A BEACH for sale, a jewellery store robbed and a pensioner saved from a quarry fall, reporter Eddie Bisknell takes a look back through the decades for some Gazette nostalgia.

October 1977

AFTER two raids in ten days on Dursley jeweller Ken Hart, it was Wottonunder-Edge’s turn.

The window of Kenneth Fowles’ shop in Long Street was smashed and raiders got away with three watches worth nearly £3,000.

FRAMPTON’S sewer pipes were adjudged to be too small by Severn Trent Water Authority.

At a meeting with Stroud District Council a spokesman said the authority refused to adopt certain four inch diameter sewers at Glebe Close, Frampton-on-Severn, because they were too small.

A NEWS storm blew through South Gloucestershire over the news that two former high ranking Scotland Yard officers had already been transferred to Leyhill Open Prison.

This was because most long-term prisoners were usually kept in a closed prison for a year before being considered for an open one.

October 1987

A MAJOR effort was launched to halt the flow of single young people who quit Yate for Bristol looking for accommodation.

A meeting was held at St Mary’s Youth Centre to encourage people to tackle the problem in the form of new housing schemes.

FIFTY years of service to the priesthood were celebrated by a Thanksgiving Eucharist at Dursley parish church.

The service was well attended by parishioners from local churches including North Nibley and Stinchcombe, where the Reverend Patrick Goater served before his retirement.

PILNING and Severn Beach Parish Council was urged to buy a two-acre area of beach which was on the market for £12,000.

There was concern that the new owners would restrict access to the site.

October 1997

A DOWNEND man was leaving the rocks of the Avon Gorge behind him and was heading for the treacherous faces of the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest.

Development engineer Bryan Stadden (then 36) of Greenleaze Close, Downend, was one of 16 climbers heading for the Himalayas as part of a Territorial Army expedition.

ONE farmer in Pucklechurch was calling for a disused road to be blocked off so that travellers could not use it as an illegal camp.

Tony Gibbs, of Cliff Cottage, claimed gypsies parked in Batchfield Lane were aggressive and had damaged his tractor.

A BRAVE Wick man, who risked his life to help a pensioner stranded 20 feet down a quarry face, received an award from the British Red Cross.

Dennis Thornhill had scrambled down the rockface to comfort Syd Bolton who had slipped into Wick Quarry while picking mushrooms in his garden.

October 2007

WORK had begun on a £12.5 million project to build Yate’s new community health centre.

Construction of a temporary base for the town’s West Walk GP practice heralded the start of work on the long-awaited facility.

PRESSURE was mounting for a rethink on cost-cutting plans to reduce a valuable Thornbury bus service.

Proposals to cut the 312 service to Parkway Station, the University of the West of England and Frenchay Hospital had caused an outcry.

WILDLIFE held up the builders at Rednock School but work was still on schedule for a 2009 completion.

There was a temporary delay after concerns that badgers were using the surrounding fields and bats were roosting in the trees.