TEN voluntary organisations shared varying sized grants from the £5,150 profits accumulated from the Bromsgrove District Council-run lottery. They ranged from £2,000 to £100. So far the scheme had shown a profit of £27,479. The £3,000 skateboard surface in Sanders Park had been paid for from the proceeds.

"BLACK Monday" ran the Messenger's headline on a story which revealed 15 local schools had closed as a result of a strike by public service workers. Hospitals in Bromsgrove and Droitwich had also been badly affected. To add to the misery, the action coincided with a big freeze up which left many roads and paths untreated. The strike, in demand for a pay rise from £38.40 to £65 for the lowest grade, followed hard on the heels of a strike by lorry drivers, which had brought its own problems.

SOME farmers in the district warned they might soon have to slaughter their animals if the lorry drivers' strike did not end soon. Despite assurances that the drivers would move essential supplies, such as foodstuffs, most farmers said they were just hanging on with what little reserves they had.

FIREMEN had to deal with an unusual problem when called to tackle a blaze in a 70ft long houseboat at Tardebigge Wharf. The Britannia had caught fire mysteriously and was held fast by six-inch thick ice. Fearful that if the gutted vessel sank it would block the waterway they had mounted an unsuccessful attempt to free it using axes.