Results tagged “Ormskirk” from O & S Advertiser - Memories

ORMSKIRK farmers were counting the cost of one of the worst winters in living memory in January 1982.

The frost destroyed 40 acres of leeks at Ray Jeffs' Halsall farm.

He said the attack of frostbite had cost him in excess of five figures and 15 staff had been made redundant.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

EVERTON footballer Peter Reid dropped into Ormskirk Book Shop on Burscough Street in 1987.

The blues star, who was born in Huyton and won 13 caps for England, was signing copies of his book, ‘Everton Winter, Mexican Summer’.

At his peak Reid was the finest midfielder in Europe and was voted PFA Footballer of the Year in 1985.

This week experts from the Ormskirk Academy of Martial Arts drop in from 1986.

Nicola Ibison and Jeff Bullock were named the ‘Fittest Couple in Britain’ after a gruelling competition at the Thorpe Park Hotel in London.

Jeff was a British Thai Boxing champion and the pair both had black belts in jujitsu and karate.

THIS week we go back to the Seventies and join cyclists at the Dray and Horses on Derby Street in Ormskirk.

The pub, now known as Room 47, was the stomping ground for Tony Wood and Dave Shaw who had a small wager on their cycling abilities in 1978.

By the time the big race was staged it had turned into quite an occasion with several “athletes� taking part and sponsorship organised for the National Children’s Homes.

ADVERTISER readers were really seeing triple back in 1985.

Hitting the headlines were the Porter triplets, from Burscough, pictured at five-weeks-old.

Matthew, Natalie and Laura featured on the front page of the newspaper and were born five weeks early at Ormskirk Hospital and spent their first few days in incubators before being transferred to the special care unit.

ORMSKIRK’S football legend Tony Morley was back in Ormskirk in July, 1982.

This time the Aston Villa hero returned to the street where he first kicked a ball to young football hopefuls without a place to play.

Football games were banned on Owen avenue and the Farrington play area, and Tony was doing his bit to get the kids practising their skills again.

Hairstylist Andrew Collinge paid a visit to his salon in Wheatsheaf Walk in Ormskirk in 1990.

He started off sweeping the floor at his father's hair salon in Liverpool, but today Andrew has 10 salons nationwide, including one in Harrods, and has twice been awarded British Hairdresser of the Year.

Andrew had a regular make-over slot on This Morning, but still found time to help West Lancashire women find the perfect hairstyle, coming into the salon every few weeks to give free consultations.

He told the Advertiser at the time: “These sessions give me the opportunity to see more people and I can give them ideas and recommend the stylist I feel best able to do it.�

FORMER Everton player Colin Harvey made a special guest appearance to help Ormskirk Scouts raise funds for new camping equipment in 1986.

The former midfield star of the 1960s turned up at the 9th Ormskirk Scouts HQ to draw the winning raffle ticket for an autographed football donated by the Goodison club.

FOR Chris Wilson the best years of his life were spent working on the railway at Ormskirk train station.

Chris, of Whalley Drive, left Wigan Road Secondary Modern School, now Ormskirk School, when he was 15.

Unsure of what to do after leaving school, he went to seek advice from the youth employment agency.