By Saul Cooke-Black

SNJ reporter Saul Cooke-Black looks through the archives.

1965
NOT many people had the chance to fly to America in 1965, but that is what one Nailsworth widow was preparing to do.
The mother of 13 was going to see one of her daughters for the first time in 20 years.
Her children were dotted around the globe, with one daughter in Canada and a son in India.

TWO long-serving employees of a Stroud clothing firm retired after more than half a century of service.
Stanley Williams started working at Hill, Paul and Co. in 1914 and Muriel Rogers in 1912.
As a thank you Muriel received a handbag and table lamp, while Stanley was given a pair of sun lounge chairs from the firm.

TWO sisters who had not seen each other for 65 years were set to meet in Canada.
Seventy-one year-old Winnie Harvey, from Stroud, was getting ready to to travel to Canada to see her only living relative Mrs Earl.
The sisters had wanted to see each other for a long time after they had been parted when Mrs Harvey was only six.

1975
A NEW TV mast in Ruscombe meant many Stroud residents were enjoying improved reception.
However, some people had not realised that they needed to change the position of their TV aerials.

A FILM about work at the Ebley branch of the National Children’s Home won a gold award at the Brighton Film Festival.
Judges said the film, They Can Be Helped showed ‘simply and without jargon’ how mentally handicapped children can be helped, by showing the work done at the care centre.

1985
A NEW regulation by the EEC allowed fluoride to be added to milk and flavoured yoghurt for children in schools.
Despite some being worried about health risks from fluoride, Commissioner Frans Andriessen said the measure would benefit children’s teeth.


A MINCHINHAMPTON shop which sold everything from sweets to soap powder closed after 70 years of service.
Clifford Hooper, who ran West End stores for 38 years, blamed the increased competition from new supermarkets for the demise of the store.
He said he would like to keep a fuel business going at the premises and would devote more of his time to work with the parish council.

1995
A PLAN to build 10,000 homes in Standish, near Stroud, received ‘no support at all’ from 15 local parishes.
The county council said the plan was one of many proposals drawn up to meet the estimated 60,000 homes which were needed in Gloucestershire by 2011.
Then councillor David Drew spoke out against the plans and said developers were ‘sniffing round Standish like bees round a honeypot.’

A WAR hero said he was ‘shocked and upset’ after his car was clamped outside a veterans' reunion in London.
Ernest French, from the Stroud branch of the Burma Star Association received a £60 fine after he parked for 47 minutes longer than he had paid for.
His car had special ‘Burma Star’ signs on the front and back windows and local authorities had been informed about the reunion.
2005
WINSTONE’S ice-cream factory hosted a birthday extravaganza to celebrate its 80th anniversary.
As part of a fun-filled weekend with live music and stalls, visitors could get a free half litre tub of Winstone’s new frozen yoghurt with wildberry sauce ice-cream, when they bought any other one litre tub.

A CAT that had gone missing for almost two years was re-united with its owners.
Austin, a black and white moggy, disappeared just a month after Bob and Linda Home had moved from Stonehouse to Barnards, Worcestershire.
After the cat was found, he was taken to a vet who ran a microchip scan and  located his owners.