RARELY seen images and descriptions of Worcester that were made 25 years ago have been unearthed in a new project.
The BBC has published snapshots of the Faithful City taken in 1986 – a time when mullets were in fashion and Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister – as part of its Domesday Reloaded project.
In that year, Warndon was a council estate on the east side of Worcester which was about to be transformed by the creation of a large estate of housing called Warndon Villages.
The nearby M5 motorway was also about to be widened from two-lane to three-lane carriageways.
BBC Hereford & Worcester will be taking a trip down memory lane to find those involved in the planning stages the major transformation.
James Coghill, managing editor of the station, which is supporting the project, said: “We will be focusing on amazing stories which highlight changes to the physical and social landscape experienced over the last 25 years.
“Because of the sheer volume of original contributors, we have a comprehensive snapshot of the region from 1986 which allows people to explore and update at a hyper-local level making the experience extremely personal and all that more interesting and relevant for themselves and those that interact in the future.”
One million people took part in the original Domesday project which attempted to document everyday life in the 1980s in a bid to preserve it for future generations – 900 years after William the Conqueror’s original Domesday Book.
However, the technology used to record the information did not catch on and few participants were ever able to see the fruits of their labours.
Now, 25 years on, digital technology has lifted the lid on the archive and people are being asked to contribute by updating previously unseen images and articles from their area on a dedicated website.
For more information, visit bbc.co.uk/domesday
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