UP to £175,000 is set to be ploughed into schemes to help young people in Worcester by the city council. The Guildhall’s Labour leadership wants to inject the six-figure sum into helping teenagers improve their skills. Around £50,000 will be
AN OPEN verdict has been recorded in the inquest of a 12-year-old girl from Evesham who was found hanged in her bedroom in April. Simon de Montfort Middle School pupil Kate Webb died on Wednesday, April 24 after being found by her mother hanging
EXCITING plans for a new multi-million pound shopping complex in Worcester have won the backing of retail chiefs - who say the city should look to the likes of Solihull. Adrian Field, manager of Worcester Business Improvement District (BID), a
THE amount of council tax and unpaid business rates written off in Worcester has plunged 93 per cent in a year, it has emerged. A fresh city council attempt to encourage more people to pay their bills has resulted in one of the authority’s best
A £1 million scheme to help first time buyers get on the housing ladder in Worcester has around 20 per cent of the cash left - amid fears it will run dry before being re-launched. Worcester City Council’s Labour leadership is being urged to bring
THE leader of Worcester City Council says he won’t be taking his authority back to the old committee system - and claims it would be a “backward step”. Councillor Adrian Gregson says he will not be supporting calls to revert back to a previous
DIRECTOR of cricket Steve Rhodes has revealed Gareth Andrew’s back injury is still giving Worcestershire cause for concern. The 29-year-old all-rounder has not played since suffering a twinge during the YB40 defeat to Kent on August 11 and was
FORMER captain Stuart Whitehead could be brought out of semi-retirement to ease Worcester City’s defensive dilemma. City are potentially without four centre-halves for this Saturday’s Skrill North match against Bradford Park Avenue at Aggborough
SIR – Re your front page story about the new shopping complex which will transform Trinity House (Worcester News, August 29). Are we to lose the Cornmarket car park as part of the proposed development? For those of us with limited mobility,
IT was only a matter of time and last week saw the first post-baby pictures of Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, published in the national Press. In what can only be described as fairly mundane pictures, there she was ‘papped’ in a supermarket car park
SIR – Letter writer George Cowley is always worrying about other people in other countries. He’s saying now that millions of children don’t go to school in Pakistan (Worcester News, August 21). As much as I love children, don’t you think,
SIR – I see the the head of policing in south Worcestershire [Superintendent Mark Travis] says that if people are “dealing drugs in the area we will pursue you with all the resources we have to prevent you from committing crime” (Worcester News
SIR – Along with five others I went to Huntingdon Hall on August 26. It was a superb evening’s entertainment performed by the Piccadilly Revellers. The ensemble, comprising four musicians and two vocalists, performed songs from the 1920s
SIR – Now that hopes of a Parkway railway station at Norton have been dashed and that this facility is unlikely, if ever, to become a reality in the next decade perhaps the county transport chiefs could now turn their minds to achieving improvements
SIR – David Cameron was trying follow in the footsteps of Tony Blair by planning a military attack on a country – this time Syria – on the basis of an intelligence dossier. We know now that Mr Blair’s Iraq intelligence dossier was greatly exaggerated
SIR – Following the House of Commons vote amounting to a rejection of British military action against Syria, I suppose we should be grateful to the trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party for supporting Ed Miliband in preference to his brother
SEEING as I’m not feeling the need to rant about the education system (I did well in my GCSEs – so for this week, Michael Gove can rest easy) I’ve decided to raise the issue of tattoos. Specifically, the very large rose tattoo that now dominates
SIR – The Spanish are playing up over Gibraltar. Surely we could do the same with Spanish lorries and traffic coming into this country. Hold them up for hours. And here’s a way to deal with the fishing boat problem over there... drop more concrete
SIR – I often read negative comments about Worcestershire Royal Hospital. I would like to say what excellent care I received from Dr Hudson and his team on Sunday, August 18, while having investigative procedures. G M DALLIMORE Malvern
SIR – Since my letter about the HMS Collingwood Association was printed by local newspapers across the country, the response has been terrific, but I have also received many requests for a bit more help. “Mike I saw your letter about HMS Collingwood
SIR – We read with interest the comments made by Colin Whitehead, manager of Worcester Foodbank, concerning the additional demands being placed on the foodbank’s services by struggling parents during the school holidays (Worcester News, August 20).
SIR – Re your report about the complaint made about Coco the cockerel crowing (Worcester News, August 21). In 1950 I was a young policeman in Kidderminster and had to deal with a complaint of a cockerel crowing. I visited the owner, an elderly
SIR – Re the comments by letter writer Liz Hayden- Jones on the Trotshill question (Worcester News, August 20). I think it’s a wonderful idea to rename Warndon Villages to Trotshill, just as long as the Trotskyites who back the idea are the only
SIR – I have lived in Warndon Villages for many years and I don’t recall hearing anyone say they were bothered by the area’s name. Other issues, such as litter, parking, poor public transport and road links with the rest of the city, maybe, but
SIR – Joy Squires has got a nerve getting on her soapbox complaining about a lack of affordable housing (Worcester News, August 22). It was the Tories who, having sold off most of this country’s stock of council houses in the 1980s and 1990s, put
WHEN did it become acceptable to be angry, confrontational and rude about pretty much everything? If a memo was sent out saying it was okay for people to fly off the handle at the drop of a hat, it certainly didn’t make its way to me. I don
SIR – Letter writer Peter Nielson seems to think I contradict myself (Worcester News, August 14) but these are my opinions. I do believe in unions but object to unions who haven’t got a good case and use the general public to bully their way into
SIR – In recent years we in the United Kingdom have witnessed numerous significant changes to our nation, changes which have manifested themselves on our streets and in our communities. These can be viewed as progress, just another aspect
SIR – Neil Watts in his Fair Point column (Worcester News, August 20) appealed to inconsiderate smokers to stop lighting up in some outside places. As a fellow hater of smoking, I was thrilled when during 37 years as an office worker, legislation
SIR – Like Councillor [Richard] Udall (Worcester News, August 21) I too am concerned about public transport to the new surgery at Grove Farm. First bus company says that extending the Dines Green service, number 30, would jeopardise the commercial
SIR – Much as I appreciate Councillor Richard Udall’s failed efforts to persuade First to extend the 30 bus route the short distance to the new surgery (Worcester News, August 21), I feel there is a lot more going on here. First is obviously pressing
SIR – I must admit I know nothing about fracking and I think most of the protesters know nothing about it either. I think they are protesting for the sake of it. It’s just a big game to them. The police should stop the protesters camping
SIR – Britain will soon be the China of Europe. Official estimates have shown that the population of Britain is rising more steeply than anywhere else in Europe. In 2011-12, the population rose by 419,000, the highest since 1972. But is
SIR – The Green Party agrees with letter writer N Taylor (Worcester News, August 16) on the need to address higher food prices. Part of Euro MP candidate for the Green Party Will Duckworth's point ‘It’s a scandal that we need food banks’ (Worcester
SIR – Letter writer H E Powe hit the nail on the head ‘Let’s not make the same mistakes again’ (Worcester News, August 6). Our bankers went bust because of their lust for ever bigger bonuses. We’re now paying for their mistakes. Our MPs
SIR – Re the recent stories in the Worcester News about taxis in the city. I’m a delivery driver in a large lorry and have been delivering to Worcester for nine years. The city has become a joke concerning the taxis and OAP parking. There
A MAN has died after he was hit by a lorry on the M5 this morning. Police are investigating the collision at about 7.40am on the southbound carriageway between J5 at Droitwich and J6 at Warndon. A rapid response vehicle and a paramedic area
SIR – Re your story ‘Oxford model is the way to move forward’ (Worcester News, August 20). The suggestion by Councillor [Mathew] Jenkins to implement a transport plan similar to that used in Oxford is not without merit. I have experience of
SIR – I was only thinking of how things have changed from the early 1950s and 1960s. When I was a young boy there was plenty of work about. It was a good job, I guess, as there was none of the benefits like today. If you didn’t work you
SIR – So Labour have finally admitted that they let in far too many migrants when they were in power. Something all of us have known. So how hypocritical to hear Labour’s home affairs spokesman Chris Bryant attack firms such as Next and Tesco
SIR – Does Tory MP Mark Garnier live in the same world as the rest of us? He presents a list of the coalition’s economic “achievements” (Worcester News, August 15) as though the economic misery of the past three years was inevitable.
SIR – It’s good to read that some of us are getting neighbourly help in feeding children from the food bank but I hope no one feels they need to go cap in hand as you write in your Comment (Worcester News, August 20). Rather, they should be full
SIR – The Worcester News asked for views on changing the name of Warndon Villages. May I say that this is nothing more than discrimination. Yes, the two areas [Warndon and Warndon Villages] are worlds apart, but whose fault is it?
SIR – I’m sure many people in Warndon will be upset by your coverage in the letters page (Worcester News, August 20) about the Tory suggestion to change the name of Warndon Parishes. Specifically, you displayed a picture of old (proper) Warndon
SIR – It is claimed that the HS2 rail project will now cost £80 billion. Every few weeks, it seems, the cost doubles. It appears nobody really knows how much it will cost. The Government says it is committed to keeping the cost down –
SIR – When county councillor John Smith replaced Derek Prodger and his ‘real vision projects’ as cabinet member for transport and highways, many people felt that perhaps we may have seen the end of mad-cap bus lane schemes costing millions.
SIR – In the light of county councillor Simon Geraghty’s decision to wind down park and ride services and county councillor John Smith’s comments on removing speed humps, the call (Comment, Worcester News, August 27) to do something to tackle Worcester
SIR – Worcestershire County Council has at last accepted that park and ride is losing money because drivers are not patronising it (Worcester News, August 27). Bus lanes are useless as too few passengers ride on public transport. Most car owners
SIR – As much as I detest the current government, I find myself becoming a fan of Eric Pickles [Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government]. It is high time that someone reined in on the draconian parking policies, excessive parking
