MANY thanks to Mike Grundy for his "Sad ,yet historic photograph" of the last meeting of Worcester City Council as a self-governing county borough authority (Evening News, Saturday, September 27).
I recognise most faces. It was indeed a sad occasion for Worcester and is still having repercussions to this day. I was a minor official and watched local government deteriorate from that moment on.
Our happy, friendly staff broke up in scrambles for posts in the larger authorities. Chief officers and all who were able took early retirement as a soulless bureaucracy replaced friendly, inter-departmental co-operation.
Those of us who remained were transferred unenthusiastically to other duties not always of our choosing. Ironically, industry, precursor of "bigger is better" had already discovered its shortcomings and begun breaking up into smaller units but the Redcliffe Maude recommendations went ahead, mildly modified by Worcester's MP, who was Home Secretary.
Today, as I read recommendations for regionalisation and European integration I shake my head sadly and ask myself: "Will we never learn?"
JOHN HINTON,
Worcester.
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