12:09pm Monday 27th April 2009
By Michael Grundy
THIS WEEK IN 1959:
BRIGADIER General Edward Barnard Hankey, who had an extremely distinguished career with the Worcestershire Regiment and commanded the 2nd Battalion at the Battle of Gheluvelt, has died at the age of 84.
In 1917 he was given the Freedom of Worcester in recognition of his key role in the heroic counter attack made against the Germans by the 2nd Worcesters at Gheluvelt – a name enshrined in the heart of every Worcestershire man.
Then Major Hankey, he led his 500 men in a counter attack against larger enemy forces – a move which saved the Channel ports and gave the British time to re-form their battered line.
● The first celebrity talk to the newly-formed Worcestershire branch of the British Automobile Racing Club was given by the famous veteran motor racing driver Raymond Mays. He was the top British and international driver in the years 1933 to 1939 and drove many of the legendary cars in the halcyon days of motor racing – Bugatti, Mercedes-Benz, Invicta and TT Vauxhall. He also competed several times in grand prix against Fangio.
THIS WEEK IN 1969:
FIVE nuns from St Joseph’s School for Mentally Handicapped Boys at Croome Court, near Pershore, were a hit when they put on a cabaret act at the Town Hall, Stoke-on- Trent. The sisters, strumming guitars, started with Yellow Bird and followed up with the Seekers’ hit The Carnival Is Over. The group’s leader Sister Frances Clare said it was the first time they had performed in public, having previously given private performances at the Croome Court school.
The other four members of the group, known as the Croome Court Minstrels, are Sisters Valerie, Therese, Ursula and Paulinus.
● Fires in Worcestershire during the past week were almost three times more than those of the same period last year. Grass fires have spread rapidly owing to the exceptional drying of dead undergrowth by sun and wind. In many cases firemen have had to be called in to prevent the spread of fires to property.
Chief fire officer Gerald Eastham says the dry atmosphere has been to blame for the majority of grass fires but some have been due to the careless disposal of cigarette ends and matches and a few resulted from children playing with matches and starting fires deliberately.
THIS WEEK IN 1979:
A PUBLIC lottery is being launched to save the inflation-hit Three Choirs Festival. The organisers desperately need more cash annually to meet the “astronomic cost” of the orchestras and soloists, otherwise the future of this musical showpiece will be in jeopardy. The lottery will be run on a monthly basis in the three cities of Worcester, Hereford and Gloucester with the profits being applied specifically to meet the cost of performances by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Three Choirs.
● Lightning struck Ombersley church tower last Sunday, putting electrical circuits out of action and causing a weight from the clock to crash down, breaking a flagstone in the west porch and bringing down some masonry with it. There was scorching to one of the four clock faces of the tower, with the hour hand and the number four burned.
Happily, the clock otherwise remained in working order.
THIS WEEK IN 1989:
AS Worcester’s Odeon Cinema prepares to bring the curtain up on an epic five-screen facility costing £500,000, cinema boss Joe Chapman is already wondering if up to 10 separate film offerings a week will be enough to satisfy film fans.
He said picture-goers are turning their backs on satellite TV and videos and rediscovering the delights of cinema as never before.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/trade_directory/