June 1, 1901

100 years ago

June 1, 1901

JOHN Plain, a shopkeeper from Dunhampstead, appeared before Droitwich Spa magistrates charged with selling adulterated salt butter. His wife told the bench they had sold it as bought from somebody in Worcester. They were out of pocket on the deal and only made a halfpenny profit because the policeman who brought the charge had bought a half-pound and they had been forced to consume the rest themselves. They were fined 5s (25p) with 10s (50p) costs.

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A DISAPPOINTINGLY small number of people attended a meeting in Droitwich Town Hall called by mayor Cllr Culley to discuss hiring a band for a season to entertain the increasing number of tourists visiting the health resort. Dr Corbett -- brother of John, from Impney, who died recently -- had donated £75 towards the fund set up to pay the musicians.

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BROMSGROVE Court Leet Bailiff Dr Ball treated a large number of guests to a sumptuous seven-course dinner at the Golden Cross Hotel in the town. The principal guest was MP Austen Chamberlain. Earlier in the day the court met at the Town Hall where it was decided to share the sum of £45, given to the court by way of ancient custom, between the cottage hospital and Bromsgrove Parish Nursing Fund.

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THERE was great consternation in Catshill on Wednesday when a large main on Crown Hill, close to the vicarage, burst with a terrific noise and shot debris and water many yards into the air. A dam was hastily made to divert the water into the brook and prevent it from flooding the Crown pub.

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THE previous fortnight's warm weather prevailed in Bromsgrove for the Whitsuntide holidays. On Monday and Tuesday large numbers of visitors were seen in the town despite there being very few attractions. The number of cyclists passing through Bromsgrove was reported to be "unprecedented."

50 years ago

June 2, 1951

THE family of Cpl Bertie Stanton, of the Worcestershire Regiment, who lived at Garibaldi Terrace, Old Station Road, Bromsgrove, heard he had been killed in action in Malaya. He was a regular soldier who was within a few weeks of completing his five-year period of duty.

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TWO boys, aged 11 and 12, appeared before magistrates at Bromsgrove Juvenile Court charged with smashing a 100-year-old unique "railway" tombstone in Bromsgrove churchyard. The court heard the lads, together with others, had broken it in three pieces while playing. The bench dismissed the case but ordered them to pay £2 each towards the £17 10s (£17.50) cost of repairing it.

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WHILE shooting at Foxwalks Farm, in Bromsgrove, Mr J Bradley, from Perryfields Lane, found a 500-year-old silver penny minted in Durham during the reign of Edward IV.

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A SERIOUS shortage of nurses meant three wards at the 56-bed Hill Top chest hospital, in Bromsgrove, had been forced to close. Presently there were only 16 on the staff and all attempts to recruit 54 more were proving very difficult.

25 years ago

May 28, 1976

ATTEMPTS by the minority Labour group on Bromsgrove District Council to persuade the 32 Conservative members to elect "Mr Bromsgrove" Cllr Henry Webley as the authority's new vice-chairman failed. The post went to Cllr Raggatt. Cllr Webley had devoted more than 30 years to the Labour Party and the Sidemoor ward.

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A MYSTERIOUS subsidence in Stourbridge Road, Bromsgrove, brought town centre traffic to a standstill on Monday. It was discovered later that water from a fractured pipe had seeped into the ground causing the road to give way.

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TV personality and magazine "agony" uncle Alan Leighton was on hand to open a spring fair at Bromsgrove General Hospital. The event raised £200 for the geriatric unit.

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A FORMER vicar of Catshill, the Rev J Burley, who claimed he had been forced to leave the church because he had married a divorcee had found a new job in a Gloucestershire mental hospital. He had been given notice to quit the vicarage by the middle of next month.