THIS WEEK IN 1961:

FROM the leader column of Berrow’s Worcester Journal: In a certain area of Worcester, because of vandalism by young hooligans, the average life of a street lamp is 24 hours. In Malvern, the chief target of similar hooligans is the bandstand, the boarded floor of which is torn up as fast as it can be repaired.

What an appalling state of affairs to think that we cannot control youngsters better than this. Councillor Joe Williams, chairman of the Worcester Streets Committee, places responsibility on the shoulders of the parents.

They ought to be able to control the use of airguns and catapults by their children who just cannot resist the temptation to “pop off” street lamps and the odd windows here and there. Our own view is that corporal punishment is appropriate for the youngsters who are causing so much trouble with vandalism today. “Six of the best” and their pocket money docked for a month would soon induce a mood of contrition and moderate their taste for wrecking “for kicks.”

THIS WEEK IN 1971:

KAY and Co, the Worcester mail order firm, will be laying off part-time and also full time staff of retiring age and over early next month when work is transferred to the new warehouse in Bromyard Road.

George Lodge, chairman of the company, said this week that some lay-offs will be carried out due to the reorganisation.

He said “It will only apply to some part time staff and some full-time people of retiring age and beyond.”

Mr Lodge added that the number of redundancies was not yet known, nor when they would take place.

􀁥 Princess Anne, Colonelin- Chief of the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment, is to present new colours to the First Battalion at Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster, Wiltshire, on October 1.

Invitations for the day are available to old comrades of the ‘Worcesters’ from the Worcestershire Regimental Association at Norton Barracks.

THIS WEEK IN 1981:

FROM Crowquill’s Jottings in Berrow’s Worcester Journal: It doesn’t surprise me that more people than ever before are taking holidays abroad. Holidays in hotels in this country can involve an enormous expense.

The biggest bill for the traveller abroad, if he takes his car or car and caravan is the charge for the Channel ferries. Their fares have reached ridiculous heights and it is little wonder that the Channel is universally known as the most expensive strip of water in the world.

On top of the inflated fares, the ferry companies reap huge profits from the socalled duty free shops and from the restaurants which often serve indifferent food.

Perhaps the ferry companies are grabbing as much as they can before the Channel Tunnel is built.

THIS WEEK IN 1991:

WORCESTER police are concerned about the number of people who fail to record the serial numbers of their valuables or to mark them with postcodes.

Marking can usually be done by “magic marker” – pens which make a mark visible only under ultraviolet light. Stolen property which comes into police possession can be checked to see if it bears a mark and, if identified, the original owner can be contacted to reclaim it. The postcode for your area is the best mark to make and add to it your street or road number – a unique identification. The police also advise recording identifying features such as inscriptions on silverware or gold items and serial numbers on electrical goods.