50 years ago.

A member of the Institute of Civil Engineers, Malvern's 15th century Abbey Gateway is in danger of collapsing. Mr R Adams, who works for a large oil company, is in Malvern for a Midlands conference. On Tuesday, he examined the damaged Gateway. A large stone which forms part of the northern supporting arch has been partly dislodged by a passing vehicle. The stone below it is badly cracked and the one above has had a piece knocked away. Mr Ernest Moore, a taxi driver whose rank is five yards from the gateway, believes the damaged stone has been slowly slipping for the past two years, and is getting progressively worse. "If it receives another bang," said Mr Adams, the whole structure of the archway could collapse, bringing the gateway down with it."

Malvern Gazette, May 15, 1964.

25 years ago.

Visitors to the Malvern Hills may never again be able to stop for a welcome cup of tea on the Worcestershire Beacon, after the Beacon cafe burnt down earlier this year. Legal advice from the Department of the environment to the Malvern Hills Conservators has indicated that the cafe, which burnt down in January, cannot be replaced, nor can any building take place on the hills. Mr Cecil Clark, manager of common land at the DoE, said that all four acts of parliament relating to the hills has been scrutinised. He said: "Our advice is that the Conservators cannot build anywhere on the hills following a prohibition made in an act passed in the 1880s." Mrs Sue Thetford, a former chairman of the Conservators, who has in the past spoken of her with to see a new cafe, said this week: "It would be sad if there were no way round this problem. I was taken up there as a child, have taken my children up there and now take my grandchildren."

Malvern Gazette, May 19, 1989.