Looking back 25 years ago to this week in 1984 it is remarkable that the technology we take for granted now was in its infancy at that time.

This week 25 years ago The Herald was in the middle of a cervical cancer appeal, the goal of which was to raise £7,000 to buy a microscope that would assist in screening for the cancer.

That week saw a number of charity events organised by people all over Aylesbury to help the Herald in its appeal.
On March 28 a fancy dress party was held at the White Swan on Walton Street. A generous £150 was raised through raffles, drinks and tickets to the event with plenty of imaginative costumes on display.

A prize of a bottle of champagne was given for best dressed man and best dressed woman with The Herald's sports reporter winning the male category in his superman costume.

The woman's prize went to Mary Payne of Braddenham Walk who also ran the London Marathon later that year with her sponsorship money also going to the Herald's appeal fund.

A further £200 was added to the total when Herald reporters Louise Zucchi and Stevie Brooks attempted the assault course at Bicester Army Garrison which they described as a 'fiendish combination of clambering and grovelling, guaranteed to leave you muddy and exhausted'.

They completed the course in eight minutes fourteen seconds, before being told that most squaddies could do it in under three minutes.

Meadowcroft First School was also raising money for new technology, this time to buy a computer for the school. A sponsored number test raised £400 towards their total with a single student, five year-old Natasha Aubrey, raising around an eighth of that single handedly.

Another new technology on the horizon was that of satellite television and pioneering Aylesbury company Antiference was that week granted half a million pounds by Whitehall for research into bringing the technology to Britain.

The Bicester road based company invested the money in a new, very large, satellite dish that was seen as 'one of the first steps into researching satellite TV in this country'.