WITH the Whitsun holiday approaching, the Messenger reflected that since Easter, when the weather had been hot, it had since been dull, cold and with an unusually high amount of rain. Few attractions were being planned for the district over the bank holiday, it observed. The once popular annual fete at Hewell Grange was being given a rest this year, but the paper concluded that the Worcestershire Yeomanry encampment there would attract interest.

WHILE fishing in the Spadesbourne Brook in the Shrubbery in Bromsgrove, Mr Vale, of nearby Rose Terrace, caught a handsome 18in long trout weighing 2lb 3oz, which took him ten minutes to land.

FREDERICK Telford, a driver of a Great Western Motor bus that ferried between Belbroughton and Stourbridge, ran into trouble when he was caught speeding at 22mph. Stourbridge magistrates took a dim view of this and fined him £4, but did not endorse his license.

THOMAS Aaldritt, a labourer of the Vines in Droitwich Spa, was ordered to pay arrears of £2/16/0 (£2.80p) in respect of his wife and children, whom he had deserted. The case had been brought by the Spa's Board of Guardians, who had been forced to hand her that amount by way of relief from the Workhouse.

A PAIR of robins were successfully raising a family after building a nest in an old tea kettle hanging in a fowl pen at Mr W May's home in Kidderminster Road, Bromsgrove.