Friday January 2nd, 1795
AT THIS INCLEMENT SEASON of the year, when provisions of every kind are so dear, those who live in affluence will no doubt recollect there are thousands pining in want, whose distresses call upon the rich to spare some of the superfluities of wealth to the wants of indigence [poverty] and the cries of hunger. To alleviate their misery must, to a good man, be the richest treat the human mind can taste…
Friday January 7th, 1820
WE HAVE HAD winter in all its rigour of frost, and its splendour of snow. The Severn has been frozen over near this town, and some skaters have appeared upon it. Yesterday a thaw commenced. The frost of Friday night was, we believe, one of the severest experienced for a numbers of years. In Liverpool a thermometer in an exposed position at 7 o’clock on Saturday morning was as low as 7 degrees [Fahrenheit, minus 14˚ Centigrade]. The Thames is frozen.
Friday January 7th, 1870
WHY are sheep the most dissipated animals in the creation? – Because they gambol in their youth, spend most of their days on the turf, the best of them are blacklegs, and they are sure to be fleeced at last!
THE PENNY STAMP DUTY – in the last financial year nearly £600,000 was raised, and 142,041,810 stamps sold, nearly five times the population of the United Kingdom.
Friday January 2nd, 1920
CHRISTMASTIDE AT SHREWSBURY – beautifully decorated for the Christmas festivities, the Royal Salop Infirmary resembled a huge fairyland, and certainly the patients were cheered to a considerable degree. Great trouble and time must have been given by the members of the staff, and those patients who were able to assist them, in making and artistically setting up the decorations.
THERE WAS an extraordinary rush of passenger traffic at the railway station. Some of the trains were filled to their utmost capacity… Even the first-class compartments had to be used for third-class passengers…
Friday January 4th, 1980
A TOTAL of 48 Shrewsbury and Atcham Council employees received injuries at work during the four months to the end of October – including one who was injured by a hypodermic needle. The employee, a refuse collector, was injured by the needle which had been put in a refuse sack. The majority of the injuries involved trips and falls, cuts or bruises, or were sustained while handling and lifting.
Thursday January 5th, 1995
A SHREWSBURY PUBLICAN has seen his lunchtime food trade double since he banned smoking. Mr John Sims, of the Three Fishes Inn, Fish Street, lost about a quarter of his evening drinkers when he banned smoking six months ago. Mr Sims said this week that he would “sooner go broke than lift the ban. Trade is starting to pick up now and we had a very good Christmas. I will never go back: the ban is here permanently now. People can come and drink here in a clean environment. People say how nice it smells.”
Thursday January 7th, 2010
CIVIC leaders say Shrewsbury will rise from the ashes of the massive explosion which left 12 people in hospital and caused panic and devastation in the town centre. The ear-splitting explosion, thought to have been caused by a gas leak, rocked Shrewsbury at 11.25am on Sunday. It destroyed a former gym supply shop with a flat above at the corner of Smithfield Road and Bridge Street, near Welsh Bridge. Windows were smashed in nearby buildings, debris was scattered over the streets, electricity and telephone services were cut off, and traffic was gridlocked.