100 years ago January 18, 1902

100 years ago

January 18, 1902

MISS Sanders, from Oakdene, Kidderminster Road, Bromsgrove, as in previous winters, was busy raising cash from the town's well-to-do residents to pay for the popular hot penny and halfpenny dinners for poor pupils at schools in Bromsgrove. Many were going hungry because of short time working at the Aston Fields wagon works. Facilities for cooking and consuming the meals had been set up in Crown Close.

RUMOURS that the Boer guerrilla leader De Wit and his men had been captured by British forces in South Africa spread like wildfire in Bromsgrove on Sunday night. Posters were put up at strategic places and large numbers of children marched in the streets singing such joyous patriotic songs as Three Cheers for the Red White and Blue. Many people in outlying villages walked into town to better acquaint themselves with the news, which was eventually found to be untrue.

BELBROUGHTON was divided over the long running question of introducing street lighting in the village. Many believed the £30 installation costs and ongoing maintenance charges would be prohibitive and push up the rates. A debate about whether to use oil or gas as a lighting fuel was also raging.

TERENCE Hall, who owned a pharmacy in Market Place, Bromsgrove, was a co-driver along with Mr Roberts, of Dunhampton, near Droitwich Spa, in an Austin A40 taking part in the Monte Carlo Rally. They were to set out from Glasgow and were expecting to reach the Riviera in three days.

THE Bromsgrove Youth Organisation (BYO), in New Road, was in the black this year following last year's deficit of £450. Sadly, all the female members had deserted the club since the popular dances had been discontinued when the gramophone broke. Now a radiogram had been acquired in a bid to tempt the girls back.

ONE of the last links with Bromsgrove's past was broken when 74-year-old Albert Crane, of Sidemoor, died. He was one of only two men still making nails by hand and had been working in his workshop at his Broad Street home until three months ago. He began nailing at the end of the First World War when the trade was already in decline.

AFTER only a year, the vicar of All Saints' Church, Bromsgrove, the Rev Samuel Morris, was leaving to return to missionary work in Northern Rhodesia. He became interested in the work as a five-year-old and could speak fluent Swahili. He would have to learn a new language to spread the gospel in the village where he was going because it had not been affected by Western influences.

SPECIALLY trained traffic wardens could soon be on the streets of Bromsgrove supervising youngsters crossing main roads on their way to school. The move had come about because the Ministry of Transport axed thousands of pedestrian crossings.

50 years ago

January 19, 1952

VILLAGERS and staff employed at the Isaac Nash scythe works in Belbroughton risked their lives when they formed a human chain to use buckets of water to tackle a blaze at the factory. They also managed to move tens of thousands of scythe blades and hay knives from a nearby warehouse which was in danger of catching fire. Firemen, summoned from Stourbridge, took an hour to reach the scene by which time the immediate danger was over.

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MISS Sanders, from Oakdene, Kidderminster Road, Bromsgrove, as in previous winters, was busy raising cash from the town's well-to-do residents to pay for the popular hot penny and halfpenny dinners for poor pupils at schools in Bromsgrove. Many were going hungry because of short time working at the Aston Fields wagon works. Facilities for cooking and consuming the meals had been set up in Crown Close.

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RUMOURS that the Boer guerrilla leader De Wit and his men had been captured by British forces in South Africa spread like wildfire in Bromsgrove on Sunday night. Posters were put up at strategic places and large numbers of children marched in the streets singing such joyous patriotic songs as Three Cheers for the Red White and Blue. Many people in outlying villages walked into town to better acquaint themselves with the news, which was eventually found to be untrue.

BELBROUGHTON was divided over the long running question of introducing street lighting in the village. Many believed the £30 installation costs and ongoing maintenance charges would be prohibitive and push up the rates. A debate about whether to use oil or gas as a lighting fuel was also raging.

50 years ago

January 19, 1952

TERENCE Hall, who owned a pharmacy in Market Place, Bromsgrove, was a co-driver along with Mr Roberts, of Dunhampton, near Droitwich Spa, in an Austin A40 taking part in the Monte Carlo Rally. They were to set out from Glasgow and were expecting to reach the Riviera in three days.

THE Bromsgrove Youth Organisation (BYO), in New Road, was in the black this year following last year's deficit of £450. Sadly, all the female members had deserted the club since the popular dances had been discontinued when the gramophone broke. Now a radiogram had been acquired in a bid to tempt the girls back.

ONE of the last links with Bromsgrove's past was broken when 74-year-old Albert Crane, of Sidemoor, died. He was one of only two men still making nails by hand and had been working in his workshop at his Broad Street home until three months ago. He began nailing at the end of the First World War when the trade was already in decline.

AFTER only a year, the vicar of All Saints' Church, Bromsgrove, the Rev Samuel Morris, was leaving to return to missionary work in Northern Rhodesia. He became interested in the work as a five-year-old and could speak fluent Swahili. He would have to learn a new language to spread the gospel in the village where he was going because it had not been affected by Western influences.

SPECIALLY trained traffic wardens could soon be on the streets of Bromsgrove supervising youngsters crossing main roads on their way to school. The move had come about because the Ministry of Transport axed thousands of pedestrian crossings.

25 years ago

January 14, 1977

CLASSROOMS in Bromsgrove and Droitwich Spa could soon resemble those of the immediate austere post war period, the county's education boss, Maurice Gifford, warned. He spoke out after it was revealed the cash strapped authority was set to axe 500 teachers and the same number of jobs in administration within the service.

MEMBERS of Bromsgrove District Council's housing committee agreed a policy of selling off the authority's houses, but not its flats and bungalows, to sitting tenants. The minority Labour group said it was a bad move at this time when the economy was in a mess.

AN emphasis on youth activities would be the main feature of the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in Bromsgrove. A committee was to be set up under the patronage of the district council to raise cash for events such as a country and western night and a jubilee market.