MAY 3-10

9:15am Tuesday 6th May 2008

This week in 1958:

Problem of too many church services. The Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Rev Mervyn Charles Edwards writes in the Diocesan Messenger: "I am inclined to think there are now too many services. In one diocese, nearly all the parish priests have at least three morning services on Sunday, and some even have four, five or six.

"It is almost impossible for a priest to make each of these acts of worship as perfect an offering as it should be when he has to spend four or six hours in continuous worship.

"In the country where the priest often has to dash from village to village on his bicycle or, if he is lucky, by car, he must be pretty well exhausted by the time he comes to the last service.

"One of the reasons why the clergy do this is because they are genuinely trying to meet the demands of the laity, despite the fact that we are suffering a worrying decline in the number of priests."

The Bishop concludes that ways must be investigated to ease the problem, including the merging of services and the introduction of family communions.

This week in 1968:During their tour of Aden, the Queen's Own Hussars, Worcestershire's armoured regiment, tackled hundreds of terrorist incidents, suffered casualties and accounted for several of the enemy.

Six of their number were decorated for gallantry, among them Corporal John Taylor of Worcester. Relics and reminders of this experience will be the highlight of an exhibition being staged by the Regiment in the Colmore Depot car showrooms, Worcester for 10 days from next Monday.

The Queen's Own Hussars have almost a 300-year tradition of devotion to duty and bravery, unsurpassed in the annals of the nation. Among their battle honours is Waterloo and, during the last war, the Hussars fought the Germans, Italians and Japanese. Their Colonel in Chief is Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

* Labour's new parliamentary candidate for Worcester is Doris Fisher, a grandmother of 47, who is believed to be the first woman ever to contest this Westminster seat.

She lives just outside the Worcestershire boundary at Rednal and has been a member of Birmingham City Council for 14 years.

This week in 1978:Hereford and Worcester county councillors are considering leasing the 44 acres of woodland next to their new £8 million County HQ with the intention of creating an area of "public enjoyment" with footpaths, picnic areas and a trim track.

The actual Nunnery Wood is owned under ancient rights by Christ Church College, Oxford, but county council officers have already reached agreement with the university authorities over the lease of the woodland on an annual rent.

* A plan to revamp Worcester for the Eighties has been drawn up by the Civic Society. The main proposals urge the pedestrianisation of Deansway which at present carries a great deal of traffic to Worcester Bridge.

This is seen as "an essential first step" in the overall scheme for the Eighties. The plan advocates the use of City Walls Road to take all through traffic away from Deansway and High Street.

The prime aim is to reunite the city centre with the river. The extension of the City Walls Road route along St Nicholas Street, down Angel Street and under the Blackfriars multi-storey car park is also proposed together with a Bridge Street by-pass taking the westward traffic to Worcester Bridge.

This week in 1988:THE new Worcester hostel for the homeless is finally nearing completion after a three-year problem plagued struggle to get it built.

The £510,000 St Paul's Refuge at Shrub Hill is now at last on target to open its doors to 50 clients for the first time in June as builders press ahead with putting the finishing touches to the haven.

For the last two years the St Paul's team have been operating a night refuge for the homeless in nine portable cabins on the city's Hillborough site.

* House prices are rising at five times the national rate of inflation, reports the Halifax Building Society. Property prices across the country have gone up by 17 per cent compared with the annual national inflation rate of 3.3 per cent. The average price of a semi in the Worcester area is now £55,000 while the average for a detached is £75,000.

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