From the archives

The Vale of Evesham fruit trade ought to be in full swing at this time of year, but just as bricks cannot be made without straw, so here can be no fruit trade without fruit, and everybody knows that the plum crop has been a miserable, an abject, and a total failure. One grower who had two thousand pots of egg plums last year, has this year picked the enormous quantity of twenty sieves - equal to about seven pots. In another plantation where there ought to have been two or three thousand pots, the quantity has been exactly two and a half pots. Prices, of course, have been most satisfactory from a sellers' point of view, 15s or 16s a pot, while last year they were about 5s.

75 Years Ago

September 1, 1928

It is becoming abundantly clear that the special shopping week in connection with Evesham Gala Week will produce some very attractive and novel features. The Evesham Traders Association, in response to an invitation from the Hospital Gala Committee, have entered very thoroughly into the spirit of the thing, and we trust their enterprising efforts to make the town more than ever attractive during the reign of King Carnival will meet with the complete success they deserve. The entries for the shopping competition already total 115 and others are still coming in, so that it is anticipated that anything from 130 to 140 traders will take part in the competition.

50 Years Ago

September 5, 1953

The organisers of Evesham carnival week, which came to an end last Saturday, a wet day, did very well to show a profit of £750 on the week's proceedings. It was more than expected, though an official statement said had said £1,000 was hoped for. Throughout the week, and by no means always in ideal conditions, Mr R. J. Bright, the king of the carnival, and Miss Janet Andrews, the queen, performed their duties with commendable wit and charm, and it was largely due to the enthusiastic lead given by them and the ladies and gentlemen of their court that that such an excellent result was achieved.

25 Years Ago

September 7, 1978

The future of the Crown Hotel, once Evesham's premier inn, will be decided by the Wychavon planning committee today. An Evesham businessman, Mr P. Disney has applied to modernise and sub-divide the 400-year-old former coaching inn in Bridge Street and has submitted plans to build 34 holiday flats, and a car park at the rear of the hotel. The scheme will cost an estimated £400,000. The proposals represent a modification to the £500,000 scheme rejected by the same planners 20 months ago on the grounds that the development was too large.