Turning Back the Pages

10 YEARS AGO: February 21, 2003

THERE have been calls for a public inquiry into how the authorities handled heavy flooding across this area. Homeowners in Shiplake were still clearing up a month after the floods and some were refused further cover by their insurers. Councillors said the Environment Agency’s early warning system had failed and the village’s drainage system had been overwhelmed.

The coach of Henley Cricket Club’s junior section was awarded the Pinsent-Redgrave Cup for sporting achievement. Ben Roseff, of Coldharbour Close, Henley, was presented with the trophy by Mayor Mike Owen. Mr Roseff helped the junior squad grow to almost 200 members and organised matches for the club.

Plans to convert an abandoned pub into a family restaurant were thrown out by South Oxfordshire District Council. Scottish and Newcastle Retail wanted to turn the Fox at Bix into a 120-seat Chef and Brewer outlet but the council said it would destroy the character of the Grade II listed building.



25 YEARS AGO: February 19, 1988

THE general practitioner maternity ward at Townlands Hospital is to close at the beginning of May — despite an admission by a health authority official that the move would result in a “levelling-down of the service”. Members of West Berkshire Health Authority finally sealed the fate of the ward at a special meeting in Reading. They decided it should close on a temporary basis but it is widely accepted that it is unlikely to re-open.

Staff at a Henley jewellers were searching through debris for the remains of molten gold after a fire which wrecked the shop. The ground floor of Aurum in Bell Street, where thousands of pounds worth of jewellery was on display, was gutted by the blaze, which broke out in the early hours of Thursday. Staff were in a state of shock when they discovered the extent of the damage. “I’m just devastated,” said the owner Herchel Jordan.

The pilot of a light aircraft had to land in a field in Remenham on Monday evening after the propeller fell off his plane. Hugh Smallwood and his six-year-old son Max were lucky to escape unscathed when disaster struck as they were flying over the countryside at 2,000 feet.



50 YEARS AGO: February 22, 1963

AFTER seeing a Renault Dauphine containing three young men drive from the Regal Cinema car park in Henley at 11.30pm on Saturday, February 2, Sgt Frank Collett began examining cars in the vicinity. On going to a Humber he moved aside some sheeting covering it and underneath found a 16-year-old Marlow boy, a tin containing three-quarters of a gallon of petrol and a length of rubber tubing. The youth’s breath smelt of petrol. He was later fined £25.

Two separate accidents occurred on the Henley to Oxford road on Saturday. The vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Henley and his wife were involved in an accident with a stationary vehicle in Nettlebed Woods. She received slight injuries and was treated at Henley War Memorial Hospital and was later allowed home. A more serious accident happened on the road at Crowmarsh at 11pm when a pedestrian crossing the road was knocked down by a car.

A 14-year-old Henley boy who admitted riding a cycle without lights was fined 10s. Insp R G Hovard said when stopped by Sgt Collett, the boy said his batteries had been stolen during a visit to the cinema. The boy said he had reported the matter to the cinema doorman but when told his story would be checked, he admitted the clips and batteries had been damaged and he had thrown them away.



100 YEARS AGO: February 21, 1913

IN cold, wintry weather the Oxford Boat Race crew, coached by Mr Kirby, paddled down about half-way towards Marsh lock and then went back and over the last part of the regatta course as far as Phyllis Court. The later task set to them was much more important for they rowed from lock to lock, including the regatta course, the reverse way. The trial proved so interesting that the Cambridge men came over from Marlow to witness the performance.

The fortnightly meeting of the Henley Board of Guardians was held in the board room at the workhouse. It was reported that the casuals relieved during the past fortnight numbered 80 as against 62 for the corresponding period last year and the number of inmates was 126 as against 137 for the corresponding period in 1912. With reference to the case of a little girl who died in the infirmary following accidental burns, it was said the matron showed kindness and sympathy to her.

Friends interested in the boy scout movement will learn with pleasure of the formation of the Henley and District Boy Scout Association. Henley seems to suggest itself as being the most central and suitable position for the purpose. The object of the association is to create a headquarters for the present and future troops in the district and to combine the forces.