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Pub crawl ended in cliff tragedy

Andrew Curwell

Rugby starlet died in 100ft fall at Cornish resort

A PROMISING young rugby player from Delph fell to his death after an organised pub crawl in a Cornish seaside town.

Andrew Curwell (18) was on his first visit to Newquay when he stumbled over a garden wall and fell 100ft in the early hours of June 28 last year.

Apparently lost as he searched for his wallet, and after drinking alco-pops, beers and chasers on a paid-for pub crawl, he lost his footing and fell over the precipice.

Date published: 03/09/2010

Bike crash: second man is named

THE second biker who died following a head-on motorbike crash in Denshaw last month has been named as Graham Howarth.

The 50-year-old, from Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, was one of two riders killed at the scene when two bikes collided on the A6052 Delph Road at 3.40pm on August 21.

Joseph Samuel Smith (17), who lived in Malta Close, Middleton, also died in the...

Date published: 03/09/2010

Little Thomas fights for life

TODDLER Thomas Wilshaw is still fighting for his life, a week after he was dragged under the wheels of a lorry in Huddersfield Road.

The two-year-old, who had emergency surgery for head injuries at Manchester Children’s Hospital after last Friday’s incident, remains in a critical condition.

Date published: 03/09/2010

148 homes plan gets green light

Oldham Planning Committee
PLANS to build 148 houses in the Derker housing market renewal area have been given the green light.

The scheme, for London Road, is part of a masterplan to replace 205 terrace houses and breathe new life into the area. The transformation will see a mix of two, three, four and five-bedroom houses, and around one-third will be what is described...

Date published: 03/09/2010

Meacher’s Blair blitz

Oldham Labour MP Michael Meacher has launched a scathing attack on his former New Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Mr Blair, who left power three years ago, published his autobiography ‘A Journey’ this week.

But writing in the left-wing newspaper, the Morning Star, Oldham West and Royton MP Mr Meacher calls Mr Blair’s leadership a...

Date published: 03/09/2010

Armed gang pays price for foiled cash raid

JAILED . . . Jonathon Walsh

An armed robber from Oldham was part of a gang foiled by police as they targeted cash delivery vans.

Officers swooped on Richard Walsh (26), of Heron Street, and the gang as they met up...

Date published: 03/09/2010

M62 chaos

RUSH-hour chaos hit the M62 this morning after a jack-knifed lorry skewed over three lanes.

The incident, which involved two HGVs, happened shortly before 3am on the east-bound carriageway between Milnrow and Saddleworth.

Traffic quickly backed up as police filtered vehicles past the site on the inside lane. Both drivers escaped injury.

Date published: 03/09/2010

Celeb ducks the stars in cancer fight

QUACKERS . . . breast cancer survivor Sharon Quennell with the new range of ducks

A CHADDERTON breast cancer survivor is going quackers for a new range of designer charity rubber ducks.

Sharon Quennell (46) launched the new additions to Cancer Research UK’s...

Date published: 03/09/2010

Roof-plunge death of Royton builder

Michael McAiney

A ROYTON builder with 32 years experience in the trade died after falling 15ft through a roof.

Michael McAiney, a father of two, from Harewood Drive, Royton, was working alone on the...

Date published: 03/09/2010

By gum, that’s a great mosaic

JAW-DROPPING... Amirah Akhtar (3) with the mosaic sculpture

A STUNNING gum model by one of the UK’s leading mosaic artists is making a jaw-dropping impact with youngsters at Gallery Oldham.

Ed Chapman’s mosaic — made from...

Date published: 03/09/2010

Safety fears hit nursery

PLANS to build a nursery for 30 children on land opposite the Peels Arms, Den Lane, Springhead, were turned down on the grounds of road safety.

Resident Roy Turner told councillors that although the general opinion of people living in the area was that the site, a former vehicle repair garage and now a builder’s yard and office, was an eyesore and would benefit from...

Date published: 03/09/2010

Baby care safe in their hands

Neonatal ‘dream team’ is set up

A NEW neonatal nursing “dream team” has been set up in Oldham to care for some of the region’s sickest babies.

The move comes ahead of a new £44 million women and children’s unit for the Royal Oldham Hospital, which was given the go ahead this week and is due to open in December, 2012.

Ian...

Date published: 03/09/2010

Smoking: seven steps to child health

Families and parents in Oldham are being encouraged to take at least seven steps outside when they light up a cigarette.

Oldham’s specialist stop smoking service is teaming up with Smokefree North West as a part of the Take 7 Steps Out campaign to protect children and young people from illnesses caused by cigarette smoke.

They will be holding a roadshow, one of...

Date published: 03/09/2010

Oldham’s ‘Life Story’ pioneer dies aged 87

KEN HOLT: Pride in Oldham winner

Ken Holt, the Shaw man who began Oldham’s Life Story project, has died aged 87 after a short illness.

Mr Holt, who died in Dr Kershaw’s Hospice on Sunday, helped to found...

Date published: 03/09/2010

Barcode for pills just the medicine

New methods to beat counterfeiters

LOOK very closely at that headache tablet you are about to swallow, can you see a barcode on the surface?

Maybe not yet but soon it will be a common occurence, according to a recent report in the New Scientist magazine.

A company based in Chicago, Illinois, has developed a method to print any pattern or code so small it is barely...

Date published: 03/09/2010

Businesses call for action at lorry-crush junction

John Michael . . . speeding motorists are a problem

BUSINESSES claim that Oldham Council has ignored their safety fears about a busy junction where a toddler was crushed by a lorry.

And they say that the problem has got worse since the...

Date published: 02/09/2010

Blue Coat goes for academy status

BLUE Coat School has applied to become one the new wave of academies.

It could be the first to open in the borough after the coalition Government invited the country’s top performing schools to apply before the summer holidays.

If successful it would follow the 32 primary and secondary schools in England which will open as new-style academies this term.

A...

Date published: 02/09/2010

30 minutes of madness

EYES on the road? Not this driver — one of several snapped using his mobile while driving.

RECORD numbers of motorists are being prosecuted for driving while using a mobile phone.

But the safety message is still not getting through.

The Oldham Chronicle photographed six...

Date published: 02/09/2010

Tories call for 20 per cent cut in council allowances

LOCAL Conservatives are threatening to name and shame any councillor that rejects a 20 per cent cut in their allowance.

The average allowance for a councillor in Oldham in 2008-9 was £13,900, with Lib-Dem leader Howard Sykes on £26,850.

Kashif Ali, spokesman for the Oldham East and Saddleworth Conservatives, said: “If evidence was needed on allowances...

Date published: 02/09/2010

McMahon: Ed can bring Labour together

VOTING began yesterday for the new Labour leader — and the party’s local top man is backing Ed Miliband.

Oldham’s Labour leader, Councillor Jim McMahon, says the younger brother of the Miliband twins is the natural choice of centre-left supporters.

Former Cabinet ministers David and Ed Miliband are fighting each other along with three other candidates...

Date published: 02/09/2010

Marvel of the skies

THE A380 lands at Manchester. Picture courtesy Press Association

The world’s largest passenger plane dwarfs houses below as it came in to land for the first time at Manchester Airport yesterday.

Dubai–based airline Emirates flew the...

Date published: 02/09/2010

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