TWO hay ricks at Mr Green's Holyoaks Farm, Tardebigge, containing a total of 150 tons of winter fodder worth £300, were destroyed in a blaze which may have been started by spontaneous combustion. A mounted messenger sent to Bromsgrove to raise the alarm arrived at the fire station at 1.20pm and the brigade was at the scene by 1.55. They and colleagues from Redditch were finally stood down some 23 hours later.

THE recent floods, which had caused havoc in and around Droitwich during the summer, occupied the minds of borough councillors at a meeting this week. At one period a heavy downpour caused the River Salwarpe to rise by three feet in just 30 minutes. This had caused widespread flooding, especially in St George's Square, Post Office Lane and Crossways Alley. The mayor asked the surveyor to bring a full report to the next meeting.

LIZZIE Duffill, aged 26, of Bromsgrove, and Alice Moxon, from Birmingham, both laundresses, appeared at Bromsgrove Police Court charged with stealing a blouse and trinkets worth a total of £4. They were taken from a case belonging to a Lillian Padget while all three were travelling on an omnibus in Bromsgrove. Magistrates took a dim view of the theft, especially as Duffill had only been released from jail that same day and her husband was awaiting trial for bigamy. Both women were sentenced to eight months' hard labour at Worcester jail.

THE largest audience ever to attend a political meeting in Bromsgrove packed the Drill Hall to hear the town's MP Austen Chamberlain speak. He had recently been elevated to the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer. The national press made special arrangements with the town's postmaster to ensure his every word was telegraphed to their offices in time for the morning editions. Before he rose to speak on Britain's current fiscal problems and the disloyalty to the Prime Minister by some politicians, the audience sang a medley of patriotic songs.