BROTHERS Alfred Harbach, from Imperial Row, and Herbert, a salt packer from British Row, Stoke, near Bromsgrove, appeared before town magistrates charged with stealing and killing two ducks. The birds, worth 7/-, (35p) belonged to Percy Townsend, of Stoke Prior Mill. Pc Meade, who was congratulated on his detective work by the bench, had found the birds in a bucket wrapped in boiling washing in a copper in the wash house at one of their homes. The pair, who claimed they had fallen on hard times, were sentenced to a month's hard labour at Worcester Jail.

A PAIR of blue tits were raising a family in a letterbox fixed to a gate at Brick House Lane, Stoke, despite a daily cascade of mail falling on their heads.

THE all-important forthcoming strawberry season held a promise of a good crop, weather permitting. Many smallholders in Dodford and Catshill depended on the luscious summer fruit for their livelihoods. Some idea of how vital was the crop can be judged by the fact that last year 1.7 million pounds of fruit from this district had been sold in Birmingham market alone. A similar quantity had also been sent to markets in the North of England, Wales and the Black Country.

THE new electric alarm bells used to summon firemen from their homes to Bromsgrove station was used for the first time with outstanding success. Early on Tuesday, a messenger cycled from Lower Bentley to summon the brigade to tackle a rick fire and found no problem locating and ringing the bells. The crew of two officers, 14 firemen and four policemen had the engine out and the horses in the shafts within eight minutes, a record. However, it was said that had it been daytime and the men at work it would have taken longer.