ANXIOUS ratepayers were up in arms over plans to build a welfare centre for problem teenagers on their doorstep.

County council chiefs had earmarked a school playing field at Churchfields in Sidemoor as the site for a £140,000 intermediate treatment centre used to keep difficult Bromsgrove youngsters out of trouble, but local residents were filling up a petition to block the proposals.

 FOR the first time ever the Territorial Army in Bromsgrove and Droitwich Spa was appealing for female recruits. Army administrative officer Captain Bill Roberts, said: “There are a lot of skills in the Army which women can do as well as men.”

ANXIOUS families living at Hewell Park, Tardebigge, were invited to quizgovernmentofficials masterminding a £40 million scheme for a new prison and access road through their neighbourhood. Home Office officials assured residents that their proposed route would keep disruption to an absolute minimum.

 Memory Lane is compiled from papers dating back to the Messenger’s first edition in 1860. The papers are free to view at the town library.