LEADING orthopaedic consultant at Hill Top Hospital in Bromsgrove, Mr Olaf da Costa, spoke of his anguish when having to tell patients crippled with pain they would have to wait four years for treatment on the cash-strapped NHS. The hospital's £160,000 operating theatre, one of the top three in the country, was only being used at half its capacity because of savage cut backs in funding.

THE number of people on the dole in Bromsgrove during September was 1,188 - an all time high. The prospect for improvement was gloomy as there were at present no vacancies locally in manufacturing industry, only services, and the threat of job losses at Garringtons and Longbridge were ever present.

ONE of TV's tallest actors at 6ft 6ins, Dave 'Green Cross Code' Prowse, came face to knee with one of the smallest Don 'Lofty' Estelle at just 4ft 10ins while filming on location in Bromsgrove High Street. They were joined by a group of pupils from Tardebigge school who were starring in a film about road safety. Dave had played the part of Darth Vader in the film Star Wars.