NOSTALGIA: This week in 1963 and 1983 and a snapshot from 1998

A storytime session at Boston Library in February 1998.

Pantomime and live stage shows were coming back to Boston, following the closure of the New Theatre in 1960.

The venue would be an adapted Regal Cinema.

Boston Scala Theatre Ltd had bought that part of the maltings running from the back of the Regal to the end of Bond Street for the project.

Work had already started to extend the stage to an overall depth of 30ft.

* The new headquarters of the Fifth Boston (St Botolph) Scout Group in Castle Street, Boston, was officially open.

Performing the honours was Lieut-Col G. A. Grounds, chairman of the County Scout Council and of the Boston and District Local Boy Scout Association.

The new premises, said to be far superior to any previously occupied by the group, had been converted from the old Witham Marsh School building.

* Shrove Tuesday in Boston would see a total of 280 pancakes fried by staff of the Boston General, Wyberton West, and White House hospitals, The Standard reported.

Pancakes were also being added to the menus at most Boston restaurants, including the White Hart Hotel, Oriental Chinese Restaurant and Elizabethan Restaurant.

This week in 1983 ...

* Boston midwife Norah Barker had a day to remember when she went to Buckingham Palace to receive her MBE from the Queen.

Sister Barker said: “It was very nice, but rather awe-inspiring!”

Miss Barker worked at Pilgrim Hospital and had delivered about 3,000 babies since she came to Boston in 1949. She was awarded the MBE for her service to the community.

She was one of about 130 people to receive their awards.

Miss Barker said she was too excited to notice much about the Queen, who asked what her work was and where she was from.

“She wore a simple turquoise dress,” Miss Barker said. “I was very nervous, but my impression was that she looked very nice.

* With the water strike 24 days old, the number of burst mains in the Boston district of the Anglian Water Authority had risen to six.

Standpipes had been set up in Frithville and East Kirkby where homes had been affected in the latest incidents.

In the whole of Lincoln division, the number of bursts reported had risen from 42 to 80 in the past week, and the total number of properties without water supplies had gone up from 447 to 1,135.