DESPITE heavy overnight rain the track at Bromsgrove County High School was in good condition when 18 records were smashed during the annual spots day. The Victor Ludorum was Harvey Troth and the Victrix Tehmina Goodman. Hibbins won the house championship.

MISS D Gardener, headmistress of Stourbridge Road Girls' Primary School in Bromsgrove, retired after 31 years. Among her farewell gifts was at TV set. Unusually she presented the school with a gift, an electric clock to replace the pendulum clock which had hung on the wall since the school had opened.

THE future of Bromsgrove's last working mill, Townsends Mill in Birmingham Road, was in doubt once more. The minister of housing and local government had upheld a decision by Bromsgrove Urban District Council not to allow owner Mr J Bridgman to turn it into a filling station. Both the council and the minister said the mill was on a bend on a fast stretch of road.

BARNT Green WI held its annual garden meeting at Coppy Hill, in Linthurst Road, and took the form of a pageant depicting women through the ages. They were joined by women from neighbouring village institutes.

TRADITIONAL haymaking methods would soon be confined to pictures and history books the Messenger observed. This year had been the first when the pick-up baler had come into its own. It proved a great labour saver, but it was easier to pick up a forkful of hay rather than a bale the writer noted.