No news was very good news for Mid Sussex Times owner Charles Clarke that week.
He devoted the whole front page to a huge advertisement for Moody’s Motors Ltd, of Western Road, Hove, complete with illustrations of British-made cars. The firm declared: “You have no excuse for buying foreign cars. Models included a 26 horse power Singer at £215, Rovers, Hillmans, and a Bean 14 at £525.
Page two carried a long article on an outfit called Secret Wireless Ltd experiencing practical issues while trying to break the monopoly of the BBC (shades of the 1960s pirate stations there!). The paper reported “Twice within the last two weeks 2LO (another name for Secret Wireless Ltd) has become completely silent through mechanical breakdowns”.
Anyone scouting the cricket fixtures would find the Mental Hospital Haywards Heath versus Mr Baden-Powells Eleven at Newick. Ardingly Junior House v Brighton Grammar Second team even got a preview.
The Haywards Heath Whit Monday Fete at Victoria Park was considered such a big attraction that Southern Trains offered cheap travel from towns like Brighton and Lewes. Thousands attended and money was raised for hospitals in Haywards Heath and Brighton.
On the fashion front Queen Elizabeth the First was mentioned in an ad for Rayon Stockings for ladies at two shillings eleven and a half pence a pair. They were apparently half the price of silk ones the Queen once wore.
Handcross opened its first bowling green with a lunch at the village’s Red Lion, still going strong and once the venue of the inquest into the worst-ever single vehicle fatal crash in Sussex.
A funeral report on Jack Strangeman was headed: “Postman’s Last Round”. His round was Cuckfield and he died at only 42. Stoolball was becoming a hugely popular sport and the paper reported that Hurstpierpoint overwhelmingly defeated Cowfold by 111 runs to 46. Miss Lillywhite was top scorer with 33.
The Park Road Particular Baptist Chapel in Burgess Hill appointed Mr E A Brooker as its first pastor. It is now a house.
A court heard postman Thomas Ford was handing over a letter to a dog owner in the street when the animal bit him in the calf, leaving nine teeth marks. Magistrates ordered the letter recipient to keep the dog under control and pay the costs of the hearing. The postman needed treatment from a doctor.
Children who walked several miles to Lindfield school did not have time to go home for lunch, as most pupils did. A gas stove was requested so teachers could give them cocoa or soup.
The row over the temperance movement became bitter. George Millar of Burgess Hill wrote in the letters column: “Your correspondent Mr RG Fife evidently belongs to that school who when they are bankrupt for argument or they find the facts of the case too strong, resort to abusing those from whom they differ.” Shades of early social media there.
This article was recorded on 29 May 2025 for listeners of the Yews Talking News service for blind people and those with impaired vision in the Mid Sussex area. Anyone interested in receiving the recordings or assisting with the reading or recording of programmes may contact Malcolm Hulatt @ Malcolm@hulatt.net, Telephone 07770 543454 .