From the archive - Stratford’s new year’s millennium celebrations will be in the summer
8th July 1999
STRATFORD’S millennium celebrations could still get the go ahead… but as a summer party rather than an event to see in the new year.
The town council had planned to mark New Year’s Eve 1999 with a family firework display and a free party for around 6,000 people in Rother Street.
But the scheme looked set to be ditched after safety concerns were raised by the emergency services and funding for the £40,000 event ran into trouble.
However, the celebrations may be given a reprieve and moved to mid-summer in order to quash safety fears and reduce the security costs needed to police the event.
Should the event be cancelled altogether then the council stands to lose at least the £9,600 it has paid in deposits – and outcome which councillors were keen to avoid.
ROWLEY Fields, a stretch of open land at the end of Maidenhead Road, in Stratford, is once again at the centre of a planning application to build on the site.
Stratford Town Council, which owns a small plot of land adjacent to a private house, has applied for planning permission to build a single home on the site.
If permission is granted by Stratford District Council, the town council plans to sell the plot of land to a developer.
However, some local residents are concerned it could set a precedent for further development.
10th July 1964
AN INFRA-RED camera will be installed in the long gallery of the Shakespeare Exhibition to try and see the ghostly figure that so scared 52-year-old carpenter Bert Mobley in the small hours that he has refused to work there alone at night.
Not a believer in ghosts, Bert appeared white-faced and shaky shortly after 1.30am he had seen a greyish-white figure like a six-foot veil hanging in the air, apparently walk out of the Queen Elizabeth I Armada portrait and move over to the portrait of Essex, one of the queen’s favourites, then pass through the wall into the Thames-side model flanking the gallery of famous portraits worth about £2 million.
Imagination, thought Bert, until he saw the same ghostly figure a couple of nights later and was told by one of the security guards that his guard dog had bristled and “barked at nothing” in the same spot (dogs are reputed to be able to sense the presence of a ghost).
11th July 1924
GEORGE Bourton, of Wellesbourne, was summoned for obstructing the highway in the Tiddington Road by leaving a cart there from 3.45pm on May 20th to 4.30pm on May 30th.
He admitted the offence. A pin had come out of the axle, which was broken. The defendant said there was plenty of room for any vehicle to pass.
A constable stated there was no light attached to the cart and, although the cart had broken down, he had brought the case forward as he considered the cart was left there for an unreasonable time.
Fined 7s 6d.
