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

1966

FEARS for the future of Stroud railway station were expressed after a goods depot was closed down.

The depot at Stroud West Region Station closed, meaning all freight weighing over a ton would be collected and delivered by railway vehicles from Gloucester.

Staff employed at Stroud received redundancy notices and were offered alternative employment with British Rail at Gloucester, but few accepted.

The new reduction in the railway service, together with the planned single-line working from Swindon to Standish junction which was due in the next three years, revived old fears that Stroud would lose its 121-year-old railway link.

STAFF at a cloth firm more than 200-years-old were celebrating an all time record for trading.

All 170 workers at William Payne & Co, of Longfords Mills, Minchinhampton, went for a day’s outing to Bristol to celebrate the achievement.

They enjoyed a dinner before going on to the Bristol Hippodrome to see the Black and White Minstrel show.

Arthur Long, chairman and managing director of the company which had celebrated its 200th anniversary in 1959, thanked all the staff who had contributed to the record-breaking year.

1976

VETERAN motorist Alroyd Lees broke his world record for the Land’s End to John O’Groats return journey when he made the trip in aid of Stroud Old People’s ‘Popin’ appeal.

When he arrived back at the Valley Garage, Stroud, with his time-keeper Leslie Damsell, the international sand yachting sportsman, Mr Lees was met by a champagne reception.

He completed the challenge in a record 33 hours and 30 minutes, beating his previous record of 36 hours.

Around £4,000 in sponsorship money was raised.

DAREDEVILS who strap themselves to flimsy structures and leap from steep hillsides were set to become a feature of Selsley Common.

Avon Hang Gliding Club, announced it was intending to try out the Common as a ‘jumping off’ point.

If the idea proved successful the club’s members could soon have been competing for air space each weekend with glider pilots, young stunt kite enthusiasts and model aircraft pilots.

HOUSEHOLDERS were being told to dump their rubbish bags and empty their dustbins in skips after bin collectors at Stroud District Council went on strike.

Bin collectors in Stroud and Dursley had gone on strike on Friday and threatened further action in a dispute over bonus payments.

A spokesman from SDC’S department of environmental health said: “Non-collection of refuse over prolonged periods would inevitably produce conditions under which rats and other vermin could thrive.

“The council’s emergency plan consists of making available plastic sacks in areas where refuse is not collected, and the sitting of large skip containers in strategic places in which full sacks can be deposited and dustbins filled.”

The spokesman added that the present health risk was ‘minimal.’ 1986 AN

EMINENT doctor told the people of Stroud to stop kissing and smoking as an outbreak of meningitis struck the district.

Retired Dr Flethcher Lunn, who had tackled epidemics in Africa and the Middle East, said he believed kissing and smoking were major factors in the spread of the disease.

“It is deeply important that people limit their kissing contacts – there should be a reduction of avoidable mouth to mouth contact,” said the doctor, who was looking into the Stroud outbreak on behalf of the Gloucester Community Health Council.

“To kiss people on the mouth at a time when we are trying to stop an epidemic seems really silly and risky.”

A NEW chapter in the industrial history of Stroud was written with the official opening of the Inchbrook Trading Estate in Woodchester.

The estate, located on the site of the former Newman Hender’s factory, was converted into 29 individual factories by Stag Securities of Wotton-under-Edge.

Small companies from the Stroud area were set to relocate to the industrial estate, with ten of the 29 units expected to be filled by Christmas.

1996

A SCHOOLGIRL beat hundreds of challengers to land a plum job presenting the BBC’S Children In Need appeal.

Shelley Edwards, 11, from Stonehouse, was one of seven children from the West Country who helped present the live fundraising extravaganza.

Shelley, who was a pupil at Rednock School in Dursley, had to pass two sets of tough auditions in the BBC studios in Bristol and was chosen ahead of more than 250 other hopefuls.

2006

TWO Five Valleys canoeists who became stranded in mudflats were only minutes away from hypothermia before being rescued.

Roberts Pavis, who was on the river with estate agent friend Ben Fearnley, from Nailsworth, hit trouble after setting off from Symonds Yat towards Tintern in the Forest of Dean.

The pair were swept down the river by a fast current to VChepstow where they came to rest in mudflats around 20 metres from the riverbank.

With temperatures dropping and light fading they called 999 from a mobile and rescue teams from the fire service in Newport were alerted.

They were taken to Royal Gwent Hospital for check-ups but fortunately were not injured.