Digest of stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: October 13th, 1917.

The Luton and District Discharged Soldiers' and Sailors' Association have taken No 15 Castle Street, with the object of converting the premises into offices and a club. these premises are open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 7 to 9pm.

At present they constitute an office, committee room and reading room on a small scale, but the committee is seriously handicapped as they cannot legally appeal for funds until the Association is registered under the War Charities Act. Application for registration has already been made, and there is every hope that the Association will soon be in a position to accept numerous donations promised. [The above advert appeared two weeks later, after registration had been obtained.]

On October 23rd there is to be a big meeting at which Mr J. M. Hogg MP, President of the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilised Sailors and Soldiers, to which the local Association is affiliated, will speak. A large audience may be expected. [Public notice (right)].

• This morning a party of German prisoners, between 100 and 150, were in Luton G.N.R. Station. Occupying three coaches and under strong guard they were shunted into a siding shortly after 11 o'clock to await the arrival of the 11.41 train for Hatfield. They were a mixed company and included marines and soldiers, and were still in uniform. They appeared, for the most past, to be young men, and one in particular could not long have left school for the battlefield. All looked well fed. A considerable crowd collected before their departure, but there was no demonstration.

• Am extraordinary resolution was moved at the meeting on Thursday of the Luton War Savings Committee by the Rev C. W. A. Brooke, of Dunstable, who is also secretary of the War Savings Association at George Kent's Ltd. It was immediately patent the recommendation could not be passed. His resolution was: "That the Committee considers that it should be a Government regulation that in all Government controlled establishments boys under the age of 18 and girls under 21 should have 10 per cent of their wages deducted and put into war savings certificates until the conclusion of the war or until they reach the ages named." The resolution was in response in a falling off in subscriptions.

• The funeral took place with full military honours yesterday at the Church Cemetery, Luton, of Driver Joseph Wheeler (East Anglian Royal Engineers) who died in the 3rd Northern General Hospital from injuries received through being kicked by a horse in a Nottinghamshire Camp. The arrangements for the funeral were carried out by the military authorities, and the family had no knowledge of them until the last moment. The Rev T. Bulman, Vicar of St Paul's Church, officiated at the graveside, and a party from Biscot undertook the sounding of the Last Post and the firing of a volley.

• On Wednesday evening a meeting of the Wardown V.A.D. Hospital House Committee was held under the presidency of Mr F. W. Plummer, to whom Councillor Stewart Hubbard presented a cheque for £50 received from the waste paper scheme. Warm appreciation of this gift - which will more than cover the cost of a new drainage scheme at the hospital - was expressed. The Corporation will carry out the permanent improvement of laying drainage pipes from the hospital to the gates. The Hospital Committee will bear the cost of connecting this with the main system and it will ultimately prove much less expensive than the present unsuitable arrangements. Mr Dryden, of the Skefko Co, has kindly given 200 yards of piping for the work, which will be commenced in about a fortnight.

• Commandant Mrs J. W. Green told the House Committee that there are 52 patients in the Wardown hospital, and in addition several discharged soldiers were receiving treatment as outpatients.

• Hundreds, indeed we may say thousands, of Lutonians will be shocked by the news that Gunner Edwin E. Jeffs, who in civilian life was one of the founders and the popular conductor of the Luton Orchestral Society, has been killed in action. No official intimation has yet been received,but a letter from his sgt-major unfortunately leaves little doubt that he had laid down his life for his country.

• Although official notification from the War Office has not yet been received by Mrs Ashton, of 28 Duke Street. a letter from the Front from a comrade states that her son, Pte Alfred Ashton, was killed on October 1st. "He was struck by a shell whilst doing his duty in the front line and died instantly," is the information given by the writer of the letter to Mrs Ashby.

• We regret to record the death in France of Pte Arthur Claridge, who is the first of the employees of the High Town Foundry to pay the supreme sacrifice. He was a native of Bendish, where his parents reside, and they received a letter on Wednesday from a hospital nurse stating that their only son died in hospital as the result of shell wounds in the chest, back and arm.

• News has been received by Mrs Hawkes, of 6 Cumberland Street, Luton, that her son, Cpl Leonard E. Hawkes (Rifle Brigade), was severely wounded in the head on Friday, October 5th. He is now in England at Canterbury and is expecting to be moved shortly to another hospital to undergo special treatment.

• Three new special constables were sworn in at the Luton Borough Court this morning. They are Messrs F. Howard, G. M. Bradbrook and E. J. Watt, and are being employed as works constables by Messrs G. Kent Ltd.

• About 5pm on Tuesday, Arthur Rolph, of 4 Arthur Street, Luton, was delivering some iron at Brown & Green's Foundry when an unusual accident occurred. He had a horse and cart, owned by Mr Pollard of May Street, and when backing the horse the lid of a drain inspection chamber slipped off, and the horse's hind legs went into the cavity. One foot became fixed in a drain pipe, and the horse's fetlocks were badly cut. The horse was extracted only by means of chains and pulleys.

• At Luton Town Hall yesterday morning we found the Mayor (Alderman John Staddon) busy on what we presume to be his final charitable effort during his Mayoralty term. This is in connection with "Our Day" on behalf of the British Red Cross Society, fixed for next Saturday [Public notice above]..

• It is not very long since the YWCA Club in Upper George Street was in a bad way. Membership had dwindled to an alarming extent, and matters had come to a crisis. With the arrival of Miss M. Garnett and the support of a strong committee, the club rapidly revived and the demands upon the accommodation on most nights of the week are so excessive that the question of an extension costing an estimated £700 has been forced upon the committee. A letter from Mr Walter G. Kent shows his firm has risen to its responsibilities in the matter with an offer to contribute 100 guineas. In the letter he said: "We feel that the work of the club is very beneficial to the girl employed in Luton, offer, as it does, cheerful companionship and happy social entertainment to many girls whose homes are in other parts of the country and who, for the time being, are living in rooms in the town." If the project is successful it is probable that an annexe for concerts and dances will be built, occupying the present garden.

• Despite the opposition being provided by Biscot R.F.A. for Luton Town's match today, the total crowd reached barely 500 and even the khaki element were not as numerous as might have been expected. The Blues won 5-0 with first half goals from Lawson, Jones and Tempest and from Butcher and Bullard in the second.