100 years ago

ON Saturday evening about ten o'clock, Mr William Blackwell Martin, turntap at the Camp Reservoir, met with a serious accident. Whilst disconnecting a belt from the machinery pumping water from the Putress Spring to the Reservoir, he was struck with great force by an iron bar, sustaining a compound fracture of the right leg. The injured man managed to crawl to the door of the engine room and there attracted the attention of Mr Green, who immediately proceeded to the British Camp Hotel for assistance. Malvern Gazette, May 12, 1905.

A farm labourer of Little Marcle was summoned by a neighbour for assaulting her. Complainant said there had been a bit of bother previously, about some ducks, and when she went to the pump the defendant, who lived nearby, rushed towards her using low-life language and struck her twice. The defendant said she came towards him as fierce as she could, and he would have rather faced a live lion. The husband of the complainant said the defendant ran out of his house like a mad bull. Ledbury Free Press, May 16, 1905.

50 years ago

Malvern's second annual Festival of the Arts opened yesterday with a concert at the Winter Gardens by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rudolf Schwarz. Tonight the festival dinner, arranged by Malvern Writers' Circle, is taking place at the Mount Pleasant Hotel, when the speakers will be Sir Compton Mackenzie, Mr Denis Morris of the BBC and John Moore, the author. Malvern Gazette, May 13, 1955.

Ledbury Swimming Baths were opened to the public this week, and will be available during the coming months, from 6pm to 8pm, Mondays to Saturdays. Given favourable weather, the baths should be a popular rendezvous, this summer. Ledbury Reporter, May 13, 1955.

25 years ago

Tonight at 10 o'clock the bishop of Worcester was to have lit a bonfire on the summit of the Worcestershire Beacon. The leaping flames would have been a symbolic recognition of 13 centuries of established Christianity in the diocese. But this week it became increasingly obvious that the flames could have more dangerous consequences: with the tinder- dry hilltop and continuing strong winds, flying embers might start a fire. Malvern Gazette, May 15, 1980.

New Street, Ledbury, was closed to traffic for most of the day between Woodleigh Road and the Top Cross, after an articulated lorry trailer ripped one of the corner support posts of the House of Stilts out of position. The building was not in danger of collapse, but police sealed off the road so that council officials could inspect the damage and builders carry out immediate repairs. Ledbury Reporter, May 15, 1980.