LABOUR group leader, Councillor Henry Webley's name, had been put forward to be the next chairman of Bromsgrove Urban District Council. Cllr Webley, from Perryfields, would be the council's 21st chairman and the first Labour man to hold the highest civic office. He had been a district councillor since 1946 and had served on the county council too. He had been a leading figure in the rebuilding of the Labour party in Bromsgrove after the war.

A GROUP of young patients from the Forelands Cripples' Hospital at Rock Hill, Bromsgrove, enjoyed a day out at a garden party at Ravenscourt, Droitwich. It was organised by members of the Spa branch of Toc H who conveyed the children in their cars. Toc H started during World War I and was now a world-wide charity.

AROUND 100 young employees, aged between 15 and 18 at the Stoke Prior brush factory, were to be allowed to attend special education sessions at the factory for four hours a week. The scheme was being run in conjunction with Bromsgrove College of Further Education. The curriculum included English, craft and PE.

A COLD snap had come at the wrong time for fruit growers and farmers in Bromsgrove and Droitwich, making crops of soft fruit, especially strawberries, scarce and expensive. The few warm days had been tempered by cold north winds and little rain.