Disastrous flooding filled the Weston Mercury and Somerset Herald’s pages 50 years ago, along with the news Olympic divers were heading to town. Here are the stories from the July 12 edition.

%image(14265984, type="article-full", alt="Kings of Wessex School swimming championships. Students cheering on their team mates.")

• Devastating flooding was front page news, as people were swept away and killed and villages were cut off.

MORE: ‘Night of horrors’ – Remembering 50 years since ‘catastrophic’ Somerset floods.

• Lipton’s opened a supermarket in Meadow Street. It was the firm’s 95th store.

• Police agreed to pay attention to traffic problems in Wrington caused by heavy lorries carrying pulverised fuel ash from Portishead to the runway extension at Lulsgate Airport.

%image(14265985, type="article-full", alt="Kings of Wessex School swimming championships. Prize winners with team trophies - Richard Harris (Polden), Roy Barke (Polden) and Micky Jones (Blackdown) with Gabrielle Dennis (Polden), Vivian Hann (Quantock) and Valerie Ham (Mendip).")

• More than 1,400 people watched the first round of the Modern Venus competition at the open air pool in Weston. It was judged by BBC TV personality Mark Puckle.

• Olympic divers were due to take centre stage at the open air pool. Brian Phelps, who had been British champion 22 times, would appear alongside fellow Olympians Roy Walsh and Billy Woods.

• A policy for Weston’s entertainment was decided upon by the borough council.

The Playhouse was being rebuilt at a cost of £218,000 following a devastating fire. It was due to open the following year with a summer variety show, ideally with a ‘star artiste’ from the world of TV headlining.

%image(14265986, type="article-full", alt="Weston-super-Mare North District Girl Guides Swimming gala at Knightstone Baths. Mrs. J. Preston, Captain of 1st Kewstoke who won the Guides' Shield, with competitors.")

IN PICTURES: 50th anniversary of ‘devastating’ Somerset floods.

• Traffic commissioners rejected Weston Borough Council’s proposals to ban coaches from the seafront.

• Worle parents complained about a school place shortage. It was expected there would not be enough primary places in the next few years.

• Bleadon Parish Council was considering building a new village hall, costing £15,000.

%image(14265988, type="article-full", alt="A stiff wind prevented many records being broken at Uphill Secondary School sports in which Mendip emerged as the champion house. Competitors awaiting their events.")

• In January 1944, one of the many US servicemen stationed in Weston met a local girl at a dance.

Michael Kruglinski and Isobel Fursland married after the war and returned to the town in 1968. He recalled how friendly Weston was in wartime, along with fish and chips, tea and beer.

MORE: Last week’s Picture Past.

• The Mercury’s Looking Back column provided an insight into how Weston could have been reconstructed following World War Two. In the story from 1943, a delegate at a trade council meeting had a vision for swimming baths, a theatre, a conference hall, new houses, flats and shops, all at a cost of £2million.

%image(14265989, type="article-full", alt="Worle Secondary School Summer Fayre. The headmaster, Mr. D.S. Brown, at the skittles alley.")

He said: “To hell with the cost. We have not yet finished paying for the Napoleonic wars and that does not seem to worry us.”

%image(14265990, type="article-full", alt="Uphill Friendship Club's first ever summer fete. Prize winners in the under-sixes fancy dress, Judith Hooper, Belinda Bond and Joline Bond.")

%image(14265991, type="article-full", alt="Uphill Friendship Club's first ever summer fete. Prize winners in the over-sixes fancy dress, Julie Down, Tracey Baker and Sally Wanstall.")

%image(14265992, type="article-full", alt="Ads 12th July 1968 Edition.")

%image(14265993, type="article-full", alt="Front Page 12th July 1968 Edition.")

%image(14265983, type="article-full", alt="Worle Horticultural Society annual Rose Show at Worle Church Hall. Alison Snook and Nicholas Smith look at some of the "animals" made from vegetables.")