SIDEMOOR woman Rebecca Faithful was charged with taking two shirts off another girl's back in a bizarre case heard at Bromsgrove Magistrates' Court.

100 years ago

November 26, 1898

SIDEMOOR woman Rebecca Faithful was charged with taking two shirts off another girl's back in a bizarre case heard at Bromsgrove Magistrates' Court. She ordered Nellie Harrison to strip or she would fetch a policeman. The case was dismissed because there was no evidence of cruelty or felony.

DRUNK Bournheath resident Frederick Rutter was accused of ''acting like a madman'' after assaulting and biting two policemen and being in charge of a wagon while drunk. Mr Rutter denied being drunk at Bromsgrove Magistrates' Court, saying he could not have bitten Sgt Wagstaff because he did not have his teeth in. He also denied assaulting a third man, Walter Reading. Mr Rutter was found guilty and ordered to pay £3 and 15s (75p) within a month or face four weeks in jail.

BROMSGROVE residents were given a lecture about the ''modern miracle'' at Bromsgrove Rural District Council, when top engineering professor William Lynd spoke about Marconi's great invention, the wireless telegraph.

THREE inches of snow fell in Bromsgrove during the week, but melted within 24 hours after heavy rain.

50 years ago

November 27, 1948

RESIDENTS and parish councillors in Romsley were set to write a letter of protest to the GPO about the problems of the telephone service. Most recently, it had been broken for a week, during which time a motorcyclist had to be sent to the fire station after a small blaze broke out in the village.

ONE of Worcestershire's wealthiest farmers died following a long illness. Henry Oliver, of Ombersley, was noted for his amazing memory and the ability to pick out a particular cow in a field and the price he had paid for her.

BROMSGROVE was also mourning the loss of influential magistrate Edward Cadbury. The 75-year-old was a governor and trustee of Brom-sgrove School and a benefactor of Avoncroft, as well as a director of the growing chocolate empire in Birmingham.

READERS of the Bromsgrove Messenger were being promised even bigger and better coverage in the newspaper's re-launch in January.

25 years ago

November 23, 1973

THE nation's crippling oil crisis was taking a grip on Bromsgrove with many of the town's petrol stations reporting shortages of fuel. Some filling stations were only selling petrol to regular customers, while others had already run out and did not know when they would next get a delivery.

THE M42 inquiry closed with a glimmer of hope for campaigners against the proposed motorway. A junior environment minister announced alternative plans for widening the M5 and building a ''still secret'' motorway between Solihull and Strensham.

CATSHILL residents were pressing for the sale of 3.25 acres of land to be stopped -- despite offers of £150,000. Protesters made the move following the announcement of plans to invest money to finance the building of a 30-acre ''red herring'' sports complex near Barnsley Hall. Residents' spokesman Donald Prust said the area was one of the last pieces of open land in Catshill and ''was priceless.''

BROMSGROVE Rovers were preparing for fixture chaos following the ban on floodlit matches because of the country's economic crisis. The ban would mean evening matches being switched to early afternoons and Saturday games starting at 2.15pm. The move would hit the Greens because many of their semi-professional players were at work during the daytime.