Memory Lane

IN the Worcestershire and the War section, the Messenger reported on the death of Bromsgrove man Private Frank Mole.

He was son of the late William Mole and Mrs Mole, of Walton Road.

He had been killed in action dying in a trench while he was asleep.

Before the war he had been an insurance agent living in Birmingham Road.

A SIDEMOOR man, a prisoner of war for 10 months, had returned to England.

Private Richard Richardson, had returned to England as part of a prisoner exchange for German prisoners.

He had written to his wife to say he hoped to return home in a few days.

AT Bromsgrove Petty Sessions, PC Jackson, of Ernest Crump, Willow Gardens, was fined 5s for riding a bicycle without a light in Broad Street, Sidemoor.

Also at the sessions Lily Kent, of York Road, Sidemoor, was fined 5s for using indecent language within hearing of York Road, which had been heard by PC Jackson.

July 2, 1965.

A PETITION had been signed by more than 260 Rubery residents and sent to the Minister of Transport.

The petition protested against the proposal to raise the speed limit in Barnt Green road from 30mph to 40mph.

The police had described the proposed speed limit as more realistic, but the petitioners called attention to the winding nature of the road, its six bus stops, many private drive ways and unfenced sections on the fringe of Cofton Woods.

They added raising the limit would only save a driver 25 seconds.

THE telescope at the top of the Beacon Hill, Rubery, had been put to practical use.

More than 40 children from an Edgbaston school were on a day trip to the Hills when one became lost.

Shouting and searching they failed to locate the lost boy.

One of the youngsters had the clever idea of using the telescope.

After a few minutes of sweeping the surrounding land with the lens, the youngster was spotted sitting quietly, unconcerned, on the edge of the golf course.

IN the House of Commons, Bromsgrove MP James Dance asked the Minister of Transport what plans he had for dealing with the danger of accidents caused by cars crossing the central reservation of a motor road.

In his reply Tom Fraser said crash barrier experiments were still in progress, while two mile lengths of double steel rail safety fence had been erected in some places.

July 5, 1990.

THE union representing Bromsgrove’s sacked binmen was to carry out a referendum after the Labour group failed to get their jobs back.

New recruits had already been employed to replace the men, who were sacked after they claimed they were forced to sign a new contract requiring them to work harder for less money.

A meeting had to be adjourned after uproar broke out by 200 public members, after they heard no compromise would be reached.

CAMPAIGNING Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter died in a terror bombing on a PanAm jet above Lockerbie, had told of his sadness in successfully smuggling a fake bomb onto a plane.

Dr Swire made a mock devise, built into a radio cassette recorder, as he wanted to discover whether airport security at Heathrow was good enough. The government’s Transport Secretary, Cecil Parkinson, had called for an investigation into the incident.

A MULTI-million pound complex with houses, shops and a leisure centre looked set to be built on the site of the old Rubery hospital complex.

The 210-acre site, which fronted Bristol Road, was one of the few big development spots left within the Birmingham boundary.

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.