MR Dick Satchwell, the last farrier to operate in Bromsgrove, died 17 years after his retirement. Mr Satchwell had kept a smithy at the bottom of Church Street until 1947. The trade had dwindled as cars became more and more and horses fewer and fewer, but Dick, muscular and grimed by his task, had a big grin and a hearty ‘how do’ for any passing schoolboy who lingered in the ever-open doorway. His bellows were still being kept in the museum at Bromsgrove School.

THE contents of the Hagley Court Hotel, near the crossroads at Hagley, were sold at auction in preparation for the building to be demolished to make way for road widening.The corner of Kidderminster Road and Stourbridge Road, on which the hotel stood, was to form part of a feeder road to the M5 motorway at Lydiate Ash.

IN the first examination for the new Certificate of Secondary Education held by the Union of Educational Institutions, most of the candidates from modern schools in the district were successful. Watt Close scholars passed in 80 per cent of the subjects for which they sat. Eighteen credits, including 11 in mathematics, were gained by the students.