1803: On Sunday morning, a very heavy storm of hail fell in this city and neighbourhood. Some of the stones measured upwards of two inches.

To Builders - Any person willing to contract to erect a House of Industry for the Parish of Great Malvern may deliver an estimate of the expense to Mr Ballard, Attorney-at-Law, at any time before May 25, 1803.

Yesterday, a show of rams took place at Ledbury for a considerable wager between three gentlemen of the County of Hereford. The premium was adjudged to Mr Dobs of Little Marcle. One of the unsuccessful candidates had brought his ram from the west of Gloucestershire in a carriage at a considerable expense.

Accounts from every part of the Continent announce the alarm into which Europe is thrown by the present misunderstanding between Great Britain and France, but they afford no clue to guide us to the result.

1903: A tramp from Worcester has been found to be suffering from smallpox. Mary Ann Evans, who is now in an isolation hospital, had recently lived at the Worcester Workhouse but had moved to Bromsgrove as an inmate of its House of Industry.

St Mark's, the new Cherry Orchard Mission Church serving that part of St Peter's Parish in Worcester, has been dedicated by the Bishop of Worcester at a service where the packed congregation included Lady Mary Lygon who laid the foundation stone last June.

Elizabeth Knott, widow of 4 Court, Silver Street, Worcester, was fined £5, or six weeks jail in default, for keeping a disorderly house.

Thirty thousand ladybirds are on their way to England from California in order to protect some rose trees at Malvern Link.

1953: The restoration of Cotheridge Church, which lost its roof in the gales of 1947, is progressing well. The Chancel and the Sanctuary, built in the early 12th Century, are now restored along with the windows from the 13th to 15th Centuries. In the course of the work, frescoes, which had been plastered over since the days of the Puritans, were uncovered and are being carefully preserved. The Jacobean timber pulpit has also been restored.

Malvern's first Literary Festival which has been arranged by the local Writers Circle in celebration of Coronation Year, was opened yesterday and continues until Sunday. A special event will be the planting by Sir Barry Jackson of a tulip tree at Hope End, Colwall, in memory of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Advertisement: We have an interesting selection of Inexpensive Dresses taken from the ranges of Fashion Sports, Marldena and Rodney. Popular ranges priced at 36/9d, 52/6d and 70/-. Armstrongs of Sansome Walk, Worcester.