NOSTALGIA: Treasure hunters crack Nutshell clue
This photo was taken in October 1989 as record breakers from all over the country converged on one of the smallest pubs in Britain – The Nutshell in Bury St Edmunds – to celebrate the launch of the 1990 Guinness Book of Records.
Coin snatchers, champion name collectors and record-breaking drivers met at the pub, one of 13 nationwide to be chosen to stage a treasure hunt to mark the launch.
Three teams of drivers, all chosen for their own record-breaking feats, set off from London to visit all the chosen pubs and to find the buried treasure – The Nutshell’s treasure was a Vincent Van Gogh signature hidden under a one pound note pinned to the ceiling.
HEADLINES FROM THE PAST
10 YEARS AGO
A middle school in Bury St Edmunds was bursting at the seams because of massive development on Moreton Hall, leaving children disappointed at not getting a place.
Although St Edmundsbury Borough Council had allocated a site for a middle school on the growing estate, Suffolk County Council had put all plans on hold until after its review of middle schools had been finalised.
Meanwhile, Hardwick Middle School had seen admissions soar from a maximum of 90 pupils to 120 for the following academic year, with 24 pupils being turned away.
Extra temporary classrooms had been rushed to the school to deal with huge increase in numbers, but plans to build a separate school on Moreton Hall were frozen.
25 YEARS AGO
The livestock market in the heart of Bury St Edmunds could finally be on the move in a deal between the town’s auctioneers and the Cattle Market developers.
Plans to site the livestock market on Rougham Hill were unveiled this week by Chartwell Land, which won the bid to redevelop the 11-acre ‘golden rectangle’ complex in September.
The move would go against the original St Edmundsbury Borough Council design brief for the Cattle Market project and had angered other development companies who tried to win the bid.
The borough council was to meet next week to decide on whether to approve the principle of changing the original design brief.
100 YEARS AGO
The sad news has been received at Brandon that two soldiers, natives of the town, have been killed at the front.
They are Lance-Corporal William George Lingwood, 8th Norfolk Regiment, a married man, who leaves a widow and one child, and Private Frank Mutum of the same regiment, fifth son of Mr and Mrs William Mutum, of George Street.
-- Lieutenant William Noel Hodgson, Devonshire Regiment (killed in action on July 1), was the third and youngest son of the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and was born on January 3, 1893.
He received his commission at the outbreak of war, was mentioned in dispatches and awarded he Military Cross, October 1915.
