THIS WEEK IN 1961:

UPTON-upon-Severn has lost its cinema with the closing down of this valued entertainment facility in the town’s Memorial Hall. Even though the cinema performances were held only twice-weekly, on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, the 2,000 inhabitants of Upton have now been deprived of this relaxation.

And it’s not only the people of Upton who will miss the cinema as the effect will be felt throughout the rural district – population 15,350.

People of the area wanting to go to the cinema will now have to travel to Malvern, Worcester or Tewkesbury to do so. The main reason for the Upton cinema’s closure is that no one could be found who was willing to take over its management from the present operators.

THIS WEEK IN 1971:

From the Berrow’s Worcester Journal leader column: To many people the Royal Infirmary at Worcester is a grim place. It is not only its association with suffering that makes it unpleasant, a place to be avoided if possible, but it is also the building’s general atmosphere of depression. It is a relic of a less enlightened age architecturally – it will be 200 years old next year – and as such should long ago have been replaced by a brighter, more functional building, better for staff and patients alike.

The news that it is unlikely to be replaced by a more modern general hospital until the 1980s is bound to be received with dismay by all concerned.

Although it is claimed to have more modern facilities than many other old hospitals in the country, it is still very far from perfect.

The out-patients’ waiting accommodation and the specialists’ consulting rooms alone require drastic improvement and the location of the various other departments is inconvenient for the staff and bewildering for patients.

The fact that the always inadequate staff manage to cope so well is something to be admired, but they deserve a better building.

The infirmary is regal in name only. It cries out for a building more worthy of its reputation.

THIS WEEK IN 1971:

PRICELESS English Civil War breastplates have been stolen from the Bishop’s Palace in Deansway, Worcester.

The two breastplates, more than 300-years-old, are of enormous sentimental value to the Worcester Diocese and disappeared over the new year period when thieves smashed a window in the Abbot’s Kitchen on a Sunday night.

Ignoring other valuables, the intruders took the valuable armour from the main staircase where it has hung for many years, and left the way they came.

Colonel William Bell, the diocesan secretary, said: “The thieves must have used great force to get in and the staff are very upset about this daring robbery.”

He added that the only hope of retrieving the breastplates was if the public and antique dealers were vigilant. One of the breastplates had a dent in it from a Civil War musket ball.

THIS WEEK IN 1991:

THE Dean of Worcester, speaking at a special Media Service in Worcester Cathedral, pointed to the power of the press and gave thanks for the 300-years-old Berrow’s Worcester Journal.

The Very Rev Robert Jeffery said the social duty of newspapers was to be informative and provide basic facts, to encourage involvement of its readers in matters of concern, to draw attention to often unpalatable facts that people would prefer to hide, to encourage serious thought, to entertain, to build up community awareness and to open people’s eyes to each other.

He said: “We give thanks today for a paper which does these things, not in a sophisticated nor overintellectual way but in a way which reaches many people and raises their sights.”