Wednesday 5 January 1949
The Coventry Evening Telegraph
BUSMEN’S UNION RENEWS ‘DON’T STRIKE’ APPEAL
Leaders Meet Delegates At Transport House
Mr Arthur Deakin, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, appealed to London bus, tram and Green Line delegates at Transport House not to repeat the Saturday afternoon strike. The meeting, which also heard a warning from Lord Latham that men who would not carry out the terms of their employment could be dismissed, was adjourned until 13 January.
BABY PRINCE GOES TO NORFOLK
Princess Elizabeth, with the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Margaret and baby Prince Charles, left Buckingham Palace by car for Sandringham.
N. Ireland Seek Safeguards
The Northern Ireland Cabinet was reported to be studying what the new position of the Republic of Ireland would mean for the North, and to want safeguards.
COMMONS GIFTS
The Speaker’s chair and mace, given by the British House of Commons, were reported to have arrived at Colombo for the House of Representatives.
Britain “Wants Action” on Meat Project
A London dispatch in the Herald said Britain wanted Australia to act on the projected Queensland and Northern Territory beef scheme, including a long guarantee of British purchases, while Argentine talks on meat prices were also reported.
INDIAN PROBLEM FOR BENCH
Coventry magistrates, after a hearing held up by language and by a witness’s refusal to be sworn on the Koran, dismissed for lack of evidence a charge that two Indian men had robbed another of £30.
MINISTRY TO SUMMON MINE MANAGER
The Ministry of Fuel and Power was to summon Mr J. L. D. James, manager of Gresford colliery, and the agent, alleging that they had refused to allow the monthly safety inspections required by the Coal Mines Act.
QUEEN MARY, REPAIRED, SAILS FOR NEW YORK
The Queen Mary sailed from Southampton for New York for the second time in 48 hours, after repairs to damage caused when she grounded at Cherbourg.
CABINET TO CONSIDER UNITY TALKS
The Cabinet was to consider the Paris talks on European unity. Mr Dalton, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was leading the British delegation, and announcements were expected on monopolies and on a Royal Commission on population.
FIREWORK PIONEER DIES
Mr John G. Craig, of Pain and Sons, Mitcham, who had given firework displays around the world, died at Mitcham aged 83. The paper recalled an incendiary bullet he invented for use against Zeppelins, and the first big public firework display at the Crystal Palace.
TWO-BANK PLAN PROPOSED AS BERLIN SOLUTION
The New York Times reported from Paris that six neutral experts had proposed two separate banks as a way through Berlin’s currency dispute between the Western Powers and Russia.
Solicitor Acquitted of Shoplifting
John Haydn Thomas, clerk and solicitor to Uckfield Rural District Council, was acquitted of stealing goods worth £3 11s. 9d. from two Eastbourne shops. The defence was that he had not known the articles were in his pocket.
Bus Overturns at Leicester
Six people out of 52 injured were detained in hospital after a Birmingham and Midland double-decker overturned on an icy road on the outskirts of Leicester.
2,000 Miners Still on Strike
Nearly 2,000 miners who had been on strike at Bedwas Colliery, near Cardiff, since Monday were still out, and about 6,000 tons of output were said to have been lost. Their agent, Mr W. H. Crews, was trying to get them back so that a dispute over two promotions could be negotiated.
Saturday 15 January 1949
The Sphere
A NEW TRAINING GADGET FOR FOOTBALLERS
By remote-control telesonic equipment, an instructor on the touchline could coach players during a match. Each man wore a light harness and headpiece receiver, linked by a copper-braid aerial pinned across the field, with a volume control for the player’s hearing and the trainer’s voice.
CLEARING A DANGEROUS TREE FROM REGENT’S PARK
Trees in the park were being felled to keep it safe. The picture shows part of a tree from Primrose Hill being hauled away by a Fordson tractor.
JUST OUT!
CALIFORNIA, HERE I COME!
Mr Leslie Fitch, of Mitcham, an ex-Navy man and printer’s apprentice, was “banged out” at the Co-operative Printing Society’s works at Dorset Rise: other apprentices smeared him with ink and French chalk and carried him round the six floors, and at noon he received his indentures. French chalk, paste and ink failed to take the grin off his face.
THEY ARE MIGHTY TOUGH IN THE SOUTH-EAST
Mr Ross Hancock, manager of the Rialto Cinema, Bermondsey, unlaced boxing-gloves from eight-year-old Benny Bouch at the box office. A notice asked children to park guns, bowie knives and sheriff’s whistles, and the Saturday queue of young depositors was a long one.
AN AMATEUR DIRT-TRACK MEETING IN EUSTON SQUARE GARDENS
The West End Wanderers, young speedway riders from St Pancras, met teams from other boroughs, including the London Pirates from Regent’s Park, the Edmonton Eagles from Tottenham, and Leyton Aces from Walthamstow.
Friday 20 May 1949
Mitcham News & Mercury
Last Chapter In The Story Of Hall Place
Hall Place, Church Road, near Mitcham Town Hall, was being demolished, the dust rising round its Elizabethan-type chimneys. The house, described as a village mansion, was built in 1707 and occupied for two hundred years by the Worsfold family; Sir Cato Worsfold died just before the war. Two archways, one built with stone from Merton Priory, were to be left standing on the site of the new Mitcham County Secondary Boys’ School.
Monday 27 June 1949
Birmingham Gazette
STILL MORE AUSTERITY?
The widening dollar gap may force it on us
Sir Hartley Shawcross warned that Britain might have to face another “repugnant step” of austerity because the dollar gap had widened, with eight shillings of every pound spent in dollars. Sir Stafford Cripps was preparing to try to save the pound.
Railmen say ‘No’ to 3s. pay offer
N.U.R. branches at Carlisle, Manchester and Middlesbrough rejected the Railway Executive’s offer of 3s. a week for the lower-paid grades. Delegates were to meet in London with instructions to insist on 10s. a week.
LEOPOLD PARTY LEADS IN ELECTION
Supporters of the exiled King Leopold took an early lead in the Belgian election, the Social Christians being ahead of the Socialists and Liberals on the first returns.
“NO NEW PATIENTS”—DENTISTS
South Midlands and Birmingham dentists said they did not want to take new National Health patients, after a resolution that no one could accept a cut in fees without protest. They complained that the Minister of Health had not kept a promise to consult them before changes.
Kitty was a toast of the stage
Dogs guarded Kitty
Kate Flannagan, a West Bromwich Corporation attendant, had died. The paper remembered her as Kitty de Smith, “Mary Pickford of the fairgrounds,” a variety singer who loved fine clothes and jewels, and continued her story on page 5.
“HERE COME THE LOVERS, FULL OF JOY AND MIRTH”
A wedding at Stratford-on-Avon was linked to the cedar tree at Alveston Manor, where those words were first spoken when A Midsummer Night’s Dream was first staged.
A girl shouted “help”—four were drowned
Four youths were drowned at Seaham Harbour after they went to help a 16-year-old girl. The girl was saved.
WEDDING EVE HOAX
BELGIAN ELECTIONS: SPAAK TO RESIGN
Brussels radio said the Belgian Premier, M. Spaak, would resign later in the day, and that the leader of the Christian Socialists would be asked to form a government.
EXIT CRIPPS ON HARDEST MISSION
Sir Stafford Cripps, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was leaving for Paris on the Wednesday on what the paper called his hardest mission, the effort to close the dollar gap.
AIR TANKER CRASHES
A four-engined Lancaster of Skyways Ltd, carrying petrol, crashed on landing at Gatow, Berlin. The crew of four were unhurt.
ENTER HAVENGA To buy British
Mr N. C. Havenga was reported to be coming to Britain to arrange a trade agreement so that South Africa could buy more British goods.
Hottest day yet—and there is no sign of an early change
Birmingham reached 81 degrees, two degrees above Saturday and a record for the year, and the forecast gave no sign of a break. Midland Red buses had a “terrific rush” in the hot afternoon.
“MARTYRS” MESSAGE TO CZECHS
A pastoral letter from the bishops, read in the churches, warned Czechoslovakia’s young people that they would not follow what the bishops called the hard path of the Christian martyrs.
Ordered off his own land
While Mr Silkin, Minister of Town and Country Planning, was telling a meeting at Belper that the National Parks Bill would protect farmers, two Peak District guides ordered Mr Joseph Dalton, chairman of a footpaths society, off the moors. He said he had only been on the land to try to preserve it.
23,000 stop work today
Coal miners across Australia were due to stop work over demands that included a 30-hour week and nationalisation of the mines. The paper put the number stopping that day at about 23,000.
Lord Penrhyn dies
The fourth Baron Penrhyn died at Penrhyn Castle, Bangor, aged 55. He was described as an enthusiastic farmer, with Welsh black cattle and Penrhyn sheep on the estate.
lie-detector test for bride
Pamela Hurt, a 19-year-old British war bride charged at Indianapolis with shooting her husband, was to be given a lie-detector test.
Publicity pays
Mr John Stewart, said to be the oldest newspaper man in Green Bay, Wisconsin, published the news that his wife had left him, and pushed a wheelbarrow to advertise the fact.
Two-hour rock rescue bid
A man who had been on a rock face at Ashway Gap for two hours was lowered on ropes and taken towards hospital, but he was dead on arrival.
Killed by rail
George Skene, 48, an engine driver of Aberdeen, was killed when he was struck by a mail train while leaning from the side of his engine.
Three boys
Three Exeter boys, Antony Price May, aged 6, his brother Michael Barry, aged 4, and Robert Lewis Cruse, aged 8, were drowned in the Exe. A girl, Nancy Billing, aged 12, went into the river fully clothed to try to save them.
Monkey on the roof
A monkey which had escaped was on a roof, and efforts to bring it down were reported.
CLICK, CLICK, WHOOSH!
A cylinder of carbon dioxide escaped from the yard of the Dun Engineering Co. and careered across the road before it was stopped.
Page 5
MIDLANDS “BOMBED” AS YOU BASKED IN SUN
Fighters had a good day, but…
“All the raiders were shot down”
While people enjoyed the sun, American Superfortresses “bombed” Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham from 29,000 feet in a mock raid, Exercise Foil. R.A.F. observers claimed the raiders had been shot down. Vampire jets and Spitfires were up, and a mobile radar unit was pictured at Stoneleigh, near Coventry.
He’s off—on a 1902 machine
Mr M. F. Walker was pictured setting off on a veteran machine for a run from Coventry towards Banbury, apart from the air exercise.
SPITFIRE LEFT ‘WAR’ TO SAVE HER LIFE
A Spitfire was taken out of the Midlands air exercise to fly a drug to a young woman who was seriously ill in Aberdeen.
Another Royal tour begins
Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, not long back from the Channel Islands, set off on another short tour.
Wages off line delay express
Passenger trains between Euston and the North were delayed after a goods train left the rails at Hartford, Cheshire. Nobody was hurt, and the line was restored by midnight.
YOUTH HAS A WORD ON EDUCATION
A youth team from Birmingham Settlement, Kingstanding, won fourth prize in a London public-speaking contest on education.
Workers lunch with a queen
Coventry workers went to church and then lunched with Queen Marie of Yugoslavia during her visit.
Old-stagers to move home
The Variety Artists’ Club in Birmingham, long in its present rooms, was looking for new premises.
British planes for French rally
Aeroplanes from Wolverhampton were to fly to a French air rally.
He was editor for 68 years
The paper noted a journalist who had been editor for 68 years.
MIDLAND MAN HURT IN RACE
Pierre Marechal, a Cheltenham garage owner, was injured when his Aston-Martin crashed and overturned in the first post-war Le Mans 24-hour race. His wife was at his bedside.
CARS, COAL, OIL PAY FOR MEAT
A five-year Anglo-Argentine pact, exchanging oil, coal and machinery for meat and cereals, was to be signed in Buenos Aires. President Peron, Dr Bramuglia and Sir John Balfour were to speak.
New ‘join strike’ plea to the London dockers
London dockers were to be asked again, as they reported for work at 7 a.m., to support the Canadian Seamen’s Union strike. Mr Jack Pope, for the union in Britain, called a meeting of stevedores and dockers at Surrey Docks.
Rose petals strewn for a “puritan” mother
Lord Simon paid a public tribute to his mother and said he had never met anyone who had spoken to her and was not the better for it. A tablet to her memory was placed in the Congregational church at the place where she had lived.
TWO COUNCILS WANT HOTEL
Worcestershire County Council and Droitwich Corporation were both after a building at the brine baths in Droitwich.
College women hail new status
Women at Cambridge were reported to be celebrating a change in status that allowed them to take the B.A. and to wear gowns.
Tuesday 30 August 1949
The Pittsburgh Press
CANDY UNLIMITED
Heaps of newly unrationed sweets fascinated four-year-old Derek Bullock, who, like most English children, had never known a time when sweets were unrestricted. He was pictured on a tour of a candy factory in Mitcham, Surrey.
Thursday 15 September 1949
West Sussex Gazette & South of England Advertiser
THE HASLEMERE HALL
Haslemere Hall reopened looking lighter after its first major renovation since it opened in 1914. Metal window frames on one side were replaced, and the crystal lighting pendants, given up in the war, were put back. The hall was built and given to the town by the late Mr Barclay Day.
About 120 horses and ponies took part in a gymkhana at Little Stoatley Farm, Haslemere, and a substantial sum was raised for the R.S.P.C.A.
THREE MEN CHARGED WITH ROBBERY AT SHOTTERMILL
Three London men, Thomas Brown, Bernard William Lloyd and Peter Stanley Boon, were charged at Guildford with breaking into the Draper’s shop at Shottermill on 10 August and stealing clothing. Brown and Lloyd were remanded in custody for seven days; Boon, who said he had driven the car, was allowed bail.
PRESERVATION SOCIETY’S OPPOSITION TO LION LANE CAMP
The Haslemere and District Preservation Society, through its secretary Lt-Col W. J. Hume, again opposed an Air Ministry plan for an R.A.F. camp in Lion Lane, which a resident called a “lovely sylvan glen.” The Council was asked to reconsider its decision not to object, and was to take the letter at its next meeting.
BUTCHERS’ EXPENSIVE OFFENCES
Arthur Reginald Thompson, a butcher of Sutton Scotney, was fined a total, with costs, of £88 by Winchester County Magistrates for offences over the sale of rabbits, sausages and meat.
MITCHAM
Bond-rd. Infants’ School now has a paddling pool
The caretaker, Mr Sydney Hill, who is 52, made a paddling pool at Bond Road Infants’ School, buying materials with money raised mainly at jumble sales. Ill-health had forced him to leave a clerical job five years earlier. From waste materials he also built a stage in the hall and a lily pond stocked with fish.
Pollards Hill Community Association and the Maison Pour Tous
Pollards Hill Community Association and the Maison Pour Tous, of Paris, may arrange an exchange of visits, with French guests at Pollards Hill at Christmas and a return visit at Easter. Visitors would stay in ordinary homes and pay only their fares. The paper noted that France did not seem to have community centres of the English kind.
At Mitcham Common Conservators’ Board
Letters against further tipping of refuse on Mitcham Common, to level ground for larger sports areas, were to be read at a Conservators’ meeting called for the Wednesday evening. They came from the Commons, Open Spaces and Footpaths Association, the London Natural History Society and the Long Thornton Residents’ Association. The Natural History Society hoped that any tipping would be limited to the proposed 34 acres near Beehive Bridge.
The Canons, the last of the Georgian mansions in Mitcham
The Canons was being repaired. Fourteen rooms would then be free for local organisations or casual public meetings, as the start of a community centre, and the paddock was to become a sports and athletic arena. The house took its name from having belonged to the Canons of St Mary Overy, Southwark. The dovecote dates from 1511.
