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 – July 9, 2015
Peaky blinder
A Woolton Hill mountaineer has completed his personal United States Three Peaks Challenge by climbing the highest mountain in Washington State.
Lee Farmer recently climbed Mt Ranier, having previously climbed Mt Whitney in California, the highest mountain in the lower contiguous 48 states of North America at 4,421m.
In 2011, he led a six-man team for 20 days to reach the summit of Denali in Alaska, the highest mountain in the US at 6,168m.
Mr Farmer said: “Without doubt this was the coldest and hardest expedition I’ve ever been on. Climbing Everest was just good training for Denali.”
His most recent, four-day expedition took him to the USA’s largest glacier, and along the Eammons Glacier route on Mt Rainier (4,392m) – a stratovolcano (conical in shape), located 54 miles south east of Seattle.
“While we had ideal weather conditions, the mountain is not without dangers and we had to carefully negotiate a dozen or so major crevasses on the mountain,” he said.
25 years ago – July 6, 2000
Millennium picnic
Bucklebury residents enjoyed a full programme of events at the Bucklebury Millennium picnic.
The day started with the burying of a time capsule in the entrance to the Memorial Hall by Bucklebury historian and author Cecilia Millsom, together with the Memorial Hall chairman, Dennis Gower.
The fun began with a series of floats making their way through Bucklebury to Bucklebury Farm Park.
The floats showed off the creative talents of some of the settlements and societies in the parish, including the Brownies, Bucklebury Primary School, the horticultural society, the residents of Hopgoods Green, Bucklebury Village and Berry’s Road.
The day was enjoyed by over 500 people in the farm park, courtesy of Rupert Hartley-Russell.
50 years ago – July 10, 1975
Bunny bother
A plague of rabbits is ravaging Thatcham’s allotments.
Gardeners are complaining that the pests are feasting off their produce.
One member of the Thatcham Allotments Holders’ Association has had to replace his plants four times.
Each time he replanted the land rabbits appeared and devoured the lot.
Finally he was forced to surround his plot with wire netting to keep the pests away.
It appears that the rabbits live in a ditch which runs along the edge of the allotments.
Because the ditch has become badly overgrown the allotment holders claim it is impossible to use ferrets to effectively get rid of the pests.
Because Dunstan Green is next to the allotments the holders are reluctant to try using poison as they fear that children playing nearby could be put at risk.
