COMPILED BY DEREK KANE

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 15 SEPTEMBER 1893

TRAMPS AND THEIR WAYS

At the County Bench on Monday, before Col.Harmer and J.C.Forster, Esq., James M-------, a tramp, was brought up in custody, charged with begging at Quarley on the previous Saturday, and further with assaulting P.C.Kemish in the execution of his duty. The officer having received complaints of the prisoner begging, took him into custody with a view to confronting him with the people from whom he begged. He found him in the Crown Inn, but no sooner did he get him outside than [sic] he bolted. The officer re-captured him, when prisoner became very violent, hitting and kicking the officer, until at last he obtained assistance to convey him to Grateley station, and thence to Andover.

For begging he was sent gaol for three weeks, and for the assault for a further period of two months with hard labour.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO — 13 SEPTEMBER 1918

A SUCCESSFUL NO. 1

It has got quite a “hardy annual” now for Mr.J.Culling to arrange a series of dances through the autumn and winter months and a start was for this season on Tuesday last in the Andover Town Hall, when close on 100 people from Andover and district spent a merry time from 9 p.m. till 3 a.m. A splendid floor had been arranged by Mr.Choules, the hallkeeper; and the refreshments consisted of things which the Food Controller would not grumble at. Messrs.Parsons and Hart, as usual, very kindly lent carpets and rugs, and the proceeds for the Cottage Hospital will amount to a nice sum. Mr.Ritchie’s string band provided some excellent music, and the dance programme consisted of:—Valse*, onestep, valse, lancers, valse, fox trot, valse, onestep, valse, lancers, valse, fox trot, valse, one step, valse, lancers, fox trot, valse, one step, valse.

*Compiler’s note: Valse is the French term for waltz.

SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 17 SEPTEMBER 1943

CORRESPONDENCE – THOSE HOUSES

Sir,—Your correspondent at Chute states that cottages in the village have no reliable water supply. Close by the village are three large houses, which, presumably, have a good water supply, or they would not have been built at all. I suggest that a similar method of obtaining water should be used to supply the cottages.

The “experts” inform us that pre-fabricated houses of marvellous design are being prepared for use in rural districts. The hope, moreover, to export these horrors to the various countries abroad who have suffered destruction during the war. Can no one rid us of these troublesome “experts?” The Government is helpless, and the longsuffering people, must put up with doctored water, milk, bread, processed foods, and prefabricated houses. Country people at one time knew how to deal with things they did not like. The offending object would be discovered broken to bits one morning, and the people would say, “Look what the devil did in the night!”

We still have plenty of good materials and plenty of craftsmen to work on them, and really beautiful cottages could be built for at least one-third of the present price. Can anyone imagine a hospitable housewife of the future saying to her guest, “Come and sit down for a while in my pre-fabricated house, and have a vitamin tablet and a glass of pasteurised milk.”

If the experts have their way every country will be standardised with the same ugly houses, clothes and utensils, and the same processed foods, followed by the same old diseases. Life will be just a bore,—Yours truly, N.C., Andover.

FIFTY YEARS AGO — 13 SEPTEMBER 1968

TASKERS’ BOMBSHELL

There is no threat of redundancies at the present time for the 700 employees of Taskers of Andover (1932) Limited, one of the largest manufacturers of trailers in the country, who, it was revealed in a shock announcement this week, are in financial difficulty. A receiver has been appointed to handle the affairs of the company, the biggest employers in the Andover area.

Since the announcement was made on Monday night both the receiver [Mr.J.D.Spooner} and his assistant, Mr.J.H.Gaston, have emphasised that it was “business as usual” at the works and that there was no threat of redundancies at present.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 17 SEPTEMBER 1993

QUEEN HEARS OF WRECKERS

The Queen is to be told how vandals are wrecking the Tidworth games wall she opened in June.

A Tidworth woman is so incensed by the ‘yobs’ treatment of the children’s play area she is writing to the Monarch telling her that the facility is being vandalised.

“I am writing to the Queen to tell her how much of a waste it all was. It is £15,000 down the drain, and I’m afraid that where some people are concerned you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” she said.

She added: “It has proved nothing but trouble for nearby residents as all the trouble makers of Tidworth now congregate there.

“They are loud and the rubbish strewn around is awful. The vandalism is very worrying.”

The woman, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals, is appalled that the wall, which was built with a grant from the Foundation for Sports and Arts, has been daubed with graffiti and the basketball nets ripped off.