Back Through the Pages: A look at stories from the past

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 1 JUNE 1860

CORRESPONDENCE – HAMPSHIRE FOLK LORE

Mr Editor: There is a spot on the road from Winchester to Andover called Three Maids Hill; they are I believe, nameless. Tradition says that they poisoned their father, and were for that crime buries alive up to their necks. Travellers passing by were ordered not to feed them. But one compassionate horseman as he rode along threw an apple core to one on which she subsisted for three days. Wonderful it is to state that three groups of firs spring up miraculously from the graves of the three maids, thus their memories have been perpetuated

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 2 JUNE 1899

CYCLING RUN AND SUPPER

The members of the Andover and District Cycling Club had a most enjoyable ride to Whitchurch on Wednesday evening, the weather being beautifully fine. Having arrived there, they repaired to the White Hart hotel where, at the invitation of the captain, Mr W J Randall, they sat down to supper. Over 30 members and friends were present and the host, Mr Gadsden catered in his usual excellent style. During the evening, the health of Mr Randall was drunk with enthusiasm and a concert of individual singers followed. The time fixed for the return journey was rather late but in the moonlight the journey was a pleasant one. The strength of the club has lately been added to by the joining of several new members, and there is reason to anticipate a most successful season.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 30 MAY 1924

SUPREMACY AT THE CORONET PAVILION

The marquee in Junction Road, known as the headquarters of the Coronet Pavilion, is a delightful place in warm weather, and the summer sunshine which was heralded on Wednesday turned many thoughts in that direction. ‘Supremacy’ are in charge this week and the artistes are first class. There are beautiful dresses, and as the actors dance in and out amid the most charming surroundings they make an effective pageant of colour. Patricia Flanagan, a noted flautist, who can imitate the nightingale with ease, and Arthur Nickson, entertainer at the piano, are the instrumentalists; Fred Du Barry, baritone, and Gerty Orchard, with her strong soprano voice, put up good duets; Rex Rashley, the light comedian, and Madge Diston, besides singing, can dance most gracefully, leaving Will Judge, the broad-minded, ever-smiling comedian, to make the fun as well as amuse with the saxophone. The finale on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was a piece called ‘Truly Rural’, enacted at a country inn, where a host in exchange for free refreshments asks his guests to amuse the company. They dance and play as in the olden times, with the same quaint costumes and hats, and with the same quiet manners. It gives scope for a fine duet in the song ‘Fairings’. This first half of the week’s programme was extremely good but better things are promised to come at the weekend’s performance with a compete change of items.  

SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 3 JUNE 1949

THE SORT OF JOB TO HAVE

Workmen levelling Andover’s football pitch reckon that they have unearthed at least £4 to £5 in copper and silver in a month. When an Advertiser reporter visited, a workman who came over to meet him, picked up an 1885 penny on the way. Most of the coins have been found while shifting turf to the side of the field. There have been no finds of real historical interest other than a George III playing counter bearing the inscription ‘In memory of the good old days’, which would date from the Victorian period. Americans during the war left a few mementoes of the baseball games played at the Meadow. A super-abundance of safety pins puzzled the workmen; they didn’t know that the Walled Meadow had been the scene of innumerable baby shows.

FORTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 3 JUNE 1977

Quick-thinking Mrs Wendy Cook wasted no time when she found a naked man in the boot of her estate car – she drove him straight down to the police station! Wendy was in bed at home in Apple Tree Grove, Andover. About 5.30am, her father got up and told her he thought he saw someone at her car which was parked outside. She ran outside, opened the boot and found a man naked, except for a shirt. She said, ‘I could hardly believe my eyes. I told him to get out but he refused. My father also told him to get out but again he refused. So I slammed the boot down and drove him to the police station. I told a policeman I had something interesting in my boot for him. He came out and managed to persuade the man to get out of the boot – and he walked into the police station. I had to laugh about it afterwards but it gave me a bit of a jolt at the time. Earlier, the man’s clothes had been found in the road at Harrow Way, about a mile from Mrs Cook’s car, after police received a call that a naked man had been seen walking the streets. An Andover police spokesman said yesterday that a man would be appearing in court on a charge of conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace.