100 years ago THE chief theatrical event in Malvern in the course of the year is the Shakespeare Week conducted by Mr F R Benson, the well-known actor. This engagement creates far more than ordinary interest, not only in Malvern, but throughout the country, and there have been large and fashionable audiences at each performance. As time goes on, the reputation of Mr Benson and his company increases. There is not another company travelling so capable of giving us Shakespeare as those he has organised and welded. Malvern Gazette, May 25, 1907.

AT the Ledbury Police Court, on Saturday morning, before Mr J Boyd, Henry Webley was charged with being a deserter from the 4th Battalion KSLI. The defendant said he was innocent, as the Governor of Hereford Prison told him, when he was discharged from there, last July, that he was "done with the Militia". As he had not heard from the military authorities, he thought he had been struck off. Ledbury Free Press, May 28, 1907.

50 years ago MALVERN Guides have been honoured by the selection of Mary Blandford (Christchurch Company) to go to Canada in July for an international rally and by having another Guide (Maureen Taylor) and a Ranger (Angela Loader) selected to attend the International Camp at Windsor, also in July. This news was given at Monday's annual meeting of the Local Girl Guides' Association (Malvern District) held at the Lyttelton Rooms. Malvern Gazette, May 24, 1957 LEDBURY'S Poet Laureate, Dr John Masefield, who is 79 tomorrow, has assuredly added lustre to the exalted office he has held now for well over a quarter of a century. Few Poet Laureates have led such an adventurous life as our distinguished townsman. He has known life in the raw. Ledbury Reporter, May 31, 1957.

25 years ago MOB violence shattered Malvern's peaceful image in one of the worst outbreaks seen in the town for many years. It is believed to have erupted when a group of Hereford youths started pushing a blind boy in Priory Park and two or three Malvern youths leapt to his defence. Within seconds, elderly people and families with young children were at risk when the incident exploded into a mass brawl in which broken bottles were used as weapons. One eye-witness said onlookers stood "as if mesmerised," by the savage scene that developed. Malvern Gazette, May 27, 1982.

HISTORIAN Joe Hillaby will be adding the personal touch to his entertaining and informative The Book of Ledbury on Saturday. Mr Hillaby will be at the High Street booksellers, L Tilley and Son, to sign copies. The book is the first substantial record of the town's past for many years. Ledbury Reporter, May 27,1982.