THE BROMSGROVE Society, the town’s local history group, is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its annual magazine.
The Bromsgrove Rousler – the popular local history publication – has been published every year since 1986.
The special 40th edition, which is now available, is a bumper issue packed full of stories on themes old and new.
Rousler Editor Mike Sharpe said when the magazine was launched, it was dedicated to the people and places that had shaped the town’s history.
“It serves the same purpose today and I am delighted to be the editor for this special 40th anniversary issue.”
What’s in the 2025 issue
Big Bertha, the legendary banking engine that plied up and down the Lickey Incline, is one of the stories featured.
Railway enthusiast Alastair Moseley has written a retrospective on the famous engine in what will be the 70th anniversary year of her being withdrawn from service.
An eye‐catching painting of the locomotive by the railway artist Roy Wilson features on the cover.
Andrew Maund, an expert on AE Housman, reflects on how the poet’s childhood in Bromsgrove influenced his life and work.
This reappraisal is an important contribution to knowledge of the town’s most famous son.
Prof Ben Bennett outlines new research being undertaken to identify and catalogue the Bromsgrove Guild’s work overseas.
The Guild was a notable chapter in the town’s history.
Going back to the late 18th century, Alan Robertson describes the Bromsgrove Annuity Society, one of several early mutual organisations set up to fund healthcare and pensions in the days before the welfare state.
Three of the contributions focus on personal stories. Australian resident Fran Roberts researched her great‐grandfather Thomas Swift who ran Bromsgrove’s first commercial cinema.
Anstice Hughes recounts how a chance discovery in a newspaper led to new findings about her ancestor, John Skan.
And in the latest of his interviews with Second World War veterans, Neil Beaumont tells the story of Albert Malin who served on the tumultuous Arctic convoys.
Also, well‐known local historian Jenny Townshend looks at the Walford sisters, highly artistic and talented women who lived in Bromsgrove in the early 20th century.
The Rousler is available from a wide range of retail and other outlets across the district, priced £4.
It can also be ordered through the Bromsgrove Society’s website: bsoc.co.uk and via @bromsgrovesoc on social media.
