Friday October 12th, 1792
THE PRESENT HIGH PRICE OF WOOL has induced a farmer in Sussex to try the experiment of shearing his sheep twice in the year. And the scheme will probably succeed if it can be effected without injury to the carcase, which we hear it is his intention to guard against by furnishing each sheep with a coat of oilskin to repel the wet and cold of the winter.
Friday October 10th, 1817
MRS LLOYD GIBBON (from Sackville Street, London) respectfully announces her arrival in Shrewsbury, and begs to acquaint the ladies that they may immediately be supplied with her ANATOMICAL STAYS, by the King’s Royal Letters Patent. Mrs Lloyd Gibbon begs to say that it is her first visit to Shrewsbury, and that she is the inventress and original patentee. At Mr Pickstock’s, Mercer, High Street, opposite the Market Square.
Friday October 11th, 1867
MR CLEMENT MP AT THE MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL DINNER – At the Middlesex Hospital annual dinner last week, Mr WJ Clement’s name was coupled with the toast “The Members of the House of Commons”. In responding, Mr Clement spoke as follows. “Mr President and Gentlemen, I earnestly thank you for the honour you have done an old brother student in drinking his health in connection with the House of Commons, of which I am a very unworthy and inefficient member. I care more for the Middlesex Hospital than the House of Commons. In the Hospital I know that sound principles of medicine and surgery prevail; but for the principles which prevail in the present House of Commons, I think the less said about them the better…”
Friday October 12th, 1917
FITZ FARMERS AND FOXES – a demand for the extermination of foxes during the war was made at a Parish meeting held in the Fitz schoolroom, the business of which was to consider the advisability of forming a food production club for the parish… Respecting the value of poultry and scarcity of eggs, a discussion arose relating to the destruction caused by foxes, [because of which] farmers are not able to put their poultry on their stubble to get their own living and to save feeding stuffs. It was of the greatest importance that foxes should immediately be destroyed for the duration of the war and thus effect a great saving in our food supplies. A resolution was unanimously passed that a letter to this effect should be sent forthwith to the North Shropshire and Sir Watkin’s Hunts requesting immediate steps to be taken in the matter.
Friday October 14th, 1977
SHREWSBURY SKINDIVERS FOUND AN ADDITIONAL PROBLEM when they took to the murky waters of the River Severn at the weekend. The divers – all members of Shrewsbury Sub-Aqua Club – were called in by Shrewsbury Police after a Vauxhall Victor car had accidentally rolled into the Severn from a car park at Atcham a week ago. Their first attempt to recover the car had to be called off, but they resumed their efforts on Sunday when the Vauxhall was successfully hauled on to the river bank. But the divers’ work had not finished. For while they were securing hauling lines to the Vauxhall they saw another car nearby. That was also brought to the surface, where it was discovered that it was a 1300 Countryman that had been stolen in Shrewsbury in 1974.
Thursday October 15th, 1992
A MAGNIFICENT £30,000 GIFT to the IRA bomb-hit Shropshire Regimental Museum in Shrewsbury Castle was presented this week by the Shropshire Horticultural Society. The money from the Flower Show organisers will be used to restore hundreds of irreplaceable exhibits damaged by fire, smoke and water which were not covered by insurance. The donation was handed to Museum trustees on Monday by Horticultural Society chairman Mrs Dorothy Whitney-Wood. “We were shocked to see the terrible damage and decided the best thing to do would be to contribute towards the cost of restoring and renovating the many irreplaceable exhibits,” she said. Museum curator Mr Geoff Parfitt said the society’s money had already been put to work. “It is no exaggeration to say that this has saved the Regimental Museum,” he added.
Thursday October 11th 2007
CRITICS DESCRIBED HIM as an actor showing “real enthusiasm” for his role – now 51 years on Bob Burgess is hoping to achieve similar praise as part of his drama group’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Bob, 76, is to play the role of Colonel Pickering in the Abbey Foregate Drama Group’s production of Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion next month after ending a three-year retirement to take part in the group’s celebrations. This is only the second time the group has produced Pygmalion – and the last time in 1956 Bob played the lead, Professor Higgins. The quirky similarities with the class of 1956 does not end there – co-producer of next month’s show Sue Hughes, is the daughter-in-law of the late Doreen Hughes, who played Eliza Doolittle 51 years ago. The Shrewsbury Chronicle review of the play in 1956 stated, “Three characters stood out in this play, and none more so than Robert Burgess as Henry Higgins. He had entered into the spirit of his part with real enthusiasm; his facial expressions were excellent, and his outbursts just right.” Bob said, “I’m really enjoying this new challenge, although, at 76, sometimes the words don’t come so easily. I’ve had to take a back seat for the last three years due to problems with my hip, but it’s good to be back.”