LEO Antosiewicz, the man jailed in 1936 for shooting the licensee of the Golden Cross while burglaring the Bromsgrove hotel, enjoyed four days of freedom when he escaped from Barnsley Hall hospital. He had been transferred to the Bromsgrove mental hospital on his release from Broadmoor ten years ago. He was recaptured in Worcester. It was not the first time he had absconded from the hospital; previously he had been found hiding in a water butt in a Catshill garden after going awol.

AN edition of the popular BBC radio programme Gardener’s Question Time was recorded in Dodford village hall, making it a ‘first’ for the Bromsgrove area. After a few technical problems the panel, comprising Arthur Billett, Freddie Grisewood, Professor Alan Gemmell and Bill Sowerbuts, answered a variety of questions.

FOUR Sidemoor lads, whose ages ranged from nine to 11, appeared at Bromsgrove Juvenile Court charged with breaking into Stourbridge Road School and causing damage to property. Fred Clements, the chairman of the bench, declared he wished he had powers to ‘tan the young scamps’. The court heard they had been caught red handed by the caretaker who had locked them in the veranda until police arrive to arrest them. Each boy was given two years’ probation.