MORE than 500 youngsters took part in a fishing contest on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Alvechurch.

Roach, gudgeon and bream were hooked with the aid of squirming maggots and the top weight bag was 1lb 9oz 4drams.

Four other boys had more than one pound of fish in their nets at the weigh in.

THEproblem created at Cofton Common by beat music, which members of the teenage club wanted and older residents near the community hall did not, was further discussed by the parish council. Members of the youth club management committee had struggled to try and capture and hold the attention of teenagers, but residents had said that they found their evenings made, to them, hideous, by the poundings and blarings of beat groups.

CONSIDERABLE annoyance was being caused to Catshill residents by an epidemic of pranks involving the removal of garden gates. Householders in the area had experienced so much of the behaviour that it was likely to lead to a breach of the peace. One boy, who was spotted lifting a gate, said: “This is the first time I’ve done anything like this, but our gate has been lifted so many times that I just thought I would lift somebody else’s.”