Twenty-Five Years Ago

The lives of young children have been endangered by mindless vandals who caused thousands of pounds worth of damage in Henley. Play equipment has been wrecked, floodlights smashed and toilets blocked in a spate of vandalism over the past three weeks. And the shelter at Red Lion lawn given by Robert Morely as a memorial to his much-loved mother-in-law, the actress Gladys Cooper, has been damaged and daubed with obscene graffiti.

Police intelligence officer, Sgt. Walker, said it was difficult for the police to do anything about the vandalism because of a lack of manpower. “We don’t know why it happens — boredom, I suppose, to a certain extent,” Mr. Walker said. “But I can’t think what pleasure they get from spoiling things for other people. Our biggest problem is that we haven’t got enough policemen to do everything we want to do. Vandalism is a growing occupation. ”

Residents hoping to dump rubbish at the district council’s skip at the King’s Road depot are being turned away by 8.30 a.m on Saturdays because it fills up within half an hour. Now a district councillor is warning that unless more skips are provided ‘all the countryside around Henley will be used as a dump’.

Ten Years Ago

Police want to catch youths vandalising property on video and show the evidence to their parents. Parents would then have to take responsibility for punishing their children. The initiative, which has been successful in other parts of the country, has been suggested for Henley by crime reduction officer, Charles Cameron, who is based in the town. It is known as The Bogart Scheme because of the famous line ‘Here’s looking at you kid’, and has been described as a way of ‘disgracing culprits’.

After more than ten years in development, and at a cost of £17.5 million, the River & Rowing Museum opens in Henley this weekend. Museum staff are putting the finishing touches to the building which will welcome its first visitors tomorrow (Saturday) and give them the chance to meet Phillip Schofield, star of stage and screen. The museum features interactive displays and a wealth of artefacts, celebrating three themes — the past, present and future of the Thames, Henley, and the sport of rowing.

Henley people can now help solve crimes over the telephone, with the introduction of the Crimestoppers initiative in the Thames Valley area. Thames Valley Police has joined forces with other organisations to set up a new Crimestoppers line, launched this week. Anyone with information about any crime can call it anonymously.

Fifty Years Ago

The many-faceted subject of further education is annually brought to the attention of the public by the prospectus of Henley Technical Institute, which provides an all-year round series of classes and courses for a wide circle of people. The institute, as the foreword points out, has now completed five sessions since its reorganisation as the centre for further education in South Oxfordshire and the neighbouring parts of adjoining counties.

The recent discovery by County Council workmen of a covered-over well in lower Market Place has elicited some information concerning it from Mr. A Edward Hobbs, who lived in Henley for many years until he moved to Woodstock. Mr. Hobbs states that at the time the Obelisk stood at the Cross there was a parish pump in the vicinity. This undoubtedly was connected to and obtained its supply of water from the well.

Whilst held by the Communists as a suspected spy for seven days, Stefan Gazel, of Grange Avenue, Peppard, had a book published in London telling how he killed Russian soldiers to escape from a prison camp during the war. Fortunately for Mr. Gazel, a 45-year-old Polish-born naturalised Briton, the book never reached the Russians. “If it had I would have never been heard of again,” he said.