THE first phase of a £2,500 scheme to restore All Saint's Church in Bromsgrove began after the initial £500 had been raised. However, problems had been encountered early on when it was found laths in the roof were above the main beams not below, as was more usual.

DAVE Duffield, of the Beacon club in Rubery, mounted an assault on the tricycle records for the fastest 50 and 100 miles and national 100-mile trips when he set off from Bristol. He smashed all three and beat the national best ever time by two minutes 45 seconds to complete the 100 miles in four hours 37 minutes and 38 seconds.

THE death of George Cadbury, aged 76, from Selly Oak, a member of the famous Bournville chocolate manufacturing family was felt deeply in the Bromsgrove area. He had been influential in establishing Avoncroft College and its arts society and had also been a pioneer of modern farming techniques such as hay drying and artificial insemination also at the Stoke Heath site. And with his late brothers he had donated large areas of recreation land at the Lickey to Birmingham corporation.

BROMSGROVE Chrysanthemum Society's show in the Market Hall attracted 202 vases of some 900 blooms despite recent excessive rain making it one of the most successful in the Midlands. The two principal awards went to Mr W Lewis from Greenhill, Blackwell, and Mr R Rollason, from Crabtree Lane. By coincidence, they were both teachers at the Church of England School in Crown Close.