THIS WEEK IN 1959: INITIAL work began at Worcester this week on a £250,000 project which, it is claimed by the designers, will give the city its most exclusive and luxurious departmental store yet envisaged.

The transformation is for the Bobby & Co drapery store in High Street (now Debenhams).

The plan for this large-scale development was conceived when the company first took over the premises – then Simes – in 1943, but has been delayed until now by post-war building restrictions. The entire building is to be extended and remodelled on modern lines giving an overall area four times greater than at present and with three times as much trading space.

● The average vehicle speed in Worcester is only two miles an hour more than in London, reports Dr G Charlesworth of the Road Research Laboratory. He says that whereas the average speed in London is 10 mph, in Worcester it is 12 mph.

THIS WEEK IN 1969: THE 900 gallons of fuel oil which ran into the Severn at Worcester last week as a result of the opening of a tap on a tank at Impress, the printers in Hylton Road, has so far been responsible for the destruction of 11 swans.

The oil release is believed to have been the work of vandals. As the oil slick began to drift down the slow-moving river, the water intake at the City Electricity Works in Hylton Road was sealed off with barges and the machinery was stopped until the danger had passed. A large number of swans were herded into Diglis Lock where they were captured and removed for cleaning, but unfortunately many of them had swallowed the oil in trying to clean their feathers. Some 17 birds have been taken to the RSPCA clinic in Birmingham and are said to be doing well.

The oil slick was eventually trapped by a barrage near Strensham and was collected and burnt.

THIS WEEK IN 1979: WORCESTER Abattoir, which closed down in May for essential repairs and modernisation, will not be reopened for at least another six months. It has been revealed that, despite the 22-week shut down so far, a start has still not been made on the work necessary to bring the slaughterhouse up to Common Market standards. The delay is the result of a continuing wrangle over who should foot the bill between the city council, which owns the abattoir, and Swifts Central Meat Company, which leases the premises.

● The restoration of Uptonupon- Severn’s old bell tower – affectionately known as “the Pepperpot” – is to go ahead. Malvern Hills District Council has agreed to take over the building “at a nil sum” from the church commissioners and to spend £5,000 on immediate repairs.

A further £15,000 will be allotted next year towards the total renovation and repair of the outside of the building and its crowning copula.

THIS WEEK IN 1989: A new hi-tech “spy”

machine may soon be introduced along Worcestershire’s roads to trap speeding motorists.

This follows tests carried out by West Mercia Police over the past few months.

The new space age technology involves the siting of roadside devices in the county to take readings as cars break a camera beam between two reflectors on the road. Police chiefs are praising the Marom 1 equipment as a vital breakthrough. The AA also welcomes it as long as it proves accurate and is not seen as a “Big Brother”

device by the public.