Christmas Through The Decades

Of course they could not know that it would be the last Christmas of the war.

After revolution and collapse in Russia, German divisions were pouring west. A storm was brewing for 1918.

A "special correspondent" writing in the Shrewsbury Chronicle - possibly Edgar Wallace as it appeared by a piece by him also written as a "special correspondent" - said: "The German is preparing for his last throw. He is staking everything upon that throw, and when he fails, as he will, to break the western line his darkest hour will have begun. I believe that peace will come in 1918."

This was to prove correct - an all-out attack by the Germans which fell on the British in March 1918 had spectacular initial victories but ultimately failed, after which the Germans accepted that the war was lost and sued for peace.

Shropshire's major hospital, the Royal Salop Infirmary in Shrewsbury - today it's The Parade shopping centre - was particularly full during the festive period.

Normally it would have seen around 100 patients, but this year there were nearly 150, of whom 50 were wounded soldiers. The building was gaily decorated, but not all of the decorations had a festive theme. In the soldiers' wards, representations of aeroplanes and zeppelins were suspended from the ceilings, and there was a display of military badges and flags.

The wounded just kept on coming from the carnage of the front. The Saturday before Christmas an ambulance train arrived in Shrewsbury carrying 130 wounded soldiers, who were distributed around local hospitals.

Just as there were many soldiers who did not live to see Christmas 1917, the same was true for 67-year-old collier William Lockley, of Chirk Bank, who was killed by a fall of coal at Ifton Colliery. The inquest was held on Christmas Eve. The main witness was his son, who was working with him.

And Ludlow's Thomas Cox was another who never lived to see Christmas. He was executed at Shrewsbury jail on December 19 for the murder of his wife.

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1927

A festive gift at Wem's Poor Law Institution - the workhouse, in other words - heralded the future.

Through the efforts of the master, one Mr F Rogers, a four-valve wireless was installed, and was used for the first time on Christmas Day, with the money coming from voluntary subscriptions. Four loudspeakers were installed in various parts of the institution, while those in the sick ward had headphones.

What did they listen to? We don't know the answer to that, but as it happens a broadcast on that day was the forerunner to Children In Need - the BBC's first ever broadcast appeal for children was a five-minute radio broadcast on Christmas Day in 1927. The response was phenomenal and it raised £1,143 18s 3d which was split between four prominent children's charities.

And another entertainment revolution was on the way, because only a few weeks earlier The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length "talkie" film, had had its world premiere in New York, although it would be a long time before sound movies would come to Shropshire.

Christmas is a time to think of others, and in Shrewsbury it was said that practically all the poor people who applied for help were assisted by the Mayor's fund, to which a large number of townsfolk contributed.

Fifty butchers between them gave 1,082lbs of meat, and other tradespeople made generous gifts of tea, bread and sugar, while Mr and Mrs Bourner, of the Empire Cafe sent two special boxes of groceries to two widows.

On the international stage, in the wake of the Great War, there was an effort to ensure there would be no more wars. The League of Nations, a noble but ultimately failed forerunner to the United Nations, had a busy year which included a conference to try to restrict the size of naval fleets. The parties could not agree and the naval arms race continued.

Hunt meets were written up in the local press, but there was disappointment for the Wheatland Hounds on Boxing Day because of bad weather which led to the hounds being called off.

For farmers the year did not end on a high note, with an outbreak of foot and mouth disease which affected Shropshire and stopped all movement of livestock without a licence.

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1937

Mmm... Looking for something different to do on Christmas Day? Then why not get married?

A number of Shropshire couples tied the knot on Saturday, December 25. Let's pick out just three - Miss Margaret Millicent Plant, of 303 Granville Buildings, Donnington Wood, and John Thomas Palin, of 310 Granville Buildings, at St George's Parish Church; Miss Gwendoline Elsie Powell, of Old Park, and Joshua Edmond Tart, of Holyhead Road, Oakengates, who wed at Oakengates Parish Church; and Miss Florrie Kathleen Edwards, of Slaney Street, Oakengates, and Richard Henry Morris, of Wroxeter, who wed at Wombridge Parish Church.

The Post Office at Shrewsbury reported record figures for both letters and parcel bags. During the two days before Christmas, 254,000 letters were posted locally. Parcel bags received were 20,000, a rise of 3,000 on the previous year.

And, difficult to believe now, there were deliveries on Christmas Day.

Every item of Christmas mail posted up to Christmas Eve was delivered before, or on, Christmas Day. During the Christmas period over 200 extra staff were employed.

Trains also ran on Christmas Day, basically being a Sunday service.

As for last minute gift suggestions, an advert from William Major Ltd of Mardol Head in Shrewsbury had a few. For men, how about silk pyjamas at only 24/6 - that would be around £1.20 or so in today's money. For the lady, a lightweight mackintosh might go down well, with prices ranging from 14/11 to 35/9. You wouldn't be forking out more than £2, in other words.

Meanwhile a balloon released at the Wrekin Horticultural Show had landed at Hamburg and the reply from the finder, Kuno Meikle, despite its halting English, inadvertently gave a flavour of the growing militarism in Germany which was soon to have tragic consequences for Europe: "...I am glad that you not bad think of us Germans. I send you a pair of pictures from the party-day, 1937, and from our young marine and forces, and from the air-weapon. I accept that you a little insight receive in the build-up German."

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1947

How's this for your dream, no-expense-spared, meal? Sherry, tomato soup, sole, roast chicken with roast potatoes, peas and sprouts, trifle and cream, cheese and biscuits and coffee.

A poll in 1947 showed that this was the fantasy meal of Britons in those days of rationing, which in some respects was even worse than in wartime.

Throw in a severe housing shortage and it was an austere post-war world in which newlywed couples had to live with their parents because there were no houses, and others in their desperation invaded former military accommodation sites and became squatters, turning the Nissen huts into homes.

In general, Britain was a nation in need of cheering up. Severe weather in early 1947 saw potatoes join the long list of things rationed - others included bread, meat, butter, sugar, tea, cheese, soap, sweets, clothing and petrol.

Amid it all Shrewsbury Town, a non-league club back then, had a titanic encounter in the second round of the FA Cup against league side Stockport County which was only resolved in the 327th minute of play. No penalty shoot-outs in those days!

Here's a quick summary: December 13, Stockport County 1, Shrewsbury Town 1 - match abandoned after 112 minutes through bad visibility.

Replay on December 20 at the Gay Meadow, Shrewsbury Town 2, Stockport County 2: The crowd was a record 13,489, beating the previous best of 13,462 set in 1938. Extra time could not split the teams.

Second replay, at Maine Road, Manchester, on December 22: Shrewsbury 2, Stockport County 3, after extra time.

Shrewsbury Town were back in action on Boxing Day in a Midland League match, while Wellington Town played at the Bucks Head on the morning of Christmas Day in a Cheshire League encounter against Crewe Alexandra Reserves.

There was a bit of Christmas cheer for some families seeking homes early in December with the arrival on flatbed lorries of 26 prefabricated bungalows for Wellington Urban Council's housing site at Slang Lane. They were all put up within five days.

In this year Shrewsbury hosted 115 guests from Zutphen, a Dutch town severely damaged in the war which Shrewsbury had "adopted".

December also saw one of Shropshire's more unusual road accidents, when a Lancaster bomber coming in to land at RAF Shawbury overshot the runway and hit the top of a car travelling along the Carradine road, driven by Mrs H.H. Crow, of Hardwicke Home Farm, Hadnall. The three people in the car and one person in the bomber were taken to hospital.

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1957

Quick, get along to the flicks, because the late 1950s were the dying days of the traditional cinemas as the rise and rise of television killed them off one by one.

In fact in various ways Britain was about to change forever. The decade to come would see many old public buildings and slums swept away, cinemas closing, and major advances in medicine, technology, and so on, not to mention all those social changes.

There were still many cinemas to go to - here are those which were advertising in the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News just before Christmas this year, and it will not be a complete list as of course some cinemas will not have advertised in that paper: in Shrewsbury, the Granada and Empire; in Wellington, the Clifton, Grand, and Town Hall; Oakengates, the Grosvenor; Ironbridge, the Plaza and the Central; Broseley, the Elite; Wem cinema; Wenlock cinema; the Picture House at Newport; the Regent at Madeley; and Broadway, Shifnal.

If you didn't fancy the pictures, there were many dances, big and small, around the county to choose from.

In Wellington one of the main entertainment venues was The Majestic in New Street, with dancing and music over Christmas courtesy of Charles Wall and his Orchestra, with vocalist Roy Dale, and also the Windsor Hayes skiffle group.

This year saw the writing on the wall for steam trains, as the first diesel services appeared on Shropshire railways, and while it is the 1960s which is general associated with redevelopment, the plans were being laid in the 1950s, and these included proposals in 1957 which would develop the area of High Street, John Street, and Glebe Street in Wellington and involved much demolition of homes of buildings.

The real Christmas present for Shropshire in 1957 was somewhat delayed. In January 1958 the Canadian anti-polio Salk vaccine was used for the first time in Shropshire, with an initial supply of 900 doses.

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1967

The death of Louis Washkansky made headlines around the world. He had made history when he became the first person to have a heart transplant on December 3, the pioneering operation being conducted in South Africa by Dr Christiaan Barnard. He died of pneumonia after 18 days, but it was to herald a new era in which organ transplants could transform people's lives.

Of largely forgotten significance was that Barnard used a donor heart from a brain-dead patient, making acceptable the use or organs from brain-dead people.

Shropshire was in the grip of a major foot and mouth epidemic and the Shropshire Star published regular maps showing the latest outbreaks. The heartbreak for farmers just kept on coming. Over four days including Christmas day there were 73 new cases. People were asked to keep off agricultural land.

On December 23, a Saturday and the final shopping day before Christmas, every car park in Shrewsbury was full except one by 10.30am, and that parking area was one few motorists knew about - a stretch of Victoria Avenue between St Julian's Friars and the Kingsland Bridge that the town council had made temporarily available.

Miners at Highley Colliery had been issued with a bombshell just before Christmas with news that the pit was to be shut down, so it was a little ironic that the pit set a new output record in December. The closure date had been set at June 30, 1968, although in the event Highley did not close until 1969.

Students at Shrewsbury School of Art were seeing spots before the eyes, and it was nothing to do with the after-effects of seasonal drinking. They were conducting an experiment in colour and were acting as guinea pigs in which they sat in a large box with spotted coloured walls for five minutes and then had to describe the effect it had on them.

Police in Shropshire were now using the Mini Cooper S patrol car, with a top speed said, rather optimistically, to be 100mph-plus. The Minis were white, and soon all patrol cars in the county would be white to keep in line with other vehicles in the West Mercia Constabulary, of which the old Shropshire Constabulary became a part in October 1967.

And a Shropshire rector who had taken up the post of chaplain on one of the world's most remote islands, Tristan da Cunha, was returning early. The Rev Paul Davies, former rector of Llandrinio, had left with his young family in early 1966, on what was planned to be a three-year posting.

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1977

Two days before Christmas Day, the Sex Pistols came to Newport... and Newport survived.

Our reviewer of that night at The Village said the fears proved groundless, and apart from the size of the audience, there was little difference to the usual Friday night.

As for singer Johnny Rotten, "it was difficult to regard him as a major threat to civilised society."

They played on what was the warmest December night for over 30 years, with 59F recorded at Lilleshall.

There were major changes to Shropshire's hospitals at the end of the year, with the Royal Salop Infirmary in Shrewsbury town centre closing on November 20 and its last patients being transferred to the new Copthorne General Hospital, as it was known then, and on the very last day of the year RAF Cosford Hospital, which had treated both civilian and military patients, shut.

One of the big crazes of the time was skateboarding, although nobody was sure whether it was just a passing fad, and a Shropshire personality who was often in the news, prankster Poddy Podmore, surpassed himself with his latest stunt, when he dressed as Santa and scaled the walls of Shrewsbury Jail laden with presents for the prisoners.

One police officer radioed in to report: "Father Christmas is climbing the walls of the prison," to receive the reply: "Go on. Where's his reindeer and sleigh?"

This being the 1970s, there had of course to be a strike. By Christmas time Britain's firefighters were already six weeks into a strike over pay, with troops being drafted in to provide emergency cover. Ironically a pickets' hut used by the strikers at Oakengates Fire Station was burned down over Christmas.

The firefighters were seeking a pay rise of 30 per cent and no, that's not a misprint. They eventually settled for 10 per cent in January.

Amid it all, a new Shropshire pub opened, the Clive Arms, at Bromfield, near Ludlow, on Christmas Eve.

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1987

There was no festive sporting cheer for Oswestry where Shropshire's third biggest football club, Oswestry Town, was facing extinction. The club, said to be the oldest senior soccer club in the country, seemed doomed after failing to find a new home. Last gasp talks to find a new base failed when club representatives were told there was no possibility of a move to the agricultural showground at Park Hall.

Still, there was always the cinema, including in Oswestry, where the Regal was reopening after the Christmas break with Snow White, the Witches of Eastwick, Masters of the Universe and Inner Space.

Snow White was also the post-Christmas fare at the Empire in Shrewsbury, with the horror movie The Fly showing in late evenings, while at the Clifton in Wellington, Masters of the Universe was being shown. The Clifton? Yes, it was open, enjoying a new lease of life, although it was to prove temporary, having on May 12, 1987, been officially reopened in its 50th anniversary year, using the old circle.

There was an offer you couldn't refuse at the Park Lane nightclub at Raven Meadows in Shrewsbury, which like all nightclubs and discos in the county town was going to have to close at midnight on Christmas Eve. It was offering admission of £3.50 on the door or £2.50 in advance, and before 9pm lager was 99p, and vodka and mix was also 99p.

Shropshire pop sensations T'Pau stayed at number one for five weeks with their single China In Your Hand and lead singer Carol Decker was invited to turn on Wellington's Christmas lights, although in the event she cancelled because of tour commitments.

Just before Christmas a tiled mural was unveiled by Telford Development Corporation's chairman, Frank Jones, at Donnington, depicting the Giotto mission to Halley's comet. The Giotto probe had passed within 370 miles of the comet's core during its last return to earth in 1986.

In Parliament a big new flagship policy by Mrs Thatcher's government was under pressure from an alliance of senior Tories and Labour MPs. The policy was to replace the rates with what Mrs Thatcher called the community charge, but everybody else called the poll tax.

In the Welsh seaside town of Borth, Mid Wales farmer Ted Jones continued his tradition of going to his local, the Friendship Inn, riding his mare Star straight into the bar for his Christmas drink.

"This year the bar was crowded and Star was nudging customers out of the way, but they didn't seem to mind," he said. The tradition had started in 1974 as a bet.

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1997

This was a Christmas to blow you away.

Christmas Eve gales brought down dozens of power cables in Shropshire, Cheshire, North Wales and Cumbria.

Hundreds of homes in North Shropshire lost power and villagers in Woore and Soudley, near Market Drayton, were still without power on Boxing Day, 48 hours after the supply was cut.

There were seismic events on the national political stage where Tony Blair was swept into power in the general election on May 1, bringing an end to 18 years of Tory rule. Locally there was a sensational result when Labour won the Shrewsbury seat for the first time in history. Three of the five Shropshire seats were won by Labour, with Ludlow and North Shropshire both resisting the tide.

Overshadowing all over the second part of the year was the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash in Paris. The sole survivor of the crash was Trevor Rees-Jones, of Whittington, near Oswestry, the bodyguard of Diana's companion Dodi Fayed.

What were the great offers at Sainsbury's? Save £7 on 18 cans of Stella Artois, down from £19.99 to £12.99. Fifteen cans of John Smith's Bitter had been double discounted, down from £10.99 to £7.69.

The Spice Girls hit the coveted Christmas number one spot for the second year running, knocking "Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh!" from the top of the charts with their single "Too Much."

Some enterprising pub landlords in Shropshire were acting as Christmas chauffeurs to ensure revellers did not take the risk of drink driving. They said the "run you home" services were proving popular with customers. One of those offering an unofficial taxi service in his van most nights was John Sproson, licensee of the isolated Stiperstones Inn, at Stiperstones.

Sainsbury's in Telford and Shrewsbury experimented with 24 hour opening immediately before Christmas Day, giving customers a chance to stock up at the last minute, and reported that it proved a huge success despite some shelves being emptied, while in Oswestry Somerfield's said its decision to stay open for 58 hours non-stop paid off, with the store crowded throughout the night.

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2007

Surely you can't have forgotten already? We're only going back 10 years.

Let's see if you can remember what was on the telly on Christmas Day.

There were back-to-back films in the afternoon on BBC 1, with Finding Nemo followed by Shrek 2. Early evening viewing brought you Kylie Minogue as a guest star on Doctor Who, in a story set aboard the Titanic. EastEnders, a Strictly Come Dancing Special, and a special one-off episode of To the Manor Born would have taken most folk up to bedtime. Incidentally the 2017 Strictly champion was Alesha Dixon.

ITV 1 had The Polar Express and Love Actually as its big films for the day. Along the way you could watch Harry Hill's Christmas TV Burp and an hour-long episode of Coronation Street ("John's affair is uncovered when he muddles up Rosie and Fiz's presents, leading to an explosive encounter...")

The panto at Shrewsbury Music Hall, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, starring Neighbours actress Natalie Blair, broke all previous box office records while a poll of Shropshire Star readers saw them pick Keira Knightley's romantic drama Atonement as their choice of the best film to hit the county's cinema screens in 2007. The movie had been filmed in part at Stokesay Court, near Craven Arms.

Crowds turned out in a number of Shropshire towns for the traditional Boxing Day hunts, which hunt supporters insisted were more popular than ever despite the act which had made it illegal to hunt with hounds. For instance, around 2,000 people gathered in Newport centre, where the Albrighton Hunt meet coincided with a parade by the town's carriage club involving around 12 to 15 carriages raising money for the air ambulance.