MEMBERS of St Godwald's Church, in Aston Fields, led by the vicar, the Rev David Tongue, took part in a belated Rogation Day service. After a hymn in the church car park they set off to bless local farms, the fields and agricultural implements.

THERE was good news for drivers in Bromsgrove this week with the announcement that 250 more car parking spaces were to be made available. These would be at the former council depot in Churchfields, enlarging the existing facility at Parkside and the creation of a new car park in Recreation Road. However, the doctors in the adjacent surgery were to insist a fence be erected to ensure privacy in their consulting rooms.

THE government announced plans to spend £19m creating a third lane on the 10.6 mile stretch of the M5 Motorway between Catshill and Warndon.

FEARS that the public could become exposed to cyanide and other deadly chemicals when the controversial M42 motorway was built were voiced by worried residents living alongside the proposed route at a public inquiry in Bromsgrove. The motorway was to cut through three former rubbish tips in the district. One at Marlbrook, it was claimed had in the past been visited, mysteriously, by lorries late at night while in another at Shepley a former quarry, cyanide had been discovered.