THIS WEEK IN 1961:

METAL Castings in Droitwich Road, Worcester, has merged with the multimillion dollar National Lead Company of America – one of the giants of US industry.

The merger will bring the Worcester firm into the forefront of pressure die casting in this country.

Probably to be known as Metal Castings Doehler, the company will have behind it the research facilities, technical knowledge and backing of Doehler of Ohio which, as a division of National Lead, is the world leader in pressure die casting.

National Lead sales last year amounted to $522 million. The 700 employees of Metal Castings were told of the merger on Friday.

More than £60,000 was recently spent on a new foundry at the Droitwich Road factory and further improvements to buildings and machinery are now proposed.

THIS WEEK IN 1971:

MORE than 10,000 Worcestershire schoolchildren received an unscheduled holiday yesterday as 200 teachers stayed away from work.

Twenty schools were completely closed and about the same number were partially closed in Worcester and the rest of the county.

The strike was called by the National Association of Schoolmasters and the Union of Women Teachers in a dispute with their colleagues in the NUT over salary structure. In Worcester, the Nunnery Wood and Christopher Whitehead Boys’ schools are closed and another seven schools are partially affected. Also closed is the Chantry School at Martley and nearly 600 Droitwich schoolchildren are affected.

THIS WEEK IN 1981:

THE glamorous film and TV star Diana Dors was greeted by a large cheering crowd on the Cinderella Ground at Worcester on Saturday when she came to officially open the annual Kay’s Fete.

􀁥 School meals in the County of Hereford and Worcester will cost 60p from September, a 33 per cent rise, while cafeteria charges in secondary schools will be increased by 20 per cent.

These are among crisis measures the education committee is recommending to the county council in a bid to meet new demands for economies of £1.8 million in the county education budget this year. Councillor Nigel Laville, the education chairman, told a press conference that the increased school meal charges would bring in an extra £350,000 but, despite the increase from 45p to the true economic cost of 60p, school dinners would still represent value for money.

THIS WEEK IN 1991:

VISITORS to Worcester Cathedral will be able to admire a new modern sculpture which has recently been placed in the crypt. The sculpture is a Pieta (the dead Christ held in the arms of his mother) by Glynn Williams and was offered for sale at Sotheby’s last summer in aid of the Worcester Cathedral Restoration Appeal, being purchased by the Friends of Worcester Cathedral. The Dean of Worcester, the Very Rev Robert Jeffery said: “The Pieta is a deeply moving sculpture by one of the country’s finest sculptors. It blends into the Crypt well and will be a real aid to prayer and devotion.”