http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/ Snippets of history from Ormskirk and surrounding areas... en Copyright 2008 Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:21:09 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss WEST Lancashire people were appearing on our national television screens in the early months of 1981. In January Parbold ventriloquist and actor Dawson Chance started his own television show called "Take A Chance". Dawson's partners on the show included a bull and a donkey in a kilt and was proving a big hit with children all over the country. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/g8k1Fq4xV3Q/1981_west_lancashire_televisio.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/12/1981_west_lancashire_televisio.html Dawson Chance Parbold west lancashire Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:21:09 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/12/1981_west_lancashire_televisio.html WEST Lancashire firefighters were making a big splash for a television programme in September, 1977. The Ormskirk crew were hired by Granada Television to provide water to make it look like it was raining for the filming of a television programme called 'The Last Romantic'. Television crew members were filming a stormy night scene at Bickerstaffe Mill. Firefighters turned the hoses on for the filming and soaked the production team who didn't get out of the way quickly enough. Although the series was filmed in Bickerstaffe it was actually set in Suffolk. Large crowds of people came out to watch the show being made. In November, 1977, there was a firefighters strike and 14 brave volunteers from Scarisbrick came forward to plug the gap. They were Phil Scarisbrick, Alan Walsh, Steve Davey, Neil Charsley, Arthur Poole, John Forshaw, Alan Jones, Chris Bound, Gordon Tattersall, John Stringman, Chris Halsall and Andrew Horner. The crew members all came forward after Alan Walsh sounded the rallying cry for volunteers. They were all trained up and reported for duty after working hours to deal with emergency calls from the Heaton's Bridge, Narrow Moss and Smithy Lane areas. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/7PGrsVjtwoU/1977_west_lancashire_firefight.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/12/1977_west_lancashire_firefight.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:59:36 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/12/1977_west_lancashire_firefight.html WEST Lancashire sports fans rubbed shoulders with some of their heroes when they visited the town in October 1980. Former world snooker champion Terry Griffiths played to a packed house at the Comrades Club in County Road, Ormskirk. He beat former world amateur champion Cliff Wilson by five frames to four over nine exhibition frames. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/KqmIE2Xi520/1980_sports_heroes_come_to_orm.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/11/1980_sports_heroes_come_to_orm.html Liverpool ormskirk skelmersdale snooker steve heighway terry griffiths Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/11/1980_sports_heroes_come_to_orm.html CHILDREN from St John's CE Primary School in Burscough celebrated harvest festival in October 1980 by taking a close look at where their food comes from. Pupils went along to farmer Jim Hesketh's barn and sat among the bales of hay for the traditional autumn service. After the sermon the children went on a tour of the farm to see how Farmer Jim worked. They enjoyed the trip so much they painted pictures about it when they got back to the school. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/0qQWKPLgDQM/1980_harvest_festival_time_in.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/11/1980_harvest_festival_time_in.html burscough harvest festival schools Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/11/1980_harvest_festival_time_in.html THIS week we take a look at a Rufford teenager who was saddled with a mammoth task back in 1982. Guy Turnball, 18, set out on a sponsored cycle ride around all the Benedictine monasteries in Great Britain. Guy, a former St Bede's pupil took on the 1,836-mile journey to coincide with the 1,500th anniversary of the birth of St Benedictine and to raise £10,000 for the Society of the Protection of Unborn Children. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/nEiZaLh0quc/1982_rufford_road_trip_and_mar.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/10/1982_rufford_road_trip_and_mar.html bike ride elaine mee falklands guy turnball mars bar monasteries rufford Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/10/1982_rufford_road_trip_and_mar.html THIS week we have soccer mad Darren Donnelly who dreamt of becoming a professional footballer back in 1986. The football fanatic from Flordan, Birch Green, Skelmersdale had already gained a place in the Blackburn Rovers before being named as 'best pupil' during a course for the Lancashire Schoolboys team. Darren, 14, was a pupil at St Thomas the Apostle, and was picked as cream of the crop out of eight other West Lancashire boys competing.]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/TIu5QSQBeR0/1986_fred_the_weatherman_talbo.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/10/1986_fred_the_weatherman_talbo.html darren donnelly douglas valley lions fed the weatherman granada tv lathom ring o' bells skelmersdale Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/10/1986_fred_the_weatherman_talbo.html THERE were double celebrations all round for twins Colin and Mark Aspinwall who got matching degrees in 1987. The Aspinwall brothers from Sandy Lane in Holmeswood both attended Loughborough University of Technology. The brothers, whose family own Holmeswood Coaches, studied automotive engineering and design. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/JyQOlp3wHgk/1987_double_degrees_for_twins.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/09/1987_double_degrees_for_twins.html 1987 degrees holmeswood parbold twins Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/09/1987_double_degrees_for_twins.html GOLFING legends Tommy Armour III and Christie O'Connor Jnr made a young Lydiate lad's day at an international golf tournament at Royal Birkdale in 1987. Graham Birchall won the Whitegates Junior Putting Trophy and got to meet some of the finest golfers in the world. Armour first joined the PGA Tour in 1981 at the age of 21. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/9wtCsXS28j4/1987_golf_legends_at_royal_bir.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/09/1987_golf_legends_at_royal_bir.html 1987 golf ormskirk grammar Royal bIrkdale Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/09/1987_golf_legends_at_royal_bir.html WE have five lads from Hesketh Bank this week using pedal power on a penny farthing to raise money for charity in 1982. Peter Ball, Joseph Webster, Patrick Iddon, Jonathan Webster and David Cropper decided to ride from Southport to Hesketh Bank in aid of cancer research. The boys set off from Southport Promenade and went via Banks to Becconsall Farm where 200 folks gathered to cheer the lads home. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/mVQl6Sq3ZnM/1982_pennyfarthing_pedal_power.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/08/1982_pennyfarthing_pedal_power.html ormskirk ormskirk advertiser penny-farthing Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/08/1982_pennyfarthing_pedal_power.html FRANK Bruno packed a punch in the Advertiser in 1989 and brought flower power to West Lancashire. Frank was in the area in time to open Southport flower show and the heavyweight boxer was such a hit with the crowds that the opening ceremony was delayed. He even had a carnation named after him and asked whether he was a keen gardener, he joked: "I'm a darker version of Percy Thrower." ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/MVWAP3THQgM/1989_frank_bruno_bringds_flowe.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/08/1989_frank_bruno_bringds_flowe.html frank bruno southport flower show west lancashire Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/08/1989_frank_bruno_bringds_flowe.html THIS week we start with a few old codgers who were making an appeal for the return of some ornaments to their local watering hole in February 1988. Barry Taylor, Jim Winrow and Len Saunders, regulars at the Red Lion in Burscough, used to have their own place 'Codger's Corner' where they used to sit every time they had a pint. Landlady Mary Kitts placed four wise monkeys carved from wood which depicted the proverb 'see, speak, hear and do no evil' and a shell owl as a joke on the five men who sat there.]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/E-ZJgpT0hYI/1988_old_codgers_in_the_red_li.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/08/1988_old_codgers_in_the_red_li.html 1988 burscough cubs ormskirk ormskirk advertiser red lion scouts Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/08/1988_old_codgers_in_the_red_li.html THE KICKING Donkey Pub in Scarisbrick was overrun by American GIs and country yokels back in 1985. The car park was crammed full of trucks after the pub was chosen by the BBC for the Little and Large comedy show. The comic duo were dressed as country bumpkins who were cleverly swindling American soldiers out of their money. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/Cq1TZFA2uqg/the_kicking_donkey_pub_in.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/07/the_kicking_donkey_pub_in.html 1985 cars little and large ormskirk ormskirk advertiser rally scarisbrick Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/07/the_kicking_donkey_pub_in.html THIS week Memories honours the Royals in 1981, with Ormskirk's golden boy George Longstaff picking up his Duke of Edinburgh Award at Buckingham Palace. The 18-year-old, of St Helens Road, was a student at Preston College and gained the gold award after passing his bronze and silver awards. He had to do advanced first aid work, a 50-mile walk in four days, and a spell as a helper at a home in North Yorkshire. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/DoaTynqK_Sw/1981_the_royal_wedding_and_the.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/07/1981_the_royal_wedding_and_the.html duke of edinburgh ormskirk ormskirk advertiser prince charles princess diana rainford Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/07/1981_the_royal_wedding_and_the.html THIS week we go back to 1980, the year JR was shot and Juliet Bravo showed Jean D'Arblay struggling for female equality in a fictional Lancashire village. It was also the year that the Brooklands Cricket team took on each other in a 'Superstars' competition. First team skipper Derek Anderton, Mark Swindlehurst, Roger Finn, Jack Call, who also chairman of Ormskirk Rugby Club, Don Pratt and Dave Brighouse entered into the spirit of the occasion. ]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/WvhlwxEOCwg/1980_ormskirk_cricket_club_and.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/07/1980_ormskirk_cricket_club_and.html ormskirk ormskirk cricket club rainford Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/07/1980_ormskirk_cricket_club_and.html THIS week, we have photos from 1987, the year Gordon the Gopher and Philip Schofield took over our television screens. Another animal which was in the limelight in 1987 was eight-year-old mare Northern Bay. Her owner Ann Stevens of Crescent Green, Aughton won the Fort Riley Supreme championship at the Northern Equitation Centre on Brookfield in Aughton.]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OrmskirkMemories/~3/NPfGJqAhC8Q/1987_gordon_the_gopher_horses.html http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/07/1987_gordon_the_gopher_horses.html 1987 aughton haskayne ormskirk ormskirk grammar Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.ormskirkmemories.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/07/1987_gordon_the_gopher_horses.html