If you have any photos or memories you would like to share with us, please email us at newsdesk@newburynews.co.uk
10 years ago – June 19, 2014
World Cup party
World Cup fever has kicked-off across West Berkshire.
With businesses, houses and cars adorned with the cross of St George and with all opening games of the group stages played, England fans are hoping to keep the flags flying for a while longer.
The evening fixtures for the Brazilian tournament have seen people head to their local to cheer on England or, as was the case with the Three Lions’ opening game against Italy, commiserate a 2-1 loss.
The managing director at Newbury’s Bar Sport, Claudio Altini, said that reservations for England’s games had been fully booked, with more than 500 punters in for the Italy game on Saturday.
He said: “It was absolutely fabulous. I think it was the best atmosphere we’ve had since we opened and there wasn’t a single incident, even though England lost. There was just such a party atmosphere.”
25 years ago – June 17, 1999
Spider search
A wildlife expert from Wyld Court Rainforest in Hampstead Norreys has embarked on an Indiana Jones style adventure to search out one of the world’s largest and most aggressive spiders.
Miss Julie Chuter, the animal curator at the rainforest conservation centre, this week jetted off to the jungles of Malaysia with three other intrepid explorers to hunt out the Asian earth tiger, Malaysia’s largest tarantula.
The team hope to be able to log important information about the species such as its size, range and abundance, but it won’t be easy as the spider is a tree dweller and known for its aggressive nature.
Miss Chuter, however, is well prepared for the task, as Wyld Court has just installed a new tarantula exhibit, featuring several species of spiders from across the world.
The display includes the largest recorded species of tarantula, the Goliath bird eater, a unique colony of the much-feared Indian ornamental tree spiders and a South American pink toe.
50 years ago – June 13, 1974
Bomb scare
Two soldiers foiled an IRA attempt to blow up one of their patrols in Northern Ireland.
A beer barrel, packed with 30lbs of explosives, was left by a terrorist in a hedge beside a rural road along which an Army patrol would pass.
The IRA man planned to sit on a hillside above and detonate the bomb as an Army Land-Rover passed by, but it was spotted before he had completed the wiring.
A bomb disposal expert was called in and the soldiers – Pte Brian Vasey of Folly Cottages, Burghclere and Pte Donald Smith of Portsmouth – shelled it with an anti-tank weapon to break it up and make it safe.
After the danger had passed the horrific potential of the bomb could be seen.
It contained a mass of large metal bolts, pieces of chain and hacksaw blades, which would have given the occupants little chance of survival.
This happened on Sunday, a few miles from Castlewellan, in an area being patrolled by men of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire).
