Review of 2018
HERE is a snapshot of some of the stories that got our readers talking in the first half of 2018.
The concluding part of our Review of the Year will be in next week’s paper.
JANUARY
Fresh from seeing in the New Year Rossendale residents awoke to several centimetres of snowfall. Outbreaks of snow and ice returned several times as the Valley shivered throughout the first few months of 2018, with the Beast from the East in early March hitting schools, waste services and community centres.
Four houses on Herbert Street in Stacksteads battled a rat infestation after heaps of ‘disgusting’ rubbish resulted in an outbreak of the vermin. Council inspectors cleared a ‘big pile of waste’, and slammed the ‘disgusting behaviour’ of flytippers.
FEBRUARY
Greengrocers were hanging up their aprons after decades of service. Lorraine Kennedy and partner Tim Riley reluctantly sold the Country Garden in Rawtenstall after 20 years. While Bacup legend Rodney Hutchinson had run the Service Stores since 1960. Messages of thanks and goodwill to Rodney poured in on social media from grateful customers, and traders set up collection boxes for him.
Dramatic new images revealed how Rawtenstall town centre could be transformed. Rossendale council released new 3D-pictures mocking up how an ‘enhanced’ Phase Two of the town’s £5.4 million Spinning Point development would look if approved.
MARCH
Hundreds of steam enthusiasts lined the platform to see the iconic Flying Scotsman at Rawtenstall station. The Mayor of Rossendale, Coun Colin Crawforth, officially welcomed the Scotsman back to the railway by cutting a red ribbon on the footplate of the locomotive.
D Gregory & Sons Butchers in Bacup celebrated 50 years in business. Derek Gregory started off as a Saturday lad at a Stacksteads shop.
APRIL
A former cancer patient placed on a ‘wonder drug’ in 2006 was enjoying life with her teenage triplets. Louise McGuinness, of Rawtenstall, had been diagnosed with first breast cancer and then liver lesions and given six months to live when her 13-year-old triplets Hannah, Charlotte and Cameron were aged just two.
Campaigners expressed their joy after plans were unveiled to re-open Helmshore Mills Textile Museum, mothballed since 2016. The following month a beautiful sum- mer’s day blessed the unveiling of the mills with The East Lancashire Railway putting on a free vintage bus service from Ramsbottom Station to the museum, to complement its war weekend.
MAY
Waterfoot Primary School pupils had a ‘corker in Majorca’ with Dick and Dom after winning a national competition. Jet2holidays’ Ultimate School Trip was to Sol Katmandu Park and Resort in Majorca.
As Prince Harry and new wife and actress Meghan Markle, now the Duke and Duchess of Sus- sex, tied the knot on Saturday, fans and well-wishers all over Rossendale celebrated the special occasion.
JUNE
Home owners feared for their safety after falling rocks and debris crashed down around their homes from a cliff edge at Cliff Bank Hamlet, Waterfoot. Large chunks of rock tumbled from the 20-metre high cliff face near homes and cars. Michelle Lord said: “It was just like a bomb going off - a massive ‘bang’.
A baking hot Bacup and Stacksteads Carnival saw thousands attend Moorlands Park, Bacup, and a packed procession. Organisers were delighted when the fabulous weather brought the crowds out - even though the annual celebration was also competing with the England versus Panama World Cup match.