Don’t drink the water!

Thames Water offers compensation over strange odour, May 8, 2014 OLD MEMORIES REVIVED Extracts taken from past columns of the Newbury Weekly News

150 years ago May 7, 1874

Up for the cups

THE spring meeting of Crookham Golf Club took place on May 1, 2, and 4, and was in every respect a great success.

On Friday, the handicap cup given by Mr Charles Stephens, of Reading, was won by Mr BS Cunliffe, 93rd Regt; Mr Thackwell of Thatcham, with odds, was a good second, and Capt Lyon third.

On Saturday there were many strangers present, competing for the open handicap cup, presented by Capt Dashwood Fowler.

Mr George Gorset was successful in winning it, though Messrs Fowlie and Baldwin were very near him, and Mr Ramsay not far off. On Monday the club challenge cup was won by Capt Lyon, after an exciting contest with the Rev J Scott Ramsay.

125 years ago May 11, 1899

Registrar tributes

THE death occurred on Wednesday evening of Mr Edward Pocock, who for the past sixty years has closely identified with the official side of parochial life.

He was born at Bucklefarm, Bradfield, where his father and grandfather had lived.

He had attained the ripe old age of 80, and for 60 years had been resident at Sulhamstead.

His married life extended to 51.5 years, and ten years ago he celebrated his golden wedding, his wife dying eighteen months afterwards.

Mr Pocock was a baker and grocer, but held several parochial offices during his long life.

He was deputy registrar in 1840, and one of the enumerators for taking the census in 1841, and in 1843 was appointed registrar for the sub-district of Mortimer, his operations extending over a wide area from Beenham on one side, to Mortimer West on the other.

He had earned the respect of all with whom he came into contact, which was evidenced on Tuesday at the funeral. There was a family of two sons and nine daughters, of whom there survive five daughters, and one son, Mr Francis Popock, of Newbury.

100 years ago May 8, 1924

Crunch time

WITH regard to the purchase of biscuits for the council, the master reported that these were procured in accordance with the House Committee’s order and approval. He purchased them directly from the manufacturers at wholesale prices and at the present time they were costing one and half per lb.

The quantity consumed last quarter was 456lbs.

The House Committee having considered this report found that nearly £100 per annum was expended in biscuits alone.

The committee recommended that the master be requested to ascertain whether a cheaper suitable biscuit can be substituted and, if so, to take effect from July 1 next. Mr Forster explained that biscuits were provided to the old people on Sundays in a specially sealed packet.

75 years ago May 12, 1949

Island adventure

IN a letter to his parishioners, the vicar of Kingsclere, the Rev HW Bedloe, announces that he is leaving the district, probably at the end of July, for overseas work in the diocese of Jamaica.

IT was as wet on the banks of the Kennet & Avon Canal as it was in the water, but that didn’t stop the crowds turning out for the 31st annual Crafty Craft Race in 2004.

The traditional eight-mile race was one of the biggest events in the Newbury calendar and entries were up on 2003, despite the rain.

The picture shows the bees of Kennet Amateur Theatrical Society (KATS) get busy on the canal.

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, Newbury Weekly News, Newspaper House, Faraday Road,

Newbury, RG14 2AD.

A number of factors have led him to the decision, he writes, among them being that he has no family ties to prevent him from going into the mission field and that there is a great need of priests abroad, the manpower of the church not being equally distributed. He expects to go for an initial period of five years, during which he may have many churches to serve, and schools to administer.

“There are thousands of Christians abroad who are cut off from the sacraments because there is no one, or seldom one, to administer them,” the Rev Bedloe writes. “Nobody in England is in that position, and for other reasons best known to themselves, the majority of people in this land, nominally Christians, do not appear to require them.

“You cannot make people require a thing for which they do not feel the need.”

50 years ago May 9, 1974

Ken’s on a high

BIRDMAN Ken Messenger became Britain’s first person to ride a kite released from a hot air balloon when he winged his way down from a height of 2,300 feet above Marsh Benham on Tuesday. Previously the feat had only been accomplished in the United States where the top release altitude record is 9,000 feet.

Conditions were described as near perfect when the Dante group’s hot air balloon Beatrice rose from a field near Bradford Farm, with co-pilots Mr David Liddiard and Mr John Green in the basket. Dangling from it on a short tether was the 37-year-old Marlborough birdman who has made over 500 conventional kite flights, taking off from hills.

Just before making his first balloon-borne bid, Mr Messenger told a NWN reporter: “This is purely experimental and nobody knows what will happen.” Seated in the rig under the kite’s sail, the birdman was borne up rapidly until the balloon, at some 2,500 feet, was put on a descent rate of three feet per second.

This enabled the kite’s sails to inflate ready for the birdman’s free flight, and the disconnection order was shouted to the pilots.

25 years ago May 6, 1999

Macbeth walkout

DISGUSTED theatre-goers walked out of the production of ‘Macbeth – Director’s Cut’ at the Corn Exchange last Friday night, complaining of its violent and sexual content. Almost 15 per cent of the audience left the Market Place theatre before the curtain came down on the performance by the Volcano Theatre Company.

Mrs Rosemary Thomas, from North Heath, Chieveley, said: “If I’d been on my own, I would have walked out too, but my children were too embarrassed to leave.”

Mrs Thomas, who took her two teenage sons to help with their GCSE studies, said the obscene and violent production was not suitable for children.

She said: “It was exceedingly violent and loud, and there were some very sexual scenes. “I’m not against something a little different, but I am against the sex and violence.” Controversial moments included a dummy child being savagely beaten by a madman and frequent suggestions of sexual acts between the actors. Miss Katie Milledge, a spokesman for the Corn Exchange, said the arts centre welcomed unusual interpretations but, in this case, staff were unaware that the play would be as provocative as it was.

10 years ago

May 8, 2014

Water warning

WEST Berkshire residents who were warned not to drink their tap water owing to a strange ‘odour’ have been offered £100 in compensation from Thames Water.

The water giant issued a ‘do not drink’ notice to around 1,500 homes in the RG8 postcode after reports of strange-smelling tap water were confirmed last Thursday. Tens of thousands of water bottles were delivered to affected areas – which included Streatley, Ashampstead,

Upper Basildon, Lower Basildon, Tidmarsh and parts of Pangbourne – over the weekend.

On Sunday morning, residents received the news that their water was safe to drink again. Initial findings showed the issue was the result of “extremely low” concentrations of a chemical called styrene in the water, with the ‘odour’ coming from a newly repaired water pipe. Thames Water has apologised and said it will send a cheque for £100 in the next 10 days to all households affected.