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 – June 25, 2015
Song for charity
A Woolton Hill teenager is to release a new single next month to raise money for a Kingsclere charity where she previously worked as a volunteer.
Emma Lawrence, aged 18, will see her self-penned single You Are released on July 10 to raise money for the charity Living Paintings.
Miss Lawrence said while working for the charity, she witnessed how it improved the lives of blind children and wanted to do more to help.
She said: “One mum told me how her daughter’s ‘very dark world had been made bright’ by their work and that’s what gave me the idea; in You Are I refer to coming through dark times.
“It all just seemed to make sense.”
Her folk-tinged voice has been blended on her new single with a classic rock melody created by renowned session musicians Geoff Dunn (drums), Greg Coulson (keyboard), Liam Tillyer (bass), Stu Dixon (guitar) and Beth Porter (cello) to produce a moody, catchy pop standard, produced by Damon Sawyer of Platform Studios.
Mr Sawyer said: “Emma’s music is a fusion of folk and pop and clearly expresses the emotions of all her songs.
“Her sound crosses the borders of Florence and the Machine, Lana Del Rey and Adele, but has its own unique quality and style.”
Well-known locally, she has been writing and performing in public since she was 15, has already released two EPs and seen a top 40 iTunes hit.
25 years ago – June 22, 2000
Art at the Dome
The West Berkshire area was well represented at the Millennium Dome in London on Tuesday, with paintings, sculptures and a video by local schools on display, and theatrical performances by schools and Newbury Contemporary Dance Company.
McDonald’s offered £10,000 each to 210 local education authorities across the UK to help them organise their shows at the Dome, providing the opportunity for a showcase for young people from each area.
West Berkshire Council took up the offer and, as a result, pupils aged between 10 and 14 from local primary and secondary schools have been meeting since last October at Theale Green Community School, to work on a performance inspired by life in West Berkshire.
50 years ago – June 19, 1975
‘Birch hooligans’
A Newbury headmaster has advocated giving the birch to the vandals who this week caused damage running into thousands of pounds at St Mary’s Church, Shaw-cum-Donnington.
“If these people are caught they want a jolly good birching,” said Mr Charles Mock, the head of Shaw-cum-Donnington School.
Mr Mock, who has been churchwarden at St Mary’s for 10 years, added: “It is terrible. You spend your whole life working for the church and then you get this sort of vandalism and hooliganism.”
When he went to lock the church on Monday evening, he found a trail of damage starting at overturned and broken tombstones.
Inside the church the normally well-kept interior was a shambles.
Stained glass windows were smashed and prayer and hymn books were scattered around the floor.
Stones were found inside the church.
The main window over the altar is a modern reproduction of a 13th century window.
Experts examined it on Tuesday and declared a ‘write-off’ with over £1,000 damage.
