ALL Saints' Church, in Bromsgrove, took space in the Messenger to advertise its forthcoming garden fete at the vicarage. Included in a packed programme would be a parade of decorated cycles, a gymkhana, maypole dancing and a washing competition. Admission was 6d (2.5p) and 2d (1p) to park bicycles.

LARGE numbers of visitors from the Black Country flocked to Bromsgrove for the annual Midsummer fair on Monday. Many horses were put up for auction. The highlight of the pleasure fair was a free show by a tightrope walker 60ft above the ground to draw in the crowds. Other attractions included a fat lady, shooting galleries, and an abundance of hawkers selling ice cream and sausages.

THE vicar of Bromsgrove, in his weekend sermon, said Sundays were becoming increasingly desecrated because people were taking up more leisure activities. Cycling and playing golf on the Sabbath was not in itself sinful, but it was if such pursuits stood in the way of people going to church, he said.

A STRIP of a Boer flag, which had been hauled down by The Worcestershire Yeomany which had captured the town of Hoopstad, was on display in the Messenger office window. It had been sent by trooper Llewellyn, whose home was in Bromsgrove.

JOSEPH White, a casual pauper at the Spa workhouse, appeared before Droitwich magistrates charged with refusing to do his allotted task in return for a bed and breakfast and for swearing at the master, Mr Loader. He was ordered to do 14 days' hard labour at Worcester Jail.

AN ambitious scheme to build a light railway from Bromsgrove station to the Forest Hotel, at Lickey End, via New Road, High Street and the Strand, took a steep nearer to being started this week. The body responsible for such enterprises, the Light Railway Commission, had submitted the plan to the Board of Trade which was expected to rubber stamp the proposals.

50 years ago

July 1, 1950

A 14-YEAR-OLD Bromsgrove boy had been admitted to the town's Hill Top Isolation Hospital suffering from poliomyelitis. Another case, from Wythall, had been reported recently.

WILLIAM Keight retired from his confectionery shop in Worcester Road, Bromsgrove, which he had run for the past 37 years. As a young man, for 20 years, he had worked as a compositor with the Bromsgrove Messenger company, in addition to managing the shop.

RESIDENTS from Stoke Prior and surrounding villages were to be given the chance to have a chest X-ray when a mobile unit visited the Harris brush works in the village.

THOUSANDS of people flocked to Bromsgrove's Midsummer fair. The streets were full until late evening and long queues built up at bus stops. However, the event was marred by a series of misfortunes. A 31-year-old female performer in the circus died suddenly and John Jones, a one-legged cripple, who had come to the town to visit the fair, was killed in a road accident in High Street. A young girl was injured when she fell from a ride and a West Bromwich boy was knocked down by a horse on Recreation Ground. Both needed hospital treatment. And, as the fair departed, fire appliances from Bromsgrove and Droitwich were called to put out a blaze in a lorry laden with equipment.

EDWARD Lumley, vicar of All Saints' Church, in Bromsgrove, since 1926, announced he was to retire. Under his stewardship, the church had been internally transformed, a vestry added and a recorded peal of bells installed.

25 years ago

June 27, 1975

AN employee at Garrington's Bromsgrove factory, Derick Pearson, put his die-making skills to good use when he carved, in wood, a chess set and board depicting the Battle of Waterloo. The six-inch high pieces represented Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington and other military figures. The labour of love had taken him two years to complete.

COURT Leet Bailiff Peter Ward led the annual Fair Day procession on a longer route than usual before the ancient assize of ale, bread and leather took place in Crown Close. It was changed to enable him to exchange greetings with his mother, Eleanor, who lived in Brook Road.

PUPILS donned Victorian costumes when they took part in a fancy dress parade at a fete to mark the centenary of Fairfield First School. It was opened by Chris Phipps, of BBC Radio Birmingham, who travelled the short distance from the village hall to the school in a horse-drawn wagon.

CHRISTOPHER Tainty, aged 15, a pupil at South Bromsgrove High School, had high hopes of being picked for the Great Britain junior swimming team. The youngster, from Brueton Avenue, Bromsgrove, held several county championships.

THE problem of how to dispose of waste engine oil could soon be solved for DIY car mechanics in the town. Bromsgrove District Council was hoping to find an answer, but officials said sending round a vehicle or allowing it to be collected separately by binmen would be costly. A likely solution would be to set up a central collection point.

THE sighting of the new general hospital for Bromsgrove and Redditch, which had caused much controversy, looked to be settled soon. Hereford and Worcester Health Authority this week backed the favoured site near Redditch. It also warned if there was a delay in starting the project, Bromsgrove's old, inefficient General Hospital would have to be refurbished at a cost of £10m.