THIS WEEK IN 1958:

DELIVERY instructions are still awaited for some of the finest furniture ever produced in this country, made by a well-known Worcester firm of manufacturers for the new palace in Baghdad which was to have been the home of the late King Feisal. The order, received from the Iraqi government before the king was assassinated, includes furniture for the palace’s banqueting hall which will accommodate 230 people and is in Regency mahogany.

● By only a two vote majority – 21 to 19 – Worcester City Council has agreed to the historic Public Hall being let for dancing and roller skating. Miss K Bamford is to pay £1,500 for a year’s tenancy, with the option of a further 12 months. The City Chamberlain, Councillor HH Exall pointed out that during the past year there had been only 24 bookings of the Public Hall, just nine of them for concerts.

THIS WEEK IN 1968:

MOST people in Worcester know that Redman’s manufacture machines that make motor car bumpers and that Heenan’s products range from engine test plants to refuse destructors. But few people yet realise that with the creation by merger of Redman Heenan International, Worcester has become the headquarters of one of Britain’s leading engineering groups, comprising 19 operating companies.

Redman Heenan International now controls, from its Worcester base, works, offices and design teams spread out from Scotland to the south coast, with products ranging from the simplest spanner to the heaviest hydraulic press.

● Hallow Parish Council has abandoned its plans for a bus shelter on the village green.

Martley Rural District Council refused this week to give planning permission. As a result, the parish council has decided to return to its former idea of having the shelter at the present bus stop opposite the Crown Inn.

THIS WEEK IN 1978:

PART of Worcester’s historic Crown Hotel in Broad Street re-opened to the public on Tuesday after five years. The new owners, Seven Wonder Inns are restoring the 400 year-old coaching inn after its long period of emptiness and decay which caused widespread public concern.

New life began emerging at the Crown on Tuesday when its doors opened to the oak panelled Tudor Bar, a conversion of the former gentlemen’s bar and lounge.

The new restaurant and restaurant bar in the former Crown dining room area will open next week, though it will be about 18 months before the upper floors are reopened as a small hotel.

● In the face of the overwhelming wishes of Hereford and Worcester County Council and many district and parish councils, the Severn Trent Water Authority is to go ahead with plans to add fluoride to all mains water supplies.

The water authority has accepted the advice of the Regional Health Authority that fluoridation is beneficial to dental health – a move in direct defiance of widespread opposition from elected local authorities.

THIS WEEK IN 1988:

WORCESTER was turned on to Christmas last weekend when the Mayor, Councillor Bernard Neil switched on the city’s festive lights – the biggest ever light show which has cost £21,000 and extends further than any set of Christmas lights Worcester has had before.

● Dip into your pockets… that’s the plea from city councillors to the people of Worcester in the face of the extremely urgent multimillion appeal for the restoration of the cathedral.

This week the council unanimously agreed to give £16,000 to sponsor a stone masonry apprentice to be taken on as part of the cathedral’s restoration workforce, though some councillors criticised this response as “pitiful” and “mean."