This week in 1988:

Worcester weather wizard Paul Damari is on cloud nine after Met Office chiefs made his dream come true by giving him their official seal of approval. The 36-year-old Northwick-based forecaster is now predicting a bright future for his booming weather service as the honour of being the Met Office's man in Worcester opens up new doors for him.

* Worcester's former Northwick Cinema is set to be turned into a film and restaurant complex after a consortium bought the building in a £500,000 deal. The news that leisure giants Mecca have finally sold the cinema heralds a new era for the notable building, often threatened with demolition over recent years. The new owners are a partnership consisting of a London restaurant group and the Cambridge Screen Projects Company.

This week in 1978: BY 1980 there will be only 155 full-time clergy at work in the Worcester Diocese, including 20 curates, compared with 246 and 44 curates in 1970. This warning is given by the Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Rev Robin Woods, who said: "It would be unrealistic to expect any significant increase in the foreseeable future. Our present manpower situation has come to stay. While it is far too early to say that the whole-time parish priest is on the way out, it is certainly true that he is becoming an increasingly rare bird' and will become rarer still." The Bishop believes that if the Church of England is to continue to fulfil its traditional responsibilities to people and nation, it will have to place a greater reliance on the recruitment of part-time priests and equally valued lay readers.

* An unanimous thumbs down has been given by Worcester city councillors to outline plans for the proposed demolition of the Northwick Cinema bingo hall to make way for a big retail store development.

This week in 1968:Something should be done about the unfair timing of the traffic signals at the junction of Castle Street with Foregate Street and the Tything, Worcester.

Traffic coming up Castle Street to filter into the flow in the Tything is allowed only a few seconds to change gear and get into the main flow before the lights are again red. This is particularly unfortunate at rush hour because there is often such a snarl-up at the junction that drivers caught up in Castle Street can watch the lights change to green without being able to move at all.

* After a gap of months, horse racing can start again on 11 courses across the country, including Worcester. Racing has been banned by the Ministry of Agriculture during the widespread foot-and-mouth epidemic but the position has now improved to the extent that Whitehall is lifting the ban. Worcester's next scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, March 12.

This week in 1958:A dream - costing £8,000 - was realised on Tuesday. The "faithful old tin hut," built almost 80 years ago for £50 and home throughout the years to St John's Working Men's Club, is no more. In its place has arisen a modern, spacious building, contemporary in design and décor. Compared with the 20 or so stalwarts who were the founder members, there are now more than 300 ready to claim that theirs is indeed "the finest club in Worcester." More than 200 members attended the official opening ceremony for the new building.

* General Sir Richard Gale, a long serving and much decorated soldier of the Worcestershire Regiment, has been appointed to succeed Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery as Deputy Supreme Commander of Allied Powers in Europe. He joined the Worcestershire Regiment in 1915 and was awarded the Military Cross during the First World War. He won the DSO during the Second World War and was also honoured with the United States' Legion of Merit. He was Commander in Chief of the British Army of the Rhine from 1952 until 1956 and has been for several years Honorary Colonel of the Worcestershire Regiment.