THREE scenes on or near Worcester Bridge, selected from our photographic archives, form this fascinating pictorial montage.

n Picture A dates from the late Victorian days of the 1890s and shows a horse-drawn tram approaching Worcester Bridge down Bridge Street. Note the interesting characters in the scene such as the elderly gent in the bowler hat hobbling over the bridge with his walking stick, and the sharply dressed chap in plus-fours, smoking a pipe and walking across the road some yards in front of the tramcar! The river bridge is the one dating from the 18th Century which was much widened and reconstructed between 1930 and 1932.

n Photo B was taken in the late 1940s or early 1950s and shows South Parade, the riverside promenade running from the eastern bridgehead to South Quay.

Note the B & B guesthouse, the neighbouring Brundish's and the City Rag Stores, then all lining South Parade.

They were eventually to be demolished, and now to be found in their place is the Warmstry Court housing complex.

n Picture C dates from the early 1960s when Worcester Bridge was the centrepiece of daily traffic chaos during the morning and evening "rush hours."

This was then the city's only river crossing for traffic, and New Road, with its two-way flows, was a severe bottleneck with queues trailing back along all the western approaches into the city.

There were traffic lights on Worcester Bridge, though at the time of this bird's eye view photograph, a policeman were struggling to direct the traffic queues.

I well remember a former Mayor of Worcester, the late Alderman Bill Bird nicknaming Worcester Bridge in those days as the city's "car strangled spanner!"