ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 16 MARCH 1894

LONGPARISH — PRESENTATION

A pleasing presentation took place here on Friday last, when Mr.and Mrs.Leverton were the recipients of a mark of esteem and appreciation from the scholars attending the school, over which they have for some time presided, and their connection with which has just terminated. Miss Curnow took the initiative in the matter, and on her consulting the parents they approved heartily, with the result that there was a general response. The presentation took the form of a purse containing the amount subscribed. In thanking the children for the testimony of their kindly feeling towards him, he said that although he should not be with them he should continue to feel an interest in them and expressed hearty wishes for their future. He hoped the training they had received at his hands would be useful to them in their after life.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO — 14 MARCH 1919

ANDOVER BOARD OF GUARDIANS

The Clerk read the estimate for the county rate at 1s. 8d. in the £, an advance of 7½d. compared with the same time last year, and 3¾d. on the last half-year.

Mr.Gamester protested against the way the ratepayers were being bled white by the County Council; would the members as private individuals pay the salaries to officials the Council were doing?

After further remarks. Mr.Nichol said the chief factor in the rise of rates was the repair of the roads, which had been neglected in the past four years; the arreas must be made up, and they hoped that soon the Government would see the necessity of making the arterial roads a charge upon the nation, and more particularly the roads from London to Portsmouth and Salisbury. With regard to the future he could not hold out any hope of a reduction of rates, and the new education proposals would raise the rates to a crushing height.

Mr.Gamester said he was not complaining of the cost of the roads; he knew the bad state they were in, it was the salaries that he objected to, and he did not consider any official was worth £1250 a year.

Mr.Kendall strongly supported Mr.Gamester; years ago he moved that roads and education should be national, and not county charges.

SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 17 MARCH 1944

CORRESPONDENCE — SQUADRON LEADER DONNER’S SPEECH

Sir,—It is amazing how the Conservatives persist in giving Common Wealth* such splendid advertisement, a very good example of this being an address given by the present M.P. for this Constituency at the Andover Conservative Club on March 3. The major part of his address was devoted to anti-Common Wealth propaganda.

Criticism from Mr.Donner is very high praise indeed, for it definitely shows how the Conservative Party fear the progressive future of Common Wealth, which stands for vital democracy and common ownership, and whose policy is entirely anti-Fascist, in fact Common Wealth represents the ideal for which we are fighting today.

In order to get the criticism in true focus, citizens should recall Mr.Donner’s political record on Franco-Spain and on Hitler’s pro-Franco activities during the Spanish Civil War.—Yours faithfully,

JOHN BELL, Chairman of the Andover Branch Common Wealth, “Bemerton”, Winchester Road, Andover.

Compiler’s note: *Common Wealth was a socialist political party, active in contesting Westminster by-elections from 1942 to 1945, elections which would largely had remained unopposed during the wartime coalition between the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Parties

Patrick Donner was Conservative MP for the Basingstoke Constituency which then included Andover, from 1935 to 1955. It is suggested from the papers of Henry Drummond Wolf, Conservative MP for Basingstoke 1934 – 1935, that Sir Oswald Mosley (Leader of the British Union of Fascists from 1931) interviewed Donner to decide upon his suitability to serve as MP for the Basingstoke constituency, which had previously been held by Drummond Wolff and Viscount Lymington (1929-1934) — who both were on the right wing of the Conservative Party.

FIFTY YEARS AGO — 14 MARCH 1969

GIRLS TO BE ADMITTED TO REDRICE SCHOOL

Redrice school, the boys’ public boarding school at Abbotts Ann is to throw open its doors to girls, it was announced this week.

From this September, day girls between the ages of 12 and 18 will be accepted on the same basis as day boys.

They will pay fees of £75 a term and will be eligible for scholarships as the boys are.

Joint headmaster, Mr.L.A.F.Stokes, said that the boys were “interested” in the decision.

None of the girls has yet been chosen and the school Governors have not yet decided how many girls should be accepted, although they have had inquiries from parents who wish to send their daughters to Redrice.

Parents of boys already at the school have been sounded out on the proposition and very few of them objected.

One or two, said Mr.Stokes, felt that they had sent their son to a single sex school to avoid “unnecessary distraction,” but none objected strongly enough to take their sons away.

More parents, in fact, felt that co-education was a very good idea.

Redrice, which was founded in 1961, is traditionally a Roman Catholic school, but day boys and girls can be of any denomination.

Will Redrice eventually accept girl boarders?

“This is not contemplated at the moment,” said Mr.Stokes.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 18 MARCH 1994

TORY LEADER TO FIGHT FOR EURO-SEAT

Test Valley Tory Leader Roy Perry has been chosen as the prospective candidate for the plum Euro-constituency of Wight and Hampshire South after being tipped as the front runner for the Conservative nomination for the Eastleigh by-election.

He took his name out of that race because his main interest lay in Europe.

Cllr Perry said: “Europe plays a bigger and bigger part in all our lives. It will be my aim as a Euro-MP for Hampshire to seek to protect the interests of Hampshire in the workings of the European Union … as Conservatives we are good Europeans but we have no wish to see the erosion of British sovereignty and independence.”