Memory Corner August 29th 2019

Friday August 29th, 1794

ON MONDAY LAST a grand match of cricket was played on Kingsland by the Gentlemen of the Shrewsbury Cricket Society. An eyewitness of the game assures us that they are likely to vie with some of the first [foremost] players of the kingdom.

LAST TUESDAY MORNING, exactly at 8 o’clock, died at Hawkstone in the county Miss Jane Hill, daughter of the late Sir Rowland Hill, Bart, and sister of Sir Richard Hill, one of the Knights of this Shire.  As she had long made religion the first great concern of her life, so she bore a very protracted and most painful illness with astonishing patience and resignation and at last met death…with a firm reliance on the merits of the Redeemer.

 

Friday August 27th, 1819

GALVANISM [ELECTRICITY] – Mr Weems was executed at Cambridge on 6th inst. for the murder of his wife.  His body having been suspended an hour, was conveyed to the Chemical Lecture Room in the Botanical Garden, where Professor Cummin, with his powerful galvanic battery, repeated some of the experiments lately described by Dr Ure of Glasgow in the Journal of the Royal Institution.  The results of the experiments upon the body of Weems were exactly what have often been witnessed on the bodies of animals.

 

Friday August 27th, 1869

THE CRUSADE AGAINST THE BICYCLE – the crusade which the Town Council has entered into against the bicycle and the whole race of velocipedes seems to us not only uncalled-for, but unwise and childish in the extreme.  Here a healthful and harmless amusement for our young folks is met by the local authorities in a narrow-minded, stupid attempt to put it down.  Even if a single accident has occurred by the frightening of a horse, the chances are fifty to one that the fault lay either with the driver or the horse.  The animal that would shy or run away at a bicycle would do the same when it met a boy trundling a hoop, or on meeting a Bath chair, a wheelbarrow or a perambulator, and ought not to be used.

 

Friday August 29th, 1919

POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS – commencing on 1st September there will be three deliveries of letters and parcels on weekdays in Shrewsbury.  The letter deliveries will commence at 7am, 12.30pm and 4pm, and the deliveries of parcels will commence at 9am, 12.30pm and 4pm.  Collections will be made from the town pillar and wall letterboxes at approximately 8.30am, 11.15am, 2.45pm, 6.15pm and 8pm on weekdays.  The last collection from the Head Post Office letterbox will be made at 10pm.  The Sunday arrangements will continue unaltered.

 

Friday August 31st, 1979

Royal Salop Infirmary

SHREWSBURY’S ROYAL SALOP INFIRMARY – the building once described as the town’s biggest white elephant – has been sold.  The building is believed to have gone for a knock-down price of less than £200,000, and the un-named purchaser is said to be going to develop it “primarily for residential purposes”.  Mr Alan Daborn, estate agent, said that “the purchaser does not intend to demolish it.”  The news that the main block is not to be demolished has been welcomed by borough council planners.  A spokesman in the council’s planning department said, “We have had informal discussions with the purchaser’s agent.  The council has always said that it would not like to see the Infirmary building demolished.”

 

Thursday September 1st, 1994

THE RUSH to purchase a brand-new M-registered car has passed one Shrewsbury motorist by.  Mr Vernon Carter, 80, of Hereford Road, Meole Brace, is sticking to his 58-year-old Austin 7 Ruby, bought for £25 in 1964 from JD Motors.  The car, originally a demonstration model at Vincent Greenhous, cost £120 brand new at 1936 prices and has gone “round the clock” three times.  Mr Carter said, “It has been very reliable indeed.  I drive it from May to November, but then I put it away during the winter to protect it from the snow and salt on the roads.  That’s what destroys any modern car.”  The Ruby, which does 42 miles to the gallon and cruises at a stately 38-40 mph, is in immaculate condition, said Mr Carter.  “The only problem it has is with going up hills – then you have to get the whip out!”

 

Thursday September 3rd, 2009

Ed Foster

HAPPY CAPTAIN Ed Foster led from the front as Shrewsbury sealed their place in next season’s Birmingham [Cricket] League premier division with two games to spare.  Relegated at the first attempt in their two previous campaigns in the top flight, Shrewsbury ensured there will be no unwanted hat-trick after following up a big winning draw against Walmley on Saturday with a comfortable four-wicket win at Bromsgrove on Monday.  “Survival was the main goal this season,” confirmed skipper Foster.  “I do think this side is good enough and talented, and our shortfalls are on the mental side; but that will come because we are a young side.”