Dogs must behave

Dogs will not be allowed to run loose on Watford’s streets any more, and owners could be fined if they do so. Dogs running on the streets can cause accidents, and this is the real reason behind the council’s decision.

[May 1, 1970]

Vandals strike in park

Barbarity may drive the swans from Cassiobury Park’s peaceful stretch of the River Gade. Last year 11 eggs were smashed and three cygnets killed, says Mr Cunningham, of Cassiobury Drive. The Queen’s swan-upper, Mr W. Turk, wanted to remove the remaining birds to safety, but was dissuaded, but already this year eggs have been smashed and a bird injured with a pole. And, says Mr Cunningham, if vandalism prove as bad this year as last he will ask the swan-upper to take the swans away after all.

[May 8, 1970]

Welcome to the revels

The good weather at the weekend contributed to the large turnout of people at the Revels on the Green at Croxley Green on Saturday. Many people stood at the doors of their houses as the procession of floats made their way to the Green. The May Queen, 14-year-old Cindy Robertson, of Croxley Green, gave her speech of welcome and then the Revels commenced. The crowds watched in glorious sunshine as the Brownies did the traditional maypole dancing. This was followed by more dancing and competitions.

[May 8, 1970]

A sign of the times?

Nude studies of artistic merit are included in this year’s exhibition of photographs staged by Watford Camera Club at Watford Central Library.

[May 8, 1970]

We’re going gay!

The first ever Watford Festival gets under way today, and, with more than 100 exciting events planned for every conceivable taste, the people of the town are in for the most exciting 10 days they have ever known. On spring bank holiday Monday, the grand carnival wind-up to the festival, the town will see the end of 10 days of revelry, competitions, sporting events, and other events of general interest, the like of which have never before been seen in Watford.

[May 15, 1970]

Orphan lamb

For a young lamb to be orphaned is bad enough – but to adopt a large Alsatian guard dog as mother is also no joke, especially for the dog. This was the predicament that Simba found herself in when she faced with the young lamb called Shan. At first she was puzzled, but eventually she started to come round, and now the two are constant companions.

[May 15, 1970]

Homosexuals

I have just put down a paperback on homosexuality by a Cambridge theologian. In a sentence, Dr Norman Pittenger’s argument is that homosexual acts are not sinful when they are a sincere expression of a permanent union between two persons of the same sex whose love leads them to set up house together. Here I am, a fellow minister, agreeing with is argument. The homosexual condition is no more a laughing matter than Holy Communion. Homosexuals should never be shunned, certainly not by the churches. They ought to be welcomed and made to feel that they belong.

[May 15, 1970]

‘We’ll quit’

50 resident male nurses at Leavesden Hospital have threatened to resign en bloc unless immediate action is taken by the management committee to “provide us with habitable accommodation”. A petition recommends that the management should give serious thought to the provision of a new building for the resident male nurses. It alleges that the present buildings are in a state of bad repair, hopelessly equipped and badly supervised.

[May 29, 1970]

A newspaper dies

The ‘Watford Post’, which, under different management, had survived in Watford for 83 years, was published last week for the last time without any mention of the closure in the final issue. It was left to the ‘Watford Observer’ to announce the death. Many Watford people, who still called the ‘Post’ the ‘Newsletter’, are sorry to hear of the paper’s death, and the ‘Observer’, which regarded the paper less as a rival than as a contemporary, is among them.

[May 29, 1970]

What was happening in the world in May 1970?

• Richard Nixon orders US forces to cross into Cambodia, threatening to widen the Vietnam War, sparking nationwide riots (May 1)

• The first woman jockey, Diane Crump, takes part in the Kentucky Derby (May 2)

• Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed and nine wounded by National Guardsmen at a protest against the incursion into Cambodia (May 4)

• The US performs a nuclear test at a test site in Nevada (May 5)

• Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney are dismissed as members of the Irish Government following accusations of their involvement in a plot to import arms for the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland (May 6)

• Unionised construction workers attacked about 1,000 students and others protesting the Kent State shootings in New York (May 8)

• The Beatles release their 12th and final album, Let It Be (May 8)

• In Washington D.C. 100,000 people demonstrate against the Vietnam War (May 9)

• On the second day of violent demonstrations at Jackson State University in Mississippi, state law enforcement officers fire into the demonstrators, killing two (May 14)

• The Red Army Faction, a far left terrorist group, is established in Germany (May 14)

• Elizabeth Hoisington and Anna Mae Mays are named the first female US generals (May 15)

• Two die and 70 are injured when two subway trains crash in Queens (May 20)

• A fire occurs on the Britannia Bridge in Wales, contributing to its partial destruction and amounting to approximately £1,000,000 worth of fire damage (May 23)

• An earthquake hits Peru and a landslide buries the town of Yungay (May 31)