From the Reporter files - 8th May 2025

Saturday morning rain showers failed to dampen the spirits of Ashton Carnival’s organising team. 

With the sun finally breaking through the clouds at just the right time, their many anxious moments were soon forgotten. The colourful procession with three bands, more than 30 vehicles and collectors in fancy dress set off in style, with lots of smiling faces, amid cheers from the crowds. VE Day 50th anniversary street parties inspired the 2nd/1st Hurst Scout group float which was awarded first prize in the uniformed organisations section.

Plans to light a VE Day beacon at Buckton Castle, Stalybridge had been called off just days before the nation prepared to mark 50 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Stalybridge had been chosen as one of three locations in Tameside to be part of the nationwide chain of beacons, but at the last minute the landowners refused permission. They would have given the green light if the beacon was moved to the bottom of the nearby quarry, but as Peter Edwards, Stalybridge Royal British Legion vice-president put it: “That would have been neither use nor ornament”. 

In another triumphant local election night for Labour, Katie Cruikshank became the borough’s first black female councillor, ousting Tory leader John Bell. Following a recount, Cllr Bell lost the Hyde Werneth seat he had held for 20 years by 43 votes.

Labour finished the night with 50 out of 57 seats on Tameside Council. Their only disappointment was in Mossley with a win for the Mossley Town Council Steering Committee, doubling their representation from one seat to two.

A long awaited facelift for Ashton’s 100-year-old Central Library was set to go ahead backed by £1 million of European Union funding.

The Old Street landmark had been closed for about a year having fallen into a  perilous state of decay. The ground floor would be completely redesigned and modernised and the first floor converted into an art gallery.

Hyde United were gearing up to buy back their ground and convert it into a community facility fit for football in the 21st Century. 

Ewen Fields had been council-owned since 1986 when it was sold off to become part of Tameside Leisure Park. The North Cheshire Herald’s front page story revealed the process of tearing up the club’s controversial plastic pitch could start ‘within days.’ Tenders had been received from seven firms interested in restoring the ground’s traditional grass surface.

Mossley and Stalybridge would once again be connected by the Huddersfield Narrow Canal  - nearly half a century after the local section was filled in as waterway traffic ceased shortly after the Second World War.

All that remained was an underground stream but going forward, the £1.4 million scheme would reconstruct the canal across the old Hartshead Power Station site through Millbrook into Stalybridge. The Government’s derelict land grant would also cover the rebuilding of Mossley’s Scout Tunnel and repairing the nearby Lock 12.

Commemorative flags draped around Hyde Town Hall and the market place for VE Day came under fire from John Hawkridge, chairman of Hyde Independent Traders.

By concentrating on a small area, he said the council was ignoring the many businesses along Market Street who felt they were the town’s ‘poor relations’. It was the last post for Stalybridge’s Trinity Street sorting office. From now on, mail would be delivered direct from the Royal Mail depot in Ashton. Customers could still collect packages or registered post from the main post office which had just become a private agency-run office.

‘Repair and put it to good use - or pull it down’ was the message from Droylsden residents demanding action to stop the rot at a once-thriving community building on Ash Road.

Previously a youth club, a nursery and home to a playgroup, the building had become a target for vandals and increasingly dilapidated.