"TRAFFIC was brought to a standstill in the already chaotic snow conditions of last Friday, when a large tree fell across Worcester Road at Link Top and narrowly missed a pedestrian," reported the Gazette 25 years ago.

" 'There was a crack like a gun being fired,' said Mrs Stephanie Wren, who was passing at the time. 'Then I saw the tree crash down and just missed a man who was walking in front. He calmly walked around the tree and carried on.'

"It completely blocked the road at just after ten o'clock in the morning when the first of the Friday shopping crowds were venturing out into the slush.

"Mrs Wren had stopped to help a friend push a car up a bank on the slippery road just minutes before the incident just minutes before the incident.

"Council workmen cleared up the tree within a few minutes to allow traffic to proceed as normally as possible.

"In a separate incident on the same motion a large branch of a 80-year-old cedar tree in the forecourt of the Bredon Hotel, Worcester Road, also fell. This too provided a narrow miss for a customer's car, landing on a spot where only minutes earlier co-owner Dennis Atkins had been getting into his car with his two sons to take them to school."

The paper also reported a dramatic rescue when the rising waters of the River Teme trapped two ponies on a newly-formed 'island' for nearly two hours.

"Firemen and RSPCA officers joined forces to catch the two three-year-olds, Damsel and Petronella, who steadfastly refused to be collared, seemingly preferring the life of a sea-horse. The water was four or five feet deep before the unbroken ponies were driven to safety."