50 years ago

EXTRACTS from the Barry & District News of October 17, 1963:

• Several residents of Woodlands Road are making strong complaints over the condition of their tap water. On Saturday Bruce Vincent, general secretary of the YMCA, when running bathwater for his young son noticed sand and grit on the bottom of the bath. Mr Vincent examined the water more closely and actually saw something swimming around!

• Two sisters opened a hairdressing salon yesterday (Wednesday) a few yards away from the public house where their parents are the licensees. The salon will be run by Pauline and Judith Whelan and will be called “The Witchell” – the same name as their parents’ hotel in Barry Road.

• One of the main criticisms of Barry’s Memorial Hall – the fact that the main hall can be entered only through the Hall of Memory – will be remedied if the Finance Committee and the Town Council agree to a scheme for a £29,000 annexe to be added to the south side of the building facing Gladstone Road.

25 years ago

EXTRACTS from the Barry & District News of October 20, 1988:

• To casual observers it’s just a red-brick multi-storey car park designed to relieve some of the parking congestion that plagues Barry’s town centre side streets. But others see the £900,000 building, which opened this week at the Court Road/Holton Road junction as a practical declaration of faith in the future prosperity of the town.

• A £272 cheque has been presented to the children’s special needs unit at Llandough Hospital by 14-year-old Sian Evans, who raised the money through a garden fete at her Barry home. Sian and her mum Anne, presented the cheque to Richard Nicholson, chairman of the Llandough Special Children’s Trust and his daughter Sara, and Dr Jo Sibert, consultant paediatrician.

• Shirley Houghey of Pontypridd Road, Barry, was one of 20 Jehovah’s Witnesses baptised during a district convention attended by over 1,000 Witnesses at the Barry Memorial Hall last weekend. The convention comprised a programme of talks, interviews and demonstrations with the baptisms taking place at Llantrisant Kingdom Hall.