For the first time in its history, Southall Town Hall will no longer be used to register births and deaths.
The death, on January 22nd, 1982, of Life Peer Lord George Pargiter, aged 85. Formerly an employee of the AEC, he served as a Councillor for several years, becoming Mayor 1939-40-41. A County Councillor from 1934 to 1950, when he was elected Southall’s Member of Parliament. He retired in 1966 and was made a Life Peer.
How low have we become when it was discovered that thieves have stolen the bronze statue of a soldier from the Featherstone Road School War Memorial.
On Friday, 26th February, Mr Heseltine, Environment Minister, visited Southall and inspected the Dominion Cinema area. He also came again on Wednesday, 3rd March, when he announced the Government backing for a £1.8 million scheme to turn it into a new Community Centre. He had a very stormy reception.
Top left wing MP Eric Heffer came and made a speech at Southall Technical on Wednesday evening, the 20th March.
In March the Police released figures of crime in Southall in 1981 and they were 20% up. What are we coming to?
Assault 380 – up 66
Robbery and violent theft 199 – up 107
Burglary 1,896 – up 18
Auto crimes 2,583 – up 4
Other Thefts 1,134 – up 8
Fraud 215 – up 15
Criminal damage 1,614 – up 20
and the Gazette continues to report more crime each week.
Gwilym Evans and his wife, Esther, celebrated their Diamond Wedding on the 18th March. He was Branch Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union for 40 years. They are both aged 81.
The rates have been fixed at 10% more than in 1981. How can this be avoided when such things as £50,000 had to be spent due to the flooding of the deep shelter in South Road, £33,000 had to be spent on vandalism on the Golf Links Estate, and arson at three schools has cost over £10,000?
But all is not bad – £400 was handed over by Stanhope School for the Mentally Handicapped and the Black Dog collected £250 for the equipment for a holiday caravan for the disabled and an American gentleman has given 1,000 dollars to St Bernards League of Friends.
Civic Trust awards were presented to Ealing Architects for the outlay plans of Wolf School, Southall. Early April saw the start of the King Street Bypass. A new Sikh Temple has been opened in Oswald Road. It took two years to build and has cost over 1 million pounds. It can seat 2,000. They also plan to build a Sikh Library in Southall Broadway.
Cliff Richards, rock superstar, paid a visit to Villiers High School on April 28th and gave a talk on his life, and then entertained them.