Digest of stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: August 3rd, 1918.

A fatal fall in an aeroplane was the untimely end met by Second Lieut Joseph Arthur Freeman last Monday. He was the only son of Mr and Mrs J. Freeman, of Holly Street, Luton. Mr Freeman is a well-known hat manufacturer in business in John Street. His son was 24 years of age.

Lieut Freeman was stationed near Shrewsbury, and about 10am on Monday he started out in his machine for a flight. He was flying fairly low, and when about three-quarters of a mile from Shawbury aerodrome he seemed to have started to climb.

A farmer who saw him stated at an inquest that the machine suddenly twisted round and crashed down on the other side of some buildings. The farmer and his men rushed to the spot but found the machine partly buried and on fire. They were unable to extricate Lieut Freeman, and his body was terribly burned, but it seems certain that his death as the result of the fall was instantaneous.

Lieut Freeman was an old Waller Street schoolboy, and later he was in business with his father. He joined the Royal Naval Air Service three years last April and was at Chatham for a considerable time. He afterwards trained for his commission and was gazetted about a year ago. He was an excellent pilot, and his ability was spoken of very favourably by his colleagues.

The funeral took place yesterday afternoon at the General Cemetery, Luton, being preceded by a service at the house, the Rev G. Roberts Hern, of Park Street Baptist Church officiating.

• Many of his Luton friends will be pleased to learn that Dr Rose has been released from service with the forces and is resuming his local practice. He has had 2½ years of Army life, having been in France, except for one or two short spells of leave, since early in July 1916. As a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps, Dr Rose's work took him well forward in the line, and he had many narrow escapes from harm.

• Over the weekend there have been animated scenes at the local railway booking offices. Crowds of those who will be off on holiday next week thronged the vicinity, and the railway officials had probably the busiest time in their careers, a large number of the town's temporary residents booking to their homes. Bookings for the seaside have also been exceptionally heavy. Some hundreds are now en route for Hastings, in connection with which there was recently an advertising campaign in Luton. When we come to examine the traffic figures next week we shall probably find that they constitute a record.

• A Luton tramcar and lorry came into violent collision in Upper George Street on Thursday afternoon. The car was nearing the bottom of the hill when it crashed into a waste paper lorry, the property of Messrs C. A. Coutts & Co. The lad in charge of it sustained slight bruising, and the shafts of the vehicle were broken off.

• A very interesting wedding took place last Saturday at the Salvationist Temple, Park Street, when Pioneer Cecil Powell (Royal Engineers), son of Mr Powell, blockmasker of John Street, and Mrs Powell, of Hillborough Road, was married to Miss Ivy Winifred Janes, of 63 Langley Road, eldest daughter of P-Sgt Janes, of the Borough Police Force. Pioneer Powell joined the Army two years ago and saw considerable service in France. Last August he was badly wounded in the face, but he is recovering and is now on home service at Sandwich. Both he and Miss Janes were members of the Songsters.

• In Christ Church Magazine, the Vicar (Canon Morgan Smith) writes that the Bishop has expressed his willingness to receive in September a definite appeal for the formation of the new conventional district of All Saints. The boundaries of the proposed district are to be submitted to the Bishop, together with a petition signed by the Vicar and Churchwardens of Christ Church, joined with representatives from All Saints.