Memory Corner June 6th 2019

Friday June 6th, 1794

THIS SPRING an oak tree was felled near Tenbury in Worcestershire; its girth was 5 feet 5 inches, the height of its trunk was 46½feet, weight 27 tons, circumference 14 feet. This remarkable tree was formerly rented at two guineas per annum, on account of its bearing mistletoe, which was celebrated for its virtue in curing fits, and generally sold at a high price.

IN TAKING DOWN St Alkmund’s Church the timber of the roof is found to be so decayed that it is almost miraculous it has not long ago fell in.

 

Friday June 4th, 1819

ON SATURDAY, as Mr Nicholas Edwards, a farmer, at Weston, Corvedale, awoke in the morning, he found a large fox lying upon his bed, to the great terror of his wife.  The animal was taken, but the family are ignorant of the means whereby this extraordinary visitor obtained admission.

BIRTH – Tuesday, in Stanley Place, the lady of Rev Richard Massey, of a son, being her twenty-second child.

FOR SALE – Poll Book for Shrewsbury election, containing an accurate list of [how] the voters [voted] at the [recent] election, and a brief history of its progress.  Printed and sold by T. Howell, High Street, price sixpence.

 

Friday June 4th, 1869

IT HAS now become a familiar occurrence to see the postmen in the neighbourhood of Cheltenham dashing to and from their rounds on velocipedes.

SOME IDEA may be formed of the state of education in a village in Hampshire when it is stated that out of thirteen jurymen summoned to an inquest last week, only four could write their names.

THE OTHER DAY, as a gravedigger named Dalton was digging a grave at Christchurch graveyard at Penrith, he was struck by lightning, and knocked into the grave he was making. There he lay insensible for a while, no one being aware of the accident that had befallen him.  The heavy rain falling at the time, however, probably had the effect of reviving him.  He is now recovering from the effects of the shock.

 

Friday June 6th, 1919

WHILE A CROWD OF PEOPLE was listening to the band in the Quarry on Monday evening, large numbers were attracted to the riverside by cries of distress.  A child named Kathleen Mason had fallen into the water and was in great peril of being drowned, when Mr WH Rowlands, surveyor, of King Street, who saw the danger from a seat he was occupying close by, jumped into the water, and rescued the child.

MUCH ALARM was occasioned on Thursday by a runaway horse.  The animal, a heavy dray horse, was attached to a lorry owned by the Cooperative Society, and when being driven along Dogpole took fright and bolted. After dashing along High Street, the runaway turned into Mardol Head, and collided with a motor van.  The body of the motor van was smashed, and the horse, with one shaft hanging, galloped along Shoplatch, and down Barker Street to Smithfield Road, when it was stopped by W Pope, Longer Street.  Happily, no one was injured.

 

Friday June 8th, 1979

SHROPSHIRE FARMWORKER Ray Williams got down on his hands and knees at the weekend and now he is hoping to nose into the record books.  For strongman Ray – his exploits include hauling a bus along by his teeth – broke a world record by pushing a pea along with his nose.  At the end of his big push, Ray, of Ruyton-XI-Towns, had nosed the pea 2¼miles around Shrewsbury’s Riverside Shopping Centre – ¼ of a mile beyond the previous record.  As well as applying to the Guinness Book of Records for official recognition, Ray is hoping to raise hundreds of pounds to help two handicapped girls.

 

Thursday June 9th, 1994

OBITUARY – the funeral of Mr Walter Challinor, MM and Bar, took place at St George’s Church, Pontesbury, on June 6th.  Mr Challinor, 75, was a retired builder’s labourer.  Born and bred in Pontesbury, he was a keen sportsman and excelled at football.  He joined the K.S.L.I at the start of the Second World War and served in the North African campaign.  He was wounded twice and received the Military Medal.  Within months he took part in the Anzio beach landings in Italy and was again severely wounded.  These wounds ended his military career, and he was awarded a bar to his Military Medal.  

 

Thursday June 11th, 2009

WHAT STARTED as a rumour on the gossip pages of a Sunday newspaper became reality as John McMahon was confirmed as mighty Liverpool’s reserve team boss.  It’s a dream move for McMahon, who has traded in his job as Paul Simpson’s assistant at Shrewsbury Town for a position in Rafa Benitez’s backroom staff at Anfield, the famous ground his brother Steve used to grace as a tough-tackling midfielder.  “If any Premier League club comes knocking at your door it’s something you have to consider, and with it being Liverpool it was a job that I couldn’t refuse,” said McMahon.