14 MARCH 1908: Mrs Despard, a veteran worker in the women s suffrage cause, meets with a very cordial reception at a meeting of the Hampstead branch of the Women s Freedom League. She says she is delighted to find how very forward Hampstead is in this

14 MARCH 1908:

Mrs Despard, a veteran worker in the women's suffrage cause, meets with a very cordial reception at a meeting of the Hampstead branch of the Women's Freedom League. She says she is delighted to find how very forward Hampstead is in this movement.

The Hampstead Parliament debating society is to discuss the question of votes for women. Some members are to move that ladies be allowed to address the House. If so, it will be the first time that ladies could address the Speaker in the history of the Parliament.

The managers of the London Coliseum, that splendid house of entertainment, are offering their patrons excellent fare with an entire change of programme weekly. This week Fred Ginnett's latest sensation, balloon polo on horseback, can be seen on the gigantic stage, with cycle comedy, illusion and music hall songs. These make the afternoon or evening pass very pleasantly.

A Hornsey grocer is summoned for selling butter adulterated with 19 per cent of margarine. Fined 10s and costs.

A Hornsey Vale man is summoned for neglecting his wife. A separation order is granted, defendant to allow his wife 10s a week.

Alfred Tyler, a small boy living in New Southgate, is summoned for breaking a window, but it was shown that he was accidentally pushed against it, and he is discharged.

50 years ago

14 March 1958

Hendon council are preparing final plans for the rebuilding of Hampstead Garden Suburb primary school in Childs Way - destroyed in the 1940 blitz. The school's 260 pupils and a staff of eight have been housed on the bombed site in two wooden huts.

The tallest policeman at West Hampstead, 6ft 3in John Richard Harris, receives the BEM for bravery at County Hall. At Golders Green station two years ago, Mr Harris stopped two men acting suspiciously in Finchley Road. One of them ran away, fired at him but missed. PC Harris ran after the man and grabbed the revolver.

Although a decidedly mild month on the whole, February discredited itself by inflicting on much of England the worst blizzard since 1947 on the 25th. At Hampstead it snowed for about 15 hours. By evening the Heath was covered to an average depth of six inches, with drifts several feet high

A correspondent speculates as to who was the original humourist who decided on the name Vale of Health. Looking down at the cluster of houses surrounded by damp earth, with the cheerless mists of winter, she thinks Vale of Bronchitis would have been more appropriate.

The new Hampstead Society - sworn enemy of subtopia, unnecessary tree felling, ugly lampposts and bad town planning - draws over 100 members to its inaugural meeting at Burgh House, New End.

25 years ago

11 March 1983

Queen's Crescent Community Centre and the Talacre Family Social Club have been closed because they have allegedly become drinking clubs. They will be relaunched with the emphasis on active community pastimes. Drinking for the sake of it will no longer be considered suitable. The news has angered the drinking fraternity of Kentish Town who believe the club atmosphere of a bar does more for the community than arts and leisure activities ever will.

The Red Flag is to fly again over Camden town hall on the centenary of the death of Karl Marx, the father of Communism. He lived at three addresses in Camden from 1856 until his death on March 14, 1893. His social habits included the notorious pub crawl up Tottenham Court Road, visiting no fewer than 18 pubs.

Labour council leader Phil Turner said: "We're flying the flag to celebrate Marx as a pioneer of socialist thought, a great philosopher and an honoured former resident. It's also a sign of solidarity with socialist movements throughout the world."

There will be an address at Marx's graveside in Highgate Cemetery, which would no doubt give him a sly smile. Until 1956 he was buried in a dissenter's grave reserved for those who refused to believe in God.

The Sunset Housing Society, launched nearly 20 years ago to provide homes for retired Hampstead residents wishing to live near the seaside, now has accommodation available in a development of new flats in Clacton.

10 years ago

13 March 1998

Hampstead court in Downshire Hill, which has been administering justice for the people of Camden for the last 65 years, is to close at the end of the month. Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged, was committed for trial there in the 1950s.

The Queen has personally thanked the hearse driver who took the Princess of Wales's coffin from London to its final resting place in Althorp Park last year. Sidney Clarke, 60, who lives in Kentish Town, was presented with the Royal Victorian Medal.

Camden Council reject requests to cull a number of pigeons because of fouling of footpaths and causing a public health nuisance under two railway bridges near Iverson and Loveridge roads in West Hampstead. A report by environment officers argued that killing pigeons was an expensive operation that did little to control their numbers and was likely to provoke outrage among bird lovers.

Saving the planet has its drawbacks, in this case the disturbance caused by bottles crashing into recycling bins at all hours of the day and night. Now Camden Council has invested more than £7,000 in state-of-the-art soundproofed bins and a 9pm curfew on deposits.

A new post office is to be built in Camden High Street, ending months of speculation that the Post Office intended to pull out of the area altogether.

Plans to turn 17-acre Big Wood in Hampstead Garden Suburb into a local nature reserve have been approved by Barnet councillors.