MEMORY LANE: What made the news in High Peak 10, 25 and 50 years ago

10 YEARS AGO

Calls to save hospital: Campaigners want Buxton residents to join their fight to stop cut-backs at Macclesfield Hospital.

Members of the ‘Save Our Wards’ group say that if there are closures in Macclesfield it will affect healthcare provision provided to future generations in the High Peak.

A group of Primary Care Trusts have proposed options for change in the area which in some cases could mean cut-backs at Macclesfield Hospital.

Cafe closure causes a stir: Supermarket giant Tesco has been accused of putting profits ahead of its customers in Whaley Bridge.

The UK’s biggest supermarket chain has angered local residents by closing the cafe at its Bridgemont store, claiming it was under-used.

Shop takeover: Quality supermarket chain Waitrose has announced plans for a new food store in Buxton which will become its first in Derbyshire.

The company has acquired the Somerfield store in Spring Gardens Shopping Centre.

All 75 existing employees will be offered the opportunity to become partners in the business and share in the unique benefits of employee ownership.

The new Buxton store forms part of an agreement to acquire five stores from Somerfield.

25 YEARS AGO

Donkeys find new home: Actor Tony Britton helped John and Annie Stirling launch their rehoused donkey sanctuary near Wormhill on Friday.

The move followed problems over the lease of the sanctuary’s original site at Pictor Hall in the wake of last summer’s visit by the BBC Challenge Anneka programme.

Mr Stirling said the 17-acre sanctuary is home to 23 “and a half” donkeys, as one, Misty, is pregnant.

Highest honour: Chapel-en-le-Frith are to bestow their highest honour on parish councillor Muriel Bertha Bradbury.

Last week Chapel Parish Council voted unanimously in Mrs Bradbury’s absence to make her an honorary townsman of Chapel.

The honour is being awarded for her “outstanding service, to the parish and in particular her continuous and dedicated service as a parish councillor for 26 years.”

Market fees waived: Bad weather has brought good news for market traders.

High Peak Council has decided that it won’t charge stallholders in Buxton and Chapel-en-le-Frith for the week when snow kept most of them away.

“We felt it was only fair not to charge for that week,” said Cllr Mike Loader on the policy change.

50 YEARS AGO

New mayor: Councillor Noel Ratcliffe is to be the Mayor of Buxton for the municipal year 1966-67 - the year the town celebrates its 50th anniversary as a borough. He succeeds Daisy Ludlow, the present civic head. Coun Ratcliffe is to have as his Mayoress his wife, Mary Ratcliffe.

Common market: The importance of Britain gaining entry into the European Common Market was stressed by Christopher Soames at a meeting at Buxton Town Hall on Monday night.

Mr Soames, who was opposition spokesman on foreign affairs and who has had a distinguished political career, was speaking in support of David Walder, Conservative candidate for High Peak in the forthcoming election.

After referring to the missed chances of joining the Common Market, Mr Soames said he was convinced another opportunity would come - and his guess was that this would probably be in 1967 or 1968. “It will probably be the last chance Britain will ever have of joining the Common Market,” he said.

100 bulbs blown: Bakewell District Council’s General Purposes Committee heard complaints about electric light bulbs being blown as the result of surges in voltages at Taddington. One councillor said 100 light bulbs on his premises had gone since Christmas.