THIS WEEK IN 1959: A GELIGNITE gang raided a Worcester departmental store at the weekend. They blew open a safe at Bobbys in High Street and got away with between £600 and £700. A mattress and bedspreads found in the store were used to muffle the sound of the explosion. The police believe the gang responsible was not local.

● Substantial extensions to the Worcester High Street store of Russell & Dorrell were opened to the public for the first time at the weekend.

Properties formerly occupied by Croad’s the florists, Salisbury’s handbag shop and Peplow’s jewellers’ shop – all now accommodated elsewhere – have been consumed in the extensions which have increased the store’s ground floor space by 60 per cent and added 40ft to the High Street frontage.

Geoffrey Dorrell is full of praise for the building contractors, who have completed the firm’s £70,000 expansion project ahead of schedule. The extensions will house three new departments – furniture, fancy goods and teenage fashions.

THIS WEEK IN 1969: FOUR sticks of gelignite were found yesterday in a pillar box by a postman at Fernhill Heath. He was making the first collection of the day from the pillar box on the A38 outside Fernhill Heath post office when he found the explosives.

Police from Worcester went to the scene and removed the sticks of gelignite to an air raid shelter at the back of the post office. An Army bomb disposal unit was called in to take the gelignite away.

The police are making urgent enquires to try and trace the source of the explosives and to discover who disposed of them in so dangerous a way to public safety.

● With only one hand raised in opposition, the city council has reaffirmed its 1960 policy that Worcester should accept Birmingham overspill population to ensure the city’s continued prosperity. Only 15 of the present 48 members were serving on the council when the issue was debated nine years ago so it was raised again to give new councillors a chance to air their views. The only dissenting voice was that of Alderman Walter Amphlett, who said he was satisfied with Worcester as it is and did not want millions of pounds spent bringing Birmingham people to the city. The council’s approved policy envisages the expansion of the city’s boundaries to encompass another 2,600 acres, allowing for the population to increase to 120,000 or 130,000 by 1995.

THIS WEEK IN 1979: HOW best to defend city and county schools and colleges from vandals and firebugs is to be discussed urgently by managing and governing boards throughout Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Destruction and fire-raising at three Worcester schools – Christopher Whitehead, Blessed Edward Oldcorne and Perdiswell – plus the experience of major fires at Kidderminster’s Harry Cheshire High School and two Hereford schools – has illustrated just how costly the damage and destruction can prove. County education officer Maurice Gifford is asking school and college governing boards to consider the installation of all possible safeguards such as burglar alarms and portable “vandal alert”

units.

THIS WEEK IN 1989: WORCESTER’S new scanner, installed at Ronkswood Hospital, was officially opened amid much celebration on Saturday. A group made up of fundraisers, civic dignitaries, health officials and appeal organisers stood by as Kay’s managing director Richard Pugh cut a tape and declared the scanner open.

Warm tributes to people from all walks of life who responded to the £750,000 appeal was paid by consultant surgeon John Black who, together with colleagues Dr David Tibbutt and Dr Douglas Rosewarne, launched the scanner appeal in 1987. Worcester District Health Authority chairman Tony Prescott said the scanner would speed diagnosis, aid recovery and improve the quality of life for patients.