THIS WEEK IN 1960:

YOUNG girls who attempt to emulate film stars by wearing modern shoes with pointed toes and stiletto heels are developing “ugly and disabling deformities”

to their feet even before they are ready to leave school.

This is the warning contained in the annual report on Worcestershire County Councils’ school health service. The document spotlights this “deplorable habit”

spreading among schoolgirls in the county and calls for the introduction of “uniform shoes of good functional design.” The report says there are photographs of girls’ feet which show very clearly “what ugly and disabling deformities attend the wearing of unsuitable shoes. Lively and most useful meetings have been held with school staffs, schoolchildren and their parents and a good deal of success has been achieved in getting girls to wear sensible shoes.”

THIS WEEK IN 1970:

INN names. The Crown, often coupled with the Rose and other emblems, is the most popular inn name in Britain. It occurs 1,099 times across the nation. Not far behind are the Lions – red, black, white and blue, with here and there a golden, though in Worcestershire there are many Swans. The most aptly named public house is the Adam and Eve in Paradise, Gloucestershire.

The Bush is the oldest sign.

It originates from the bunches of evergreens that the Romans used to indicate their wine shops, hence the phrase “good wine needs no bush”. Most New Inns are very old, one in Gloucestershire dating from 1450. Our ancestors loved bell ringing so much that England was known as “the ringing island”. Today there are more than 800 Bell Inn signs.

THIS WEEK IN 1980:

PRINCE Charles is to visit Worcester next year to unveil the £25,000 Elgar Statue in High Street. It is to be a more than life size figure, depicting the composer at the age of 52.

The fund for the statue now stands at £20,000 either donated or promised as a result of a nationwide appeal.

● Youth unemployment figures for Worcestershire are nearly treble what they were in October last year.

There has also been a 233 per cent rise in the number of summer school-leavers who have no job. Overall, 2,506 of the county’s young people are registered as unemployed, and there are only 67 jobs available to them. But county careers officer Percy Walton urges young people not to give up hope. He said: “The problem is so formidable that a sense of impotence can easily overtake one, but it would be disastrous if such an attitude became endemic among young people.”

THIS WEEK IN 1990:

THE vandal-wrecked lights on Worcester Bridge are finally meeting with the satisfaction of city councillors after extensive repair work was completed this week. The balustrade lighting, installed over a year ago, is shining brightly again after 12 months in the dark, and contractors Philips are finally to be paid.

The tubular lights were added to supplement those already fitted to light up the bridge piers and arches, but were smashed by vandals with damage estimated at £16,000. Lighting tubes have now been re-fixed with stronger protection guards, and special patrols are to be mounted to protect them from further harm.