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EDISON’S LATEST PHONOGRAPH, Or the wonderful TALKING MACHINE.

TOWN HALL, ANDOVER, MONDAY EVENING,JAM.27, 1890, Under the Presidency of his Worship the Mayor (H.P.Moore Esq.) MR.WILLIAM LYND, M.I.E.E., F.R.M.S., will Exhibit and Describe the Greatest Wonder of the Age, and during the Entertainment the entire Audience will hear repeated by the Talking Machine Songs and Musical Selections originally sung and played before the Phonograph in the United States and in various parts of Great Britain. Cornet Solos by celebrated musicians, performances of Brass Bands; also the Reproduction of the Human Voice, and the Phonograph’s description of itself.

Reserved seats, 2s. ; Unreserved ditto, 1s.

Doors open at 7.30, commence at 8. Carriages at Ten o’clock.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO — 15 JANUARY 1915

UPPER CLATFORD — THE STEAM ROLLER

The iron bridge over the Anton, near Piper’s Corner, was not strong enough to bear the steam roller at work on the road in the neighbourhood. Half the bridge is in the borough of Andover and half in Upper Clatford. One of the wheels managed to go over the bridge on the Clatford side, and some difficulty was experienced even with the help of a traction engine from the Waterloo Ironworks, in extricating the roller from its dangerous position. Vehicular traffic was suspended for a time. Even now only one half of the bridge is available for passengers. Before the erection of this iron bridge, somewhere about 1857, cattle and carriages had to pass through the water. Doubtless Clatford derives its name from “Cattle Ford.” At Clatford station there is nothing but a ford now.

SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 19 JANUARY 1940

STRIKE AT ANDOVER

Disgusted at the condition and age of the ambulance provided for their use, the remaining voluntary women drivers of the A.R.P. service at Andover went on strike yesterday.

At the outbreak of war, we are told, there were 23 women in the unit; they were keen; they worked as much as eight hours a day without payment; they provided their own uniforms.

Gradually, however, for various reasons, they gave up, until by the beginning of this week only seven were still doing duty. Yesterday morning, after it had taken them an hour and a half to start up one ambulance, they went on strike in a body.

One of them told an Advertiser reporter that the drivers complained to their superiors about the ambulance they were expected to drive., saying that it was quite unreliable, difficult to start, and in the garage weekly for expensive repairs. On Tuesday a fresh (not new) one arrived. If anything it was worse than its predecessor and needed extensive repairs to make it fit for the road. “A mechanic told me,” she said “that a lorry driver would refuse to take it on the road.”

“We are keen,” this volunteer continued, “we have provided our own uniforms and badges (we designed and embroidered them ourselves) and the only things we’ve been given are our gasmasks and helmets. We do spells of five hours duty and for some time after war broke out we did eight, sleeping at Clare House.” She told how the work meant giving up two or three mornings a week and said “We don’t mind that. We do the work for love, but we do think they might give us decent ambulances.”

On the average, she said, it took half an hour to an hour to start the ambulance—men had failed to do it so it was certainly not women’s work—and it would be almost useless in the event of an air-raid.

“What’s more,” she said, “the ambulance always being in the garage for repairs makes it look as if we are inefficient, whereas we are all proficient drivers and have passed our exams in gas and first-aid.”

“At present,” she concluded, “we are ambulance drivers without ambulances. We can’t find out who is really responsible and we are waiting to see what will happen.”

FIFTY YEARS AGO — 15 JANUARY 1965

PACE OF DEVELOPMENT IS ACCELERATING

Nineteen-sixty-five will undoubtedly see great strides forward in town development, the pace of which is now accelerating noticeably.

The first factory—that of Collins and Wilson—has been completed and is in operation on the Walworth Industrial Site. Work is in full swing on two factories being built by individual firms—John Laing and M.T.R.Castings Ltd.—and on 12 unit factories which will eventually be let to firms interested in coming to Andover.

About 40 London families have taken over town development houses and, according to Mr.F.A.Rice, the town’s Development Manager, 470 families (at the rate of 23 a month for the first six months and 35 a month in the next six months), increasing the population by about 1,600, will move into new houses by the end of this year.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO — 19 JANUARY 1990

ROW BREWING OVER PUB BAN DECISIONS

A bitter row is brewing in Everleigh where villagers insist the democratic process is in jeopardy because so many locals are barred from the Crown Inn, the traditional meeting place of the parish council.

Parish councillor Micahel Collinson has resigned his seat after being barred from the pub.

Mr.Collinson, a 33-year-old father of five, said: “”It’s undemocratic to hold a parish council meeting in a place from which half the parishioners are forbidden to cross the threshold and I resigned on these grounds.”

But landlord of the Crown Inn Mr Michael Tempest refuted the claim that he is denying people the right to attend meetings.

He has made the Court Room available for such uses, he said and has told the Chairman of the parish COUNCIL, Mr Don Tubby, that anyone can attend.

If they have been barred they may not enter the bar itself to drink, he explained.

10 YEARS AGO — 14 JANUARY 2005

CARNIVAL HANGS IN THE BALANCE

The future of Andover’s Festival Weekend is hanging by a thread as the organisers consider dropping the event this year.

Andover Lions Club is struggling to meet the cost of the two weekend events and to must the organisational power to stage them.

President Fred Harper said the Lions need more support to make both the carnival and show viable fundraising events — as well as a weekend for the people of Andover to look forward to.