100 Years Ago March 14, 1908 The Medical Officer of Health, in his monthly report to Shipston-on-Stour Rural District Council, said he had received notifications of nine cases of scarlet fever at Shipston. There were four in one family and one at the workhouse. He had also received notification of one case at Blockley. In a special report the Medical Officer of Health said he had advised the school managers to exclude all the children from the workhouse and all the children under five years of age between February 18 and March 5. His advice had been adopted. The Medical Officer of Health said there were nine cases in the isolation hospital, four being from that district. It was decided to obtain copies of regulations for the exclusion of children from schools and forward to the school managers.

75 Years Ago March 18, 1933 There were about 60 parishioners present at the Mann Institute on Tuesday evening when the annual vestry and parochial church meetings were held. The Rector (the Rev S Heal) thanked the people for the warm welcome which they had extended to him on his coming to the parish as their Rector and the way in which they had rallied round him in the work of the church. He was especially indebted to the churchwardens, Messrs E A Kinsey and F Page, for their assistance. The secretary, Mr Kinsey, said the past year had been a memorable one for the parish in several respects. It had witnessed the departure of their dear friend, Miss Sharwood, followed by their Rector (Rev Spencer Jones), while many had been present at an induction service for the first time when their new Rector took over the living.

30 Years Ago March 16, 1978 Stow-on-the-Wold launches a big push to raise money for repairing the church roof. A target of £12,000 has been set. The save the roof committee is taking over the new Heart of England building society shop in Church Street and using it for publicity purposes and as a collecting centre for a mammoth spring sale to be held in St Edward's Hall, Stow, on Easter Monday morning. The roof restoration will be unusual in that it is not only going to involve repairs but insulation. This, it is hoped, will save heating bills for the present and future generations. "At one time they just put on a single layer of felt," explains the Rector, the Rev Hilary Way, "but we got in touch with the fibre glass people about how much extra it would cost to get the roof completely insulated and this has been included in the target figure."