FLAGSwereflownat half-mast at Bromsgrove police station and the offices of the urban and rural district council following the assassination of the American president John F Kennedy.

Other tributes toMrKennedy included special prayers used at all churches. Edgar Longney, chairman of the urban district council, said: “It is a shocking thing that a man who served his fellows in the way that John Kennedy did should have been killed while carrying out a public duty.”

 IN spite of arguments put forward by Labour members, the governors of the Bromsgrove College of Further Education decided by a narrow majority to maintain a ban on letting the college hall for party political meetings. The college argued that the decision was not antipolitical, but to ensure the college’s work was not adversely affected.

 CONSTRUCTION of the new carriageway between Ombersley and Crossway Green was well under way. Although progress forecasts were uncertain with the worst weather ahead,manyofthetreacherous bends along the stretch of road were alreadymuchsafer due to improved vision provided by the route of the new road.