PLAYING a game of pitch and toss for money at the back of Market Street landed two men, James Giles, of Stourbridge Street, and Fred Stanton, from Church Street, in the dock at Bromsgrove Police Court.

100 years ago

December 1, 1900

PLAYING a game of pitch and toss for money at the back of Market Street landed two men, James Giles, of Stourbridge Street, and Fred Stanton, from Church Street, in the dock at Bromsgrove Police Court. Both were let off dependent on them paying costs of 5/6 (27.5p) within a week.

PREPARATIONS were being made to give inmates at Bromsgrove workhouse a good Christmas. This week the ruling guardians voted to spend £1 on buying toys for pauper children in the house.

BROMSGROVE, Droitwich and Redditch Joint Hospital Committee accepted a tender from Mr Watton who would receive 1/3 (6p) per mile every time his horse was used to pull the town's ambulance. Last quarter, the board had spent £12/6/6 on the service.

GANGER William Twitty, employed by the Midland Railway, came across a gruesome find early on Tuesday when he discovered the body of 27-year-old Alfred Rowkings, a father-of-two, from Hanbury Road, on the track three quarters of a mile from Stoke Works station. It appeared he had been walking to the Wagon Works at Aston Fields where he worked and in stepping out of the way of one train had walked in front of another coming the opposite way. His mutilated body was taken to his home, near the Navigation Inn, where an inquest would open later.

AFTER the district council's many unsuccessful attempts to get improvements done to Bromsgrove's railway station, town JP Mr White was about to try. He claimed it was disgraceful that such an important station did not have a cover over the footbridge linking the platforms. Women, it was said, suffered especially badly from having to cross the bridge in bad weather.

50 years ago

December 2, 1950

A FARMING series based on the countryside in the Midlands, devised by Godfrey Baseley and called The Archers, was about to be broadcast on the BBC Light Programme. The part of Grace Archer would be played by actress Monica Grey, from Barnt Green.

FEARS that Communists were seeking to infiltrate the workforce at the Austin Motor Works at Longbridge seemed to be gaining ground after propaganda leaflets were distributed around the plant.

DAMAGE put at £1,000 was caused in a blaze that ripped through a range of corrugated iron garages and two cars behind the White Hart pub, in Hanover Street, Bromsgrove. Frederick Levens, aged 77, who was asleep in a shed just yards away, had to be roused by neighbours who feared for his safety.

AN inspector from the Ministry of Planning upheld a decision by Bromsgrove District Council not to allow Mr L Nokes to build a bungalow in a disused stone quarry near his home, in Quarry Lane, Hill Top, Bromsgrove. One reason for the refusal was that the chimneys would be on a level with windows in some houses.

CUP fever hit Bromsgrove when the Rovers entertained Hereford United in an FA Cup first round tie at the Victoria Ground on Saturday in front of a record 6,500 fans. Many got in without paying when a group of Hereford fans, arriving late and finding long queues, rushed the turnstiles forcing one off its hinges. No-one was hurt but the official receipts of £430 could have been much more. Ben Jones, in his green and white regalia, entertained the crowds before kick off. Rovers lost 3-1.

BROMSGROVE'S Civic Cafe, in Market Street, had pulled down the shutters for the last time as a municipal amenity. It had been set up at the old Hundred House pub, in Stourbridge Road, during the war to provide hot and cheap meals for war workers.

25 years ago

November 28, 1975

SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Claire Cartland, from Lickey End, was preparing to set off alone on a 15,000-mile journey by air to visit her grandparents, in Tasmania, Australia. She would go via Bahrain, Singapore, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne to Hobart, in Tasmania, where her grandfather, Sir George Cartland, was vice-chancellor of the university.

RUMOURS were circulating that the popular disco for youngsters aged 14 to 18 at Bromsgrove's Dolphin Suite was to stop. The plug was about to be pulled on Cuddles Disco for younger children which used the same venue. The discos had been launched by the district council after pupils at South Bromsgrove High School complained the town was dead at night.

FORMER Aston Fields hairdresser Corrine Maund, aged 44, was found dead in her home in Malvern. Her husband, David, was charged with her murder.

THE Rev Ivy Greaves, affectionately known as Rubery's Gladys Aylwood, died at her home, in Rednal. During the Second World War, she had been interned in Shanghai for three years and in 1961 began worshipping at Rubery Congregational Church.