THE news that Droitwich Canal Company and Sharpness New Docks had settled 13 compensation claims by Spa residents would give heart to many in the UK who lived alongside waterways. The claims were for damage to property when the canals overflowed last spring. The settlements ranged from £1 to £36.

AN inquest was held at the Victoria Hotel, in Barnt Green, into the tragic death of commercial traveller Ernest Gardener, aged 39, from Selly Oak. He had been travelling on the Midland railway from Bromsgrove when, after leaving Blackwell station, he had put his head out of the carriage window to determine if it was raining. It appeared his head had struck a bridge and he died soon afterwards from a severe injury. The jury returned an accidental death verdict.

PAUPER inmates at Bromsgrove workhouse would not be allowed to eat fresh bread in future. The ruling Guardians were to insist supplies from an outside baker should be at least one day old. This was because it had been found that random samples of new four pound loaves were often lighter by several ounces than fresh baked bread.

THE call of the Cuckoo, that well-loved sound that spring had really arrived, had been heard in Droitwich several days earlier that other years.

A MILITARY funeral for popular Droitwich Spa doctor William Grant was attended by 400 mourners at St Peter's Church. He was aged 43. Dr Grant had contracted dysentery while serving in the Boer War and this had led to complications and his untimely death. The cortge was headed by 70 members of the Droitwich Company of Volunteers, who all, apart from the band, fired a volley over the grave.