ALICE Potter, aged 17, from Bromsgrove, pleaded guilty at the Worcester Assizes to a charge of forgery. She had written a letter purporting to come from her family's landlord, Mr Ince, of High Street, to the bailiff, to the effect that no rent was owed him. She had also filled in the rent book herself. The judge showed no mercy and handed her a three-month jail sentence.

THE Board of Guardians at Bromsgrove Workhouse delayed for a fortnight making a decision whether to buy a mechanical potato peeler or continue to use the abundance of free labour available in the institution. Opinions were divided if such a device would actually create or save wastage. One board member suggested the £4 cost could be saved by boiling the potatoes in their jackets.

UNUSUALLY for Bromsgrove Fair Day on the 24th, the weather was fine, the Messenger observed. Thousands of visitors from the Black Country and the Staffordshire borders converged, with locals, travelling in all manner of vehicles, to attend the town's most important day of the year. Few motor drivers dared to ventured out as the pavements were crowded with horses for sale, while others were put through their paces up and down High Street to show them off to prospective purchasers.

THE Bromsgrove Guild continued to prosper. Among several recent commissions was implements for foundation stone laying by the King and other royal personages, golden keys to open buildings and bronze mooring rings for the National Victoria Memorial. Craftsmen from Bromsgrove would also travel to Cardiff where the Guild had successfully tendered to do the plaster ceiling in the Municipal Buildings' Great Hall.

ANNE Bourne, aged 14, said by magistrates at Droitwich Petty Sessions to be an "incorrigible thief" would have plenty of time to reflect on her wrong doing after appearing before them charged with stealing two pounds of lamb from Mr Wadhams' High Street shop. She was sent to a reformatory school for three years in the hope it would steer her on the right path to a crime-free life.