August 1967
Isle of Wight Times:
Aug 3rd 1967: BLACK SHEEP – When his “sheep” occasionally stray from their “fold” it is the duty of the clergyman to round them up and put them on the right path once more. The Rector of Binstead, the Rev. Clifford TARGETT has had to face this problem more than once. Two withies which he keeps in his back garden are the black sheep, they will not conform. It seems they seek greener pastures elsewhere.
Aug 3rd 1967: HARD GRIND – Little squirts are being employed by B.R. to deal with some “hard cases” from London who are causing trouble on the 8½ miles Ryde-Shanklin line. It seems the seven ex-London Underground tube trains have such hard wheels that they are causing excessive wear on the track, which withstood a century of steam. B.R. are installing automatic lubricating pumps on the bends to give “little squirts of oil” onto the lines when a train passed.
Aug 3rd 1967: RIFLE SHOOTING – R. GRUNDY won the Chas. R. BELL club members’ competition, at a meeting of the National Small Bore Rifle Association, held at the Drill Hall recently.
Aug 3rd 1967: OLD VICARAGE – Guests at a sherry party given by the Abbeyfield (Ryde) Society found themselves in an unusual setting. The old Vicarage next to All Saints’ Church, seemed a strange venue for such an occasion. In drab, austere, rooms, devoid of furnishings, they were invited to look into the not too distant future, when it is hoped this house will provide a comfortable home for elderly people.
Aug 3rd 1967: DON’T BLAME ME – “I hope that people don’t blame me for this,” sighed Trevor BAKER, Southern Television’s weather forecaster, eyeing a threatening cumulonimbus cloud which gathered overhead as he prepared to open the Royal I.W. County Hospital annual garden fete in the grounds of the Nurses’ Home, Adelaide Place, on Saturday afternoon.
Aug 10th 1967: BIGGER – Fred looked at Edna without saying a word, they knew. This thing was bigger—much bigger—than both of them. Over 12 feet, in fact. The biggest hollyhock that they, and anyone else on the Binstead Estate, ever saw. It stretches skyward like a flowering flagpole above the front garden of their home at Beatrice Close. Luxuriant beyond the dreams of Percy THROWER.
Aug 17th 1967: DIRTY KNIGHTS – Ryde’s Round Table became an unlikely 20th Century counterpart of King Arthur’s on Friday Knight—pardon, night—when they staged a waterborne “jousting tournament” on (and in) the Canoe Lake. The idea was to raise money for charities, disaster fund and refugee child welfare.
Aug 24th 1967: LICENSEE RETIRING – Landlady at the “Black Horse” public house at George Street for the past 30 years, Mrs. May TAPPIN retired yesterday. She and her husband will live in a council flat at Bettesworth Road. She and her first husband took over the house in 1937, and when he died in 1958, Mrs. TAPPIN assumed the licence before marrying her brother-in-law. There was a farewell party at the pub.
Aug 24th 1967: PARKING – In the broiling sun, sweating motorists were desperately looking for somewhere to leave their vehicles in order to make the most of the weather. They had no such luck. Driver after driver pulled away from the car park, wary of making asses of themselves attempting to remove six beach donkeys hitched to a wall in the park, taking enough room for two vehicles. Explained their little boy guardian, “It is high tide and instead of taking them home to Binstead we keep them here till the water ebbs”
Aug 31st 1967: OFF COURSE – Armed with Ordnance Survey maps, weighed down with all the sundry hikers’ equipment, several parties of visitors fell foul of the confusing signs at the junction of Church Road, Binstead, and the footpaths leading to Quarr and Binstead Beach, over the Bank Holiday. The main signpost points to Quarr and Fishbourne, but almost opposite is a notice to the effect that access is private to Kingarth School. Visitors are further confused by yet another sign through an entrance to Binstead Beach.
Aug 31st 1967: POST – The Post Office is asking its customers to post printed papers earlier in the day.