PARTS of Bromsgrove was plunged into darkness when an electrical fault cut the power supply to 250 homes. Power was restored after half an hour, and the fault was traced to a damaged transformer.

BROMSGROVE MP Hal Miller made a celebratory visit to Turton Safety's Worcester Road factory. The company, which made industrial protective clothing, was celebrating being in full-time production for a year, and orders were believed to have been flowing in from home and abroad.

FARMERS in Bromsgrove were on alert to protect their herds against an outbreak of swine vesicular disease. Warnings were sent out after a case was discovered near Redditch.

CAPTAIN George Crump, a pupil at Bromsgrove County High School between 1941 and 1948, was awarded the MBE in the New Year's honours list for his services to athletics. He chose a career with the Royal Army Education Corps, before finally settling down in Chepstow in 1962. He was a teacher and sports instructor at an army apprentice college, and was made captain there in 1965. But weeks later he was condemned to a wheelchair after falling from a cliff top.