TEN years ago: It was a tall order but Ben Andrews achieved the near impossible the year earlier by completing the entire 26-and-a-half-mile Walk the Wight on stilts.
He was preparing to repeat the feat but this time with the aim of setting records.
Along with fellow Ryde Extreme performers, Matt Woods and Chris Harris, the trio were confident they could complete the walk in eight-and-a-half hours.

100 Years Ago
May 12, 1917

SPRING marked the first assault on Ottoman defences in the infamously disastrous Dardanelles campaign, spearheaded by Winston Churchill.
The County Press made special tribute to those who died fighting on the Helles front.
“As at Gallipoli, so again at Gaza, the Islanders of the Hampshire Regiment have paid a terribly heavy toll of missing, wounded, and killed in their fighting with the Turks.
“On behalf of the Island as a whole, we offer respectful homage of the deepest sympathy to all who mourn, in the hope they may find comfort in the knowledge that their dear dead have done their duty with a nobility, unselfishness and patriotism which has lifted them to the rank of nature’s nobility, and that they rest from the labours in sure and certain hope of a joyful meeting with all they ever hailed as beloved on Earth.”

75 Years Ago
May 16, 1942

The mysterious death of a Wellow man remained unsolved after an inquest was unable to determine the cause of a gruesome accident.
The man was working alone in a field when he was knocked down and crushed by his tractor.
The coroner could not make out how the man came to be behind the tractor while it was reversing.

50 Years Ago
May 13, 1967

A feasibility report submitted by the county surveyor sparked the debate that would last for decades — will there ever be a Medina bridge?
The most suitable spot highlighted was half a mile upstream from the floating bridge. Projected costs for the Medina crossing lay between £930,000 and £610,000 (£15.5 million and £10 million in today’s money).

25 Years Ago
May 15, 1992

IW Radio, the Island’s pioneering commercial radio station, was poised for a £250,000 (£474,789 in today’s money) takeover with a majority of its shareholders backing a bid from leading West Country group, GWR.
The move was seen by some as a lifeline to the long-term future of the station, but chairman Roger Peck said there was no question the station would not have survived without the GWR offer.

10 Years Ago
July 9, 2004

One of the world’s top aluminium super-yacht produces, Palmer Johnson, confirmed a move to East Cowes.
The move, which was part of the firm’s European expansion, would initially create 70 jobs.
A spokesman from Palmer Johnson said: “Cowes Harbour is considered a prestigious location in the yachting world.”