100 YEARS AGO

● July was reported as being the wettest month for ten years, with a record 3.96 inches of rainfall compared with an average of 2.35 inches over the last ten years.

● The body of a Nash farm labourer was discovered in a local reen and taken to the belfry of Nash Church to await an inquest.

● A Newport man was admitted to County Hospital with injuries to his back caused by a stab from a hat pin.

● A sum of £50 was raised by the town council committee and friends to give poor children in Maindee, Lliswerry, Victoria and St Julians wards a treat.

● Newport’s new Chief Constable, Mr C.E. Gower, took the formal oath of allegiance before a full bench of magistrates at Newport Police Court.

50 YEARS AGO

● The RAC described the August bank holiday as damp, dismal and depressing with the weather contributing to the quietest bank holiday on the roads for many years.

● Criticism of Newport’s £32,000 central bus station straddling Dock Street and Kingsway reached its zenith at a conference in County Hall, Newport.

● It was announced that Newport boxer Dick Richardson would fight Henry Cooper for the British and Empire Heavyweight Championship at Empire Pool, Wembley.

● The boys’ wing of Newport High School was saved from total destruction by firemen in breathing apparatus who stopped a raging inferno only yards from a supply of highly inflammable chemicals stored in the school laboratory.

25 YEARS AGO

● A woman was sent to jail for 90 days by Cwmbran magistrates because there were no psychiatric facilities in the county to treat her

● Thousands of Gwent schoolchildren were stripped of their right to free school meals, following changes in social security rules.

● Gwent County Council planning committee warned that proposals for new retail parks at available sites on Spytty Road and in Cwmbran town centre could not be ignored as they were becoming increasing popular with many sectors of the community.

● Record numbers of abandoned dogs were being destroyed in Gwent as local kennels ran out of room for them.

● A-level examination results showed that the figures for Gwent fell well below the average for Wales, with a pass rate of 70.6% compared to the national pass rate of 74.4%.