July 1974
Isle of Wight County Press:
Jul 6th 1974: BARKING DOG GIVES WARNING – Tish, the family guard dog, emerged as the heroine when fire broke out at the Swiss Chalet restaurant, 48 Union Street, Ryde, in the early hours of Thursday morning. Tish, who has her own quarters on the ground floor of the premises, began barking furiously, and Mr. and Mrs. J. BROOKS, the owners, and Mrs. A. WILKINSON, waitress, who were asleep in the upper rooms, went downstairs and found a small fire. They tackled the outbreak and quickly extinguished it before the fire brigade arrived.
Jul 6th 1974: PAY AWARD – The wages board has approved pay increases ranging from £5.25 to £5.50 a week for 200 production workers at the Marlborough Road, Ryde factory of Trucast Limited, makers of precision castings. The workers are being upgraded to semi-skilled status.
Jul 6th 1974: BUS STATION SITE – At last week’s Medina Borough Council meeting, Mr. A. B. FENTON expressed disgust at the siting of a bus station on Ryde Esplanade, where he claimed buses had to reverse into an area crowded with visitors. A bus station should have been in a different place altogether.
Jul 6th 1974: HOUSING PREFERABLE – Although the former County Council had refused to allow housing development on land of “great landscape value” on the outskirts of Ryde, they had approved a proposal for three factories on the site. The council had “no option” but to approve the factory units at Bullen Road because an established use certificate for light industrial development had been granted to the owners.
Jul 6th 1974: CRUSTY LOAF – A link with Victorian Ryde was broken on Saturday, when what is believed to be the Island’s sole remaining full production side-flue oven, in which bread is baked by coal, was stoked up for the last time. The oven has been in constant use in the family bakery and confectionery business of A. H. JAMES, 52 High Street, Ryde, for the last 86 years. The bread is baked on bricks, which give it the sought-after crust. Now Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Howard JAMES, the present proprietors, have decided to retire.
Jul 6th 1974: WHERE CAN THEY BE – Whatever has happened to that cheerful band of men who used to sweep and clear the gutters and clear weeds from the crevices in the pavements? There are weeds and grasses growing in profusion in the gutters of Wood Street, Dover Street and Barfield, to mention but a few. Surely with rates at their present level we are entitled to expect our streets to be kept clean and tidy.
Jul 13th 1974: CAR FERRIES – British Rail defended themselves this week against criticism that Island residents find it difficult to take their cars off the Island—and bring them back again—during the summer season. Is it not possible for Islanders to be given priority, now that there is such a fetish about sending goods by road rather than rail. The car ferries seem to have an over-abundance of huge, articulated lorries taking an enormous space.
Jul 20th 1974: GREEN MOUNT SCHOOL – Over £105 was raised for school funds at the third annual fete at the school on Thursday week. The event was organised by the Parent Teacher Association, of which Mr. E. STEVENS, headmaster, is chairman. Staff, parents and pupils were in charge of stalls, sideshows and competitions.
Jul 20th 1974: TELEPHONES – Less than 200 years ago the telegraph or the semaphore was the only alternative to the stage-coach, the courier and the saddlebag. Now communications are world-wide. Today the world is served by 300 million telephones, and a vast network of cables and satellites.
Jul 27th 1974: DETRIMENTAL – Medina Borough Council Planning Committee have refused an application to build 20 bedsit flats in a three-storey block at Carlton Road, Ryde, because they say it would be “gross overdevelopment and detrimental to the character and amenities of the area.