A MAN has appeared in court accused of deliberately setting alight an outdoor bar. Thomas Meenaghan entered no plea at Worcester Magistrates Court to a charge of recklessly endangering the lives of others through arson. The seriousness of the crime
A YOUNG woman born unexpectedly at Upton Surgery has celebrated her 25th birthday. Louise Humphrey, who was born at 4.30pm and weighed 7lb 13oz on June 19, 1986, is now 25 years old. Her mum Ruth Humphrey, of Upton, was at the surgery when she gave
A 23-year-old barmaid who was left in charge of a city centre pub for the weekend used money from the takings to gamble on a new fruit machine, a court heard. Rebecca Jones, of Lear Close, Worcester, denies a charge of theft from the Cricketers pub in
YOUNG farmers in Worcestershire have triumphed at the Three Counties Show. More than 150 members from Worcestershire battled it out with Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Young Farmers Clubs in a number of competitions to be crowned the 2011 champions
A BRUTAL display of batting from Henry Coleman was the highlight of Colwall thirds’ seven-wicket win over Dales in Marches League Division Two. Put in by Colwall skipper John Berry, the Leominster side set about the bowling on their way to 278-5. Wily
A HAULAGE firm has been given the green light to run its lorries from a yard in rural Worcestershire. Robinsons of Worcester was asking for retrospective permission to store its 11 lorries and 15 trailers at its base at Home Farm at Besford, near Pershore
THE deadline for nominating a torchbearer for the 2012 Olympic Games Torch Relay closes at midnight tonight. The relay will be coming through Worcestershire and torchbearers will be chosen from the nominees whose stories will inspire and shows
DETERMINED Worcestershire runner Emma Gooderham conquered the heat to be crowned English women’s 50-kilometre champion. The Wyre Piddle mother-of-two won the race in a personal best time of three hours and 32 minutes at the championships in Boddington
SHOPPERS can bag a bargain as a festival marking a canal’s reopening gets under way. Acorns Children’s Hospice shop in Droitwich is hosting a sale of clothes, books, accessories and household goods on Saturday, July 2, and Sunday, July 3. They will
SIR – In reply to George Cowley’s letter regarding wasps (Worcester News, June 22). Actually, they have been created to act as fanatical Wolves football supporters. Their colour says it all. There will be thousands more around this year celebrating
FLOOD defences were not supposed to make a market town look like fortress,a councillor has said. Councillor Judy Pearce, Wychavon’s elected planning chief, made her feelings clear during a planning application to raise the height of a flood wall at Pershore
Parents across the county face serious inconvenience on Thursday if the public sector pensions strike goes ahead as planned. As revealed in today’s paper, 94 schools in Worcestershire will close or partially close. An interesting question is: who gets
CHRIS McPhee, 18-goal top-scorer at Kidderminster Harriers last season, has signed a two-year deal with League Two Torquay United. The versatile 28-year-old was out of contract at Aggborough after 110 appearances since February 2009 and wanted a move
SIR – What do Upton-upon- Severn, Malvern Link, Barnards Green, Bromyard and St John’s in Worcester have in common? Well, the answer is they are all losing their high street banks. A fact that places even greater pressure on sustaining our local
A WORCESTER teenager has appeared in court charged with stabbing a 16-year-old boy. Thomas Mann, aged 18, of Ransome Avenue, off Bath Road, is accused of stabbing the boy a number of times with a knife in Hillery Road, off Spetchley Road, Worcester,
SIR – Ninety per cent of fish caught at sea are dumped. Who can remember when eating fish and chips was not a luxury, but a poor man’s meal? Not any more. Eating fish and chips out of paper is still as English as it comes, but due to low levels
SIR – How utterly predictable that Tory councillor Francis Lankester should, in his attempt to distort recent economic history, again ignore factual data and use unattributed and out-ofcontext throwaway comments from ‘civil servants’ (Worcester
A HEATWAVE brought soaring temperatures to Worcester at the weekend – but there are predictions for a cooler week ahead. A peak of 28.3C (83F) was recorded in the city on Sunday, making it the hottest day of the year so far. And many may have struggled
SIR – Councillor Fran Oborski’s comments (Worcester News, June 23) that she was “inundated” with complaints about care that involved not just the Alexandra Hospital, but Worcestershire Royal, surely raises concerns to an even higher level following
A WORCESTER takeaway has been fined £25,000 for employing illegal workers. News of the fine comes as the takeaway cancels its popular 40 per cent off deal. As previously reported, immigration officers from the UK Border Agency carried
HIGH spots, low spots, crackpots… and half a century of Betty’s hotpots. Yes, we are of course talking about that national institution Coronation Street. Jonathan Harvey’s hilarious and loving look at the world and characters of the long-running
SIR – It is disgusting that abusive arsonists are calling the fire brigade after starting fires and then taunting the firefighters on arrival (Worcester News, June 24). The firefighters do have a useful defence weapon if required – a 500lb per
A WORCESTER garden centre is offering people the chance to win £6000 worth of gardening products. Blooms Garden Centre in Droitwich Road, Worcester, is selling tickets for the Get Gardening Raffle in aid of Greenfingers until Monday, July 4. Greenfingers
WE remembered with great sadness the passing of our president, David Brickell, who had for many years been a devoted supporter of the Royal British Legion. David’s support will be badly missed and the chairman thanked members for attending the
VICE president Barbara Rowberry welcomed members to our June meeting. Christine Williams read out invites from Swanpool, Kempsey, North Claines and Comer WIs for various events. She also informed members about the proposal to move the AGM to the
SAUDI ARABIA conjures up images of oil, wealth, fantastic architecture and distinctive national dress. The speaker at this month’s Comer WI meeting, Veronica Collette spoke of all these together with much more during her time spent working and
THE President opened the meeting by welcoming 28 members to the June meeting. The speaker, Mrs Prosser, had trained as a farm secretary, then became a policewoman and finally became a full-time farmer’s wife. For a time, they had been hosts to
WE welcomed visitors from Broomhall, Comer, North Claines and St Peter’s WIs to our June meeting. We were told about invitations to an afternoon July meeting at Swanpool WI, two August meetings – on the same day – at Kempsey and North Claines
A SUPERGRANDAD from Worcestershire has transformed his mobility scooter – into a Batmobile. Brian Vann, of Hampton, Evesham, spent four weeks turning the electric scooter into the caped crusader’s car after deciding his own scooter design was
COMPETITORS from across the region took part in the fourth annual Top Barn Triathlon. In total, 240 athletes tackled the sprint and double distance courses from the Holt Heath-based activities centre. The sprint event, featuring 145 triathletes, comprised
MAKING do and mending are often seen as old-fashioned skills in today’s disposable culture. Hole in your T-shirt? Buy a new one. Broken something? Just throw it away. That attitude is changing now, though, with the rise and rise of environmentally
NINETY-one schools in Worcestershire will be closed or partially shut on Thursday as hundreds of teachers, lecturers and public sector workers look set to strike. Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), Association of Teachers and Lecturers
IT is always a sad day when one of your colleagues retires and Matt Mason has been a great servant to Worcestershire over the years. During his 10 years at the club, Mase has got pretty good statistics to show what a fine career he has had — he’s taken
ARMED police were called when a lovesick man armed with a crossbow attacked a house in Evesham in the early hours. Paul Kyte fired a bolt at the front door and also had an air pistol and hunting knives. An arsenal of weapons was found at his
BRAVE souls are being sought to go under the needle for a world record attempt which will raise vital funds for a Worcestershire charity. Jamie Holliday, a tattoo artist at Gods of Ink in Upper Tything, Worcester, will attempt to tattoo more than 800
MOEEN Ali believes that he can break into the England set-up — but as an all-rounder rather than an outright batsman. The 23-year-old is starting to hit a rich vein of form with the bat for Worcestershire and played for England Lions last summer. Yet
MEN who should know better out in the midday sun with a piece of rope – it must be summer in England. The tug-of-war contest was just one of many events at the first Norton Community Games on Sunday. The free bash coincided with one of the warmest days
A CHURCH in Worcestershire has had its funding prayers answered after receiving a grant of £20,000. Severn Waste Services gave the money to St John the Baptist Church in Grafton Flyford via the Landfill Communities Fund. The grant will be used to support
A 38-year-old man desperate for money carried out two burglaries within four months, a court was told. Trevor Richardson conned his way into an elderly woman’s flat in Wellington Close, Worcester, on December 10 with a story that the Government was making
