1803: Several of the volunteer militias raised around the kingdom in the face of the latest threat of invasion from France have now been ordered upon actual duty, and it is expected that others will be employed as detached corps or be brigaded with the regulars. At such a crisis every Briton is eager to contribute all his energies to the defence of his country and to prove by his valour that he is worthy of that freedom which the British Constitution imparts.

This day, Friday, being appointed a general fast and humiliation was observed in this city with due solemnity, and it is with pleasure we state that every class of the inhabitants seemed to be inspired with one sentiment.

1903: Worcester Lad Rescued - On Saturday afternoon, Police Constable Stevens was near the riverside when he was informed that a boy had fallen into the Severn near the Rectifying House. He ran to the spot, got into the water and rescued the boy, six-year-old Walter Horn of 3 Court, Birdport, who was taken home by another officer. Certainly not so fortunate, however, was three-year-old Sidney Redvers Brewer of Colwyn House, Wyld's Lane, who was drowned in "Grundy's Pool" at Perry Wood when out playing with his two older brothers, Leonard and Horace.

At the Worcestershire Quarter Sessions in the Shirehall, Isaac Timmins (63), tailor of no fixed abode, was indicted for being a rogue and vagabond. He was said to have several previous convictions for larceny and indecent exposure and was sentenced to 18 strokes of the birch and two weeks in prison. On three previous occasions, he had received 18 strokes of the birch.

1953: The two occupants of a Chipmunk training aircraft had a miraculous escape on Friday afternoon when their plane crashed in Tyddesley Wood near Worcester. The aircraft finished up almost vertical, leaning against a tree with the engine smashed and twisted. The occupants, a pupil pilot and his instructor, escaped with cuts and bruises and were taken back to their base at RAF Pershore in a police car.

The 5th Worcestershire (Worcester and Malvern) Battalion of the Home Guard held its final summer rifle meeting at the Tyddesley Wood range on Sunday. Some 70 enrolled and reserve members attended, and each fired 20 rounds from service rifles in three practices.