Rutland and Stamford Mercury Memories: news and adverts we featured in May 2015, 2000, 1950, 1925 and 1825
We’re on our weekly stroll down memory lane looking at news from up to 200 years ago.
Our Rutland & Stamford Mercury Memories is produced thanks to the support of the Stamford Mercury Archive Trust.
10 years ago
A pub landlord who fulfilled his dream of opening a microbrewery is finding success with a range of new ales.
Dean Baker, who runs The Jolly Brewer in Stamford with his partner Jill, had hoped to build an extension to the pub in Foundry Road and brew on site, but decided to look elsewhere after discussions with the pub's owner Pubco broke down.
Dean and Jill found a site at Ketton Industrial Estate and after months of hard work were able to get Baker's Dozen Brewing Co up and running. The firm launched its first real ale, Electric Landlady, in June and the reception so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
Dean said: "It's been fantastic. The beer has been flying out of the pub.
"There are styles of beer that we like, and that's what we are brewing at the moment. Luckily the customers we have gained share the same taste in beer."
The firm's beers have mostly been on sale at The Jolly Brewer, although Dean hopes to sell in other Stamford pubs soon. They were also available at Rutland Camra's recent beer festival, where Electric Landlady won ‘beer of the festival’.
Dean is now looking to the future. He said: "We have a three-year lease. We hope that at the end of that it's successful and we can expand."
Campaigners say they are vindicated after a planning inspector upheld their objections to a 48-home estate on greenfield land.
Kier Living's appeal against the rejection of its plans to build on land off Kettering Road in Stamford was dismissed on Thursday last week.
Planning inspector Anne Napier-Derere said the proposed estate featured "inappropriate layout and insensitive design" and would have a "significant adverse impact" on the approach to Stamford and neighbouring heritage sites such as the Burghley House Bottle Lodges.
Campaign group Stamford! Protect Our Green Space has fought against the plans since they first emerged in 2013.
Founder of the campaign group David Taylor, recently elected to Stamford Town
Council, said the planning inspector’s findings “vindicate all that we have always argued about the total unsuitability of this site for development”.
Conservation through education is the motto of the team behind Bugtopia, a new zoo that has opened at Rutland Water.
And what better place to learn about ecology and biodiversity than in the middle of a jungle, surrounded by crocodiles, parrots, giant spiders and bats?
Joe Mordawska and Natalie Matts spent tens of thousands of pounds converting the former Butterfly Farm at the Sykes Lane site into a playground for animals and humans alike. And their hard work paid off when they welcomed their first visitors.
25 years ago
They said Stamford would have a lorry ban by Christmas.
Then they said it would be in place by March. Then they said it would be in place by June.
And this week, as the latest deadline approached, transport chiefs have stalled yet again over a date for the lorry ban's introduction.
All that needed to be done was the production of the relevant signs.
Nigel Simons from the county council's highways and planning department, said: "The signs have been ordered and should be being made this week. They will then go straight to the contractors who will put them up.”
The experimental lorry ban, which could last up to 18 months, has been on the cards for more than 30 years but has been dogged by delays.
It would cover the whole town and would exclude lorries weighing more than 7.5 tonnes, except those with business in the town centre.
MP Quentin Davies said he wasn’t going to “bring out the champagne” until the signs were up.
"I realise how frustrating it is and I will never give up trying to push things forward,” he said. “We will get a lorry ban."
Producers of It’s a Knock Out, the cult television game show, are looking for a new filming location - and Stamford is on their hit list.
Ronin Entertainment, producers of the cult show for Channel 5, is looking to come to the town in mid-July, and hopes to film the show on the Meadows.
Organisers have approached the town council with a wish list of facilities the town would need to provide before recording could go ahead.
John Farquar-Smith, location man-ager for Ronin Entertainment, said: "We look for a site with a great view and we know Stamford is a beautiful town. There is a possibility of using the Meadows because of its beautiful position. We are just waiting for a response from the town council."
It's a Knock Out hit television screens in 1966 and ran for 17 years before it was axed by the BBC in 1982.
The Channel 5 revival is hosted by Keith Chegwin, Frank Bruno, Nell McAndrew and Lucy Alexander.
Town councillor Mike Exton said nothing had been decided but: "Personally, I think it could be a great boost for the town especially with it being the Millennium. It would also be a lot of fun."
It’s one for all and all for one, as Stamford's resident theatre company takes its latest production to the famous Minack Theatre in Cornwall.
The Shoestring Theatre is taking The Three Musketeers to the Cornish open-air theatre, the same show appearing at Stamford Arts Centre from June 21 to June 24.
More than 60 members of the group, including 29 actors and the backstage crew, will be giving seven performances of the Dumas classic. They are expecting 4,000 people to see the Cornish production in July.
Shoestring chairman, David Roberts, said it was a tremendous opportunity for Shoestring. Adding: “The play is a light-hearted adaptation and is something of a departure from our usual Shoestring programme.”
Safety measures to end the carnage on a deadly stretch of road have moved a step closer.
The junctions of the A1 and A47 near Wansford are notorious blackspots which have been the scene of more than 50 accidents in the past seven years.
A scheme to replace the dangerous north and southbound Al links with two roundabouts was due to go to a public inquiry to discuss any objections.
But now four objections received by the Highways Agency have been dropped, leaving the way clear for detailed planning and construction work.
Highways Agency project manager Peter Adams said: "We are very pleased that the scheme can go ahead earlier than it would have done if a public inquiry had been necessary.”
An interim measure introduced in February turned the A47 into a single carriageway at the junction.
Now the public inquiry due on June 13 has been cancelled, the next stage is the detailed design.
Phil Nicholls from Peterborough City Council said they were pleased, but would continue pressing the Highways Agency to address problems caused by the A47 being only a single carriageway between Wansford and the Castor bypass.
More than 100 youngsters from Bluecoat School in Stamford sat down to a soup lunch to mark Christian Aid Week. Headteacher Tim Howley said: "Each of the children brought in 50p for the soup, which was made by staff. The money is going towards Christian Aid.” Pictured are pupils Sophie Cross, Shani Atkin and Claudia Hosty.
50 years ago
When the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester paid an official visit to RAF Cottesmore there were few outward signs that the place was soon to become a ghost station as a result of government cuts.
Everywhere was bustling with activity and the traditional efficiency of the RAF was reflected in the hospitality accorded the royal visitors and the programme arranged for them.
The Duke and Duchess flew in from Heathrow Airport in an Andover aircraft of the Queen's Flight and were greeted on the tarmac by Air Vice Marshal DG Evans, AOC No 1 Group, Group Captain Alan Jenkins, the station commander, and Wing Commander JH Rogers, OC Admin Wing.
The Duchess, wearing a yellow floral print dress and picture hat, still had her right leg in plaster as a result of a recent skiing accident. She was accompanied by her lady-in-waiting, Miss Jane Thomson. With the Duke was his equerry, Lt Col Simon Bland.
Following this airfield reception the royal party visited the operations centre and from there were driven to the sergeants' mess.
On the way they were cheered by the 283 children and staff of the County Primary School, who had lined up on the roadside.
Belles of the Bels ball were the three lovely ladies in our picture. And that was the view of the judges at Friday's Miss Stamford Belvedere dance at the Arts Centre.
Judges included Jack Carmichael and Chris Turner of Peterborough United and Mercury sports editor Stephen LeGrice.
The girls are, from left, Megan Curtis of 11 Queen Street, Stamford; first prize winner of the £50 travel voucher Carol Mann of 17a St George's Street, Stamford; and Claire Boon of Schoolhouse, Greatford.
Controversial healer, the Rev Trevor Dearing, came to Stamford on Friday and proclaimed that scenes from the film ‘The Exorcist’ happen in real life.
Before the start of a ‘power, praise and healing service’ in the Congregational Hall, Broad Street, he told the Mercury the film “showed the sort of things that can happen today”.
“I have had to deal with similar cases, although they have been less extreme,” he said.
"It was particularly dangerous because it emphasised the power of the Devil rather than the power of Christ," he said.
Mr Dearing also explained some of the wrongly-called exorcisms which have shocked two bishops into banning his services near the Yorkshire village where a man murdered his wife following an exorcism.
"People get confused between exorcisms and what I call deliverances," he said.
"If someone calls to one of my meetings while under the influence of an evil spirit and I cure that person, then that is a deliverance.
"But it can be called exorcism when I deal with one case in particular, like maybe going into the corner of a church and exorcising the building.
"Nothing has ever gone wrong at my services, which I have been taking for four years, but I think the bishops are frightened of taking responsibility."
100 years ago
Another violent thunderstorm raged over the southern part of Lincolnshire on Saturday evening. The rainfall was again phenomenal and floods occurred in many parts of the district. Hail also fell, and the damage done to the fruit crops earlier in the week has been accentuated. The lightning was extremely vivid.
At Bourne Mr Bland, an engine driver on the LMS Railway, and his family had a miraculous escape. At the height of the storm a ‘fire ball’ was seen descending and a fragment fell down the chimney of their newly erected bungalow.
Mrs Bland just entered the front room when the fragment burst and the concussion forced a bicycle from her husband's hands.
The parents with two young children fled in a terrified condition to a neighbour's house. When Mr Bland returned to his own home he found the room full of soot and smoke. There did not appear to have been any damage to the property.
For failing to produce his driving licence when riding a motorcycle in King's Road on May 3, Albert Edwin Riley, insurance agent, was fined 10s. There was a 1924 registration licence in the holder of the machine, and when he stopped the defendant said he couldn't produce his licence as he had applied for it but it hadn't been sent to him. The defendant added: "Don't think I should be so silly as to drive a motorcycle without having a licence.”
Inspector Sindall said that two days later Riley produced his driving licence (which was taken out in April).
Arthur Ratcliffe, motor mechanic, of the Cottage, Orton Waterville, was fined 20s for failing to illuminate the rear identification mark of a motorcar he was driving in Red Lion Square at 1.35am.
PC Hardaker said that when he stopped the defendant and told him his rear lamp was out he replied: "Isn't it all right? The car has been standing outside the Assembly Rooms all night, and someone must have been meddling with the lamps."
Alfred William Comblin, a young labourer, of 15 Cliff Road, Stamford, was summoned for being the owner of a dangerous dog and not keeping it under proper control.
The defendant pleaded guilty.
A little boy named Jack Rickett said that when he was coming out of the Recreation Ground (near Gibson's Cottages) the defendant's dog attacked him and bit him on his left knee. Mr T Fletcher dressed the wound and told him to tell his father.
The annual conference of the Kesteven County Association of Teachers was held at St Michael’s School, Stamford on Saturday.
Mr CW Crook, MP for East Ham and secretary to the NUT Parliamentary Committee, gave an address on the new Superannuation Bill, and his elucidation of this important question was followed with great interest.
In the afternoon the mayor (Councillor H Kelham) presided over a largely-attended public meeting in the town hall. His worship was supported by Mr NW Smith-Carington, MP for the Rutland and Stamford Division, Mr WT Phipps (chief education officer for Kesteven), Mr J Laws (Stamford), and other members of the Teachers Association.
The mayor was particularly pleased to be associated with that gathering, for he was a product of an elementary school in Kesteven, having received his early education at Bourne. (Applause) and married to a certificated school teacher.
200 years ago
Wanted, after the midsummer vacation, by a young Lady who is capable of instructing pupils in the English language grammatically, a situation either as teacher in a seminary or Governess in a private family. The advertiser has a knowledge of the rudiments of the French language, and will be found competent to instruct the pupils entrusted to her care in geography, writing, and arithmetic, and in the arts of drawing and velvet painting.
Most respectable testimonials as to character and abilities can be furnished; and letters addressed to AB Post-office, free of expense, will be duly attended to.
The Royal South Lincoln regiment of Militia completed their term of service for the year at Stamford, and departed peaceably for their respective homes. By their general steadiness they had acquired a good character, both in quarters and in the field. We may truly say that Lieut-Col Sibthorp, though a rigid disciplinarian, had by his manly, spirited conduct, endeared himself to every man under his command; and so satisfied was he with the result of his own noble exertions, that on one occasion he at his own charge ordered an allowance of ale to every private in the regiment. Major Cholmeley also generously seconded his Lieutenant-Colonel by a gift of 107. to the staff. On Saturday last the officers of the regiment gave handsome entertainment at head-quarters (The George Inn) to several gentlemen of the town and neighbourhood, to celebrate the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, and a most convivial evening was passed.
We are sorry to find that the entry of horses for Stamford races next week is not expected to be great; but the interest excited by Mr Green's proposed balloon ascent, promises to make amends in the influx of company to the town.
The young Lord Burghley was christened on Monday in Connaught-place, London. The ceremony was performed by the Lord Bishop of Lincoln. Attending were Mr Poyntz (for his Royal Highness the Duke of York), Lord St Helens, and the Countess Manners.
