THE Wyre Forest district has been birthplace to Prime Ministers on both sides of the globe, had its fair share of colourful characters and evolved distinctive industries over the years.

Mail services as we know them today were the brainchild of one of the area's sons, while another laid the foundations for a major modern-day university.

On the sporting field, teams from the district have brought glory and excitement to their followers.

It is only when one begins to delve into events and individuals that have contributed to the area's past that it becomes clear what a rich and varied pageant it has been.

Compiling a collection of stories to reflect that variety is no easy task but it is one that has been undertaken by the Shuttle/Times and News in a new book - Wyre Forest Memory Lane.

Designed to present snapshot views of the area's history, Wyre Forest Memory Lane tells the stories of individuals and industries, customs and crafts and sport and social life.

The book's scope is wide-ranging, revisiting events and people dating back centuries and others that will jog the lifetime memories of Shuttle/Times and News readers.

The stories in Wyre Forest Memory Lane are illustrated with dozens of photographs, some of which date from the 19th century.

It is not only the major towns of Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley that feature but villages such as Wolverley and Cookley.

So the history of Kidderminster's carpet industry sits side by side with the day Cookley Cricket Club became national village champions at Lord's, while Stanley Baldwin's trials and tribulations as Prime Minister during the abdication crisis contrast with the colourful career of Alf Tabb - Kidderminster's world record-holder trick cyclist.

And there is much more besides. The days when trams ran between Kidderminster and Stourport are recalled, as are the heydays of Bewdley's pewter and cap-making industries.

The remarkable rise of Walter Nash, the Kidderminster-born errand boy who became New Zealand's Prime Minister in his mid-70s, is traced, as are the equally eminent achievements of another son of the town, Josiah Mason, the Victorian philanthropist who gave away hundreds of thousands of pounds and helped establish Birmingham University.

Familiar parts of the Wyre Forest landscape - Severn Valley Railway, Kidderminster Harriers, the Rose Theatre, Wolverley caves - all figure within the pages of Wyre Forest Memory Lane.

The chilling prospect of Wolverley becoming a regional nerve centre in the event of a Cold War nuclear conflict is explained. That contrasts sharply with the days when Kidderminster played host to some of the biggest names in rock, including the Rolling Stones and the Who, in gigs staged by Frank Freeman, the town's dance hall king.

The story of how the Kidderminster Shuttle itself - under founding father Edward Parry - even gets a mention.