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
If you have any photos or memories you would like to share with us, please email us at newsdesk@newburynews.co.uk
10 years ago – July 2, 2015
Charlie’s big day
A Championship soccer star returned to his roots to wed his fiancée at Highclere Castle on Saturday.
QPR centre forward and former Hungerford Town player Charlie Austin met Bianca Parker when he worked as a bricklayer in Swindon.
The former John O’Gaunt School pupil said that he chose schoolfriend Matthew Galbraith as his best man.
The 25-year-old groom confessed to some nail-biting moments on social media, fearing postponement of the big day after he was selected for England’s friendly in Dublin on June 7 and a Euro qualifier against Slovenia.
He heaved a sigh of relief when the wedding went ahead as planned.
He said afterwards: “The sun was shining all day. All our friends and family came to share our special day with us, so we couldn’t have asked for more.”
He added that, as well as best man Matthew Galbraith, lots of former pupils from John O’Gaunt attended.
The new Mrs Austin, aged 24, said: “I really felt like a princess for the whole day – it was like a fairytale.”
25 years ago – June 29, 2000
Frozen in time
Sandleford Hospital had the chance to freeze relics of the present in the hope that they will become relics of the future as it buried a time capsule to commemorate the Millennium and forthcoming closure of the hospital.
The chairman of West Berkshire Priority Care Service NHS Trust, Ann Kelly, and staff from the Newbury hospital watched the capsule being buried outside the Charles Clore Priority Care Centre.
Chiropody equipment, medical reports, diet sheets, menus, leaflets, a credit card, a Lottery ticket, computer discs, supermarket bills and a copy of the Newbury Weekly News were among the treasures buried.
A spokesman for the hospital’s Primary Care Group, Chris Birdsall, said: “There are not drugs, needles or money in the capsule and the credit card has long since been defunct, in case anyone was thinking about digging it up.
“They would have a job, it weighs about a hundredweight.”
50 years ago – July 3, 1975
Stand together
The West Woolwich by-election result was both a notice to quit for Harold Wilson and a vote of confidence in Margaret Thatcher as the Conservative Party’s leader, said Mr Michael Mcnair-Wilson, Newbury’s MP, at a party organised by Kintbury Conservatives on Friday.
“But,” he went on, “I do not believe a General Election at this time would be helpful. Britain is facing an appalling economic crisis which must be overcome.
“This is a time for Party differences to take a back seat.
“I know the Conservatives in Parliament will support any economic measures created for the nation’s good.”
In a reference to February 1974 Mr Mcnair-Wilson said “At that election we asked the nation to support a policy designed to be fair to everyone and to defeat inflation.
“The miners beat us, aided and abetted by the then Opposition.
“From our defeat has stemmed this run-away wage-induced inflation which must be controlled if we are to save our economy and avoid massive unemployment.”
