CROWDS gathered to light up the night sky over Worcester in honour of brave little Charlie Harris-Beard who lost his battle with leukaemia. Chinese lanterns filled the air as people continued to celebrate the life of the inspirational two-year-old
VULNERABLE people across Worcestershire are to reap the benefits of a £947,000 pot of taxpayers’ money. The cash kitty, which will be managed by district councils, will offer help to people in desperate need of support. Until now the Department
PEOPLE are being urged to get involved in this year’s Cancer Research UK Relay For Life event in Worcester. Teams of eight to 15 people of all ages, levels of fitness and from all walks of life are needed to take part in the overnight fund-raising
A LANDLORD has delivered a withering attack on Worcester’s student homes crackdown – saying it is unfair on young people and will damage the city’s reputation. The critic, who has asked to remain anonymous, owns 10 properties in the city and is
ORGANS made available for transplant by county donors have increased four-fold in two years, saving up to 30 lives. The people of Worcestershire provided organs for seven transplant operations in 2010 but this increased to 30 transplants in 2012
A NEW man has been appointed to spearhead local policing across south Worcestershire. Superintendent Mark Travis has been named West Mercia Police’s new police commander for the force area and will head a new command team. Supt Travis will
IT has been confirmed that Worcestershire County Council is testing school meals for the presence of horse meat. The news comes after cottage pie tested positive for horse meat was delivered to schools in Lancashire. The product has since been
TRAFFIC is moving slowly on the main road between Worcester and Hereford after a car crash. Police are currently at the scene directing traffic on the A4103 at Stifford's Bridge, between Storridge and Cradley, near Malvern, after a white Vauxhall
STAFF at a Tesco Express store raised money for charity by rowing the length of the river Severn while not moving from their store. The team at the shop in Brindley Road, Warndon Villages, Worcester, raised £2,248 for Cancer Research UK by covering
The gritting fleet will be heading out this evening as frost is predicted to form on roads overnight. After a dry day with sunny spells today, cloud is predicted to increase during the evening and throughout the night, with mist and fog forecast
SOME roads may have been closed due to flooding but with the weekend expected to remain dry the situation should remain largely unchanged. The C2022 Jubilee Bridge at Fladbury and the B4088 Eckington Bridge, both near Pershore, were closed today
A FOOTBRIDGE which is the missing link in a riverside revamp should be reopened as soon as possible, says a leading councillor. Derek Prodger, the city and county councillor for Worcester’s Bedwardine ward, says the bridge over Diglis Basin has
PEOPLE have gained a first glimpse of Worcester’s gleaming railway bridge now beautifully restored to its former glory. The Foregate Street Bridge once again returned to the limelight after spending many months hidden by scaffolding while the work
WORCESTER'S Hylton Road is now reopen following repairs to a damaged gas main. Earlier, today frustrated commuters were being caught in queues of up to an hour heading towards the city along Henwick Road, which was being used as a diversion while
AMERICA’S love affair with Cher Lloyd is showing no sign of fizzling out after her latest Stateside single proved a hit on the airwaves. The 19-year-old from Malvern’s current release With Ur Love, featuring rapper Juicy J, has received airplay
F ORMER Government high flier Liam Byrne visited Worcester last week to eat free food and spend some time with Councillor Joy Squires, Labour’s 2015 general election candidate. The staunch Blairite, one of the creators of the ghastly New Labour
SIR – I used to enjoy travelling by steam train – chuff, chuff, chuff, but the new £3 billion trains scare me. When high speed trains crash, they really crash. Ouch! GEORGE COWLEY Worcester
SIR – I’m hoping to trace old school friend. I am hoping a Worcester News readers might be able to assist me in my search for an old school friend from many years ago. Her name was Grace Goodman and we last met in the late 1950s. My name then
SIR – Nancy Dyson raises a fair point in her letter (Worcester News, February 6). We pedestrians always get neglected in icy conditions. Years ago, good samaritans cleared neighbours’ paths and pavements of snow and ice. Now that spirit has
SIR – It is now up to the MEPs to pass the EU budget cuts decided at the summit in Brussels last week, with many fearing a majority of MEPs would oppose a cut to the EU budget. They have even decided to vote in secret so that the electorate will
SIR – Ewan Gear (Worcester News, February 7), in reply to my letter (Worcester News, January 21), says we must consider “longer term implications” of same-sex marriage. This is true of any legal reform. But the suggestions made by the anti-equality
SIR – I have read recently how some clergy’s strongly held religious beliefs would not allow them to marry gay couples in church. Oddly, these same strongly held religious people don’t seem to have a problem with charging about £440 to marry couples
SIR – I wonder how many Worcester News readers have ever thought about being a politician or a public sector executive and enjoying all the benefits that goes with the job. If they have they will have to learn one of the black arts of being a
SIR – Joy Squires (Worcester News, February 1) says David Cameron’s EU referendum promise is bad for UK business. I disagree strongly with her, and would say that staying in is actually much more of a threat. We run a trade deficit with the EU,
IT HAS been confirmed that Worcestershire County Council is testing school meals for the presence of horsemeat. The news comes after cottage pie tested positive for horsemeat was delivered to schools in Lancashire. The product has since been withdrawn
A LEADING light in the Irish folk scene will work traditional and contemporary sounds to promote her new album. Heidi Talbot has drawn comparisons as diverse as Björk, Enya, Linda Ronstadt, Norah Jones and Kirsty MacColl, and her gig at The Artrix
The Bishop of Worcester has been appointed to an ancient post by the Queen today giving him responsibility for organising the traditional Royal Maundy Service. The Rt Rev John Inge has become the Lord High Almoner, a title which dates back hundreds
THE FAMILY of a dementia patient whose life savings were stolen by a disgraced clergyman have welcomed his prison sentence. As we reported yesterday, the Rev Peter Hesketh was jailed for three-and-a-half years on Wednesday for stealing £61,429
WORCESTER Warriors welcome back fly-half Andy Goode and prop Euan Murray for tomorrow’s Aviva Premiership fixture with Northampton Saints at Sixways (3pm). Goode was forced out of last week’s defeat at Bath through illness and isone of two changes
KIDDERMINSTER Harriers manager Steve Burr believes he has assembled a squad strong enough to keep the pressure up on their promotion rivals. Harriers head to Hyde tomorrow (3pm) aiming for a third successive Blue Square Bet Premier win to further
WORCESTER'S Labour Party has called for a council tax rise of almost two per cent in the city, it has emerged. The group has now lodged an official bid to have a hike of 1.99 per cent debated during a crunch city council meeting on Tuesday.
POTENTIAL recruits had the chance to meet with some of the region’s biggest employers and training providers during an apprenticeship showcase which was held at Worcester’s Sixways rugby stadium. Students from years 10, 11 and 12 were given information
THERE was nothing really unusual about Anne Frank. She was a teenager who argued with a mother she felt didn’t treat her as an adult, she looked up to her father, had a sparring relationship with boys . . . oh, and she kept a diary of her life and
HEREFORD United manager Martin Foyle has called on his side to “scrap a win out” when they host Lincoln City tomorrow (3pm). The Bulls are struggling at Edgar Street and last Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to Wrexham stretched their run without a home victory
TWO men are being held in police custody after a prisoner was killed at Long Lartin prison. Subhan Anwar, who was jailed in 2009 for torturing and murdering a two-year-old girl, has been killed in Long Lartin prison, near Evesham, the Ministry
A MAN who sneaked into a pensioner’s home and stole Christmas cash from her bedroom while she watched TV has been jailed. Richard Davis, aged 30, of Barnett Avenue, in Ledbury, admitted breaking into the woman’s Ledbury home and stealing £240 from
IT has been six-and-a-half years since Worcester City last won four successive league games away from St George’s Lane. You have to go back to the beginning of the 2006-07 season for the last time they achieved that feat when Andy Preece guided
WARRIORS head coach Richard Hill admits his side’s misfiring line-out can be ‘soul-destroying’ at times. The Worcester chief says it drives him to distraction when he looks on from the sidelines only to see his pack butcher promising attacking
WORCESTERSHIRE footballer Matt Smith is dreaming of another FA Cup giant-killing act when his Oldham Athletic side face Premier League high-fliers Everton tomorrow. The 6ft 6ins striker grabbed national headlines last month after his two-goal salvo
THIRTY-nine exotic animals may end up scattered across the country if a family cannot find somewhere to home them and their pets soon. The animals belong to Lynda and Drew Blake, who run Wildside Furry Exotics, in Fernhill Heath, near Worcester
WORCESTERSHIRE County Council is reporting that Hylton Road, St John's, Worcester, is due to re-open this afternoon. However, temporary traffic lights will remain in place while National Grid continues to carry out gas repair works near the Crown
UPDATE 10:10am: Water supplies are now understood to have been returned. A Severn Trent spokesman said that the problem was not with any of the company's water pipes but with a privately-owned pump distributing water to the homes affected
NOTHING less than maximum points will do from Worcester Wolves’ home British Basketball League double-header, says head coach Paul James. In an unprecedented scenario of back-to-back home games, Wolves host both Mersey Tigers and London Lions within
AN under-rated and often overlooked band with more than 45 years of continuous service will aim to prove they remain a significant and challenging force in rock and roll when they come to Worcester. The Pretty Things led the British beat boom in
BOTH the C2022 Jubilee Bridge at Fladbury and the B4088 Eckington Bridge, both near Pershore, are now closed due to flooding. They had been re-opened earlier this morning, but were then closed again. New Street, Upton-upon-Severn, is closed
CALLS are being made for 20mph speed limits to be introduced across Worcestershire – with drivers accused of treating roads like “their own personal race tracks”. Councillor Tom Wells, a Liberal Democrat, has launched a stinging attack on “the
MANAGER Paul West is looking forward to his Evesham United side pitting their wits against high-flying Swindon Supermarine tomorrow (3pm). The Robins are unbeaten in four Evo-Stik Southern League Division One South and West matches following their
The Voyage by Murray Bail is published in hardback by MacLehose Press, priced £12 (ebook £7.87). Available now. Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Australian Murray Bail's latest novel is about piano inventor and manufacturer Frank Delage
