Back Through The Pages

TO CORRESPONDENTS
We have received letters from members of the St. Mary Bourne and Longparish cricket clubs, relative to some misstatement made somewhere by someone, of which we have not the slightest knowledge. Certainly the statements were not made in our columns, and if we were to devote our space to correcting the errors in some of our contemporaries, who are glad to fill up their columns with any cock and bull story, we should never know where the matter would end. The correspondence, therefore, will not be published by us.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO — 19 JUNE 1914

AFRAID OF THE WOMEN
The manner of achieving notoriety by those women known as suffragettes is causing some anxiety in our quiet little town, especially to the officials of St.Mary’s who are doing their utmost to guard against any outrage in the church. The following notice was posted about the town on Monday:
ANDOVER CHURCH.
By Order of the Vicar and Churchwardens.
Owing to the many abominable and sacrilegious outrages upon churches and other places of worship, THIS CHURCH will for the present be kept closed, except during divine service. Strangers will only be admitted to view the church if attended by the Verger, Mr.W.Horne, 2, Marlborough Street. 

SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 23 JUNE 1939

CORRESPONDENCE — THAT DOG NUISANCE
Sir,—I was interested in reading your report of loose dogs in the Recreation Ground, and it makes one think why do not the Town Council ensure that their employees on the ground see that the rules are kept. The Recreation Ground is not the only place where dogs are a nuisance.
All over the Borough at night—one can see all manner of dogs, not under proper control, and I believe there is a law in force which says that after sunset dogs must have a lead attached and be under control. Are those Alsatians at midnight— on the Ladies Walk under control?
One cannot blame the dogs, but the owners.—Yours truly, “NO ONE IS WISE AT ALL HOURS”, Andover.

(We understand that on one occasion the assistant groundsman was trying to turn some dogs out of the Recreation Ground, when he was attacked and bitten.—Ed. A.A.)

FIFTY YEARS AGO — 19 JUNE 1964

BACK TO TUDOR TIMES AT ST. MARY BOURNE WITH PAGEANT MASQUE
The Priors Players enlisted the help of a large number of the people of the Bourne Valley to put on their most ambitious project yet on Saturday night. Risking the weather, they staked weeks of effort on a one-night open-air presentation of a pageant of Tudor life and a moonlight masque.
Springhill gardens were kindly loaned for the event by Mr. and Mrs. William Reynolds — and provided the perfect setting. The gardens are on three levels, providing a split-level stage and a raised sloping auditorium, and have lovely trees, the River Bourne and a large ornamental fountain to include in the scenery.
William Reynolds and Alan Perry-Keane had enhanced the garden’s beauty with other scenic effects, including a “stone” bridge over the river. The producers, Diane Evans and Alan Perry-Keene, rose to the challenge of scale which open-air productions present, and fully availed themselves of the extra scope provided by the move from the restricting confines of an indoor stage.
The masque was made up of scenes from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and was intended as the Priors Players’ contribution to the Shakespeare Quartercentenary celebrations. The players took the scenes involving the subplots of Oberon’s quarrel with Titania, and the Mechanicals’ play. Thus abridged the play retains a coherent and pleasing plot.  

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 23 JUNE 1989

GROWERS FACE HARVEST HAVOC
Farmers are bracing themselves for the worst harvest in 13 years as continuing dry weather spells disaster for crops.
Predicting financial difficulties for many arable and tenant farmers, National Farmers’ Union Andover branch chairman, Charles White, said the current heatwave was ‘causing havoc’.
“we are heading for a lot of problems,” he said.
Worst hit are the spring crops which suffered almost as soon as they were planted.
As for livestock, they are looking well but living under stress, says Charles, with grazing land reduced to bare patches in places.
Milk yields are way down compared with the same period last year and a shortage of hay is also adding to the problems
Though market gardeners have enjoyed a bumper quick-ripening strawberry crop, vegetables and other soft fruits are not faring so well.
St Mary Bourne farmer Wyndham Culley has been watering round the clock after losing peas and thousands of hand sown cabbages to the dry weather earlier in the season.

TEN YEARS AGO — 18 JUNE 2004

MEP GETS THUMBS DOWN FROM VOTERS
Former Test Valley Borough Council leader Roy Perry has lost his seat in the European Parliament with the UK Independence Party doing even better in the South East than in the country as a whole.
But Mr Perry said this week he had been ‘psychologically prepared’ for the result after he was dropped to sixth on the Tory list under the election’s proportional representation system.
With one less seat this year due to the EU’s expansion and the Tories dropping from five seats to four, it left Mr Perry two positions adrift from being re-elected.
Labour lost one seat — dropping down from two to one — and UKIP gained one seat and now has two seats in the South East region.