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

1967

AN ACTOR from Thrupp was living the life of a Hollywood film star.

Anthony Rogers, who moved to Los Angeles, shot to fame as a model in New York and became the city’s top model.

He was soon offered a part in a film. One thing led to another and in January 1967 he had just finished filming Eldorado with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, in which he played the doctor.

His mother, of Greenhill Terrace, Thrupp, was set to see her son for the first time in a film in Stroud.

Hi first film, Red Line 7,000, was on show at the Odeon for three days in January.

ITALIAN flood victims were being helped by an appeal fund set up in Stroud.

The Stroud Festival Committee’s appeal raised more than £200 to help victims of the flood in Italy.

More than 100 people in Florence were killed and millions of masterpieces of art and rare books were destroyed in the flood of the Arno which struck in November, 1966.

1977

CUSTOMERS at the Railway Inn at Dudbridge took part in a pram race to raise more than £200 for the Cobalt Unit in Cheltenham.

About a dozen prams were entered for the race and all competitors wore fancy dress.

The route led from Dudbridge to Stroud Rugby Club and then on to the Fleece and back to Dudbridge. The winner was Mike Tierney.

It was the second pram race organised by the Railway Inn – the previous year money was raised for the children’s home in Ebley.

A FORMER England rugby player was awarded the MBE in the New Year’s honours list.

Peter Woodruff, of The Firs, North Woodchester, was a wing threequarter capped for England four times and for Gloucestershire 17 times.

Vice president of Stroud RFC, he began his career in the Air Ministry in 1936 and first came to Gloucestershire after RAF air crew service during the Second World War.

1987

NAILSWORTH was in mourning after two sisters died in a fierce blaze that gutted their home in Newmarket.

The girls, aged four and 15, died as flames swept through the stone cottage despite brave efforts from their parents, neighbours and firefighters.

The family had just moved into the cottage days ago after moving from Tetbury.

1997

MYSTERY surrounded the identity of a lucky granny from the Stonehouse area who scooped almost £90,000 in one night at the bingo.

The 64-year-old woman, who remained anonymous, called ‘house’ before anyone else in the country while playing at the Top Rank Club in Gloucester.

There was an agonising 20-minute wait before she discovered she was the first person to complete the National Bingo Game card across 700 clubs in the country – in just 39 numbers.

The woman, who was married for 41 years with two children and two grandchildren, was said to be planning a holiday abroad with her winnings.

She won £85,000 for calling house before anyone else in the country, £3,903 for being the first to fill in her card in the region and another £60 house prize.

THREE trees were planted to mark the opening of the new £2.4million elderly care unit at Stroud General Hospital.

The new trees replaced two which were in the grounds of Stroud maternity and general hospitals before redevelopment work was carried out on both sites.

2007

PLANS to create the Five Valleys’ first ever athletics track were up and running.

As part of its three-year budget, Stroud Town Council pledged £10,000 for a feasibility study into building a 400m, eight lane circuit at Stratford Park Leisure Centre.

Stroud and District Athletics Club, which had been trying to secure a permanent home since it was founded more than 25 years ago, was thrilled with the cash boost.