ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 10 MARCH 1893

WHERWELL — AN EARLY SWARM

Owing to the lovely springlike weather we have been enjoying this week a most singular occurrence took place in this village on Wednesday last. Mrs.Martha Hebberd, an old inhabitant, was seen about one o’clock hiving a swarm of bees. As it is exceptionally early for bees to swarm this incident has caused no little interest among the villagers.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO — 8 MARCH 1918

[CORRESPONDENCE] — EDUCATION IN ANDOVER

Dear Sir,—The County Director of Education, D.T.Cowan, Esq., is visiting Andover on Tuesday, March 12, and is desirous of discussing educational matters of the greatest importance to all parents and employers of labour. May I express the hope that my fellow townsmen will realise that it is their bounden duty to take a far greater interest then hitherto in the educational welfare of the future men and women of our country, and I sincerely hope there will be a representative meeting at the Town Hall at 6 p.m.—Thanking you, I am, yours faithfully, ROBERT T.MOORE.

SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 12 MARCH 1943

BY PIGEON POST

The following message was received by Mr.F.H.Sherwood (hon.secretary, Andover and District National Savings Committee) by pigeon post from Trafalgar Square, London, on Monday morning:-

“On this opening day of the ‘Wings for Victory’ Campaign I send you and your Committee this winged messenger with greetings and good wishes for your effort. May victory come to us on wings which you will help to provide.”—(Signed) Kindersley, President, National Savings Committee.

FIFTY YEARS AGO — 8 MARCH 1968

“QUEEN” OF THE BOXING BOOTHS

Mrs.Esther McKeowan is a homely woman in a strong man’s world. Amid the harsh lights and hullaballoo of a Saturday night fairground “Ma,” as she is known, is the undisputed “boss” of one of the travelling showman’s biggest money-spinners … the boxing booth.

A widow in her seventies, this remarkable woman has had nine children, all but one of them born in a caravan, all of them fighters – even the girls. Many years ago she had a much larger family.

Some of her “boys” as she calls them were Freddie Mills, Randy Turpin, Len Harvey and Tommy Farr.

Pitched into the roughest training ground of any profession to take on a lout with the belligerent self-confidence that a few drinks can generate.

Of the six booths in the country, Mrs.Esther McKeowan is the only woman boss. In her particular business the elite of the fairground attractions, there are three booths in the family, and that alone makes her “The Queen of the Booths.”

In a few weeks’ time she will be leaving her winter quarters at Vigo Road, Andover, and taking to the road with the rest of her family for the spring and summer tour of their allotted territory, the South and West of England.

One of her three boxers and three wrestlers will be her son, Barry, but Ma has never seen him fight. “I hate wrestling. I have never seen my son wrestling and I would never walk across the road to see wrestling of any sort,” she explained this week.

But at one time, when she had managed the booth with her husband Sam, a former Western Area Lightweight Champion who died four years ago, she employed a troupe of lady wrestlers, which included one of her daughters.

“Women wrestlers are hard to get hold of now – you need good judo girls.” And so the demand for wrestling has ruled that it stays a top attraction for her booth. A lot of women like to see at close quarters the grappling styles they have studied on television, while wrestlers like Joe Cornelius and Mike Marino have been groomed in the McKeowan booth to provide them with a fairground injection of excitement.

A momentary panacea for the mundane life of a housewife.

Men still seem to prefer the more traditional punch-up, ready to climb into the ring and exchange punches for a couple of quick pounds.

“It is a sort of training ground for the boxers. They just don’t get the right experience in the gyms where they meet the same styles and same sparring partners day after day.”

Bit there are still problems. “The boys don’t stop long enough nowadays and the trouble is that they all have managers from the start.

“We used to have a boy for two seasons and then find him a manager. But now we have to haggle with the managers to get the boys.”

But once a young boy is accepted he becomes one of the family. Fighting over four rounds they feel they have a debt of loyalty to pay “Ma” and so they go out to win.

“Ma,” to [sic], has a pride in her boys, who, incidentally, are usually up to the welterweight class.

Freddie Mills was the most famous. He started with the booth as a raw youngster and graduated to the gutsy fighter that the rest of the world knew when he left four years later to join the R.A.F.

“Ma” remembers “… he was a very good fighter, but I always thought he was a bit short for his weight.”

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 12 MARCH 1993

DANGEROUS GASES CAN BE SUCKED OUT

Test Valley Borough Council’s latest ‘green’ initiative will mean that ozone-bashing CFC gases will soon be safely disposed of in Andover.

Refrigerant and linings of old fridges and freezers can leak the toxic substance into the atmosphere — and land litterbugs who dump them with a heavy fine.

Two specialist machines to extract CFCs have now been ordered by the authority and one will be sited at its Shepherds Spring depot.

The plant is expected to be delivered in the next few weeks after which people with old fridges can phone the council to arrange a free collection and disposal service.