Chips off the menu and Fab Four tribute
●●10 Years Ago – 2006 FANS of the deep-fat fryer were set to find one of their favourites missing from the menu at a Rochdale pub.
Landlord John Ketley had made changes to the menu at the Cemetery Hotel, turning it into a chip-free zone.
Instead he gave his chef Tom Fisher a chance to find creative alternatives to the humble chip.
He said: “I feel fried food leaves a bad odour in a pub environment and want our food to be fairly healthy.” TEENAGER Lucy Whitworth was set to pack her bags for a trip to Germany after combining her language skills with football.
Lucy, 14, of Bamford and five friends from Bury Grammar School were winners of the Fit Like Your Champ competition organised by Starwatch, designed to get youngsters interested in World Cup-related activities.
Lucy and her friends created a multi-lingual website about Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho and made a fitness video to win.
They were set to join winners from other countries at the Young and Free festival in Munich’s Olympic stadium as their prize. IT WAS a fab effort for one Rochdale householder when he transformed his cellar into a replica of the Cavern Club – one-time home of the Beatles.
Fab Four fan Terry Johnstone made his cellar a shrine to the Liverpool lads, the centrepiece being a huge mural painted by artist Walter Kershaw.
The mural, which Terry nicknamed ‘Walter’s masterpiece’, had the official title ‘Beatles Live at the Cavern.’
The real-life club closed its doors in 1973, but was recreated across the road for fans of the band to visit. THE comedy gene was clearly strong in the Mulgrew family as a daughter was set to follow in the footsteps of her famous father.
Katie Mulgrew, daughter of James Mulgrew, better known as Jimmy Cricket, made it through to the semi-finals of the national Funny Woman competition run by the Comedy Store.
A media and performance student at Salford University, the 21-yearold had only ever done three stand-up gigs but had decided to continue making audiences laugh following her success.
She said her dream was to get paid for both standup and scriptwriting. A FARM in Royton was home to a group of animals more familiar to the Andes than the rather less hilly Rochdale landscape.
The Miller family had a herd of alpacas at its Low Crompton farm which had been swelled by the arrival of 10 babies.
Norma Miller and her son John had initially bought four of the animals as pets but ended up with so many they were looking to breed them for their wool.
Alpaca wool is similar to sheep’s wool only less silky and is thought to be among the finest fibres in the world. FINISHING touches were added to the largest permanent monument to Rotary in the world.
The stone wheel at Tandle Hill Country Park was easily visible to people flying from Manchester Airport.
Standing on a hill 700 ft above sea level the structure’s final touches saw members of the Rotary Wheel Forest Trust burying a time capsule to commemorate the centenary of the monument.
●●30 Years Ago – 1986
KIRKHOLT Police Station had a bit of a communications problem – for its telephone had been stolen three times.
Superintendent Brian Swales told members of Rochdale Police Community Liaison Panel the repeated thefts meant costs of £200 a time to replace the phone.
He said: “There is going to be a time when someone really needs that telephone – running towards it in the night, perhaps, with someone with a knife at their back – only to discover someone has ripped it out again.”
He said the force was reluctant to replace it with a covered speaking grille but said the police could find themselves with no other choice. A FRENCH rock band was all set to play at Redbrook School’s disco.
The five members of Obdurates Beatwave were among a school’s group from Tourcoing on a two-week exchange to Rochdale.
The band had already given an impromptu performance at a civic reception for the visitors at Middleton Civic Hall.
The French visitors were also set to go on visits to Jodrell Bank, Howarth and Blackpool.