Emotional step back in time for brothers

STEPPING back in time. Peter (left) and Paul Winder return to the Road End Fair

TWO brothers had a trip down memory lane at Greenfield’s traditional Maundy Thursday fair which their grandfather saved from closure.

Peter and Paul Winder made an emotional return to the Road End Fair for the first time in nearly five decades.

The right to have the annual event dates back to the Magna Carta in 1215, but for it to continue at least one stall has to turn up.

Generations of the Winder family traded there, selling lino and oilcloth.

The brothers’ grandfather, Jack, kept it going during the war years and Peter (59), from Atherton, explained: “The family travelled up from Salford for the fair for generations.

“It goes back to my great-great-grandfather, who travelled on a pony and cart fetching oilcloths and lino.

“My grandfather kept it going during the war years and at one point he was the only one who turned up.”

The family, who are still in the flooring trade in Salford, last stood on the market in 1964 when Peter was photographed with his grandfather.

Just four years later the tradition nearly came to an end again before two stalls were hurriedly set up in the evening.

Peter, who worked with his grandfather, until the age of 21, returned for the first time in 47 years.

He is now a farmer and said: “In my time there were still quite a few stalls going, but I believe in its hey day the atmosphere was unbelievable.

“I am glad to see local people keeping it open because it is their heritage.”