till somebody wished he had a “smack in the mouth,” and then he too began to use strong language.
The three defendants expressed their sorrow, and were ordered to pay 7s costs each.
125 years ago
March 5 1896
Eight years till leap year
SATURDAY scarcely received the recognition which it deserved, considering that we shall not get another 29th of February until 1904.
Marriageable ladies should make the best of the privileges which leap-year secures for them, as eight years must elapse before they will again have a chance of doing so.
Leap-year does not happen every four years, but only twenty-four times in every 100 years.
The last year in the century in which it should fall is reckoned as an ordinary year, in order to adjust the calendar to the “process of the suns.”
The babes who first saw the light on Saturday will have to wait eight years before they can hold
their first birthday.
100 years ago March 3 1921
New-born baby tragedy
THE startling discovery made by the Rev RH Pinck, curate-incharge at Newtown, of the body of a newly-born child, buried in an ash heap, necessitated the holding of an inquest, which took place on Thursday at the Parsonage, before the
Hampshire Coroner, Mr. Spencer Clarke, and a jury.
From the evidence, it appears that on the morning of February 21st, Beatrice Ellen Stockwell, who is employed as a domestic at the Parsonage, was taken ill and Mrs Pinck called in Dr Adams, who advised her removal to the Newbury District Hospital.
The following day Mr Pinck made the discovery referred to above.
The police were informed, and Dr Adams, upon the Coroner’s instructions, made a post mortem examination of the dead child.
In giving evidence at the inquest, he said that death was probably due to inattention at birth.
The jury returned a verdict accordingly.
75 years ago February 28 1946
Newbury’s war effort
MEMBERS of the Newbury and District Social Centre and their friends were entertained by another of the popular Sunday evening “In Town To-night” features, which bring to the platform people from every walk of life.
This week’s edition was produced by the deputy warden, Mr Martin, and the compere was Mr Ted Moss.
The programme began with an interesting talk by Mr WT Elliott, superintendent of Vickers Armstrong in Newbury. He told of the dark days of 1940, of how the Vickers factories, then situated in Southampton,
NEWBURY Market has been a feature of the town for more than 1,000 years.
Newbury had a population of around 1,500 by the middle of the 11th century and therefore had the right to hold a fair and a market.
The market immediately proved popular and buyers and sellers would come from all over Berkshire and North Hampshire to attend the fair, which was held once a year for a period of days. When this picture was taken, in 1968, the market was still thriving. And although it is not as busy as it once was, it still attracts crowds every Thursday and Saturday from 9am to 4pm. n Anyone wishing to submit an image for this page should email editor@ newburynews.co.uk, attaching a copy of the picture with details about it, or send it to: Local History,
Newspaper House, Faraday Road, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2AD.
were heavily bombed and severely damaged by enemy aircraft.
Owing to this heavy damage, it was decided that to get production going properly once more, the factories would have to disperse.
Consequently Reading was selected as the centre of aircraft assembly, it having an advantage of an aerodrome adjacent. Knowing that Newbury had an engineering background, a factory was erected and was first occupied in October, 1940. The first premises to be taken over were Messrs Stradlings and other premises to be utilised were those of Messrs Nias. Newbury Bus Company gave up a building which was turned into an excellent workshop, where many young ladies were employed.
A large building was also erected by Cooke Bros, and the total labour force in all these workshops was 1,158.
Of this number, 600 were girls and 150 part-time workers, of whom Mr Elliott spoke with much admiration.
50 years ago February 25 1971
Till thief was drunk
RESTING in a room above her antique shop at 31 Oxford Street, Newbury, Dorothy Yvonne Veness heard her dog bark, then the sound of the till bell.
She found a man standing beside the till and he ran off when she went in.
At Newbury Borough Magistrates Court on Friday, a 27-year-old steel fixer, who said he was lodging at The Olde Worlde Cottage, Beedon, pleaded guilty to entering 31 Oxford Street as a trespasser and stealing £1. He was fined £15.
In a statement, he said that at the time he was living in Oxford Street and went next door by mistake when drunk.
He told the magistrates he worked on the motorway and was “rained off ” on the day he committed the offence.
He had a lot to drink and went into the shop by mistake.
He said he was never out of work and if he worked seven days a week earned in excess of £40. He did not need the money he took.
25 years ago February 22 1996
Rector resigns
A WEST Berkshire rector has resigned from his parish after 20 years of rural service, because he cannot accept the Church’s authority to ordain women priests.
The Rev Jacob Lewis surprised the congregation of St Mary and St Nicholas’ Church at Compton at the end of Sunday’s morning service, when he told them “After a considerable amount of thought, I have come to the conclusion that I must resign the benefice under the ‘Ordination of Women Measure’. “The issue of the ordination of women has raised the question of who has the authority to decide whether this is a legitimate development in Christian faith and order. “Recent court judgments have established that the Church of England General Synod has this authority under the Crown and Parliament.
“As I cannot accept this, I must resign.”
Mr Lewis made it clear that his disagreement is not with women priests, but with the Church authorities.
10 years ago March 3 2011
Price’s Oscar triumph
THE man who stumped up cash for the hit British film The King’s Speech said that he toasted its Oscars success with a champagne breakfast.
The former chairman of Bagnor theatre The Watermill, Richard Price, was on top of the world as his “baby” swept the board, with awards for best actor (Colin Firth), best picture, best director and best original screenplay, on Sunday night.
Mr Price, of Aldbourne, said: “I must admit that I did have champagne with breakfast this morning.
“I stayed up part of the night, but decided to go to bed, so I didn’t see it live, but I was pretty sure we were going to win.
“I’m over the moon. I have backed films that won one or two Emmys before, but this is my first Oscar.”
Mr Price, who spent time on set and is listed in the movie credits, added: “Colin Firth is a great joy to watch at work and Tom Hooper really played the whole thing right.”
He added that when he was first presented with the script for a stage play entitled The King’s Speech in 2008, he realised he had something special in his hands immediately.
He said: “We were thinking of doing a stage play and I agreed to finance it, but we soon saw that it could be something bigger.”
The script was turned into a motion picture and was made on a rather modest budget of £10m. Mr Price, who also gave his backing to the blockbuster Mamma Mia!, said: “I’ve been very lucky. A few of my friends have even called up to ask which horse to back for the 5.30 at Cheltenham.”
LIAM GALLAGHER POST MALONE
THE STONE AGE AJ TRACEY ASHNIKKO BEABADOOBEE DOJA CAT LYRA MABEL MADISON BEER MK SOFI TUKKER TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB