Memory Corner March 21st 2019

Friday March 21st, 1794

TOMORROW the commission for holding the Assizes for this county will be opened.  We are happy to find that there are but few prisoners to take their trials.

IT APPEARS by all accounts from France that they are in great want of provisions of all kinds, which makes the people inclined to riot and gives considerable alarm to the junta who rule that miserable country.

MR WILBERFORCE moved the third reading of the foreign Slave Trade bill [in the House of Commons]. The bill was then read a third time, passed, and ordered to the Lords.

 

Friday March 19th, 1819

Judge Baron Garrow

[AT THE OPENING OF THE ASSIZES] Judge Mr Baron Garrow said that he regretted the number of prisoners… He said that much had been done by Christian instruction and education to counteract the increase in crimes, [but] much yet remains to be done by prison discipline and classification.  His Lordship warmly applauded the labours of Mrs Fry, and said that the reforms that she had effected in Newgate almost surpassed belief, and he ardently recommended the subject as one which would repay any labour and expense by the most solid satisfaction to every humane mind.

 

Friday March 19th, 1869

DURING the last twelve months velocipedes [early bicycles] to the value of £40,000 have been exported from Paris.

BOSTON has “lady pickpockets” who “dress magnificently” and by fainting away in gentlemen’s arms cause the downfall of their wallets.

THE FOUNDATION STONE of a new Primitive Methodist chapel was recently laid at Huddersfield, and since the ceremony some person has lifted the stone and taken from the cavity beneath a bottle containing a shilling, a sixpence, a penny and a half-penny piece, all new coins.

 

Friday March 21st, 1919

DARWIN’S BIRTHPLACE – Mount House, the historic birthplace of Darwin, has been sold by the present owner, Mrs Spencer Phillips, who has lived in the house for 37 years, to Mr T Balfour, Estate Agent, Market Drayton.

GERMAN PRISONER ESCAPED – On Wednesday a German prisoner of war, Lieut FP Screinuller, escaped from Park Hall prisoner of war hospital, and is still at large.  Screinuller, who is 21 years of age, and five feet nine inches in height, speaks English fluently.

PUBLIC LIBRARY SHREWSBURY – having been brought up to date with literature of all kinds, the number of books lent last year was over 60,000 volumes.  Compared with 20 years ago, there is an increase in 35,000 books lent.

 

Friday March 23rd, 1979

HOUSEHOLDERS throughout Shrewsbury and Atcham could benefit from a unique project which is being launched in the town on Monday.  Shrewsbury is the home of the Manual Aid Workshop whose organisers hope to solve all kinds of do-it-yourself problems about the house.  The D-I-Y workshop, the first of its kind in the country, is based in the former Holy Trinity parish hall at Longden Coleham and is being run by a Shrewsbury-based charitable company.  A variety of tools, power drills, work benches and materials will be available to help members of the public complete repairs on a wide range of household and garden appliances, but not televisions or motor cars. Householders wanting to use the facilities will have to pay a £2 annual membership fee and then 50p an hour, or £1 for a three-hour session.

 

Thursday March 24th, 1994

A ‘PARK AND SAIL’ scheme, designed to ease Shrewsbury’s notorious traffic problems, is gaining support in the town.  The idea is for a water taxi to ferry shoppers and visitors from their cars along the river to the town centre.  It was discussed at a meeting of the Shrewsbury Town Centre Residents’ Association, and the proposal proved popular with members.  The water taxi scheme is the brainchild of resident Stuart Suffield. “If a car park planned for the Gay Meadow goes ahead, a single boat could pick up from there and go to the Welsh Bridge and back in 25 minutes,” he said.  “There are landing slips already at the English Bridge and all along the Quarry, but there would need to be something put in at the Welsh Bridge.”

 

Thursday March 26th, 2009

THE 35-YEAR LIFE of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council has been celebrated – with less than a week to go before it ceases to exist.  Residents and dignitaries gathered in St Chad’s Church for a civic ceremony on Monday, following a special parade involving Councillor Anne Chebsey, Mayor of Shrewsbury, former mayors, councillors and staff.  The borough council will cease to exist when the new Shropshire Council replaces the county council and the district and borough authorities, excluding Telford and Wrekin, from April 1st. At the end of the service Mayor Chebsey presented the borough’s flag to Shropshire County Council’s chairman Brian Gillow.