A PLAN to establish a light industrial zone on the outskirts of Bromsgrove at Aston Fields was announced by the town council. It would help restore Market Street where there were factories, into an amenity area. Eleven half-acre plots were proposed to be screened by a wide belt of trees and existing and new roads to the site would be modified and built.

BROMSGROVE'S first illuminated Christmas tree near Beech Tree House in the Crescent was receiving admiring glances from the public. Around 250 toys had been collected as a result of an appeal by the Round Table. They would be distributed to young patients at the town's hospitals.

MURKY conditions at the Victoria ground reduced visibility to a few yards and prompted the use of a white ball for the first time. A disappointingly small gate of 600 saw the Greens lose to Dudley Town for the second week in succession.

THOMAS Austin a Bromsgrove chemist had a lucky escape when the bus he was travelling in on his way to the town from his home in Uttoxeter plunged off the road and fell 30 feet into the flooded River Trent. He was rescued from the vehicle's upper deck with the help of a ladder and was taken to hospital at Rugely where he was detained. One passenger was drowned in the incident.

A GROUP of old folk in Rubery enjoyed a Christmas party organised annually by the village flower show society at St Chad's hall on what was the worst night of the winter so far. However a record 128 people, conveyed in a fleet of members' cars, sat down to a capital four course meal.