THE future of Malvern Hills College hit the front of the Gazette 25 years ago.

Governors had been told to find substantial savings to eliminate an annual £180,000 loss and the word was that the college's "neck was on the block".

At a meeting of the county council's further education committee, college governor Edward Wheen said it would be "an absolute tragedy" if the college were to close and that savings had to be made.

But another member said the college was "the albatross around the neck of further education in Hereford and Worcester," adding: "It is not the duty of the education committee to foster a social club for a very advantaged section of the community."