From the Chronicle files - 29th May 2025

Heavy rain on Whit Monday, 1945 caused Glossop Brook, which runs through Manor Park, to burst its banks flooding the Garden of Remembrance.

The photograph shows the damage which the town council described as ‘severe’, and which would take some time to repair.

The garden was laid to honour the men and women from Glossopdale who lost their lives in the Second Word War.

Chronicle readers were reading of how a local licensee was talking about giving his customers a ‘jumbo-sized hangover’.

Sam Hawkins was telling a reporter in January 1979 of his plans to charter a plane to New York for a pub crawl in the city that never sleeps.

He reckoned that if he could fill the plane for the day-long jaunt it would cost just £20 a head.

But a spokesman for an aviation charter company accused the landlord of the Lowes Arms in Denton of having his head in the clouds, saying such a trip would cost each customer £150.

Plus of course, there would be their beer money.

What the Glossop Chronicle described as ‘television licence dodgers’ were facing a day in court in 1979.

There was a national purge on people who refused to pay to view, and detector vans were heading to Glossop and the High Peak to catch offenders.

In a front-page story the Chronicle reported that homes without a licence were known and had been sent warning letters.

The next step would see vans bristling with equipment trawling the streets to tune into the TVs.

If any property did not have a licence the occupier would be prosecuted and taken to court.

On one occasion a special hearing was held at Glossop where a least 20 ‘dodgers’ were handed heavy fines, plus the added cost of having to still buy a licence.

Meanwhile, 75 years ago...

The Calico Printers’ Association, which had factories in Glossop and the rest of High Peak, had plenty of customers but needed more workers to complete their orders.

In a bid to boost recruitment it had published booklets saying the textile industry was booming and had sent them to local schools and job centres.

Derbyshire County Council was paying its leader £1,000 a year expenses and meetings were planned to discuss whether this was enough.

The allowance covered expenses for travelling throughout the county and as far as London on council business which when visiting the capital for talks with Government ministers included over-night accommodation.

A judge at Manchester Assizes awarded an apprentice linesman £1,545 in damages after hearing how he fell 20 feet while working on an overhead line in Ilford.

William Ross, 18, of 87 Shefield Road, Glossop, was badly injured when the line gave way and he was thrown to the ground.

Glossop, Hadfield and District Trades Council chairman Jim Timmis said members were deeply concerned about the local housing situation and were looking for answers.

Alderman Joe Doyle said grown-up children were getting married younger and were struggling to find a home of their own due to a shortage of houses being built by the town council.

Sydney and Miriam Broadbent and their children Roger, 8, and Russell, 7, were leaving Mottram to start a new life in Wellington, New Zealand.

The Chronicle reported how they had waited three years for a berth on the ship Orion, due to the Second Word War.

Over to sport and there were few games in the Lancashire and Cheshire Cricket League as the rain arrived and Glossop’s fixture with Cheetham at North Road was called off without a ball being bowled.

The Peak side however had made a great start to the season and were tied with Dukinfield and Longsight at the top of the league with eight points from four games.

They were obviously a tougher lot in the Glossop and District League where all the matches beat the showers including at Tintwistle, where the home side’s Harry Goddard’s six wickets for seven runs secured victory over Hollingworth.

The win took ‘Tinny’ to the top of the table with Charlesworth leading the way in the second division.

Meanwhile Old Glossop became the first team to exit from the Rhodes Bowl when the showers cleared on Sunday, being bowled out for 32 by Dinting.

The bowlers doing the damage were J. Pass (six for 13) and P. Stringer (four for 18). Dinting didn’t find things easy, inching home on 34 for seven.

And finally, rain played a major part in the High Peak League with matches involving Dove Holes, New Mills, Chapel, Whaley Bridge, Romiley, Compstall, Hayfield, Bredbury and Newton, all abandoned.

The only game brought to a conclusion was at Hazel Grove where Birch Vale won by three runs.