January 1967
Isle of Wight Times:-
Jan 5th 1967: FAREWELL – End of a year and the end of an era. That was Saturday, when the Island’s oldest locomotive, the 77 year-old “Fishbourne,” was the last steam engine to travel the 8½ miles line between Ryde and Shanklin. On the footplate with the driver, Mr. R. HARBOUR of Brading, was the Island M.P., Ald. Mark WOODNUTT.
Jan 5th 1967: RAIL MUSEUM – In the hope of opening a museum of I.W. rail transport, the Wight Locomotive Society have since July raised more than £1,200 of a target of a £1,500 figure to purchase an engine and five coaches. Originally the “Brading” was the engine of their choice, but there is uncertainty about this and the “Bembridge” has been mentioned.
Jan 12th 1967: NEW SCHOOL – Land at Mayfield Road, Ryde, containing 25 allotments, has been sold to the I.W. County Council for the construction of a new school approved for the financial year 1967-1968.
Jan 12th 1967: DEPRESSING RELIC – Once a flourishing social club, now a dilapidated tin hut. Such is the rise and fall of Paxton Social Club, the building that is on the conscience of many once connected with it.
Jan 12th 1967: CONTRIBUTION – Ryde Carnival Association are being asked to make a £25 contribution towards a £70.10s. returfing scheme necessary at Simeon Street Recreation Ground, and also works at the West Hill Road entrance, necessitated as a result of carnival events being held there in September, when the cricket pitch was spoiled.
Jan 12th 1967: OFF TO JORDAN – Two nurses from the Royal I.W. County Hospital at Ryde left the Island on Saturday to begin three years’ service as Army nurses in Jordan. Bound for a hospital at Amman headquarters of the Royal Jordanian Nursing Service were Miss Sheila BOND, and Miss Peggy SOUTHALL.
Jan 12th 1967: DAMAGE – Recent gales blew over several memorials at Ryde Cemetery and snapped of one near the base.
Jan 12th 1967: DUSTMAN – A Ryde Corporation dustman was bitten on the finger by a rat on Tuesday and is now off work receiving medical treatment. Mr. William Henry COTTRELL of Marlborough Road, Ryde, was removing rubbish from a sea front hotel, as he pushed the waste into a box, the rat attacked him.
Jan 19th 1967: MISSING 17 TREES – A Derbyshire optician could hardly believe his own eyes when he visited Stonepitts, Binstead Road, his holiday home, last week. Seventeen trees, many more than 30ft tall, had disappeared from the grounds. All that Mr. R. THORPE found, was a row of stumps beside the driveway where the trees had been felled.
Jan 19th 1967: ‘JACK’ ALL RIGHT – Jack and the Beanstalk was more than all right, it was excellent. The Young Vectis Players, who staged the panto at the Esplanade Pavilion, Ryde, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings before enthusiastic audiences, scored a success with this home-brewed production of particularly lively vintage.
Jan 19th 1967: HOVERCRAFT SCOOP – A thick blanket of fog descended on the Solent on Saturday, holding up BR car and passenger ferries between Ryde, Fishbourne and Portsmouth. However, using radar equipment, Hovertravel Ltd., were able to offer “business as usual”—and enjoyed bumper business as a result.
Jan 19th 1967: TYRE SLASHER – “Jack the Ripper”, the nickname given to the person who has been slashing car tyres in the Ryde area in recent weeks and leaving notes for the owners, continues to cause trouble. One clue has emerged. Some of the messages left have been written on an unusual type of paper.