SNJ reporter Saul Cooke-Black looks back at news from across the decades.

1966

A BREAD delivery service covering Stroud was set to end because it was losing money.

Bread vans sent out by the Cainscross and Ebley Co-operative Societies were to be taken off the road by September to save money.

It came after a decrease in the amount of people eating bread and the increased costs of delivery.

The equivalent of nearly 25,000 loaves were baked and sent out each week but since the bakery plant at Cainscross had opened in 1954 business had dropped by 50 per cent with costs going up.

Most of the 25 bread roundsmen were offered alternative jobs. Delivery of meat and groceries was maintained.

A LONG established cycling and motor business in Stroud was to close.

Taylor Bros Ltd, in Gloucester Street, had served generations of cycling schoolboys and vehicle owners in its 70-year history.

The firm was to close because its two directors, Mr and Mrs Staines, announced their retirement after serving the company since 1945.

1976

THIRTEEN new zebra crossings were earmarked for the Stroud district as part of a roll-out across the county.

Five of the pedestrian crossings were set for Stroud, two in Stonehouse and the rest across other areas of the district.

The county council’s scheme aimed to provide one crossing per 2,000 population in urban areas – and one crossing per 10,000 in areas considered rural.

A BUILDER was buried alive for nearly an hour when an excavated bank collapsed on top of him whilst he was working on extensions to a bungalow.

David Harmer, from Randwick, was given pain killing gas and oxygen as fire and ambulance crews worked with their bare hands to dig him clear.

He was taken by ambulance to hospital and detained with a suspected broken pelvis and internal injuries.

Workmen were able to uncover Mr Harmer’s head before paramedics arrived at the scene.

1986

A PACKAGE of anti-apartheid proposals won the support of councillors at Stroud District Council.

The motion with financial, sporting and cultural implications was put before the policy and resources committee and tabled by Labour leader Norman Kay.

It came after Gloucestershire County Council had recently declared the county an anti-apartheid zone.

Cllr Kay said: “I hardly think this motion will bring the South African regime to its knees.

“But what it will do is add to the growing voice of reasonable people around the world to the South African regime that the policies they pursue are not acceptable to the world.”

DAMAGE to the Merrywalks precinct gates was estimated at £1,000 after vandals super-glued the locks.

Caretaker John Bonello was called to the precinct by staff at Homestyle Bakery who could not get into their store.

1996

A CLERGYMAN who began his career with the church in Stroud 30 years ago was appointed president of the Methodist ‘parliament.’ The Rev Nigel Collinson began his ministry in Gloucestershire – Stroud and Cirencester – after being ordained in 1967.

He left Stroud in 1972 and went on to work in Wolverhampton, Oxford and Southampton.

He was appointed president of the Methodist Conference, the equivalent of the General Synod in the Church of England.

PUPILS from Stroud High School were busy rehearsing to help break a world record for the world’s largest orchestra.

A group of talented musicians from the school were preparing to take part in the event at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton which involved an orchestra of about 2,500.

The fun-packed day, which also included sky diving displays and marching bands, was organised and in aid of Cansearch, a medical charity funding research and equipment to detecting cancer earlier.

The huge orchestra played music ranging from The Beatles to Holst.

2006

STROUD MP David Drew called for a parliamentary debate on the way land is used for development.

In his early day motion, Mr Drew called for a change in the law so that brown field site take priority over green field sites.

Around 75 MPs showed early support for the policy.

AMBERLEY Ridge was aiming to become the first school in Gloucestershire to be powered by the sun.

The school on Rodborough Common was awarded more than £6,000 to install solar panels to heat its outdoor swimming pool and to heat water supplies.

Teachers were seeking to match fund the cash from the EDF Energy Green Energy Fund.

The equipment was expected to provide a third of the energy required by the swimming pool and offset carbon dioxide emissions by nearly two tonnes each year.