A TEAPOT made by Geoffrey Whiting, the Avoncroft potter, had been chosen to be one of just 200 items being included in the prestigious Exhibition of Selected British Goods in Stockholm which had been arranged in honour of a visit by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.

THE Artificial Insemination centre at Avoncroft, set up to improve cattle stocks, was going from strength to strength. The annual meeting heard that the premises and three staff cottages had now been purchased and that during the year 44,000 inseminations had been carried out on local farms netting the centre £61,000. A scheme to include pigs was now being investigated.

INDEPENDENT councillor Charles Tomlinson was the new chairman of Bromsgrove District Council. The son of a Buckinghamshire farmer, he had come to Bromsgrove from Daventry where he had been a postmaster. He had taken over from Labour's Councillor Henry Webley, who had held the top job for two years. Cllr Jack Hudson, who represented the west ward and who had the distinction of being the first Labour candidate in Bromsgrove to be returned unapposed, would be the new vice chairman.

DRIVERS in Bromsgrove and elsewhere of vehicles over ten years old would soon have to have them tested every year for mechanical road worthiness. However there was growing concern that some of the specially appointed garages would rip off customers by finding 'imaginary' problems just to get the job of repairing them, while others would be too lenient in order to keep their present customers happy.