NEXT week's General Election would be a straight Tory-Labour contest in Bromsgrove, which so far, the Messenger noted, had failed to arouse much enthusiasm. Labour's Lester George was pinning his hopes on free prescriptions, eye and teeth checks and free hospital beds and banning A-bomb tests. His opponent James Dance, if elected, promised new roads, improved railways, world peace and a greater reliance on atomic power.

FORMER Bromsgrove GP Dr Francis Coaker, who died at his home in Dulverton, Somerset, left £13,379 in his will. Dr Coaker, whose last home was Battlefield House, had been one of the town's leading citizens for many years and had been involved in nearly all its social and local government activities.

A PLAN to demolish Bromsgrove's last remaining corn mill and use the site for a petrol station was the subject of an inquiry held in the town this week. The mill owner, Jabez Bridgeman, 70, was hoping to persuade the government to overturn a district council decision to throw out the plan. The mill had been in the Bridgeman family for 90 years and had been powered by water until being converted to electricity ten years ago.

GAS prices were rising in the West Midlands, but consumers in Bromsgrove were among the fortunate handful of towns who would pay less in future. This came about because of the price of coal and other factors which determined the pricing policy.