GOVERNMENT cutbacks in education grants, amounting to £13m over the past four years, was starting to have serious effects on local schools. Text books were in short supply and teachers had taken on many of the duties normally carried out by ancillary staff, which had been cut by 40 per cent. Many headteachers were saying standards would inevitably fall as a result.

THE death of Dennis Crane, late of Melbourne Road in Bromsgrove, ended the long established bakery business with which the name had been associated. In his youth, before going on to school, Dennis had delivered bread to customers in a horse and cart. In 1918 he joined his father in the business, which he later inherited.

MARY Smart, aged 25, a farmer's daughter from Cutnall Green, was to be among a bevy of 15 pretty girls hoping to be crowned Miss Royal Welsh Show when the beauty competition was staged at the major agricultural show.