SOME 17 members of Droitwich Spa French Twinning Group enjoyed a very cultural time as part of their annual exchange visit to south-eastern France. They made the trip to Voiron, in the Val d’Isere region, last month and the programme of events
THREE Worcester primary school pupils have excelled in their grade one violin exams, achieving some of the best marks in the country. Warndon Primary School pupils Lucy Evans, aged 10, Sophie Key, 10, and James Finch, 11, all took their grade
A BEWDLEY man has been sent to jail for three years for burgling a house in October last year. Craig Yeomans, aged 23, of Dry Mill Lane, pleaded not guilty to burglary at Hop Pole Lane in Bewdley but a jury at Worcester Crown Court on Wednesday, 9 May
HOSPITAL bosses hope to cut pollution and save themselves £1.7 million in energy bills at the same time. Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust has joined forces with the Carbon Trust in a bid to cut carbon dioxide emissions by a fifth by 2015. Sarah
TWO high-profile county council directors will be made redundant this week in a bid to save £332,500. Diane Tilley, director of planning, economy and performance, who earns £107,947 a year, will lose her job, as well as Eddie Clarke, director of adult
MORE cuts are on the way at Worcestershire County Council with bosses revealing a £20 million bombshell. Council chiefs who are already slashing £70 million from spending by 2014 are looking to increase it to £90 million. Work is already
WARRIORS prop Matt Mullan is in Stuart Lancaster’s 27-man England squad for the Killik Cup against the Barbarians at Twickenham on Sunday, May 27 (2.30pm). The Worcester loosehead will battle it out for game-time with London Irish’s Alex Corbisiero,
THREE people have been treated by ambulance crews following a lightning strike on flats in Hereford this afternoon. West Midlands Ambulance Service was called to properties in Glenstall Close, Belmont, at around 3.30pm. Two ambulances
ONE Worcestershire company has come up with an ingenious solution to getting round the planning laws when adding extra accommodation to a property. Riverside Shepherd Huts, which is based in Hanbury, near Droitwich, and won a gold award for
A NEW addition to a Worcestershire school really puts the ‘green’ into a greenhouse which is constructed entirely out of recycled plastic bottles. The new eco-greenhouse at Upton-upon-Severn Primary School has been built with the help of Upton in Bloom
ENGLAND women secured their second consecutive IRB Challenge Cup Sevens crown, defeating the Netherlands 34-7 in impressive style in the final at Twickenham. Worcester’s Joanne Watmore, who also scored two tries in the final of the Hong Kong leg of the
A FIRE above a Worcester pub at the weekend could have been far more serious than it was, according to fire officers. No one was hurt in the fire at the Punchbowl, Lichfield Avenue, on Sunday, May 13 Firefighters were called just before 8pm
ONE of the world’s top football referees stopped by a Worcester school this week, much to the excitement of the children – and adults. Howard Webb visited Northwick Manor Primary School to present its under-11s boys football team with medals and a trophy
FRIENDS have rallied around a popular Worcester mum who is battling cancer to fund life-saving treatment overseas. Julie Norman, of Thetford Avenue, Warndon Villages, was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2010 and beat the illness only to be told
WORCESTERSHIRE secured a creditable third place in their section of the County Table Tennis Championships. The team was made up of Michael Siket from Worcester with Evesham’s Jaspreet Singh, Jack Davis, Ella Parry-Reece and Shannon Johns. In the second
A FORMER MP and retired hospital consultant is one of the founders of a new political party and will be its co-leader. Dr Richard Taylor, the former Wyre Forest MP and retired consultant at Kidderminster Hospital, is among a group of disgruntled
CASH kitties of £10,000 should be handed to every city councillor in Worcester to spend it on whatever they see fit, a councillor has said. The suggestion is being put forward by Councillor Alan Amos, who believes it would be one way of cascading
A HARD rocking four-piece make a welcome return to the local live circuit. In the last six months This Wicked Tongue have gigged everywhere from London to Lancaster, Reading to Rhondda and Malvern to Mansfield, but they take to the stage of the Marr
AN inquest has opened into the death of a 24-year- old rugby player who collapsed while watching a match at Worcester’s Six-ways Stadium. Dominic Cullen, of Matson Rugby Club in Gloucester, was in Worcester on Sunday, May 6, to watch his club’s under
SIR – Congratulations to the members of Worcester Operatic Dramatic Society, who, in the capable hands of their own producer, the talented Chris Holloway, gave a fantastic performance of My Fair Lady at the Swan Theatre. I hesitate to mention
SIR – Re Tim Woodward’s letter ‘Don’t blame cabbies, sort out blue badge abuse’ (Worcester News, May 8). I have a Worcester News delivered daily and I am also online and nowhere can I find reference to his suggestion that I should trade places
SIR – At times it feels like we are living in the 1970s. We have a Tory government which is pro-Europe, we have sky-high inflation, high unemployment, and petrol and food prices rise time and again. Once again we are politically and economically
SIR – I must answer the Mayor of Worcester David Tibbutt. He says Worcester people should stop moaning and be proud of our city (Worcester News, May 7). I was born in Worcester in 1948 and have seen lots of changes for the worse. The mayor says
SIR – Neil Laurenson’s letter about the proposed new swimming pool at Perdiswell and it creating difficulty in crossing the Bilford Road at its junction with Astwood Road is extremely relevant (Worcester News, May 4). This junction has been a
SIR – I was saddened to read your front page article on the job cuts bombshell at Shop Direct (Worcester News, May 9). As a former employee of Kay & Co Ltd, I am concerned for every member of staff at the Worcester call centre. However, I must
WORCESTERSHIRE and Herefordshire defend their RLF North Midlands Championship title in tonight’s final against Greater Birmingham at Stourbridge (7.30). They have included Ed Parry, Stefan Shillingford and Stefan Thorpe, who helped North Midlands beat
SIR – The Con-Dem Government tried to sell us the idea that public sector workers losing their jobs was not such a problem as the private sector would step forward to fill the gap. The reality is the news that 400 jobs are under threat in Worcester
THE Duke of Gloucester met people with mental health problems whose lives have been transformed by a Worcester workshop. The Duke visited the city’s Shrub Hill Workshop yesterday where he met an artist who says her life has been transformed beyond all
TRAINS have been delayed in Worcester this morning after a track defect meant the line between Shrub Hill Station and Foregate Street Station was closed for around 25 minutes. The line, which was shut down from 9.40am, re-opened at 10.04am
WORCESTER St John’s held a well-attended 19.5-mile low-gear race from The Ketch Inn, Bath Road. Good conditions prevailed and 12 riders opted for the restricted gear event with Martin Lines winning the Heron Shield in an impressive 50 minutes 54 seconds
WORCESTER City manager Carl Heeley insists he has not been approached about the vacant Hereford United job. The Bulls are searching for a new boss after Richard O’Kelly turned the position down in the wake of the club’s relegation to the Blue
A WORCESTER community has hit out at a decision not to include it on the Olympic Torch relay route. Criticism has been levelled at plans for the Olympic Flame to travel along Bromwich Road when it leaves Worcester on Friday, May 25, and not Malvern Road
IT wasn’t that long ago that I was telling you how fed up I was with the excessive level of Olympics build-up. That’s still true. There are plenty of pointless 70- odd days and counting stories around. We’ve also been asked multiple questions
PRESIDENT Jill Brotheridge welcomed 40 members to the May meeting. There were details of the Worcester Federation AGM at the Malvern Showground in October and a visit to the Denman College in Oxfordshire in November. Members were reminded that
AN Evesham woman who put on a charity pole fitness competition has said the event was a great success. Lucy-Kate Dashfield-Ormrod runs Pole Pixies in Badsey and organised the Pole Pin Up 2012 competition. Fifteen competitors took part and were
OUR May meeting focused on the WI resolution calling for the training, employment and retention of more midwives. Due to the rising birth rate and the increase in older mothers there is great pressure on services. It seems obvious that if more
OUR May meeting was opened by vice president Janet Alger who welcomed everyone to our annual resolutions meeting and pudding club. The resolution, which is to be voted on at the national AGM, calls on the Government to increase investment in the
IT was a full house for the May meeting and Jean Kennedy welcomed members and visitors. There was been a coach trip to see the Olympic village site and Greenwich Park – at least we will be able to recognise the sites on TV, even though we had not
TEXTILE conservator Michelle Harper gave a fascinating insight into her work at our May meeting. Illustrated by before and after images, we were able to appreciate what conservation rather than restoration involves and some of the scientific and
IT was our 24th birthday meeting this April and we celebrated with visitors from several other WIs. President Maureen Matthews welcomed everyone to our party. The tables were set with flowers, chocolate ladybirds and water for our guests. The
THIS is the moment a thief steals a bike belonging to six-year-old Brandon Hill. The bike was stolen from outside the Wheatsheaf in Henwick Road, Worcester, just after midnight on Sunday, May 13, although it was chained up in front of the
NON-FICTION India Rising: Tales From A Changing Nation by Oliver Balch is published in paperback by Faber and Faber, priced £14.99. Available now. After exploring the beautiful and politically unstable nations of South America in his debut travelogue
A WORCESTER man smashed a pint glass over his head before punching his own dad during a drunken argument. Timothy Beard, aged 29, of Stroma Avenue, St Peter’s, pleaded guilty to using threatening words and behaviour. Sarah Stock, prosecuting
WARRIORS will not rush into appointing a replacement for Gloucester-bound academy manager Andrew Stanley. Stanley, an RFU level five coach who played almost 200 first-team games for the Kingsholm outfit before retiring in 1998, is leaving Sixways after
