100 Years Ago

February 6 1904

Owing to the failure of the crops last year and the continued perversity of the climatic conditions this year, there is at present a great lack of employment in garden and field work generally, and as a consequence the poverty among the poorer classes of people in Pershore is more acute than it has been known for many years. It has been strikingly manifested by the thin faces and hungry looks of the poor youngsters that their parents were not able to provide the necessary food for them, and this was noted more especially by Mr Chapman and Mrs. Brickell, master and mistress respectively of the elementary schools.

75 Years Ago

February 2 1929

The Evesham Town Hall was packed to the doors on Wednesday night on the occasion of a demonstration addressed by the Right Hon. Sir Francis Dyke Acland, Bart., and Mr Sellick Davies, M.B.E. (prospective Liberal candidate for the Evesham Division). Mr R. B. Swift (chairman of the South Worcestershire Liberal Association) presided. The large audience included many ladies. Prior to the speech making, a capital variety entertainment was given by "The Swells" Concert Party, and evidently highly appreciated by the audience. The chairman explained that the object of the meeting was to support the candidature of Mr Sellick Davies, and to give them the opportunity of hearing the Liberal policy expounded.

50 Years Ago

February 6 1954

Two important decisions, both of particular significance to the Pershore district, were made by the Lower Avon Navigation Trust at Evesham last Thursday. The first was to use the £4,500 gift of the Mrs Smith Trust, which was announced in December, to replace the Pershore watergate with new staircase lock immediately below Pershore lock. The second was to accept the tender of Messrs Thomas Vale and Sons, of Stourport, for doing the civil engineering work required in the impending restoration of Wyre lock. By the latter decision, the Trust demonstrated its faith in the ability of the Pershore district to succeed this year in the raising of £2,000 for the Wyre scheme.

25 Years Ago

February 1 1979

Growers in the Vale of Evesham are negotiating with the Severn-Trent Water Authority over a controversial proposal to charge £150 for the installation of water meters on their land. The water authority wants the meters so that the amount of water used to irrigate crops can be accurately recorded for charging purposes. Growers were so angry about it that they proposed a resolution condemning the water authority's "dictatorial attitude" which Mr Alan Higginson, immediate past chairman of the Evesham growers' branch of the NFU, intended to propose at the annual meeting of the union in London last week. But when negotiations with the authority opened, it was decided not to proceed with it.