What was happening this week in Burnham and Highbridge in years gone by?

CUSTOMERS at the Happy Shopper in Morland Road had the chance to win one of 15 prizes in a special Christmas prize draw.  The draw was organised to raise money for Arthritis and Rheumatism Care and the Police Benevolent Fund.  The winning tickets were drawn by district councillors Ken Richards and Sandy Buchanan, who was chairman of Sedgemoor District Council.

Money raised by the store staff provided bath salt gift sets for members of ARC and a £51 cheque was presented to the Police Benevolent Fund.

 A NEW video shop in Highbridge had high hopes as it was set to renovate part of the store into a mini cinema.  David Paul, owner of Video Update hoped to show new films in the cinema that had not yet been released on video. 

The move came just weeks after the Ritz Cinema announced it would be closing it's doors due to financial difficulties. 

Mr Paul said he aimed to import films on disc from America and said he already had a range of top films already lined up for customers to view. 

The owner applied to Sedgemoor District Council for a licence to run his new business and said all films he would show would be originals and not pirate copies. 

HIGH achievers at King Alfred School collected their hard earned GCSE and A Level certificates at the school's annual presentation evening.

John Hall, director of Bath Rugby Football Club was guest speaker for the evening and kept the audience entertained with stories from his sportsman days. 

Former King Alfred's students Andi Price and Jo Faulks gave speeches about their new lives at university. 

Prize winners included: Adam orchard for all round achievement, Lisa Harber for art and Sarah Parsons for biology. 

20 YEARS AGO - December 27 1996

A MAN who qualified for two titles received public recognition from Des Roach, Sedgemoor District Council chairman. 

Bill Creedy, who qualified for the King of Skittles and Mr Bridgwater title was presented with the Bridgwater cup as the man who had done the most for the town during the year. 

Mr Roach paid tribute to Mr Creedy's efforts in popularising skittles since he helped reform the Bridgwater league in 1945.

A COMBWICH woman was lucky enough to get the chance to work for the Somerset Trust for Nature Conservation as part of a year long community programme. 

Veronica Dyer, 21 of School Lane left school with an A Level in art and had since set up her own business, The Scribes Workshop with help from the Enterprise Allowance scheme. 

The £40 a week she received under the scheme was enough to get her business off the ground. 

Her work included signwriting, designs and adverts for shop windows, exhibitions for modern calligraphy and modern type. 

THE proceeds of a craft fair organised by the BCL section were donated to the parents room of Kerland Child Development Centre at Huntworth Gate. 

The centre bought a new microwave cooker with the donation which was to be used to heat up frozen meals being donated by the Quantock group of Companies for the staff and families at the clinic. 

At a ceremony held in the family, the new oven was handed over to founder members, Margaret Baker and Trevor England by chairman of the tennis section, Dave Harding. 

10 YEARS AGO - December 27 2006

A MIGHTY tug through the streets of Brean raised thousands of pounds for one of Burnham's lifesaving services. 

The two mile sponsored pull of the resort's rescue rescue hovercraft collected a massive £3,500 for BARB. 

The pull started at the Beachcomber Inn before finishing at Brightholm Holiday Park and organiser Barbara Newman said the group's collection tins had been rattling along throughout the route. 

A ROLE reversal delighted pupils and teachers at a Burnham school as staff put on a pantomime for the children.

Burnham Infants School saw the adults entertain the youngsters as a five-year tradition continued to amuse all in the audience.

School business manager Julie Walter told the Weekly News the performance was written by one person but everyone chipped in to help. 

HEARTFELT thanks poured in from the Hayes family after the people of Burnham and Highbridge backed our appeal to Make Trevor’s Christmas.

After an incredible show of generosity and goodwill it took just 15 days for the people from the two towns to raise the £5,000 needed to buy a Say It Sam machine for 46-year-old cerebral palsy sufferer Trevor Hayes.

Donations from individuals and community groups flooded in after the launch of the Weekly News’ campaign on December 6 to grant the Naish Road resident the power of speech.