100 years ago.

Mr Prosser, chairman of the district council licensing committee, made a statement with regard to the motor bus service. He said it might be known to most of the members that the government had already taken their best motor bus off the road, and they had warned Messrs Woodyatt that in all probability in the course of the next few weeks they would take the other two.That placed them in a very serious position but one which none of them could help. If the government wanted the buses, they would have to go. One thing about it which made the matter more serious was the fact that it seemed almost impossible at the moment to replace them. The government had taken possession of all the motor bus factories, and everything they turned out of value was appropriated at once, All he wished to say at this moment was that the committee was fully alive to the disadvantages the public would suffer from the loss of their buses, and they were doing all they possibly could to arrange that the inconvenience might be as little as possible.

Malvern Gazette, October 9, 1914.

50 years ago.

Wing commander K J L Baker, of Upton-on-Severn, was the captain of a Vulcan bomber which crashed at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire on Wednesday night. Al five on board were killed. Wing Commander Baker, aged 39, was married. The other crew members were: co-pilot, Flying Officer P E Busfield, (23), married, from Salisbury, Rhodesia; navigator-plotter, Flight Lieut G Bingham (34), married, of Nottingham; radar navigator, Flying Officer A H Jones (21), of Harrow Weald, Middlesex; and air electronics officer, Flight Lieut C V Burkard (29), married, of Hounslow, Middlesex. Wing Commander Kenneth Baker was the son of the late Mr John Baker, who formerly owned the business of Baker's Stores, New Street, Upton. He was educated at Hanley Castle Grammar School. The four-jet delta-wing V-bomber missed the runway as it came in to land after a training flight. It ploughed through two hedges and exploded in flames. The flash was seen 22 miles away in Lincoln.

Malvern Gazette, October 9, 1964.

25 years ago.

After ten years of celebrating New Years's Eve without restrictions, public party planners could be caught out this year if they forget that the end on 1989 falls on a Sunday - when no dancing is allowed. Some events which were to have included dancing are already having to be cancelled in the Malvern Hills area as organisers learn that they cannot be licensed. Most public entertainment licenses granted by Malvern Hills District Council are subject to the condition that they do not cover Sundays. But there are exceptions including the Winter Gardens and Upton Memorial Hall, where there is a licence for music only. Council solicitor Mr Nigel Snape said this week that even if special application were made for New Year's Eve, the Sunday Observance Act of 1870 still prohibited public dancing where a charge was made to enter the premises. The ruling is hitting the council's own staff, who have booked their New Year's Eve dance at the Winter Gardens.

Malvern Gazette, October 13, 1989.