TWO shocks made Bromsgrove School's annual Commemoration Day one of the most remarkable ever. The head, the Rev Walters, senior master Major Mashiter and the Chaplain announced their retirement. And the main guest, World War II legless Group Captain Douglas Bader, was late arriving. Having piloted his own aircraft to Wolverhampton, the weather closed in and he had to return to base at Croydon and drive the 120 miles to Bromsgrove.

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A PLEA for players to be more sporting in their approach to the game was made in a speech by the president of Bromsgrove Rugby Club, Mr G Whewell at the club's annual meeting held at the Dragoon Hotel in Aston Fields. He said he deplored the "win at all costs" attitude that was creeping into the game at all levels.

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IN a bid to meet crippling death duties, the Earl of Plymouth sold off part of his estates in south Wales, mainly freeholds on property, amounting to some £2,000 a year. Already Hewell Grange and the surrounding 5,500 acre estate near Bromsgrove had been sold.

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THE weather was responsible for washing out one of Bromsgrove's biggest annual sporting events, the annual athletic and cycling meeting at the BYO Ground in New Road. The attendance was so small officials warned it may not be held again. A bright spot in the day however, was the awarding of the Weaver Cup for the first time by Boyd Weaver of the Bromsgrove building firm.