M&S staff hurt in coach crash
HERE in our regular nostalgia feature we look back at stories in the Rochdale Observer from years gone by. Following on from last year’s 100 years ago feature, this year, we are turning back the clock to see what was being reported on 80 years ago:
●●TEN PASSENGERS INJURED RETURNING FROM A STAFF PARTY
THE photograph shows how the Charabanc coach came to rest on the uprooted pole with the back portion of the body torn away.
Ten members of a party of employees of the local branch, Marks and Spencer, who were returning home from a staff party in Manchester in the early hours of Thursday morning had miraculous escapes from very serious injuries when the motor coach in which they were travelling crashed into an electric light standard at Castleton and the bodywork was cut in two.
Three of the ten people injured were detained at the Rochdale Royal Infirmary.
The accident occurred just past Kingsland Road shortly after 2am.
Just after passing Kingsland Road, the coach developed a skid owing to the icy surface of the road and this caused the near side rear of the vehicle to strike an electric standard a glancing blow.
The immediate result was that the rear of the vehicle slewed into the middle of the road and the front portion mounted the footpath.
Still in a skid, the coach careered for a distance of twenty to thirty yards and collided with another electric light standard, striking it broadside on.
The force was so terrific that the standard was uprooted and the vehicle continued to travel along the falling standard, the off side rear wheels remaining hooked over the pole.
●●HINTS FOR THE HOME
FOR a delicious cake, take 1lb of flour, 1lb of sultanas, 1lb of raisins, 1lb of sugar, six eggs well beaten, half a pound of mixed peel, half a pound of best butter, half a pound of lard, half a pound of chopped almonds, one teaspoonful of carbonate soda, a little orange flower water, vanilla and almond flavouring.
Beat butter and sugar to cream.
Add fruit, beating well all the time, then add a little flour and a little egg alternately, until all are used up.
Now, add carbonate of soda, which must previously have been dissolved in a half teacupful of warm milk, and lastly add orange flower water and essence.
Line cake tins with grease proof paper and three-quarters fill.
Bake in moderate oven for four hours.
●●DISTRICT NURSING
THE report of the Rochdale District Nursing Association for December states that 328 cases were dealt with during the month, of which 157 were new cases.
Of the total, 114 were convalescent, there were 19 deaths, twelve cases were transferred to hospital, and five removed for other causes.
●●VOLUNTARY HOSPITALS IN DANGER
FOR many years, there have been those who urge that the maintenance of our voluntary hospitals should be undertaken by the State.
Most hospitals, it is feared, experience an unending struggle against debt. Demands upon them increase year by year, and though subscribers may increase – the opposite is usually the case – the enhanced revenue is not suffice to cover the increased charges, with the result that debts are accumulated and the hospitals’ work is cramped and weakened.
There is expressed fear that unless something is done in co-operation with the Government, the hospital system, as we know it today, will break down.