Back in the day: We delve into our archives to see what was going on 10 years ago, 25 years ago and 50 years ago this week
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10 years ago – May 14, 2015
Tory glory
Richard Benyon held on to the Parliamentary seat for the Newbury constituency with an increased majority of more than 26,000 over Liberal Democrat Judith Bunting.
The General Election results for the Newbury seat came at 5.31am on Friday at Newbury Racecourse and Mr Benyon polled 34,973 votes, compared to Mrs Bunting’s 8,605.
In third place was UKIP’s Catherine Anderson, with 6,195 votes, followed by Labour’s Jonny Roberts (4,837), The Green Party’s Paul Field (2,324), Apolitical Democrat Peter Norman (228), Independent Barrie Singleton (85) and Patriotic Socialist Party’s Andrew Stott (53).
The Conservative share of the vote in Newbury increased to 61 per cent, while the Lib Dem’s fell from 35 per cent five years ago to just 15 per cent.
Excluding the Northern Ireland seats, Mr Benyon now has the joint 36th highest vote share in England, Wales and Scotland, higher even than David Cameron’s 60.19 per cent share in Witney.
A jubilant Richard Benyon said in his victory speech: “The dawn has broken and it’s not a red dawn but a blue one. It has been a Herculean effort.”
25 years ago – May 11, 2000
Speeding villagers
Some of the people who successfully campaigned for a reduction in speed limits in Beedon have themselves been caught speeding in the village in a police crackdown.
Newbury police last week targeted Beedon in a bid to stop motorists flouting the recently implemented 30mph limit.
Police said that not only did they trap some of those who had fought to impose the reduced speed limit, but that almost half of drivers found to be speeding lived in the Beedon area.
The 30mph limit was introduced at the request of residents of Beedon and World’s End.
50 years ago – May 22, 1975
Binmen strike
Refuse collections throughout the Newbury area ground to a halt yesterday when dustmen at both the district council depots staged a lightning strike.
The 48 workers called an unofficial stoppage in support of a man who they claimed was unfairly sacked. And they said they would not go back until he was reinstated.
The man at the centre of the trouble was 42-year-old Mr Jim Ball who had been taken on by the council on a six-month probationary basis.
He received a letter on Tuesday afternoon telling him that his employment was not being made permanent and giving him a week’s notice.
Told of the situation yesterday morning, the 30 other refuse collectors based at Pound Lane, Thatcham, called an immediate strike.
Workers at the council’s other depot at Theale were contacted and agreed to with- draw their labour in support.
Mr Ball of Stoney Lane, Thatcham, said he believed he had been sacked because a lorry he had been driving broke down down and he had been blamed.
“That lorry wasn’t running properly when I took it out and it was damned unfair to blame me for it breaking down,” said Mr Ball.
Mr Ball is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union. The National Union of Public Employees and the National Union of General and Municipal Workers also have members at the two depots.
Though the strike was unofficial, the men were expecting to meet union officials with a view to declaring stoppage official.
A spokesman for the men, Mr Frederick Hunt, said “We are definitely not going back to work until Mr Ball gets his job back.
“He may be a probationer but the council could do this to any one of us and we are not going to stand for it.”
