From the Reporter files - Thursday 25th September 2025

A 10ft-tall house made from beer bottles and cans was an instant head-turner when it appeared outside Ashton and District Co-operative Society’s Arcadia Co-op store on Stamford Street in 1975.

The eye-catching feature was specially created for a competition organised by a well known brewery.

Fresh moves were underway 50 years ago to secure the future of Holden Clough, a local beauty spot and nature habitat near the Ashton-Oldham boundary.

Two years earlier, the old Ashton Council had agreed in principle to buy the 34 acres of woodland - but the deal was never rubber stamped because of the high cost of fencing.

The owners -  officially listed as ‘the trustees of Lord Deramore’s Ashton estates’ - had given Tameside Council’s land committee first option to purchase the clough, although it seemed likely to be up against a rival bid from Oldham.

Carrbrook village was declared a conservation area by Tameside planners anxious to preserve its character.

Welcoming the move, Cllr James Eason said Tameside should learn a lesson from Delph, where the character of the village had been spoiled by development.

He added that he was against  any more houses being built. Local resident Vernon Heron described Carrbrook as “one of the best examples of a mill village in the North West”, with potential to become a heritage showpiece if the powers-that-be treated it with enough respect.  

September 1975 saw the start of a £56,000 modernisation at Audenshaw Grammar School ahead of the expected change from a boys-only selective entry to a ‘mixed’ comprehensive school the following year.

Foundations were being laid for a new building which would include general science and biology laboratories. The old biology lab was to be converted, creating an expanded, self-contained music block.

Sheet metal workers in Dukinfield were about to lose their jobs as William Kenyon and Sons announced the winding down of  the metal fabrications subsidiary at the Albert Works.

The decision, affecting close to 100 workers, followed a sharp downturn for the business “due to the current economic situation and the increasingly uncertain outlook.”

With many office and manual workers forking out more than £3 a week in bus fares to and from work, Tameside Trades Union Council had renewed calls for a weekly ticket capped at £2.50.

Members branded the 1975 fare increases as “savage” and “ likely to cause great hardship” with a worker from Audenshaw travelling to Hyde having to pay at least £3. For those faced with a longer commute, it could be as much as £4.

Ashton MP Robert Sheldon had pledged his support for local traders struggling to survive at the Henry Square end of Stamford Street since the by-pass had diverted traffic away from that part of the town.

Visiting the area to hear the retailers’ complaints, 50 years ago this month, the MP was shocked to find the Friday afternoon traffic was so light he was able to walk down the middle of the street and feel completely safe.

“It was like being in a pedestrianised precinct but without the business,” Mr Sheldon told our reporter. The traders were demanding direct access to Stamford Street from the new Cavendish Street roundabout, a pedestrian crossing and better parking. Some were pressing for their rent and rates to be reduced.  

Bank cashier Dominic O’Kelly was beginning a two-month special assignment helping to ‘float’ the pound sterling, Dominic from Acres Lane, Stalybridge usually worked at Barclays Bank in St Ann’s Square, Manchester, but in September 1975 he was about to experience a dramatic change of scene.

The 26-year-old would be working in the Barclays branch aboard the luxury liner QE2 as part of the bank’s drive to win more business in America. His first stint on the trans-Atlantic route to New York was due to be repeated over the next two to three years.