25 Years Ago, May 12, 1983

12:33pm Thursday 1st May 2008

BROMSGROVE commuters were facing a second week without bus travel as determined Midland Red drivers voted to stay on strike. At a two-hour mass meeting, which was held in Redditch, 115 drivers decided to continue their strike action over pay and conditions. One Rubery striker said that he was prepared to stick it out for a month. Midland Red traffic manager Barry Connor said the company had acted in accordance with a national agreement and a pay deal had been put to the striking drivers, which they had declined to negotiate on.

50 Years Ago, May 10, 1958

12:32pm Thursday 1st May 2008

ROY Hartle, of Catshill, achieved one of his footballing ambitions when he helped his team, Bolton Wanderers, win the FA Cup at Wembley. Bromsgrove Rovers, from which he joined the Lancashire club, were mentioned in the Wembley programme. Good wishes were sent by telegram from Catshill Modern School, where Roy started his career.

100 Years Ago, May 9, 1908

12:30pm Thursday 1st May 2008

BROMSGROVE was hit by a "thunderstorm of remarkable violence" during freak weather in the town. Lightning was described as exceptionally vivid, and the thunder deafening, but the principal damage in the district was caused by rainfall. At the time of the storm, every road was turned into a brook, and the town's brook rose by two feet. Buildings were flooded and at Church Mills, 11 pigs and 26 fowls were drowned.

	Pictures come flooding in
	12:28pm Thu 1 May 08
	I MENTIONED here some time ago that we've never had many photos of Watt Close Secondary Modern School, Bromsgrove, to feature in Memory Lane, writes Pete Lammas. This prompted several readers to delve through their photo albums and I'm happy to report one or two have sent in their pictures to us. This one comes from a reader who wishes to remain anonymous and dates from the late 1940s.

25 Years Ago, May 5, 1983

11:15am Tuesday 29th April 2008

FOR the second week running the bus strike over a pay claim was causing great inconvenience to passengers in Bromsgrove and Droitwich. The Midland Red company said staff were demanding a 19 per cent rise on top of their present £169 a week salary. However, some staff disputed the figures claiming their wage was more like £85, the higher figure was made possible only by excessive overtime.

50 Years Ago, May 3, 1958

11:13am Tuesday 29th April 2008

FIREMEN from Bromsgrove were joined by colleagues from Redditch and Worcester in tackling a blaze in a 100-ton stack of timber at the Bromsgrove Railway and Wagon works at Aston Fields. Their task was made more difficult as the large pile of boards, retrieved from carriages which had gone in for repair, were so tightly packed together that it was almost impossible for the firemen's water jets to penetrate to the seat of the fire.

100 Years Ago, May 2, 1908

11:12am Tuesday 29th April 2008

THOMAS Prescott, a lad aged 12 from Upton Warren, was sentenced to be detained on a training ship until the age of 16 by magistrates at Bromsgrove Police Court. The court heard that his father could not control him and that he irregularly attended school. His father told the bench he could not afford to contribute to the boy's maintenance, but he was ordered to pay 1/- per week towards his son's maintenance.

	Horsing around
	3:08pm Mon 21 Apr 08
	WE turn the clock back to Woodrow Lane in Catshill, Bromsgrove, in the early 1900s for our weekly glance down Memory Lane.

50 Years Ago, April 26, 1958

3:06pm Monday 21st April 2008

A QUICK look at some prices realised at Bromsgrove's Tuesday produce auction showed King Edward potatoes went for 34/- per hundredweight, cucumbers 1/2 each, wild rabbits 8/- a pair, hens' eggs 4/- per dozen and goose eggs 1/2 each.

100 Years Ago, April 25, 1908

3:04pm Monday 21st April 2008

EASTER had produced overcoat' weather with snow falling on Sunday, Monday and all day on Thursday prompting Bromsgrove residents to go about wishing each other Merry Christmas.' Those who didn't have to venture outdoors were to be found huddled in front of their fires. The hardy souls, determined to enjoy the bank holiday either in motor cars or on cycles, were seen returning home in the evening distinctly chilled in the teeth of a rousing north-easter.

25 Years Ago, April 15, 1983

11:44am Tuesday 15th April 2008

BROMSGROVE publican Malcolm Giles raised a glass to toast himself after a double stroke of luck on the Grand National. Mr Giles, from the Queen's Head, Stoke Pound, had had a nice little bet' on the winner Corbiere. He had also won a sweepstake organised by a brewery to raise cash for the Save Aintree racecourse fund. His prize was a gleaming brand new £10,000 Land Rover.

	Popping out for market day
	11:44am Tue 15 Apr 08
	A BUSY day at Bromsgrove market is captured in this old photograph, which was taken sometime in the early 1900s.

50 Years Ago, April 19, 1958

11:43am Tuesday 15th April 2008

THE death occurred of Major James Bridge, the first headmaster of Watt Close School in Bromsgrove between 1919 and 1948. It was incidentally the first county elementary school to serve school dinners. A native of Dudley, he served in World War One and in the Second World War commanded B Company Home Guard and was responsible for the defence of Bromsgrove had there been an invasion. He was also one of the driving forces behind the formation of the Bromsgrove branch of the British Legion.

100 Years Ago, April 18, 1908

11:40am Tuesday 15th April 2008

MOTORISTS who were reckless, careless and dangerous and who travelled at excessive speeds and monopolised the highway' came under fire in the Messenger's correspondence columns. One writer observed that drivers caused more injuries and deaths than any farmer who allowed his stock to stray on the roads, but it was he not the drivers who was more likely to get a visit from a constable.

	Store staff
	11:28am Wed 9 Apr 08
	SUPERMARKETS were things of the future when this photo of the International Stores in Bromsgrove was taken sometime before 1905.

25 Years Ago - April 8, 1983

11:27am Wednesday 9th April 2008

A NEW statue, the Dryad and Boer, was to be unveiled next month near the main Post Office in Bromsgrove by Miss United Kingdom Della Dolen. It would mark the pedestrianisation of High Street. The statue was made from an original sculptured by Louis Weingartner who worked for the Bromsgrove Guild in 1892. The modern version was made and presented to the town by Terry Simons a local businessman using original moulds.

50 Years Ago - April 8, 1958

11:25am Wednesday 9th April 2008

WORSHIPPERS at St John's parish church in Bromsgrove had contributed towards a record collection of £90/6/8 over Easter when some 423 people had taken communion. The previous highest figure had been £78. A source of delight was the bank of daffodils at the entrance to the chancel and the usual display of lilies adorning the altar.

100 Years Ago - April 11, 1908

11:24am Wednesday 9th April 2008

THE continuing high numbers of cases of cruelty to animals, especially horses, occurring in and around Bromsgrove more than justified the continuing existence of the towns' branch of the Birmingham Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals members heard at its annual meeting held at Gordon House. Last year the society had brought five cases before magistrates mainly for horses being worked while unfit. The fines ranged from 19/6 to £3/13/0.

	Cricket with the night shift
	3:21pm Thu 27 Mar 08
	THE cricket season, with the prospect of warm, sunny days and light evenings and games played in many villages in and around Bromsgrove and Droitwich Spa, will soon be upon us.

25 Years Ago, April 1, 1983

3:20pm Thursday 27th March 2008

WYCHBOLD Village Hall faced an uncertain future following a warning from the hall committee chairman Peter Evans that it could close for good. Blaming apathy and fewer bookings, the chairman said its future lies in the hands of the people of Wychbold. He slammed the vast majority of villagers for not appearing bothered about the hall, its facilities and activities. Apathy was typified when only nine replies, from 370 Wychbold householders who received a "what do you want from your hall?" questionnaire, were received.

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