THE thorny question of providing the fire brigade with a telephone was raised at the local brigade's annual dinner, held at the Coach and Horses Hotel in Bromsgrove. The cost, about £40 or so, was said to be an unacceptable extra burden on already overtaxed ratepayers. Captain Crump, a visitor from Selly Oak station, in his speech to the guests remarked he knew of no other town the size of Bromsgrove that had to make do without a telephone.

A SAD accident happened at Belbroughton when William Tranter, a middle-aged, skilled hay trusser, fell from a rick he was working on behind Nash's Scythe Works, a height of just five feet. Unable to move, a doctor was summoned, who had him stretchered home and later transferred to the Corbett Hospital in Stourbridge where his condition was said to be hopeless and that he was not expected to live beyond a few days. He was married with five children.

GEORGE Richards, a traveller, was brought up before Droitwich magistrates charged with arriving at the Spa's railway station from Stourbridge without a valid ticket. Magistrates heard how staff gave chase when he ran off and in his bid to escape payment Richards leapt into the canal and swam to the opposite bank. However, his exertions caused him to collapse and he was wrapped in hot blankets. He pleaded to the court for leniency and was fined 10/6 (52.5p) plus 5/6 (27.5p) costs with seven days to pay.

CATSHILL was dubbed the most insanitary village in the county by Mr Tilt, a member of Bromsgrove Urban District Council, during a discussion on conditions at the village school. Its WCs discharged directly into the brook, which eventually flowed into Bromsgrove. The council appeared to be unable or unwilling to act and the medical officer remarked that, notwithstanding, the death rate in the area was very low.