Down Memory Lane

TEN YEARS AGO

*according to a local weather specialist, the previous Monday had been Clydesdale’s wettest day for over 50 years. Carnwath’s consultant forrester Dick Scruton told the Gazette that almost two inches of rain had fallen here between Sunday night and Monday morning.

* Police were appealing for witnesses after a conman stole several items of property from the home of an elderly woman in Kirkfieldbank, who had let him in after he’d falsely told her he was from the water supply authorities.

* carluke woman Mary Bennett was threatening to move out of her rented home if no immediate steps were taken to get rid of ‘black gunge’ in her water supply. Angina sufferer Mary (79) had battled for over eight years to get a problem sorted which she claimed meant she had to strain “black stuff” out of the water before boiling it.

* safety campaigning by residents of Biggar’s Moss Side estate resulted in roads authorities announcing that the speed limit on a section of the A702 was to be reduced.

* lanark man Graham Munro looked back with pride at the life of his late mother Janetta, a midwife who had delivered over 3000 babies in her two decades as joint owner of Fairhaven Maternity Home. This facility, which Mrs Munro and her husband John had opened in 1928, had been crucial for mothers-to-be in the Lanark area.

* symington clay pigeon shooter Steven Allan qualified to play for the Scotland team by hitting a magical 100 targets out of 100 at the Auchterhouse Country Sports in Dundee. The 36-year-old was one of only three people in this country to record the perfect maximum so far in 2004.

* a record attendance of over 5000 turned up for the Scottish Home Pony Show at Lanark Racecourse.

TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO

* threatened overcrowding at Carluke High School meant that an urgent message went out to pupils, asking if they would not be returning due to finding jobs, college or university places. According to a spokesperson for Strathclyde Region, Carluke High had catered for 1260 pupils in the last term – just 90 short of its capacity of 1350.

* a six-month pilot project to test a new method of rubbish disposal was to be launched in Clydesdale later in 1989. And Carluke and Law had been chosen for the special ‘wheely bin’ scheme. Local residents would have the chance to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the new system before councillors decided whether or not to introduce wheeled bins throughout the district.

* an 89-year-old woman had locked herself in the toilet in terror after two men barged into her Rigside home and demanded money. She had hidden there afraid for about an hour; when she ventured out they had gone, taking papers from her handbag with them. Police were urging pensioners to have security chains fitted to their doors.

* clydesdale District Council workers were threatening strike action after rejecting their management’s offer of an eight per cent pay rise. Local NALGO leaders confirmed that they intended to follow the union’s national strategy of taking “selective action” by targeting key workers and departments.

* human sewage had overflowed into the River Clyde at Crossford twice that month, polluting the waterway. The latest occurrence – believed to have been caused by a breakdown at a local pumping station – had not been realised by the regional sewerage department until they’d been informed by the Gazette.

* clydesdale Conservatives were proposing a radical reform of the electoral divisions of Strathclyde Region, aimed at providing a fairer system of representation. Conservatives locally claimed that the three regional seats within Clydesdale had been “fiddled” to ensure a Labour majority in each seat, regardless of its local characteristics.

* the start of the junior football season that weekend would see troubled Forth Wanderers forced to name three trialists in their squad as they had only 10 signed players. Manager Derek Brown faced a selection headache for their opening fixture against Lanark United at Moor Park.

* carluke golfer Neil Gregory (17) beat a huge field of 300 players to win the Walker Rosebowl at his home course.