Memory Lane

AT Bromsgrove Petty Sessions John Lambourne of New Spring Street was charged with driving a motor cycle on the Birmingham Road at a speed dangerous to the public.

PC Stafford said he saw the defendant riding towards Worcester, near the crossroads at All Saints Church, travelling at a speed of around 30mph.

The defendant said he was no judge of speed and was sorry if he had gone too fast.

Lambourne was fined 20s.

Also at the sessions, Rose Harper, of Coffee Yard, was charged with using indecent language in her own house, within the hearing of Windsor Street.

Police Sergeant Drew proved the case and the defendant was fined 10s 6d, or seven days.

IN the Worcestershire and the War section a letter from a Bromsgrove man on the front was published.

He wrote: “The novelty of this business must be wearing off.

“At first there seemed to be thousands of things to tell, because I saw everything through civilian eyes; now its difficult to find anything to write about.

“Both sides are always keen to know what regiment is opposed to them and one day the German shouted across ‘We will tell you who we are if you will do the same’.

‘All right, we are the Saxons.

“'And we are the Royal Navy’.”

April 30, 1965.

BROMSGROVE police were investigating a raid on a rose garden at a property in Birmingham Road, Lydiate Ash.

Horace and Peggy White discovered more than 50 florabunda bushes that had been stolen from the back of the house overnight that Sunday evening, from their home.

A YOUNG Rubery woman found herself in a sticky situation when attending an evening class run by Bromsgrove College of Further Education.

At the end of the session, held at Waseley Hills School, the woman tried to get up from her seat but found she was firmly fixed to the chair.

She applied for compensation for the damage to her clothing of around £4.

It was felt the damage was not the college’s liability and it was referred to the County Authority, responsible for the school.

A MASS meeting of Midland Red busmen heard members express resentment at the delay of a report from the Minister of Labour inquiry into their pay claim.

Transport and General Workers’ Union officials advised the men not to restart unofficial Saturday strikes, which had affected Bromsgrove bus users for weeks.

But the workers were expected to be striking that Saturday.

May 3, 1990.

BROMSGROVE police urged High Street shopkeepers to take action after smash and grab raiders escaped with thousands of pounds worth of goods.

In three separate incidents, a tobacconist was burgled twice and an electrical shop was broken into with thieves snatching more than £10,000 worth of goods.

Inspector Shaw called for the installation of better security systems.

A £20,000 appeal was launched to save a crumbling Tardebigge church.

The sandstone walls of St Bartholomew’s Church were slowly wearing away and experts predicted if repairs were not carried out before the end of the decade, the church would become hazardous.

Fundraising events were being organised with the first, a bric-a-brac stall, at Bromsgrove Market Hall.

RELICS from the demolished Cottage Hospital, dating back nearly a century, were to feature in a permanent display at the new Community Hospital, due to open in 1991.

The scheme was a joint venture between the Court Leet and the Bromsgrove Society.

The exhibition was expected to be in the waiting areas of the new £8.5 million hospital.

THE freedom to roam over the Waseley Hills was being severely restricted according to county councillor Peter McDonald.

Cllr McDonald had organised a petition to get fences pulled down, that had apparently been erected without notice.

NEIGHBOURS Kidderminster Harriers were all that stood between Bromsgrove Rovers and their second successive Worcestershire Senior Cup final.

Fans were getting excited as they looked ahead to the two legged match, the first leg being played at the Victoria Ground that Monday night.

Memory Lane is compiled from the papers dating back to the Messenger's first edition in 1860. The papers are free to view at Bromsgrove Library, in Stratford Road.

For more information call the library on 01905 822722.