An anchor that might have come from an ancient galleon had been recovered by members of Dukinfield Diving Club.
Keith Wardley, of Beverley Avenue, Denton and Jerry Johnstone of Longford Road, North Reddish, assisted by Keith’s brother Graham, had managed to drag the huge hunk of rusty iron on to dry land during an expedition off the coast of Anglesey in 1975.
They told the Reporter that a hotel owner had offered them £50 for the relic - but they had decided not to sell.
Five feet high and weighing about two-and-a-half hundredweight, the anchor could have belonged to a galleon which had once sailed along the coast delivering mail.
Jerry and Keith had to use buoyancy bags to raise it to the surface with Graham, trailing them on a dinghy providing the extra manpower needed to bring it ashore.
For the divers who regularly trained at Dukinfield Baths, the surprise discovery was by far their biggest ever haul.
They said they usually found only crabs and lobsters.
Plans for new council offices in Ashton town centre were shrouded in secrecy 50 years ago.
Moves to get the controversial scheme off the starting blocks were rubber stamped by the council but officials refused to disclose any details. They would not even confirm the proposed site although the Reporter revealed that land immediately behind the town hall had been earmarked.
Dutch elm disease already rife in other parts of the country had reached Stalybridge, affecting trees in Cheetham Park, the Huddersfield Road area, St Paul’s Churchyard and the Brushes estate.
A chemical injection would immunise trees which had not yet shown any signs of the disease.
A new school was being built in Hyde - on a different site to the one originally envisaged.
The switch also prompted a change of name. Councillors decided to drop the provisional choice ‘Smithy Fold’ opting instead for Dowson County Junior School.
Norwest Co-op was given the go-ahead to build a new superstore in Denton which would replace the long established Bardsley and Hulse toy shop and a doctors’ surgery on Manchester Road and the Robert McArd factory on Ashworth Street.
The doctors would need temporary accommodation pending a move to the new Ann Street health centre, due to open in 1977.
