BOTH urban and rural councils in Bromsgrove were experiencing problems recruiting dustmen to carry out the fortnightly refuse collections from 8,000 homes in the district, At present, it was being done by 22 men using four carts but as more homes were being built they were finding it harder to cope. Council chiefs were to consider introducing an incentive scheme to encourage the men to work harder.

CATSHILL'S 25th annual music festival attracted 388 entrants from many parts of Britain and overseas and was said to be its best yet. Taking the numbers of choristers into account, that figure was boosted to 800.

BROMSGROVE'S MP Michael Higgs had played a major role in securing the release of a British subject who has been interred by the Russians in a Siberian prison camp. Directors of a firm which employed the man's uncle were relatives of Mr Higgs.

PLANS for a free church, a hall and six shops to be built at the junction of Francis Road and Humphrey Avenue on the new Charford estate in Bromsgrove were approved.

L G HARRIS, boss of the Stoke Prior brush firm, opened his firm's annual gala and sports day by crowning Sylvia Savage Miss Brushworks 1954. Her sister Audrey had held the title three years previously.