All Our Yesterdays – a monthly look at Harlow in years gone by.

By Ian Beckett

Introduction

WHERE were you as 1999 ended and the new Millenium loomed? 

What were your hopes, expectations, and fears? 

Were you worried that you might wake up on 1^st January 2000 and discover that your kettle, your television, and your washing machine wouldn’t work because we had all fallen foul of the “millennium bug”? 

Who thought for a moment that, in twenty years’ time, life as we knew it would grind to a temporary halt as a bug that was very real, Covid 19, would hit the world?

On Thursday 30^th December 1999 the Harlow Star published issue 1021 of its weekly newspaper and that will be the focus of this month’s blog.

Front Page News 

Two stories on the front page, are sandwiched between season’s greetings from The Star and Harlow Garden Centre and an advert from Harlow College, vying for attention.

POLICE PROBE FIGHT AFTER MAN’S DEATH

Beverley Rouse, Harlow Star’s Chief Reporter, informed readers of the death of a 22-year-old man, Earl Challis, in Maidstone General Hospital, following “a fracas in Spinning Wheel Mead” the previous week. 

How and why did he end up in hospital in Maidstone?

The day after the “fracas” was Christmas Eve and Mr Challis, began to feel unwell, and was taken by ambulance to Princess Alexandra’s Casualty Department. Although PAH staff managed to stabilise Mr Challis it was determined that he needed to be in Intensive Care. All of Harlow’s five ICU beds were full, as were all the other ICU beds in Essex. Maidstone was the closest ICU bed that could be found.

Acting Detective Inspector Trevor Roe said the police had a duty to investigate whether the altercation Mr Challis had been involved in was a factor in his death. “During the assault he would have potentially received some blows” he said. “Whether that’s connected with the death, we can only be 100% satisfied when the postmortem report comes back.” 

Two men and a 16-year-old youth were arrested and released on bail until the end of February.

Rapid Response from Princess Alexandra Hospital Staff.

Photographs and the headline “Plane crash puts emergency services to the test” accompany a report on the crash of a Korean Air 747 jumbo jet on the evening of Wednesday 22^nd December, in fields near Hatfield Forest, close to Stansted Airport. 

Harlow’s hospital staff were put on alert within minutes of the incident. “More than 100 staff at Princess Alexandra Hospital reported for duty with fifteen minutes of the emergency call going out, half the time it was expected to take.” 

Over 200 police and firefighters attended the scene, however, the emergency was “stepped down” when it was established that the victims – the four crew on board – were all fatalities. 

Harlow MP Bill Rammell issued an immediate call for “all Korean Air flights to be banned” from Stansted Airport. Mr Rammell said he was extremely worried that “initial reports suggest that Korean Air has an appalling record on safety, with nine crashes in the last two years alone.”

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is pictured thanking firefighters at the site of the incident, the day after the crash.

CHRISTMAS CRACKER – A special festive delivery.

Despite the bleakness of the front page, there are more than a few reasons to be cheerful within the Millenium Star. Once again, Princess Alexandra Hospital were kept on their toes, this time on Christmas Day when 29-year-old Jennifer Baker arrived in labour in the early hours of the morning – two days earlier than anticipated!

After a speedy and very special delivery, five hours later Jennifer and her partner Gary, were blessed with a daughter, Stephanie, who weighed 8lbs and the traditional “Mother and Child Born on Christmas Day” photo was shared with the community.

That was The Year, That Was….

“A Review of the Year” is a familiar feature towards the end of the year across many mediums and the Harlow Star was no exception. If 1992 was an annus horribilis for the late Queen Elizabeth II, readers of the Millenium Star might have been left with the same feeling about Harlow in 1999, as they lead with the headline “School Closures, a College Strike and Town Park Anger”.

In their month-by-month breakdown, there is indeed a dearth of “good news stories” – five to be precise, and one of those might be considered a matter of opinion. As to the headline stories:

• The school in question was Maunds Wood Primary. 

In May 1999, Harlow Council unanimously passed an emergency motion calling on Essex County Council to re-examine the plans to shut down the Parnall Road school.

Parents, who began their campaigning against the closure in March 1999, applauded the move and urged Harlow’s county councillors on the education committee – Tony Durcan and Rene Morris – to follow suit.

Lib Dem leader Lorna Spenceley, who put forward the motion, said: “This now means we have a consensus about how Harlow Council stands on the schools’ review. I do hope this will signal steps by Harlow to try to influence the county council to re-examine the issues.”

However, speaking after the meeting, County Councillor Durcan said: “Unfortunately the decision stands. The only way this can be overturned is through the Secretary of State for Education.” The school’s fate was sealed.

• In May 1999, The Star reported that “Lecturers at Harlow College took to the picket lines after voting for strike action”.

The industrial action was in response to the introduction of new contracts and workloads, which were deemed excessive by staff. Despite the strike led by trade UCU, which lasted for five days, 97 out of 179 teaching staff were made redundant. The college’s principal, Colin Hindmarch, claimed that the new terms and conditions of the contracts would improve standards, but the union argued that the workloads were not sustainable. 

• In June 1999, The Star reported on a growing “furore surrounding plans to build a new sports centre on the Town Park showground”.

Harlow Council had begun consulting residents on emerging plans to build a combined sports centre and swimming pool complex on approximately 37 acres of Harlow’s prestigious Town Park. The Star said that in a telephone poll of readers “a massive 72.5% registered an emphatic “No” to the idea.”

The opposition to these plans galvanised into an alliance of concerned locals known as HOOP – Hands Off Our Park – who successfully raised awareness of the consequences of building the £10 million complex. In preserving the space at the Town Park, HOOP was successful. In terms of sports facilities, Harlow Leisurezone opened on June 23, 2010, offering swimming, fitness classes, and sports activities residents and visitors. It is reasonable to say, in my opinion, that this leisure centre has both its fans and its detractors. 

In other news, in November 1999, “the last of Harlow’s great new town pioneers, Dr Ben Hyde Harvey, died at the age of 91. Dr Harvey worked for 26 years with the Harlow Development Corporation to develop the town and had his name set in stone when the Harvey Centre was named after him; and in December 1999, “Tories in Harlow made their opening shot to win the town’s seat at the next General Election when the party chose Robert Halfon as its candidate. Mr Halfon immediately went on the offensive again Bill Rammell by accusing him of caring more for Europe than for the town.” The rest, as they say, is history. 

So, across the twelve months of 1999 was there any good news to share with residents. The Harlow Star’s “Review of the Year” devoted approximately 8% of its review in the form of a montage of four photographs.

These photographs illustrated:

Dog brought back to life –

“Quick-thinking Len and Angela Doree, of Park Mead, Harlow, brought their pet Yorkshire Terrier Suzie back from the dead by giving her the kiss of life when she swallowed her tongue in January 1999”. 

Snake in the loo – 

“6-year-old Marcus Tylers almost jumped out of his skin when he noted a snake at the bottom of the toilet”. The Californian corn snake had gone missing from the home of Church Leys neighbour, Hilary Johnson, in March 1999.

Hawks flying high –

In April 1999, “Harlow Town Football Club was riding high as it clinched promotion for the second season running and progressed to Division One of the Ryman League”.

“Sugar” sweet for Cinders –

In February 1999, Mark Hall pupil Nicola Whitebread “won a national modelling competition in Sugar magazine and jetted off to Los Angeles for a week-long photoshoot”. The year continued to be successful for Nicola of Priory Avenue, Old Harlow when she went on to secure the lead role in The Playhouse pantomime “Cinderella.” Which leads us nicely on to…. 

OH, NO IT DIDN’T – Oh, YES it did!!

The Millenium Star’s leisure page celebrates Harlow’s seasonal offerings with the headline “Sights and sounds make the occasion” leaning heavily upon the success of the annual pantomime at The Playhouse, “Cinderella.”

In the early days of The Playhouse, the pantomime was produced and presented by a visiting company. In 1979, a decision was made to bring the pantomime “in-house” and Aladdin’s lamp, Cinderella’s coach, and Dick Whittington’s streets were pretty much paved with gold in the years that followed.

The Star reports that, with “Cinderella”, local director Phil Dale and writer Brian Herring had created “a sumptuous romp packed with laughs, thrills and excitement as Prince Charming searches a land for a foot to fit the glass slipper left behind by the one he loves”.

The Star urged readers wanting a ticket to The Playhouse pantomime to contact the Box Office quickly, as by the second preview night 80% of tickets had been sold. The “colourful and acclaimed” production of Cinderella ran until 15^th January 2,000 and I am reliably informed that it finished Happily Ever After.

And finally…

So, there we have it. My final blog in this series “All Our Yesterdays – a monthly look at Harlow in years gone by.”

I remember that when I pitched the idea to Your Harlow, I did so with a degree of, not only “I can do this”, which I was fairly certain I could, but “this will be a stroll in the park”, which it absolutely hasn’t. I’m grateful to Michael Casey for giving me the opportunity, knowing that he would steer me in the right direction with a cautionary “is that wise?” should I err or find myself out of my depth.

Writing these blogs has given me an insight into the world of journalism, style, substance and, above all, the importance of being connected to your community, your audience, and your lifeblood. I have also rekindled my love for Harlow Museum. The archive room is a veritable treasure trove for local historians, and local people who simply want to learn about the town they love. There is an abundance of things to explore at the museum, and so many reminders of why, for decades, people have been happy to call Harlow “home.”

Whilst delving into Harlow’s news archives -– paper and online – I have disappeared down many a rabbit hole becoming absorbed in a story, or an issue, or an occurrence that ran for weeks or months. I hope to explore these further in what may well become occasion blogs in the months and years ahead.

Thank you for reading. Have a very merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous, and peaceful New Year!