From the Reporter files - Thursday 17th July 2025

With no ground of their own, every match was an away fixture for the young cricketers of Denton West End Primary School in the summer of 1963.

In previous seasons they had been able to play at Denton West Cricket Club, but the ground was currently unavailable.

The setback seemed to have spurred the team on. By the end of term, the youngsters were undefeated and had managed to retain the Denton primary schools’ league championship

Captained by Alan Berry, they even forced a draw with a ‘Rest of League’ side. 

They received a trophy and cricket caps presented annually to the winners by Denton chemist John Butterworth.

A stag night prank ended in a frantic search for a missing key and a midnight call to Hyde Fire Station.

Bridegroom Jack Pritchard had a ball and chain fastened to his legs by workmates from Ashton Brothers while he was ordering drinks at a local pub.  Despite having a weight of 40 pounds clanking around his ankles, Jack, 35, had been mislaid.

With the wedding due to take place just a few hours later, the pranksters took him to the fire station where the night shift struggled at first to free him. The North Cheshire Herald’s front page story said: “The firemen, using bolt-croppers - heavy shears for cutting through thick metal - made one last desperate effort and finally the ball and chain were off.”

Amid huge sighs of relief from all concerned, the ceremony could go ahead as planned. None the worse from his ordeal the night before, Jack married his bride Patricia Ellis at Holy Trinity Church, Gee Cross.

Ashton’s MP Hervey Rhodes and the Mayor, Alderman Shaw were among the guests as the Bishop of Salford officially opened the new St Damian’s RC Secondary School on Lees Road.

Dr G.A. Beck also unveiled and blessed a wooden statue of the school’s patron saint, commissioned by the parish priest Father Kelly during a visit to Rome when he had an audience with the late Pope John.

Denton holidaymakers planning to catch a train from their local station were forced to think again.

With British Rail cancelling several holiday specials deemed to be ‘not economically viable’, they were faced with having to start their journey from Ashton, Stalybridge or Manchester.

Motorists needing to travel between Heyrod and Millbrook faced a three-mile detour through either Stalybridge or Mossley because British Rail had closed a dilapidated bridge on the Millbrook side of Hartshead Power Station which had become unsafe.

A retiring pub landlord and landlady reckoned they had pulled a staggering 120,960 pints in their 12 years behind the bar at the Travellers’ Call, Wakefield Road, Stalybridge.

Samuel and Janet Diggle were calling time for good before leaving for their new home in France.

Christ Church, Ashton was about to dedicate a beautifully finished English oak panel commemorating the 38-year ministry of the late Canon Alan Douglas Johnson.

Dukinfield Central Working Men’s Club celebrated its centenary with guests including 91-year-old William Adams, a member for over 50 years, along with fellow long-time stalwarts F Madeley, H. Prosser, H. Heaton and J. Kenworthy who had each completed more than 40 years’ membership.