LOOKING BACK
EACH week we look back at Isle of Wight history and heritage, using the Isle of Wight County Press Archive.For more, please see the Isle of Wight County Press newspaper, every Friday.Search for your own stories by accessing our archive here.

Ten years ago: Around 100 bags full of debris from the cargo ship Napoli were washed ashore on the Island beaches.
Items included BMW first-aid kits, boxes of chocolates and bottles of shampoo.
The debris had swept in from the coast of Dorset, where the 62,000-tonne ship ran aground and broke up in stormy weather a month earlier.

100 Years Ago
March 3, 1917


THE rural notices were particularly frantic as those involved in food production looked desperately at ways to maximise the output and minimise waste.
In an effort to maintain the sanctity of the sabbath while not wasting a moment of valuable time, it was suggested labourers be preached to as they toiled in the fields on a Sunday.
Other suggestions included ploughing the fields by night as well as by day and conscripting conscientious objectors and prisoners of war into the fields.
One notice said: "The public does not yet seem to have been brought to realise the serious scarcity of potatoes … if drastic measures are not taken at once in every household and public resort, it is possible there will be no potatoes at all in the country in May and June."

75 Years Ago
March 7, 1942


Warship Week was deemed a rousing success. The County Press reported: "As we confidently predicted in our latest issue, the people of the Island have made a noble respond to the Warship Week appeal."
As a whole, the Island raised £292,842 (£2,661,755 in today’s money) towards the construction of warships.


50 Years Ago
February 25, 1967


The Island mourned its history as two, 200ft-high cranes standing in a disused East Cowes shipyard were pulled down.
Formerly J. Samuel White’s, the area had to be cleared to make way for a development by the British Hovercraft Corporation and the 160-ton SRN4 cross-Channel hovercraft.


25 Years Ago
March 6, 1992


The Island spokesman for Britain’s shortest-lived regiment was campaigning to get the unit properly recognised.
Jock East, 75, of Ryde, served in the Glider Pilot Regiment, which was inaugurated in 1942 and disbanded in 1957.
During the war, it lost a high proportion of its 2,500 volunteers serving over Norway, Normandy, Sicily and Arnhem.


10 Years Ago
March 2, 2007


The IW Council was the worst performing in its group, with a two-star, adequate rating.
The Conservative administration fell down in education, affordable housing and performance management.
However, it was noted an improvement had been made on previous years.


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