CATHERINE Guest is a woman with a past - as secretary of Kidderminster Archaeological and Historical Society she has spent much of the last ten years delving into the story of the town, though as she admits, much of that past has been swept away.

"There's Caldwall Tower and St Mary's Church and that's about it," says the 34-year-old Age Concern worker. But as secretary for the last seven years and a member for three years before that she has played a major role in keeping the history of the town alive.

Her role has entailed organising visits by guest lecturers, including Dr Carl Chinn, the popular Birmingham historian. The society numbers about 35 although the recent boom in history topics has sparked a new wave of interest in the group.

Her involvement in the society is accidental - someone up the road was a member of the society and she decided to go along. Eventually she was invited to become secretary.

Miss Guest, Kidderminster born and bred herself, laments the loss of the town's former museum, which disappeared when the old library was pulled down, with many of the artefacts disappearing out of the town to the County Museum at Hartlebury Castle.

She is also, if not exactly disgruntled about the shape of the new KTC1 development currently underway in the centre, very far from being gruntled, as PG Wodehouse had it, noting the absence of a cinema, which was originally proposed, from the final scheme.

Educated at Holy Trinity School, as was, and King Charles I School she went on to pursue business studies at Kidderminster College.

But ill-health interrupted her career and she currently works as a volunteer for Age Concern in Kidderminster and Worcester, four days a week, helping with care calls to elderly people to check on their welfare, and organising the distribution of leaflets.

In 1991 she won a Midlands Jobseeker of the Year Award in recognition of her efforts as a registered disabled person in seeking employment. Those efforts eventually won her an administrative job with the then Stourbridge public works department at Dudley Council.

She has been an enthusiastic member of Kidderminster Choral Society for about four years but has just taken a year out following the death of her father, Tim, an internationally-renowned science and engineering expert.

A server at St Mary's Church for the last 10 years she is also a member of the diocesan church council. She is, she admits, a very active person and also enjoys gardening and cross-stitch embroidery in her quieter moments.

"I like to help others," she says, when asked about her life. Given her contributions to Kidderminster life, nobody could argue with that.