NOSTALGIA: Armistice Day remembered in 1968 and go-ahead for £279k Strait Bargate re-vamp in 1993

This week (November 7 edition) in 1968 ...
This group of 10 youngsters had impressed in a poetry competition 25 years ago and are pictured collecting their prizes at Oldrids book department from Mayor of Boston Coun Keith Dobson.This group of 10 youngsters had impressed in a poetry competition 25 years ago and are pictured collecting their prizes at Oldrids book department from Mayor of Boston Coun Keith Dobson.
This group of 10 youngsters had impressed in a poetry competition 25 years ago and are pictured collecting their prizes at Oldrids book department from Mayor of Boston Coun Keith Dobson.

* Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the end of the First World War, The Standard spoke to veterans from the conflict, asking ‘what were you doing on Armistice Day?’

Ald Lt-Col G. A. Grounds, of Witham Bank West, Boston, a retired bank manager, was at the Army’s Camberley Staff College, where he had been lecturing on the topic of tanks.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “We were semi-prepared for it, but when it came through it was a relief.

“I went round to my billet and the lads of the adjoining officer training corps were going virtually mad.”

William Pocklington, of Eastwood Drive, Boston, ex-licensee of the Axe and Cleaver, was in a German Prisoner of War camp at the time and did not hear about the ceasfire until a couple of days later.

He and several other inmates broke camp and went to the nearest village to celebrate.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Standard sub-editor Wilfred Berry was in France, when he heard the church bells ringing out the news.

Mr Berry, an ex-signaller in the 6th Leicestershire regiment, said the attitude of the men in hospital was not one of celebration, but of gladness that it was all over and they did not have to go back in to the fighting lines.

This week in 1993 ...

* Plans for a £279,000 re-vamp of Strait Bargate, in Boston, had been given the go-ahead.

The project would see a cental carriageway introduced to the street for use by emergency vehicles; a lampstand at the junction with New Street; a welcoming archway; and litter bins, seats, and tree guards made of steel or cast iron and painted in ‘Boston blue’.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Approval for the scheme was given at a meeting of the Environment Committee.

Director of development Paul Edwards told members that the appearance of the town centre was deterring would-be investors.

“Boston is like a grand country house. It is a fine country house, but at the moment the drawing room is badly in need of decoration,” he said.

* Youngsters from Boston’s Focus One Youth Centre would be marking Christmas 1993 alongside top pop stars – thanks to a computer error.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

About 50 club members had been due to travel to London the previous week to see Top of the Pops being filmed.

However, the BBC’s computer ticket database crashed and details of the party were inadvertently lost. To make it up to the club, the Beeb offered members tickets to the Christmas show on December 13.