THIS WEEK IN 1961:

A MAJOR weapon search operation was launched in Sidbury, Worcester, this week in the wake of the stabbing murder of 21 yearsold Irish labourer, Patrick Mulligan outside the Commandery Road lavatories. A long length of the Worcester-Birmingham Canal between Sidbury bridge and the Mill Street bridge has been dammed and entirely drained of water in the search for the knife used to kill Mr Mulligan. Three young Birmingham men, arrested the day after the murder, appeared at the City Magistrates Court on Monday but the Crown Prosecution Service withdrew the charges and they were released. Since then, a 39 years-old man has been charged with the murder and committed for trial at the Assizes.

THIS WEEK IN 1971:

WITHOUT a hand raised in opposition, Worcestershire County Council voted overwhelmingly on Monday in favour of the Government’s proposed 1974 merger of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Worcester City into one single administrative county authority. Members also agreed to leave the question of a headquarters for the merged county council to a joint committee of the three existing authorities. However, Worcestershire’s vote in favour of the merger is in direct opposition to the views of Herefordshire County Council and Hereford City Council – both bitterly against the merger.

THIS WEEK IN 1981:

THE statue of the patron saint of Droitwich, St Richard de Wyche has been restored to public view in new glory. It was placed in Vines Park many years ago but vandals attacked the head, fingers and thumb and it was removed to prevent further damage.

Now, after months of diligent craft work by stonemasons, the statue has been returned, complete with new face and hands.

Born in Droitwich about 1197, St Richard went to Oxford University and in 1245 was elected Bishop of Chichester, being canonised in 1263 for his many acts of devotion and his miraculous works. Droitwich saw little of the man during his great days but he is famed for the time he returned to the town when the great salt pit at Upwich – later to be named St Richard’s Pit – ran dry and the town faced ruin. St Richard stepped in, blessed the pit and the brine flowed freely again.

THIS WEEK IN 1991:

PACK away your bikinis and flip-flops and invest in a new brolley – Worcester’s weatherman has predicted a stormy summer. Paul Damari of Barbourne says that although temperatures will rise during the last half of June (perhaps even into the 80s), we will be deluged with heavy thundery rainstorms. As for the rest of the summer, Paul forecasts that it is not going to be like last year, nor the year before.