10 YEARS AGO: January 25, 2002

HENLEY has finally given the thumbs-up to CCTV so that it could be installed within six months. South Oxfordshire District Council’s offer of 17 cameras in the town centre was supported by the town council’s town and general purposes committee on Tuesday. Dc Charles Cameron, Henley’s crime reduction officer, told the meeting: “The police have been involved with CCTV for the past five years and the town has been involved for the past nine.”

Celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson took time off from his TV duties yesterday to promote Farmhouse Breakfast Week. With the help of David Orpwood, chairman of the local branch of the NFU, he fried breakfasts for early morning shoppers at Henley’s farmers’ market. The chef said: “There is no better way to start the day than with a traditional English breakfast, especially when it is all made with locally produced food.”

Mike and Debbie Evans took over as managers at the Argyll pub in Henley in August. With assistant manager Chris Smith, they have further improved the safe, happy, mixed-age environment where everyone is welcome, whether single, married, young or elderly. Drop in and find out more about the pub’s new theme nights, karaoke nights and crazy competitions such as “Who wants to be millionaire/drunk”.



25 YEARS AGO: January 23, 1987

A NEW riverside plan for Henley, aimed at restoring and modernising Hobbs & Sons’ boatyard and boathouse and including development of 20 three-storey houses, was unveiled this week. The proposals would change the face of the riverside and are bound to attract both interest and fierce opposition. The plan is a joint venture between Hobbs & Sons and London property developer Ironcliffe Estates.

A Neighbourhood Watch scheme aimed at reducing crime and making a Henley estate a more pleasant place to live has been suggested by a resident. But members of the town council’s general purposes committee, who considered the idea on Tuesday, refused to involve the council, although they agreed the scheme should have moral backing.

Artwork by two youngsters from schools in the Henley area will be on display throughout South Oxfordshire in the spring to publicise a countywide litter blitz campaign. Posters by nine-year-old Roy Evans, from Harpsden School, and 13-year-old Frances Davidson, from Gillotts School in Henley, were judged the best in two of the age groups in a competition organised by South Oxfordshire District Council.



50 YEARS AGO: January 26, 1962

ALL but one of the 65 starters in this year’s Monte Carlo Rally passed through Henley between 5pm and 7pm on Saturday on their way to Dover. They travelled along the Oxford to Henley road into the town and then branched off through Twyford en route for the car ferry, which was to take them to Boulogne and the next stage of their journey.

Henley YMCA beat Redlands 2-1 with a winning goal by Eddie Taylor in the last minute of Saturday’s game. Taylor crashed the ball into the net after the goalie could only push out a shot from M Hinton. The visitors had a 1-0 lead at the interval with a goal by their centre-forward, who had intercepted a back-pass to the Henley goalie.

Details of the new hospital rebuild plan were outlined in a command paper presented to Parliament on Tuesday. It will affect hospitals in the Reading group and in particular those at Henley and Peppard. Mr G H Weston, group secretary to the Reading and District Hospital Management Committee, emphasised that the proposals were a welcome sign of progress.



100 YEARS AGO: January 26, 1912

MR A WHITFIELD, chief assistant to Mr A B Lloyds, clerk to the Henley Board of Guardians, is leaving Henley on Tuesday to take up an appointment as financial clerk to Isle of Wight Rural District Council. Mr Whitfield, who has resided in the neighbourhood for upwards of 10 years, was a member of the parish church choir and Henley Rowing Club.

Following the heavy rainfall in the past few weeks, the river has risen in most places along the Thames Valley and flooded neighbouring meadow land. At Henley, the floods have been out for a considerable time and great inconvenience has been occasioned by surplus water. Mill and Lion Meadows are covered to a depth of several feet in some places.

On Wednesday last week, the brethren of Royal Jubilee Lodge (No. 469) of the Ancient Order of Druids gave their annual entertainment to the inmates of the Henley Workhouse. It proved to be every bit as attractive as its predecessors. In the dining hall, Mr Cave (the master) had a stage erected and made other excellent arrangements. Mr W Good acted as chairman and introduced a programme of vocal and instrumental music.