January 2008 Archives

WHIZZ kids from Rainford got the better of Coronation Street’s Ken Barlow back in the early eighties.

Actor William Roache took part in a computer golf tournament with Jennifer Singfield, seven, and her brother Alan, nine.

But he met his match with the youngsters who took part in Granada series, “Chip In�, in August 1983.

ROCKERS Johnny the Fox hit the big-time in 1989, completing a three-month tour in Canada, but where are they now?

Croston lads Andrew Rudd, Chris Bannister, Martin and Andrew Talbot, met at Bishop Rawstorne High School and decided to form a rock group.

Andrew Rudd told the Advertiser: “Chris had a cheap guitar and Martin had a cheap bass guitar, they messed around playing and when they needed a drummer I bought my first kit.

ELEVEN-year-old Damien Dunn came up trumps in 1983 with his nifty bit of detective work.

When the youngster handed over a large stone over the bar of the Red Lion pub in Burscough, landlord Des Feely promptly honoured a pledge he had painted on the stone, before hiding it in the Lake District.

On it was written: “If you find this stone, then claim your free pint at the Red Lion, Burscough.� Des had hidden the stone in a wall near a stream. The wall crumbled and the stone fell in the stream.

THE New Year marks 155 years since the Advertiser was founded by Thomas Hutton.

However, he was more than just the founder of the paper, he was a man who took a great interest in the town to which he came to at the age of 14 as an apprentice.

For seven years he dreamed of founding his own newspaper and in September 1853, he produced the first four-page edition.

CHRISTMAS is over and we start the New Year with a look back to 25 years ago.

Our first picture shows Burscough schoolboy Colin Burrell who had a lucky escape after falling into the Liverpool-Leeds Canal.

Twelve-year-old Colin saw out 1981 with a splash, but thanks to the quick-thinking of his brother Clive, 13, and friends Gary and John Evans, aged 11 and ten, he was still around to see in 1982.