1900

Felix writes of'cannibal den’-in Tontine Street.

it Q/\/\IRATE writer in the Herald Felix was questioning the different treatment meted out to ‘entertainers.' He said he had never known so much public indignation as there had been against a Council decision to outlaw certain "outdoor entertainers" and was scathing about a local 'den' of Councillor Payer, in Tontine Street with its open door to the street inviting people in to sec a palmist and other delights. “During the past few days a savage king of the cannibal islands has been holding seances in a hall popularly known as the Cave of Adullam, in Tontine Street." he wrote. And the police were kept busy making crowds move on as they tended to gather outside. "Within the walls of the cave a piano-organ has been turning out music with astonishing vigour. The noise has been deafening." So different he added, to the singing of the outlawed street entertainers. Meanwhile an anonymous resident of Cheriton had written complaining not only of flies but rats which were openly playing on lawns, eating the bulbs in the garden, making holes in the floors of cycle sheds and In the garden too. Rats carried not only the plague but other diseases, said tin* rr.ulir.

1925

Parachutes promise for RAF - after pilot killed.

nl qaf A VERDICT of misadventure was recorded JL«7d>>3 at the inquest on experienced RAF flier Flight Lieut Arthi-r Cuddon-Davis. 29, from Hawkingc. whose Sopwith Snipe biplane crashed out of control near the waterworks reservoirs after a fault caused one set of wings to fold-up. It was suggested his life might have been saved if he had been wearing a parachute and an RAF spokesman said it had been decided RAF pilots would, in future, be equipped with them. The name of Herbert George Martin Copping. 21. of Denmark Street, was being inscribed on the Carnegie Roll of Heroes, the Herald reported, to commemorate his efforts in saving a boy from drowning in a pond at the Warren, in July. The boy, Arthur Waller, 15. of Bridge St, was brought to safety by Reginald Parker, of Myrtle Road, after George Copping became exhausted and drowned. The Royal Humane Society also honoured Mr Copping, who was out walking at the time with his fiancee when he made the ill-fated rescue bid. Local garage firms Martin Wiiltci and Rowland-Rouse competed with each other for two weeks in the size of their advertisements announcing their role in the London Motor Show at Olympia, both being involved with the stands of different car manufacturers, while Harbour Garages Ltd took a much smaller space.

1950

Moves to clear up local devastation of last war.

QCrtTHE COUNCIL received Government .L«70U sanction for its plans to deal with war-damaged property and announced that compulsory purchase powers would be used to clear dangerous buildings in the harbour area. But the Ministry of Town & Country Planning said the war damage area should be divided up into sections and those intended to be redeveloped with housing should be dealt with first. It was also advocated the Ministry of Transport should be consulted over a new road line for Harbour Street. Some councillors said they still had inadequate powers to deal with dilapidated property which gave a bad impression of the district to visitors, particularly those arriving by sea. Cllr F.W. Archer said the first view they got was of ''pretty dilapidated and disgusting" property. The Brough theatre partnership of Arthur Brough and his wife Elizabeth Addyman, heading a company long known as the Brough Players, was celebrating 21 years of repertory in Folkestone at the Leas Pavilion. They started off with a capital of £50. which was all they had, and ran a successful little theatre for years. The achievement was detailed in a lengthy feature in the Herald, naming particularly stage manager Bert Mason, who estimated he built 1.500 sets in 21 years.

1975

Tied Piper’ mayor Thomas praised for kids’ holiday.

>4 FOLKESTONE'S "Pied Piper" mayor, Cllr.

_L^7 / 9 George Thomas was praised in the town's parish magazine for his work in bringing 240 children to the town for a holiday break away from the troubles of Northern Ireland. But not everyone was happy about the children. Inevitably, perhaps, in a group of 240 children there were the odd 'bad eggs' and there were complaints of two young girls staying out all hours and of stealing from their hosts. It seemed scarcely believable that Folkestone and Hythe were so behind in their thinking that they dumped three million gallons of untreated sewage into the sea every day, wrote the Herald editor in an editorial. The official line that been that the risk to health was minimal, he wrote, but to the layman concerned with hygiene this seemed extraordinary. At the same time the district was trying to sell itself as a resort: "Let us hope that first impressions prove to be wrong.....before all of us get a grandstand seat at the epidemic." Councillors thought nothing should be done about suggestions the district should have a site designated for gipsies to cope with any need that should arise. One member summed up the feeling of the majority when he said "If you have not got a problem, why make one?" Hythe man Cyril Hardy was made a Knight of the Order of Pope St Sylvester in recognition of his work for Roman Catholics in the island state of Bahrain in the oil-rich Arabian Gulf.