THIS WEEK IN 1957:

Consternation reigned at Callow End FC's Football Queen dance in the village hall on Friday when it was discovered that the girl chosen to represent the club in the Malvern Football Queen competition was, in fact, not eligible. A hurried meeting between club officials followed and it was decided that the runner-up in the contest, Ann Brown of Spring Lane, Malvern Link, be elevated to become Miss Callow End.

A capacity crowd attended the dance and saw the top TV and radio comedians, Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warriss, who were appearing on stage at the Gaumont, Worcester, choose the eventually disqualified winner and the runner-up.

THIS WEEK IN 1967:THE Elgar Society, at its annual meeting in Malvern, decided overwhelmingly that it would like to see the Elgar bust, recently stolen and recovered, returned to its original position in the Priory Park at Malvern.

The chairman, AT Shaw reported that some members of Malvern Urban District Council thought the Elgar bust ought to be placed under cover to prevent a similar incident happening again.

But Mr Shaw pointed out that a little area of Priory Park had been dedicated to individuals who had done much for Malvern. Sir Barry Jackson and George Bernard Shaw were commemorated there with trees and, appropriately, the Elgar bust had been placed close by.

* Joseph F Gimson temporarily left Worcester Royal Infirmary this week to re-marry at Worcester Register Office. A widower and the former chairman and managing director of the Worcester Royal Porcelain Company, Mr Gimson, aged 70, is in a private ward at the infirmary recovering from multiple fractures suffered in a road accident in February. His bride, the Baroness de Chollet, who is French, has been living in Switzerland.

THIS WEEK IN 1977:THE Worcestershire Hotel at Droitwich is now entering a fresh lease of life, displaying new three-star AA and RAC signboards and undergoing a quarter-million pound improvement scheme.

It is historically one of the best hotels in the Midlands since John Corbett, the Salt King, built it in 1891.

Donald Robinson, managing director of Edgilton Hotels, which acquired the Worcestershire in 1968, is confident that "the uncertainty about the hotel's future is a thing of the past".

* The County of Hereford and Worcester's 165 school crossing wardens are due to be disbanded next month as part of cuts in funds for education purposes unless the county council agrees next week to transfer responsibility for them from its education committee to the highways committee. However, the chances of this happening are very slight.

THIS WEEK IN 1987:

LACK of Government guidelines for the distribution of free EEC butter and cheese is causing confusion across Worcestershire as pensioners and people on supplementary benefit queue for their share. Distribution is being undertaken by the British Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the WRVS but complications are leading to great variations in the actual handing out of butter and cheese. To date, 20 tons of butter have been distributed in the county.

* Europe's oldest choral music festival, the Three Choirs, is entering the Space Age with a big investment in its first computer system to help organisers call the tune. The hi-tech equipment has been brought in at Worcester to handle the festival's massive mailing list, to print letter labels and to cope with bookings and the sale of 35,000 tickets for this year's event. The system has been bought with the proceeds from the highly successful 1984 Three Choirs at Worcester.

THIS WEEK IN 1992:

Shoppers flocked in their thousands as the CrownGate shopping centre at Worcester threw its doors open to the public for the first time yesterday. Two of the major retailers in the centre, Beatties and C&A were open for business as curious people wandered through the £80 million centre to see what all the fuss was about.

Clowns, jugglers, bands and even a string quartet entertained the crowds as they strolled from the new 750-space multi-storey car park into the centre.

* People in the St Peter the Great area of Worcester look set to get their own parish council despite opposition from the city council and the ruling Labour group. A draft proposal for a new parish council is included in a Local Government Boundary Commission report following consultation with a local residents' association.

The city council points out that one of the drawbacks will be extra and higher poll tax bills for residents of St Peter's compared with the rest of residents in the city.