The world news in August 1986 was of a tragedy in Cameroon, where around 1,700 people died after a cloud of lethal gas escaped from the volcanic Lake Nyos. Closer to home in the UK, Britain’s oldest twins - May and Marjorie Chavasse - received their telegrams from the Queen as they celebrated their 100th birthday.
In Saffron Walden in August 1986, the Reporter covered youngsters clearing up the common, a rock concert in town, a Stansted teenager on a BBC programme, and a battle reenactment at Audley End.
Nine youngsters and their parents took on a sponsored litter tidy of Saffron Walden Common at the beginning of the month. The litter pickers raised £250 for Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, and had to endure some torrential rain during their clean-up.
A rock concert in the grounds of Saffron Walden Museum was covered on August 21, 1986. A 500-strong crowd bathed in sunshine to see live music from Shoot the Moon, Cri de Coeur, and the Southside Blues Band. More than £1,000 was raised for the museum’s Great Hall Appeal and the Anti-Apartheid Movement, of which a Saffron Walden branch was recently formed, according to the Reporter.
Clare Foster, from Stansted made the Aug 28 edition of the Reporter for appearing on the BBC’s Travel Show. Clare and friend Joy Hughes, from Reading, spent a week at a riding school in North Wales.
A battle between Roundheads and the Cavaliers took place at Audley End on bank holiday weekend in 1986. Around 3,000 “soldiers” were involved in the reenactment, which raised more than £10,000 for charity. The money was split between purchasing a turbo wheelchair and the X-ray department at Saffron Walden Hospital.
The battle was one of the main events of the Sealed Knot Society’s calendar and reenacters in authentic costumes mingled with shoppers on Saturday before enjoying a pint at the town’s pubs in the evening, said the Reporter.
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