Worcester's housing, abattoir and pest control, city's Public Health team did it all

A number of photographs have been shared in previous articles that form part of a collection taken by Tom Marsden, former Chief Public Health Inspector for the City of Worcester.

Tom, as you may remember, spearheaded the city’s slum clearance programme of the 1950s and 60s, which saw the demolition of more than 3,500 condemned houses in areas such as Dolday, Tybridge Street, the Blockhouse, Copenhagen Street and King Street.

The City of Worcester Public Health Department, Church House in 1954 – the entrance to the right of the picture was for Welfare Food enquiries and to the left, Sanitary Inspection enquiries

Tom was a keen photographer, and the photographs that were taken prior to demolition of many of these buildings were developed in a dedicated dark room in the offices of the city’s Public Health department, based at Church House, in The Avenue (the building now occupied by Bushwackers).

Roy Fidoe, Public Health Inspector

One of Tom’s former colleagues, Roy Fidoe, made contact a few weeks ago and was able to shed more light on the role that the Public Health team played in the city.

Roy was himself one of our city’s Public Health Inspectors and identified a number of characters featured in the photographs shown here.

He said: “Tom took the photographs of the Public Health Department prior to its demise following local government reorganisation and the ‘birth’ of the Environmental Health Department in 1974.”

Roy told me it was something of a shock to see the department and staff 47 years after he’d left!

Edith Bishop, Clerk

One long-standing member of staff was Edith Bishop, clerk to the department from the late 1950s to the 1980s, who’s desk happened to be based in a room called ‘The Bishop’s Room’. This was purely coincidental, but raised a few smiles in the office!

These are just some of the staff who worked for the city on a wide range of public health issues, including housing conditions, meat inspection at the city abattoir and slaughterhouses in The Shambles, pest control and food welfare.

The department later introduced food hygiene bylaws and noise abatement regulations, with Worcester being only the second place in Britain to introduce noise abatement provisions.

The department also stepped in during the 1960s when an outbreak of polio was linked to the Barbourne Brook in Gheluvelt Park, after which time the stream was fenced off to deter paddlers.

Many thanks to Roy for shedding light on this collection of images and putting names to faces.

Worcester Life Stories is a collaborative project bringing local people together through shared stories of the City of Worcester. It is co-led by Dr Natasha Lord, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust and Sheena Payne-Lunn, Worcester City Council and funded thanks to National Lottery players.

For further information or to share your stories, visit worcesterlifestories.org.uk, our Facebook page or Twitter @worlifestories. You can also email worcesterlifestories@gmail.com or call 01905 721133.

And why not visit the We grew up in Worcester page on Facebook?