THIS WEEK IN 1971:

WORCESTER Cathedral, for centuries the focal point of city and county alike, is in need of urgent repairs, and an appeal for £275,000 is being officially launched next week.

Just 100 years after the last great restoration of this ancient building, structural and interior repairs have become very necessary and pressing. A survey carried out during the recent installation of a new central heating plant revealed that roof timbers, some dating from the 13th Century, had been eaten away by death watch beetle, and much of the famous red sandstone of the exterior was also badly in need of renovation. Cathedral architect Bernard Ashwell said: “The Cathedral is not in imminent danger of falling down, but there are a great many items of repair which need to be carried out in order to maintain the building in a good state, including substantial work to the exterior stonework and to the roof timbers.”

THIS WEEK IN 1981:

The “strongest possible pressure” is to be exerted by Worcester city councillors on the county surveyor for a change of heart over demands which threaten the future of a small riverside landmark. City councillors are anxious to approve private plans for the conversion of the former electricity works pump house at Hylton Road into a waterfront “service station”

for the increasing number of pleasure craft plying the Severn. But county surveyor Vivian Jones is using his powers to “direct”

the city to turn down the scheme on traffic grounds.

He claims that vehicles loading and unloading at the pump house would have to make turning movements which would interfere with traffic flows at a very busy location. Even so, city councillors remain convinced that applicants SR and CH Henley of Powick have come up with the ideal answer to the future use of the small riverside building – as a chandlery store and pumpout station for river users.

THIS WEEK IN 1991:

A Worcestershire doctor will soon be swapping his appointments book for a road atlas when he joins 239 other drivers in a rally classic challenge to Monte Carlo. However, alongside the vintage Bentleys and an Austin Healey 3000, Fernhill Heath GP Kelvin Laidlaw won’t be in danger of breaking any speed records in his Morris Minor. All vehicles taking part must have been built before 1963.

The Monte Carlo Rally Classic Challenge starts in the UK from Edinburgh Castle on February 11 and will end with a run through the South of France where a Concours d’Elegance will be staged.