40 YEARS AGO

THE people of Ashbourne had become engrossed in a traumatic tale of survival involving a family of swans and cygnets which were residing on the fish pond. The brood was dwindling after the adult swans continuously chose to march their young across Park Road to the grassy area on Shaw Croft, only to come into conflict with traffic. One cygnet had died after being hit by a car and another had to be rushed to the vet after its beak became entangled with fishing wire. There were calls for signs to be put on Park Road warning of swans crossing.

Three men were hurt and around £80,000 of damage was sustained after a fire tore through a coffin factory in Ashbourne’s Industrial Estate. The premises, belonging to JC Walwyn and Sons, was gutted during the blaze.

30 YEARS AGO

REVELLERS raised a toast to magistrates after an agreement was passed to allow the town’s nightclub, Cassandra’s, to sell liquor into the early hours. Licensing judges at Ashbourne granted the special licence to serve drinks up to 1am, along with a gaming permit and permission for structural alterations at the Market Place nightspot. A police solicitor tried to block the application, but his protests were dismissed.

Derbyshire County Council said it would put off the sale of The Mansion, in Church Street, to give Ashbourne Heritage Society time to put together a financial package to buy the former girls’ boarding school and turn it into a new heritage centre for the town. The society’s Trilby Shaw intimated there were “two or three” influential people already suggesting they might be prepared to back the scheme.

20 YEARS AGO

RESIDENTS were warned not to take up the offer of cheap waste collection services offered by members of the travelling community, as they were being linked to a rise in fly-tipping incidents. People paying as little as £25 to have van loads of furniture, garden waste and household appliances taken away could actually find themselves in trouble, council bosses warned. “To state you have paid for its removal is no defence”, they warned.

Green-fingered Sean Griffin scooped a judge’s award in the East Midlands Gardens in Bloom competition for a stunning floral display outside his home in Dig Street.

His multitude of pots and planters had also seen him regularly winning Ashbourne Town Council’s own floral competition for several years on the trot.