A SERIES of public notices and reports in the Worcester Journal of 250 years ago make fascinating reading and give a glimpse into local life in 1752.

6 "As some part of the Talbot Inn in this city (presumably in College Street) is re-building and intended for a different branch of business, I beg leave to acquaint my friends that I shall still occupy a sufficient part of the said Inn for accommodating Gentlemen and their horses as usual. Therefore such persons who have hitherto favoured me with their company, I hope will continue the same which will greatly oblige their most humble servant, Mary Corfield.

''The Excise Office will continue to be kept at my house."

6 "Last week a baker's servant of Droitwich, going on horseback with a load of bread and with a young child fitting before him, the horse, through some ill management, fell backwards, whereby the servant was killed on the spot, but the child, providentially, received no other hurt than being flung into a parcel of nettles where the horse also ended up."

6 "The Stage Coach for London will begin its two-day stage tomorrow and continue the same every Tuesday and Friday during the summer season. It will set out precisely at three o'clock in the morning from the Bell Hotel in Broad Street, Worcester and, at the same time, from the George and Blue Boar in Holborn, London.

''Note: No money, plate, watches, rings, jewels, writings of any kind, and things of value will be answered for unless notice is given and paid for (by agreement) at delivery."