AUGUST 8—The Queen Dowager took up her abode at Witley Court. Triumphal arches, and other methods of welcome, were adopted at Droitwich. On the following Monday week Her Majesty visited Worcester, and attended divine service in the Cathedral. Her return was to have been a public progress, but the torrents of rain which descended spoilt the whole affair; so that all the civic dignitaries could do was to rush down the Guildhall steps in their scarlet robes, just as Her Majesty passed, and bow their acknowledgments at the carriage door. On the evening after, the tradesmen honoured by Her Majesty’s patronage illuminated their houses. The Queen Dowager afterwards sent a cheque for £100 to the funds of the Worcester Infirmary. AUGUST 19—The first stone of a new Chapel of Ease laid at Barnard’s Green, by the Lady Emily Foley. AUGUST 30—The SEVERN AND TEME FISHERIES ASSOCIATION formed at a public meeting held in the Guildhall, Worcester; Matthew Pierpoint, Esq., in the chair. OCTOBER 7—Messrs. Cobden and Bright visited Worcester, in furtherance of the anti-corn law agitation, and addressed an audience of about 1,200 people in the Guildhall. The High Sheriff refused to call a county meeting; therefore Edward Holland, Esq., took the chair. But a small proportion of the meeting were farmers. There was a show of opposition on the part of the Chartists, but it was very feeble and soon put down. The corn law repealers afterwards had a dinner at the Bell Inn; W. B. Collis, Esq., in the chair, and Robert Hardy, Esq., vice-president. OCTOBER 29—The new parish church at Oldswinford opened for divine service, with two sermons by the Lord Bishop and the Rev. T. L. Claughton. The collections amounted to £207. This church cost about £5,000, and it contains 1,457 sittings—781 of which are free. OCTOBER 27—The Chapel of Ease at Headless Cross consecrated. The Lord Bishop preached, and £60. 11s. were collected. The building will seat about 250 persons, and most of the sittings are free. DECEMBER 10—Earl Beauchamp’s cash box, containing about £120, stolen during the night from his dressing-room, at Madresfield Court. The thief was never discovered. DECEMBER 18—A Winter Assizes before Mr. Baron Rolfe, occupying three days. None of the cases tried were of much importance. LOCAL ACTS—To enable the Worcestershire and Staffordshire Canal Company to lend money to the Severn Navigation Commissioners; to enable the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Company to raise a further sum of money, and to amend the acts relating thereto. 1844.