I INTEND to labour the riverside issue because it is my view that there are many people in Worcester who know exactly what I’m talking about.

For example, last month’s Chalk for Peace weekend held on the area near to the fountains was disrupted by drunken youths. In some instances, chalk was stolen and obscenities scrawled on the path.

I know this happened because one of my riverbank spies witnessed the depressing scenes with his very own eyes.

This was supposed to be a family event for people who wanted to express their idealism. Yet it was ultimately spoiled by a mob of inadequates who can only find their courage in a can of supermarket alcohol.

As readers of this column will know, I’ve had a few close shaves in this vicinity.

Only recently, I was threatened in Diglis by someone who plainly should be locked away in a lunatic asylum.

The trouble is that too many of the mover and shakers around here are cocooned from the everyday reality of Worcester’s meaner streets. I have no doubt that there will one day be a real tragedy – but even then, I can imagine this will be talked out by the usual apologists in order to preserve the image of the Faithful City where everything is absolutely wonderful.

●WALKING home from Worcester’s Tudor House Museum, I sometimes vary the route and avoid the noise and fumes of Bath Road by taking a slight detour up Green Hill.

I’m always acutely aware that the past is never far away. For it was over this very hill that Oliver Cromwell made his decisive advance against Fort Royal in the final stages of the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

On a slightly higher elevation to the left of Green Hill is Gheluvelt hero Major Hankey’s former home, overlooking the city and the park which forever immortalised his feat of arms.

But that’s history for you… time travel in the blink of an eye.