5 April - 12 April

9:22am Monday 7th April 2008

This week in 1958:

IF campaigners succeed in getting deer hunting banned, they will target fox hunting next, claimed Colonel LM Murphy, secretary of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, speaking at the Star Hotel, Upton-upon-Severn.

He said: "It seems to me such a terrible thing that our sport, our way of life, can be threatened by cranks."

• Worcestershire CCC's playing slump last season is reflected in the club's income and expenditure accounts for the past year, circulated to members this week. Gate receipts fell from £4,327 to £3,605 last year, and this, on top of a substantial drop in income from the county's match with the tourists, means that once again there is a deficit on the year.

By appropriating £7,000 from its Test Match Reserve Fund and with the aid of a further £1,000 donation from the Supporters Association, the club is able to narrow its loss on 1957 to £319.

This week in 1968:

HAS the new £13,500 footbridge over the Worcester-Malvern Road at Hospital Lane, Powick, been a waste of money through its lack of use by the public?

A recent survey taken on three separate days in January and February showed that of the 1,078 pedestrians crossing at this point, only 377 used the footbridge. The majority of pedestrians preferred to risk crossing the busy main road rather than use the bridge, particularly in cold weather when the steps were icy. Some also complained that the bridge swayed "quite alarmingly" at times. With fast-moving traffic underneath, this could be very unnerving.

• One of the effects of the long ban on hunting during the recent nationwide foot and mouth disease epidemic was revealed at this week's meeting of Upton-upon-Severn District Council. Members expressed deep concern about the increasing number of young lambs being killed by foxes on Castlemorton Common.

This week in 1978:

Schemes for the conversion of Worcester's secondary schools into comprehensives have now been included in the county's draft education programme for the next four years.

Scheduled for the financial year starting in April 1979 are adaptations and extensions to the Christopher Whitehead Boys' and Girls' schools, the Royal Grammar School and Perdiswell Secondary.

The following year it will be the turn of the Girls' Grammar School, Nunnery Wood Secondary and the Chantry School at Martley.

In 1981-82, the Worcester reorganisation will be completed with the adaptation and extension of the Blessed Edward Oldcorne RC School and the Bishop Perowne C of E School.

• The first two years' proceeds from the city council lotteries at Worcester - a forecast £200,000 - will be devoted entirely to the creation of a major new sports complex. This has been agreed overwhelmingly by the city council which hopes to see a stadium and sports arena built at Perdiswell.

This week in 1988:

Sickening dog fights where bull terriers tear each other to pieces are taking place in the Worcester area, an RSPCA chief claimed today.

Acting Chief Inspector Guy Harrison believes the blood sport is being held in disused barns and remote areas where gangs meet to place bets on the savage dogs. Mr Harrison said: "We definitely suspect it is going on around here and we urge anyone with information to contact the RSPCA as soon as possible."

• A new £100,000 community base for thousands of needy Worcester people is now set to be finished by the end of the year.

The Old Quilt Factory at the corner of Angel Place and the Butts will re-open its doors to serve the whole of the city. Drawn together under one roof will be agencies and help lines for the jobless, handicapped, disadvantaged and for young people in distress. Each group will operate separately but share resources.

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