100 Years Ago
June 1, 1912
A 15-year-old boy was seriously hurt after he was mistaken for a rabbit and shot several times.
The youngster was playing hide-and-seek with friends in Niton, when he appeared through a hedge and was mistaken as an animal by a man, who was rabbit shooting just yards away.
The boy suffered wounds to his cheek, nose, head and throat. He was visited by a doctor who said the teenager was expected to make a full recovery.
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A young girl had a lucky escape after she was hit by a car as she crossed the road.
The four year old was crossing Upper St James’s Street, Newport, with a boy, when she was hit.
She suffered small cuts and grazes.
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A shop in Freshwater was destroyed by fire.
The alarm was raised by neighbours, who spotted a glow in the window of the shop.
Other neighbours tried to save anything they could from the shop but the heat was too strong to get near the building.
The blaze started in the workshop and caused several hundred pounds damage.
75 Years Ago
June 5, 1937
More than 800 farmers set sail for Southampton for the annual Royal Counties Show.
The group travelled by special steamer in fine weather and were taken by coaches to Reading for the show.
The show was said to be one of the best.
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An officer at HM Borstal Institution Camp Hill was taken to hospital after being attacked by a 17-year-old inmate.
The officer suffered two serious stab wounds to his arm and thigh, which could have been worse if another inmate hadn’t shouted an alert as the man went for him.
The attacker was put in solitary confinement.
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A group of 100 Basque refugees arrived in Freshwater for a stay on the Island.
The girls were visiting from the camp in Eastleigh and stayed at Weston Manor, overlooking The Needles.
The visitors, whose ages ranged from six to 14, enjoyed games and activities.
50 Years Ago
June 2, 1962
A man, who had moved to the Island from New Zealand, was jailed after he pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly, stealing a pair of gloves and causing damage to a window.
The man was arrested after he was asked to leave The Sloop Inn, Wootton, but he refused, saying he wanted to fight someone.
He also broke into a church through a window and stole a pair of gloves. He was jailed for three months.
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Two children were rescued after fire broke out in the ground-floor of a house in Newport.
Firemen used breathing equipment to enter the burning building to save the youngsters from the top- floor flat.
The children were were uninjured but taken to hospital for check-ups.
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The original hovercraft — the four-ton Saunders Roe SRN1 and its 27-ton predecessor SRN2 — took part in the world’s first combined display of hovercraft, in The Solent.
In the largest demonstration ever staged, the craft made high-speed runs and manoeuvres to show their capabilities.
Other craft included the Vickers-Armstrong VAS and the Denny Bros D1 side-wall craft.
25 Years Ago
June 5, 1987
After nine hours of freedom, a runaway Camp Hill prisoner was arrested by a police officer on the beat in Carisbrooke.
The 22-year-old man, serving time for robbery, escaped from a working party near the prison.
Police cut off cross-Solent routes and the man was arrested without a struggle.
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The upper section of Sandown High Street was closed to traffic for two days after a large hole, caused by the collapse of a sewer, appeared in the road.
The problem was down to a 15ins clay sewer pipe, which ran the length of the road.
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Revised plans for a 1,000-plus job-creating business park and retail warehousing scheme on land at the 116-acre Westridge Leisure Centre site, were submitted to Medina Borough Council.
The applicants said the development would be good for jobs on the Island.
10 Years Ago
June 6, 2002
The Queen may not have visited the Island on her golden jubilee tour, but members of Sandown Social Club felt her presence — after a life-size replica of her carriage was built.
Former BBC props man, Michael Saunders, constructed the two-dimensional coach out of cardboard in a friend’s back yard and decorated it with anything he could get his hands on.
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A new £2.6 million catamaran was set to join Red Funnel’s Cowes to Southampton fleet.
Red Jet 4 would carry 277 passengers — 90 more than existing catamarans — at speeds of up to 39 knots.
The vessel was to be built in Tasmania and was scheduled to enter service in June 2003.