June 22 to June 29 (From Worcester News)

June 22 to June 29

11:55am Monday 22nd June 2009 in

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THIS WEEK IN 1989:

WORCESTER needs at least 500 new houses just to deal with the very worst cases of homelessness and overcrowding. And the situation is of course to worsen dramatically as fears rise of housing associations removing all but the highest priority applicants from their lists – a move sparking off predictions that the city is staring in the face the worst ever homes crisis since public housing schemes were introduced 60 years ago. Former Worcester mayor Cliff Lord spoke this week of the scale of the problems facing “hundreds or even thousands of our fellow citizens, many of whom are encountering untold misery through homelessness, living in sub-standard houses, waiting for years on council housing lists, or seeing house prices rise to the point of being completely out of their reach.”

THIS WEEK IN 1979:

WORCESTER and much of the county is faced with car chaos throughout the summer after traffic spilled off the M5 causing giant snarl-ups at the weekend.

Work on M5 widening and improvements has fallen severely behind schedule through bad weather and, instead of a finishing date in July, it is not now expected to be completed until September.

The AA is warning of long traffic queues on the M5 for months and of vehicles spilling over on to the roads of Worcester and the county.

At one point last weekend, 3,000 cars an hour – twice the number the motorway was designed to carry – were travelling south along the M5.

● More than 4,500 people in the Worcester and Malvern area are facing a wait of up to seven months for their driving tests because of a shortage of driving examiners. The RAC regards the problem as serious and the Ministry of Transport has launched an urgent recruitment drive for examiners.

THIS WEEK IN 1969:

ADVERTISEMENT. A new way to shop in Worcester.

City housewives can now enjoy a revolutionary shopping experience by going to the Blackfriars Market Hall in the new Blackfriars Square Shopping Precinct, just opposite the bus station in Angel Place. It’s all new and exciting. The “movator” – the first of its kind to be installed in Britain – will take you up effortlessly to the first floor Market Hall with its arcades of brightly decorated and lit shopping gondolas (we can’t think of a better word for them – they have so far outdistanced what people used to expect from markets).

You’ve never before seen a market like this one. The only thing that remains of the old pattern is the reputation for prices as low as you are likely to get them. Everyone who trades in Blackfriars Market Hall must achieve the highest standards of presentation and quality of goods offered.

This means a fair and guaranteed deal for housewives.

THIS WEEK IN 1959:

JOURNAL comment: “It is not only death duties that now bringing about the breaking up of historic country estates and the departure of long established families from their manor houses or historic homes after centuries. The inability to obtain sufficient suitable servants is another cause.

Gone are the days of a plentiful and cheap supply of paid helpers in the house and gardens – parlourmaids, footmen, kitchen maids, chambermaids, butlers, gardeners and undergardeners.

The titles ‘lord of the manor’ and ‘squire’ are gradually fading out.

● A rod catch of 1,070 salmon during the 1958 fishing season was the highest ever caught by rod and line in the river Severn.

It was an increase of 274 over the previous year. In times past, considerable numbers of salmon were by caught by Severn fishermen using netting.