100 Years Ago

May 14, 1904

It is a pity that every member of the Town Council was not compelled to attend the entertainment given in the Town Hall on Wednesday evening, and also made to remain to the very end of an abnormally long programme. Perhaps they would then have all been convinced that some much improved assembly room for a town of the size and importance of Evesham is an absolute necessity. The present is certainly not an opportune time for increasing the rates, but when any public work is a necessity and it is possible to see a fair return for the money the council are not justified in pleading the well-worn cry "times are bad." We are glad to see that it was decided to go fully into the matter at the next meeting and perhaps by that time, after a good asparagus season, and every prospect of a large yield of plums, all the members of the council will view the matter in a more generous light.

75 Years Ago

May 11, 1929

Described on the order for admission to the Evesham Infirmary on Tuesday as "William Sidney Holtom, aged 42, of 35, Merstow Green, Evesham", the patient was, to the astonishment of the staff of the Poor Law Institution, discovered to be a woman. A pose that had been maintained for a number of years not yet ascertained, was thus brought to an end, the revelation of her "husband's" true sex proving an amazing discovery to "his" "wife" with whom he had lived in Evesham for nearly five years. Investigations into the story revealed a sequence of events perhaps more amazing in some of the characteristics than those brought to light in the notorious "Col. Barker" sensation.

50 Years Ago

May 15, 1954

The most derelict stretch of the Upper Avon - the two and a quarter miles between Cleeve Prior and Bidford - is gong to be cleaned out and renovated within the next few years, at a cost of over £28,000. Being undertaken by the Severn Water Board, the primary purpose of the work is to facilitate proper land drainage and remove the cause of flooding. But it will also serve two other purposes of great importance for the future of the Avon Valley: first, an unfortunate blot on the landscape will be erased; secondly, and perhaps most important of all, the possibility (until now barely admitted) of ultimately restoring the navigation of the Avon from Tewkesbury as far as Stratford will become a likelihood.

25 Years Ago

May 10, 1979

The ministry of agriculture has warned that Victorias could become extinct if the killer plum pox disease is allowed to spread unchecked.A call for renewed vigilance by growers to try to prevent it happening is contained in a new control guide for plum and damson pests and diseases, just issued by ADAS officers at Worcester. It says: "The disease remains a threat to the long-term future of plum growing in the Vale of Evesham and elsewhere."