2007

Jan 2007

2007 JAN New Year’s Honours for Warrington people included Sandra Busby of Business Link Cheshire (OBE), Dr Neil Goodwin of Manchester Strategic Health Authority (OBE), Keith Osborn, a former chief scientist at United Utilities (MBE), Jerome Evans, Manager of HM Young Offenders Institution Thorncross (MBE) and Andrew Carmen of Carousel for services to the disabled (MBE).

2007 JAN Councillors announced plans for a twinning arrangement with Tanzania and China. The town is already twinned with Hilden in Germany, Nachod in the Czech Republic and Lake County in Illinois.

2007 JAN 8 The Council announced that a conservation area to preserve buildings in the town centre will be extended. The war memorial, which was excluded from the original 1980s scheme, will now be protected from development. I believe the memorial should be moved to Bank Park or Queens Gardens so everybody can visit more safely.

2007 JAN 11 Former Miss Warrington, Danielle Lloyd, became one of the latest wannabees to enter the Channel 4 Big Brother House.

2007 JAN Greenall’s owners AHG submitted plans to the Borough Council to build up to 300 houses on land off Loushers Lane.

2007 JAN Zoe Developments announced they wish to build a five-floor apartment block on the spare land on Winwick Street between Greenwood Furnishings and Cafe Centre. The development, which will go to a public inquiry, would feature a restaurant on the ground floor, 12 two-bed apartments and 4 one-bed apartments with parking spaces for 11 vehicles.

2007 JAN A move to relocate Warrington Borough Transport’s depot to Slutchers Lane from Wilderspool Causeway is scrapped.

2007 JAN Plans are announced which could see the annual Christmas and New Year late night bus scheme being run all year round.

2007 JAN Part of Sankey railway station building could be turned into a takeaway restaurant if plans succeed.

2007 JAN Warrington-born Glenn Robb gained a part in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Starlight Express in London.

2007 JAN Sue Beesley of Warrington became BBC Gardener of the Year.

2007 JAN 13 Kingsman Alexander Green, aged 21 from Warrington was killed by gunfire as he returned to base while serving with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment in Basrah, Iraq.

2007 JAN Rod King got his daughter to the church on time in style – on a recumbent quadricycle pedicab! As a member of Warrington Cycle Campaign he wanted to do something a bit special. The bike was borrowed from the Cycling Projects charity of which he is a trustee.

2007 JAN Danielle Lloyd, the former Miss Warrington from Liverpool, was caught up in the major controversy that prompted over 30,000 complaints to OFCOM about alleged racism in Channel 4’s Celebrity Big Brother. The ‘abuse’ was hurled at Indian film star Shilpa Shetty. It became the most complained-about TV show in the world and fellow contestant Jade Goody was later voted out by the public. She tried to make amends by apologising to the Indian actress via the national press. Jade Goody passed away on 22 Mar 2009 from cancer.

2007 JAN The Government overturned a council decision to prevent the construction of an 80-bed hotel at Gulliver’s World theme park in Westbrook. The scheme would also feature a permanent base for the Burtonwood Association heritage centre, who have been based in temporary accommodation since 2004. See RAF Burtonwood for more.

2007 JAN Cheshire Rural Enterprise presented Lymm parish councillors with a grant of £141,000 to fund a revamp of areas of the village centre, including new footpaths, fencing and lighting.

2007 JAN 15 Chemical company Ineos Silicas, based on the site of Crosfields at Bank Quay, announced 67 redundancies over the next three years. Chemicals have been manufactured on the site since 1815.

2007 JAN Wayne Garvie, former director of content and production at BBC Worldwide, offered his expertise to students at University of Chester, Warrington Campus. He is the brains behind hit shows Strictly Come Dancing and the British version of Dragons’ Den.

2007 JAN 18 Extremely high winds brought chaos around the town by blowing down trees and caused major traffic problems. See Wild Weather section on the My Warrington page for images.

2007 JAN 18 The record-breaking 57-feet-high Plane Ace tree in Winwick Park was toppled in the winter gales. There are fears that it may have to uprooted. It was planted in 2001 by former pop singer Kim Wilde when Winwick Hospital was demolished.

2007 JAN 25 Lee Briers was awarded the inaugural Parliamentarians ‘engage Super League Player of the Year’ award. The award was voted on by members of the All Party Parliamentary Rugby League group, which consists of MPs and Lords from across the political spectrum. Lord Hoyle, chairman of Warrington Wolves, collected the award on behalf of Briers – who was away on warm-weather training with the Wolves squad.

2007 JAN 29 Octogenarian Ivy Edwards, wife of former mayor, the late Harold Edwards, who passed away in 2000, attended a reception at 10 Downing Street in recognition of her services to the Co-operative Party, the organisation she has served as secretary and treasurer for 44 years.

Feb 2007

2007 FEB 5 Traffic Wardens were reinstated onto Warrington streets.

2007 FEB 7 The Warrington Guardian newspaper’s first female editor, Stella Parker, died in hospital aged 74.

2007 FEB 9 The town experienced a brief fall of snow.

2007 FEB ‘Our Wood’, which was created on the site of the former Burtonwood Air Base by local schoolchildren, is nominated for a British Urban Regeneration Award by the owners of the land, David Wilson Homes.

2007 FEB One hundred jobs were lost as 61 branches of the Stationery Box company was bought by Partners the Stationers, which is part-owned by TV ‘Dragon’ Theo Paphitis. The Bridge Street store closed, as well as the head office at Eagle Park in Hawleys Lane, Dallam.

2007 FEB Heartless vandals destroyed a bench in Woolston Park which was erected by Cancer Research UK in recognition of a resident who recovered from breast cancer. The image, right, shows how the bench originally looked after it was installed in March 2006. I photographed it last summer when visiting the park but I am not revealing the resident’s name, which was engrave in a message on the back of the bench. ADD IMAGE

2007 FEB Greenalls announced plans to relocate its distillery to Risley.

2007 FEB Woolston Eyes Nature Reserve received a grant of just over £46,000 from Biffa, who operate a landfill site in Risley, to make improvements. Ten per cent of the grant came from Peel Holdings. The Eyes will featured in two BBC television programmes during February 2007 (Nature’s Calendar) and in the autumn of 2007 (Alan Titchmarsh’s Nature in Britain).

2007 FEB Warrington Museum received a donation of a port hole from the shipwreck Tayleur which was launched in Warrington and wrecked during a storm off Ireland in 1854 on her maiden voyage. Read more about Tayleur in On The Waterfront.

2007 FEB 14 Warrington-born Kerry Katona married Mark Croft at Gretna Green. She gave birth to her third daughter later the same month.

2007 FEB St Rocco’s Hospice announced a £3 million expansion plan to extend the day centre and new therapy units. The government later contributed over £600,000 to project.

2007 FEB A footbridge over Manchester Road in Woolston was removed. The council installed traffic lights at a later date.

2007 FEB It was suggested that a by-pass road at Bridge Foot be created. At the same time improve Bank Quay railway station were also proposed. I was amused to read later in the Warrington Guardian that way back in 1898 the Chamber of Commerce had requested improvements at Bridge Foot so that two horses could get across at the same time! Oh how times have changed!

2007 FEB Warrington Borough Council announced proposals for a giant park and ride scheme for the region. It suggested one should be located near a motorway network so commuters could catch buses and use the motorway hard shoulder or dedicated lanes to complete their journeys. Other councils support the idea. In my college days we created a website proposing a park and ride scheme for the town. In it we suggested sites on the major routes at five locations in the north, east, south and west of the town.

2007 FEB Fiddlers Ferry Power Station in west Warrington signed a deal to separate the ash from coal and turn it into chemical substitutes and minerals for industrial use.

2007 FEB 18 The main suspect in the £40 million Greenalls arson blaze of 2006 was declared not guilty due to contradictory evidence.

2007 FEB Warrington Guardian photographer Mike Boden received the Best Weekly Photographer of the Year award at a ceremony in London.

2007 FEB A seal was spotted on the banks of the Mersey at Bank Quay.

2007 FEB 19 Work started on the demolition of the old Warrington Collegiate building on Winwick Road now that the £27 million new complex is open. ADD IMAGE AND CAPTION:

The image shows the old entrance to E-Floor, where I learned my practical skills on web design.

2007 FEB Warrington Borough Council received a 4-star rating, the highest available, from the Audit Commission, putting Warrington in the excellent category for local councils. The report highlighted recycling, street cleaning and caring for the vulnerable among the council’s successes.

2007 FEB Port Salford, a scheme to build a new port facility on the Manchester Ship Canal was announced by Peel Holdings. It was said that if it went ahead it would create more congestion on the roads in south Warrington. The bus company expressed its concern regarding timetables.

2007 FEB A series of photos from this website depicting the history of bus stations in Warrington were displayed in Warrington’s new bus station, Warrington Interchange. See On The Buses for more.

2007 FEB 26 Warrington Borough Council announced that from 26 February rubbish bins will not be collected on Mondays. This is to avoid disruption at Bank Holiday periods.

2007 FEB 27 A public inquiry into two retail and leisure developments, New Time Square and The Wire Works, got under way at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

2007 FEB A £48,000 revamp of Ackers Pit fishing pool in Stockton Heath began. The pool was to be drained, cleaned up and restocked in a joint venture between Warrington Borough Council, the Environment Agency, Warrington Anglers Association and Stockton Heath Parish Council.

Mar 2007

2007 MAR Radio Warrington began broadcasting online.

2007 MAR The Borough Council confirmed that £100,000 put aside for the redevelopment of Westy Park five years ago is still in the budget. Locals were concerned that it wasn’t available. In a similar situation they also assured residents of Dallam that £66,000 of improvements to the playing fields has not disappeared from the budget either, and the work would begin soon. The Dallam project was officially opened on 27 June 2013!

2007 MAR Medical centre staff and members of the public across the town protested about Warrington Primary Care Trust’s plans for a ‘super surgery’ in the town.

2007 MAR Lymm Slitting Mill reopened after an archaeological dig and work to make it accessible to the public. Read more on its history in the Lymm Dam section of Warrington Green.

2007 MAR 1 Labour politician Jack Straw paid a visit to Stockton Heath.

2007 MAR 3 A lunar eclipse was visible in the sky across Warrington and the rest of the UK.

2007 MAR 4 At last  – a Warrington girl was crowned Miss Warrington! After last year’s representative actually came from Wigan, it’s good to see this year’s came from Culcheth – Holly Ikin.

2007 MAR Warrington Guardian photographer Eddie Fuller’s famous photo of Warrington Rugby League’s Challenge Cup win homecoming from 1974 helps to raises £1500 at an auction in aid of the Peace Centre.

2007 MAR Python Properties of Middlesbrough released an artist’s impression of what the ageing Priestley House on Sankey Street would look like after a revamp. It had previously been used by Social Services, among others. After the revamp it would be renamed Bank Quay House.

2007 MAR It was announced that the town’s commercial radio station, Wire FM, could be moved to a new base in Newton by its owners UTV. It eventually relocated to Wigan.

2007 MAR A planning application submitted by Greenall Whitley to move to Risley and to allow their current land at Wilderspool and Walton to be redeveloped with up to 280 new homes was to be heard by the council.

2007 MAR Warrington Chamber of Commerce chief executive Colin Daniels said that both New Time Square and The Wire Works developments should be supported.

2007 MAR Warrington writer Christopher Curbishley saw his first book, The Children of Tomorrow, in print. It is the story of a fiction pop group spreading the message of peace and love to the children of tomorrow. Published by Author House UK.

2007 MAR 15 Warrington Market hosted its very own Market Awards For Traders’ Adverts (MAFTA). They were held to honour traders who shot their own videos for display on the Market’s plasma TV screens. They were featured on BBC Northwest Tonight the night before launch.

2007 MAR 27 A public inquiry into a proposed medical waste incinerator on Winwick Road got under way at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. It was dramatically scrapped the following day.

2007 MAR A new service for collecting repeat prescriptions, www.clickchemist.co.uk, was launched. It is registered with Warrington Primary Care Trust.

2007 MAR Warrington Borough Transport announced pre-tax profits of £310,000 for the previous financial year 2005-06.

2007 MAR The Kingsway Allotment Society at Westy received a £10,000 National Lottery “Awards for All” grant to improve facilities on its site. The funding would allow gardeners to recycle waste rather than dumping it.

2007 MAR Town Centre jewellers, A Baker & Son, celebrated 100 years of business. They began life on Bridge Street in 1907 and now have four branches – one at Cairo Street, one in Stockton Heath and two in Liverpool.

2007 MAR A Warrington couple made history when they married earlier this month. The controversy surrounding the wedding is that the husband married his former mother-in-law. A new law passed earlier this year now allows such ceremonies.

2007 MAR A low tide on the River Mersey revealed the remains of a long lost bridge at Woolston New Cut near Paddington. It was later confirmed to be a crossing point at Miles Bite and is shown on an old Ordnance Survey map of 1845.

2007 MAR A controversial car boot sale which has operated on land in Winwick for the past seven years has been cancelled because the council says it is on greenbelt land.

2007 MAR A plaque was erected at Pyramid Arts Centre on Palmyra Square South in memory of Warrington-born comedian, author and broadcaster Pete McCarthy. See Warrington People for his profile.

2007 MAR 30 Eric Naylor, Former Mayor of Warrington in 1970-71, died aged 88.

Apr 2007

2007 APR 2 Lord Hoyle, MP for Warrington between 1981 and 1997, unveiled a plaque in The Hoyle Building at Warrington Collegiate dedicated to his name. He now sits in the House of Lords as Baron Hoyle of Warrington and is chairman of Warrington Wolves Super League rugby club.

2007 APR 4 A planning application by Greenalls to build up to 280 homes on their land in south Warrington was refused by the council who say there is an over supply of new houses in the town.

2007 APR 11 Classic railway engine The Duchess of Sutherland, part of the London Midland and Scottish railway (LMS), passed through Warrington Bank Quay. In its lifetime it has pulled the Royal Train as part of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.

ADD IMAGE AND LICENCE INFORMATION: Image by Phil Scott (Our Phellap) Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License” at Wikipedia.

2007 APR 19 Fifty firefighters were called to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station just after 10am to tackle a blaze which started in a roof section of the main turbine hall 150 feet above the ground. It caught fire when bitumen being used for repairs ignited.

2007 APR 21 Controversy reigns in the council and the Press as a new logo for the town council is unveiled. The council says the existing Coat of Arms is too difficult to install on buildings and feels the town needs to modernise. One commented that it was strange how they always managed it in the past, without this modern technology! They have spent £30,000 and two years on the project. In the Warrington Guardian various readers expressed their dismay at the council’s decision. The image, right, is the town’s Coat of Arms. See the Warrington Borough Council website home page for the new logo to compare the two and make your own mind up. ADD IMAGE.

2007 APR 22 The annual ceremony of ‘Beating the Bounds’ in Latchford took place. The walk of a 4½ mile celebrates the ancient custom of checking boundary markers.

2007 APR 25 Bulldozers moved in to begin the demolition of Stockton Heath Primary School.

2007 APR 28 Warrington Bank Quay station was graced with the appearance of a London Midland Scottish (LMS) Black 5 steam engine. The 4-6-0 gauge No. 45407 hauled the return trip of a Railway Touring Company excursion from Manchester to Central Wales. ADD IMAGE.

2007 APR 29 Warrington historian and archaeologist Mark Olly began his second series of Lost Treasures on ITV Granada. Areas of Warrington, including Grappenhall, Thelwall and Lymm, feature.

2007 APR The Peace Centre at Great Sankey, set up in memory of IRA victims, Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball, was renamed Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace, 14 years after the atrocity. They have set up a new ‘Pound for Peace’ campaign to help with the £500,000 a year running costs. They are asking people to donate just £1 a week to help maintain the work.

2007 APR Building Design Partnership unveiled its plans for the £24 million revamp of Culcheth High School.

2007 APR The first dedicated shop for Polish residents of the town opened up on Church Street near Sainsbury’s.

2007 APR Pupils at Dallam County Primary School raised over £150 for Comic Relief by hosting a dressing down day and making and selling cakes and cards.

2007 APR An extension to the celebrated Our Wood in Westbrook took place as Mayor Linda Dirir plants the first of many new trees. The site was officially opened in June 20006 by Fred Talbot, former weather presenter at Granada TV.

2007 APR Stationery Box, the high street retailer, closed its head office at Dallam when no buyer was found for the company.

2007 APR The council refused Biffa waste management permission to extend their landfill site at Arpley.

2007 APR Part of a Channel 4 drama, The Mark of Cain, is filmed at Mr Smiths nightclub. The story portrayed a fictional army regiment on duty in Iraq, but the show was later cancelled when the international news story about the real life hostage taking of sailors in Iran hit the headlines.

2007 APR Winwick Athletic Football Club received an FA Charter Standard Development Club Award from the Lancashire FA, the first Cheshire team to be given the award.

2007 APR Dallam and District Community Angling Group organised an open fishing competition and raised £200 for the Shannon Bradshaw Trust. The Trust helps to raise money for families who have children with life-threatening conditions. Read more about the Trust in the Community section.

2007 APR The Plane Ace tree, planted by Kim Wilde in 2001, and damaged by the high winds in January this year, will not be replanted because the council says it will cost too much.

2007 APR Warrington Hospital’s Radio General picked up three awards from the Hospital Broadcasting Association. The station began broadcasting in 1957.

2007 APR Stockton Lane, running between Stockton Heath and Grappenhall, and the location of a car accident in November 2004 in which two teenagers drowned as their car plunged into the Bridgewater Canal, is to close for good after a unanimous decision at a meeting in the Town Hall.

2007 APR Peel Holdings, owners of the Manchester Ship Canal Company, have been asked to consider repainting the swing bridges. They were painted grey in the war but never returned to their original bronze colour afterwards.

2007 APR A legal battle to save Stockton Heath Primary School was dropped because the local action group couldn’t raise the £30,000 court costs which solicitors say would only have a 50/50 chance of success.

2007 APR Two companies were approached by the council to look into ways of improving the ageing Bank Quay railway station to make it attractive for visitors to the town.

2007 APR Permission was given to redevelop historic Bewsey Old Hall as flats, provided that strict archaeological conditions are met. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that detailed planning permission would still have to be granted by Warrington Borough Council. The ancient hall stands on the site of the earlier residence of the Boteler family, which stood here from the 12th century.

2007 APR Plans to redevelop a run-down section of Dallam moved a step closer as more funds were allocated to build a children’s play area on land once used for garages on Massey Avenue. The project is now £22,000 short of its £90,000 target, which will be undertaken by Warrington Borough Council, Groundwork Mersey Valley, Golden Gates Housing and Dallam residents.

2007 APR The DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) announced that the mayoral car currently has illegal number plates. It reads as ED1 and should read as ED 1. The council is looking into it.

2007 APR The public opposed plans to merge GP surgeries into five super health centres at various meetings across the town. Five such centres would have replaced doctors’ surgeries.

2007 APR Greenalls pushed ahead with plans to move to Risley despite its rejected planning application to build new homes on its existing sites in Wilderspool and Walton.

2007 APR New signs began to appear on Network Warrington’s buses as the local bus company wishes to bring a smile to passengers faces with slogans like “Please have correct change ready. We don’t want you late for your tea”.

2007 APR The remains of a Mersey Flat, a type of barge used on the waterways in Warrington in the past, was discovered buried in the mud near Paddington Meadows Nature Reserve when sluice gates at Howley half a mile away were lowered to allow maintenance of the weir.

May 2007

2007 MAY Priestley College in Wilderspool was awarded a ‘beacon of excellence’ by the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) in London.

2007 MAY BUPA (British United Provident Association), the private hospital in Stretton, agreed to carry out health care for the NHS, one of three in the North-West. Treatments should start in June.

2007 MAY 3 The Liberal Democrats remain in pole position on Warrington Borough Council after the local elections.

2007 SAT 12 MAY mywarrington website 2nd birthday

2007 MAY 8 Colin Parry, whose son Tim was killed in the IRA bombing of Warrington in 1993, welcomed the new Northern Ireland government, as the separate parties come together to help build a new, peaceful, future for the province.

2007 MAY Warrington Collegiate announced £1 million in cuts which would cost around 50 jobs and education courses for vulnerable disabled students.

2007 MAY Warrington film producer Ken Horn won a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Awards) for his gritty northern drama The Street shown on the BBC.

2007 MAY 24 The extended Golden Square shopping centre opened for business. The £120 million work features Warrington’s first Debenhams store. See photos on the Golden Square page.

2007 MAY Statistics show that most of the pollution in the town comes from traffic.

2007 MAY The Kwik Save supermarket on Academy Street closed in a shake up of the company nationwide.

2007 MAY 24 Terry Waite, former Beirut hostage, travelled to Canada with Warrington Male Voice Choir for a series of concerts.

2007 MAY Warrington Borough Council, in conjunction with the Warrington Guardian, launched a competition for readers to nominate their favourite quiet spot to tie in with Noise Action Week. See Warrington Green for photos of some of the town’s quiet spots.

2007 MAY Warrington Hospital’s Radio General celebrated 50 years of broadcasting to patients by inviting the public to see behind the scenes. The actual anniversary is 7 November.

2007 MAY Water was supplied to St Cross Church in Appleton Thorn for the first time since it was founded over 120 years ago.

2007 MAY John Hutton, Work and Pensions secretary for the government, visited the town.

2007 MAY The Mulberry Tree pub in Stockton Heath prepared its customers for the national smoking ban from 1 July by providing outdoor heated canopies where they can have a drink with their cigarettes. The ban will affect all enclosed public places, including bus shelters.

2007 MAY 28 The annual Warrington Horse Show took place in Daresbury, featuring B.S.J.A. show jumping, Strong Man competition, a ferret display, Vale Royal falconry display and a Gun Dog demonstration, as well as craft and trade stands, farmer’s market and a fairground.

2007 MAY A 1,700-strong signed petition against the new borough council logo was handed in to the Town Hall three days before councillors voted on the adoption of it. You guessed it – it was adopted!

2007 MAY A special bench was installed at the Old Rectory Nursing Home in Grappenhall in memory of Nicola Sutton, who was murdered on 26 September, 2006.

Jun 2007

2007 JUN Earth Song, a new exhibition by schoolchildren in the town went on display at Warrington Museum, Pyramid Arts Centre and the Gateway. The exhibition was organised by the Primary Arts Network.

2007 JUN 2 Golden Square shopping centre played host to the Environment Agency’s Mend the World Day, a scheme to promote green issues.

2007 JUN Padgate and Woolston High Schools faced closure due to falling pupil numbers. My old school, Bewsey High closed for the very same reason in 1993.

2007 JUN 4 Theatre 4 Warrington (T4W) launched a fund-raising campaign at Alford Hall on Manchester Road.

2007 JUN 6 The controversial ‘super surgery’ planned by Warrington Primary Care Trust was scrapped. I was told that the old baths on Legh Street was one of the venues suggested as a base, one of five which would have replaced doctors’ surgeries.

2007 JUN The 75 Engineer Regiment replaced the Kings and Cheshire Regiment at Peninsula Barracks on O’Leary Street, Orford.

2007 JUN Government minister Ed Milliband paid a visit to the Gateway to meet with volunteers and staff on the issue of funding, but refused to answer questions on the budget cuts at Warrington Collegiate.

2007 JUN 13 Warrington Borough Council refused a licence for car boot sales on land off Townfield Lane in Winwick. The council said it is greenbelt land and has restricted use throughout the year: 28 events in total, including 14 markets. The car boot organiser wanted a sale every Sunday and Bank Holidays between April and December.

2007 JUN 14 The Warrington Guardian revealed that Mr Smiths nightclub at Bridge Foot has been sold to a company in Blackpool called Syndicate Nightclub. The venue still has a licence as a nightclub so it could re-open very soon.

2007 JUN 16 The annual Bawming of the Thorn event took place in Appleton Thorn. See photos of last year’s event on the Events page.

2007 JUN 16 Urban Splash, owners of Bewsey Old Hall, revealed plans to redevelop the hall as seven apartments with additional apartments built in the grounds. The exhibition was held at Bewsey Barns Community Centre in Old Hall.

2007 JUN 20 Virgin Trains and the Borough Council unveiled plans for a revamp of Bank Quay station. The scheme will feature a facelift to the building with cafe and waiting areas, along with better ticket facilities and a shop.

2007 JUN 20 Boots the Chemist left Bridge Street to relocate at the extended Golden Square.

2007 JUN Campaigners against the closure and demolition of Stockton Heath Primary School felt betrayed by the Council as it is revealed that the new school will run £1.5 million over budget.

2007 JUN Days, the first feature film made by a school, premiered at The Foundry Church, Widnes. It was made by pupils and teachers at Penketh High School and is the story of how bullying at school does not have to be the end of it as the victim becomes the hero in a football match.

2007 JUN 22 Flash floods hit the town. Carriageways on the M6 near junction 22 were covered in water. All in all, Warrington escaped the worst of it – unlike many parts of Yorkshire and the Midlands where many residents lost all their belongings in devastating floods.

2007 JUN 24 A political row erupted at the council meeting over who was to blame for the £1 million cuts at Warrington Collegiate. Lib-Dems blamed the Labour Government, while Labour blames the college…

2007 JUN 29 Warrington Walking Day route was diverted after a suspect car was found parked in Museum Street. This was in response to a foiled bomb plot in London. The vehicle in Warrington was declared safe later the same day.

2007 JUN A new cleaning team swung into action at Warrington Interchange to clean the buses between journeys.

2007 JUN Youngster Joel Davies, a budding young Warrington actor, who has already appeared in hits such as ITVs Cracker, met his screen hero, Warrington actor Pete Postlethwaite OBE. He wrote to Pete to wish him luck in a recent play in Manchester and was invited to meet him in his dressing room after a performance.

2007 JUN Work on revamping Acker’s Pit in Stockton Heath ground to a halt as it was revealed that silt – which suffocates fish and plant life – ran deeper on the bottom of the lake than contractors first thought. The cost has escalated, exceeding the original funding.

2007 JUN Archaeologists unearthed parts of a Roman road and various pottery samples in the grounds of the demolished Stockton Heath Primary School, said to date back to the 1st century AD.

2007 JUN Parish councillors in Great Sankey expressed their dismay at the disappearing heritage in the town as they oppose the revamp of Bewsey Old Hall.

2007 JUN A suggestion was made to use the former police training building at Bruche for plays and shows. This would be useful for Theatre 4 Warrington who are campaigning for a theatre for the town.

2007 JUN A 7-storey apartment block in Howley received planning permission, creating fears for local residents that it will become the first of many skyscrapers in the town.

2007 JUN An anonymous reader of the Warrington Guardian was so upset about the shocking overgrown state of Warrington cemetery that they sent a photo into the paper to get a response from the council. The council apologised and promised action.

2007 JUN Warrington celebrity, Kerry Katona, former member of girl group Atomic Kitten, hit back at national press stories that she took drugs after having her third baby.

2007 JUN The Brownie pack at St Mary’s church hall in Penketh celebrated 50 years in existence.

Jul 2007

2007 JUL Warrington’s bus interchange and visitor centre won the Tourism For All Award at an event held at Chester Racecourse.

2007 JUL Despite national trends to change to fortnightly rubbish collections, Warrington Borough Council has announced that they will stay with weekly collections for the foreseeable future.

2007 JUL The Wireworks, a scheme to regenerate a run down section of Winwick Street opposite Central station with restaurants, hotel and cinema was given the go-ahead by the Government. A rival development at Time Square was turned down because the site was currently occupied and in use.

2007 JUL Winwick Parish Council put up £2,500 to oppose the proposed rail terminal at the former Parkside colliery just north of the district.

2007 JUL Plans for a town centre swimming pool were dashed by the Lib Dem-Tory controlled council. Warrington’s Legh Street baths have been closed since 2003.

2007 JUL New Town House on Buttermarket Street was voted the ugliest building in Warrington by readers of the Warrington Guardian.

2007 JUL The Creamfields music event to be held at Daresbury, just outside Warrington, announced Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace as its first charity of the year.

2007 JUL Property company Hometrack announced Warrington as the best place in the country for buying property to let.

2007 JUL Warrington Borough Council announced a £½ million makeover for 80-year old Lymm Library on Davies Way.

2007 JUL Former Penketh High School pupil Howard Litton became head of Nickelodeon Children’s TV channel in the UK.

2007 JUL New X-Ray equipment was installed at Warrington Hospital allowing digital storage which can be accessed on the internal network.

2007 JUL 2 Workers at Gemini Retail Park were evacuated following a bomb scare.

2007 JUL 3-30 It was revealed that one of the suspected terrorists arrested in Australia in connection with the car explosion at Glasgow airport on Saturday, 30 June 2007, was a doctor who practised at Warrington and Runcorn hospitals. He was later released without charge and returned to India. All eight suspects arrested were linked to the NHS.

2007 JUL 4 Bent’s Garden Centre in Glazebury celebrated 70 years of business. It is Warrington’s biggest and oldest garden centre.

2007 JUL 7 Culturefest 07 summer festival began with A Grand Day Out in Queens Gardens. It featured stalls and a carousel.

2007 JUL 12 The official opening ceremony of Warrington Interchange took place. At the event five new buses were named after some of Warrington’s Worthies. See photos of the event on the On the Buses page.

2007 JUL 14 The annual Winwick Carnival took place on Middleton Lane, with over 2,500 enjoying the festivities.

2007 JUL 14 The 27th annual Howley Carnival took place on Howley Park. The event was opened by Helen Jones, MP for Warrington North.

2007 JUL 15/20 Warrington-born ‘celebrity mum’, Kerry Katona, was held captive by armed raiders at her home in Wilmslow, Cheshire. The gang was said to have escaped with £150,000 of property, including a BMW sports car and electrical items. The car was found undamaged on Friday of the same week.

2007 JUL 17 High school students across Warrington performed at the Parr Hall in a musical, Trash, about rubbish and recycling.

2007 JUL 19 Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visited students of University College Chester Warrington Campus and the young offenders centre Thorn Cross.

2007 JUL 23 BBC TVs Doctor Who visited the Skittles at Market Gate – or at least his Police Box TARDIS and a Dalek did.

Aug 2007

2007 AUG Lymm Parish Council announced that the annual Easter Duck Race in the village will return in 2008. I bet you didn’t know they had one, did you? Neither did I!

2007 AUG A north west naturist group have asked if they can hire the Amazing Maize Maze in Stretton to hold activities there. The owners asked the public to comment.

2007 AUG Reactive Audio, a production company who make shows for BBC radio, ITV and other media organisations, have moved their production centre from Manchester to Knutsford Road in Warrington.

2007 AUG The location of a controversial set of traffic lights at Asda Westbrook are under review by the Borough Council. Road users said they were in a dangerous position, even though they were put there to make it easier for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the road.

2007 AUG It is reported that July 2007 had ten times as much rain in Warrington than in the same period last year. According to the Met Office, 57 mm is average – last year was 17mm, this year it was 123mm.

2007 AUG Cheshire Police have revealed that the cost of the murder case for Shafilea Ahmed, who died in 2003, is approaching £5 million. The case remains unsolved at the time of writing. An inquest will be held in early 2008. To follow the thread of this story, click this update and return here after the final part.

2007 AUG Warrington dance group IndepenDANCE performed in Cardiff at the ITV Britain’s Got Talent show where they featured alongside artists such as pop group Westlife.

2007 AUG The Planning Committee of Warrington Borough Council have announced that further discussions on the future of Time Square are taking place with Big Apple Warrington after the Government refused planning permission for redevelopment of the site due to issues over affordable housing.

2007 AUG Former bodybuilder and model Lisa Appleton appeared in the BBC show Kitchen Criminals. The show was about improving one’s skills in the kitchen.

2007 AUG Traffic Wardens have handed out over 10,000 parking tickets in the town since February. Many believed they are only doing it to meet shortfalls in budgets from central government, whilst others believed the council had set targets, which the council categorically denied.

2007 AUG Warrington Borough Transport reported that over a million extra passenger journeys were made on the town’s buses in the 2006/7 financial year. They say the new Warrington Interchange is a contributing factor.

2007 AUG A report said that around £1.5 million in Council Tax went uncollected in the borough last year.

2007 AUG After a break due to a funding shortage, work resumed on cleaning out Acker’s Pit in Stockton Heath.

2007 AUG Cheshire Police CSOs Tom Reid and Tony Spruce launched the VPX (Victoria Park Experience). The event, including coaching for skating, skateboarding, bike riding, sport, dance and DJ-ing, operated every Tuesday in August.

2007 AUG 2 Three year old Ethan Connolly visited Berlin for the first in a series of operations to remove a rare lymphangioma, a cist on his face which enlarges his features. The treatment will cost £50,000 and many fundraising events are taking place to complete the treatment. See more his on his myspace website.

2007 AUG 9 Fire Station Open Day took place at Winwick Road. See photos in Peter’s Gallery.

2007 AUG 11 Warrington-born BBC Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans married for the third time at Guildford registry office in Surrey. His new bride was golf professional Natasha Shishmanian. He was previously married to Carol McGiffin (Loose Women, ITV1) and Billie Piper (Dr Who, BBC).

2007 AUG 12 The annual Lymm Rushbearing Festival took place. Read more about the ceremony here.

2007 AUG 12 Garry Newlove, aged 47, from Fearnhead, who was attacked as he tried to prevent youths damaging his car outside his home on Friday 10 August, 2007, died two days later in hospital. Seven youths were questioned by police, four were charged with his murder: an 18 year old, two 15-year-olds and one 16-year-old. The three others were released without charge. The post-mortem result confirmed that Mr Newlove’s death was caused by “trauma to the head”. A heartbreaking letter from his daughter appeared in the national and local press soon after the tragedy.

2007 AUG 16 Tributes were paid to Paul White, owner of Whites Sports Shop in Warrington Market who died on this day. He received the accolade ‘The Bird Man of Appleton Thorn’ for the work he did looking after injured and sick birds. He was described as a ‘legend’ by many of the townsfolk.

2007 AUG 18 The annual Scott Street Carnival takes place.

2007 AUG An application from Biffa Waste Services was submitted to extend a landfill site at Risley. A previous application last year was rejected. This latest application was also rejected in October 2007.

2007 AUG 23 Legendary musician Acker Bilk performed at the Old Fish Market in Golden Square in a free concert organised by the Borough Council. See Events page for photos.

2007 AUG The Warrington Guardian reported that Warrington Collegiate had received complaints for featuring a child dressed in a military uniform holding a pistol. The prospectus, which was promoting courses for students wishing to enter the armed forces, was later withdrawn.

2007 AUG 30 A prankster in Latchford got their own back on a traffic warden by clamping his moped with a bike lock chain through the front wheel.

Sep 2007

2007 SEP 3 The funeral of Garry Newlove, who was murdered last month, took place in Padgate.

2007 SEP 7 Volunteers from Dallam Seniors Youth Club retired after 15 years of loyal service to the community.

2007 SEP 11 The Fairtrade stall in the market, Fair 4 All, celebrated its 5th birthday.

2007 SEP The annual Woolston and District Show celebrated its 30th Anniversary.

2007 SEP It was announced that Woolston High School will close in 2012. Residents of the area were fighting to keep it open.

2007 SEP The Bechstein Model M grand piano in the Parr Hall was put up for auction in London.

2007 SEP The grave of Warrington-born Joseph William is unearthed at the site of the former Liverpool Castle. He was the man who created the Williamson Tunnel which ran under the city. The site was opened to visitors on the weekend of 14 Sep 2007.

2007 SEP Stars from TV’s Hollyoaks and Coronation Street, including Warrington-born Stephen Arnold (Ashley Peacock in the ITV1 show), took part in a charity football match against Warrington bus drivers to raise money for the Shannon Bradshaw Trust, for which Stephen is patron.

2007 SEP Peel Holdings announced plans to invest over £4 million in improvements to the site of a former timber mill off Chester Road in Lower Walton.

2007 SEP Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe visited town to show his support for the £21 million Orford Park Project, a scheme to regenerate a former landfill site between Winwick Road and Orford Park into a leisure and sports facility. See more on the Warrington Borough Council Website.

2007 SEP 9 Contact Warrington, a one-stop-shop for all Warrington Borough Council services on Horsemarket Street, was officially opened to the public by Mayor Cllr Celia Jordan.

2007 SEP Labour announced plans to fight the closure of Woolston High School, due to close in 2012.

2007 SEP 22 Warrington Male Voice Choir performed a Peace One Day concert at the Parr Hall for the UN International Day of Peace. Terry Waite, Patron of the choir, gave a short address.

2007 SEP 22-23 Warrington Salvation Army celebrated 100 years since the inaugural Home League meeting in Leytonstone in 1907 with a weekend of events at the Warrington citadel. The object of the Home League was to combat the growing tendency to neglect the fostering of true home-life and to encourage thrift and hygiene. See more at the Salvation Army website.

2007 SEP Warrington Older People’s Forum received a £1,000 grant from the O2 “It’s Your Community” fund. The group, for people aged 50 or over, meets at Warrington Baptist Church in Sankey Street on the third Monday of each month from 1pm onwards, and currently has over 400 members.

2007 SEP Tracy Buckley appeared on ITV1’s Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and won a host of prizes including two cars and three holidays.

2007 SEP Warrington Hospital announced its finances should be back in the black after a deficit of £8.5 million last year.

2007 SEP It was announced that a mix of houses and offices could be built on the site of Greenalls when they move to Risley. See a photo of the former main brewery in Peter’s Gallery.

2007 SEP Warrington Borough Council is in the clear after the accidental demolition of the listed Bay Horse pub on Winwick Street, which is on the site of the proposed Wire Works development. The demolition firm received a £15,000 fine for the destruction of the building.

2007 SEP Ninety-eight percent of people who wrote to Warrington, St Helens and Wigan councils were opposed to the Parkside rail terminal north of Winwick. Of 3,000 letters, only 60 showed support.

2007 SEP 29 Sky Sports rugby league commentator and former Great Britain International Mike “Stevo” Stevenson signed copies of his latest book, Looking Back, at Borders bookshop on Riverside Retail Park.

Oct 2007

2007 OCT 2 Diana Youdale, aka Jet in the 1990s TV show Gladiator, launched her own Pilates health classes at Great Oak Health in Lymm.

2007 OCT Former Culture Club singer Boy George (O’Dowd) is forced to pay £31,000 in compensation to a Warrington music promoter when he pulled out of a performance at the opening of her GAY USA club in Los Angeles after he was arrested for possession of cocaine. The non-event cost the club owner an estimated £100,000.

2007 OCT 2 Liverpool FC Reserves were beaten 1-0 by Sunderland at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in the first of nine matches to be played there in the 2007/8 season. 3,403 spectators watched the match, in which kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes to get everybody into the ground.

2007 OCT Peter Bradley became the first person in the UK to crack the code in a game called Isis which featured on BBC2’s Dragons’ Den. He won £500 for his trouble. Learn more about the game at www.isisadventure.com.

2007 OCT 4 Justice Minister Jack Straw visited Thorn Cross Young Offenders Institute at Appleton Thorn.

2007 OCT 4 A vehicle exploded on land near Bewsey Old School. Residents were evacuated and the army bomb disposal unit were called in. There was no trace of bomb materials found and the residents were later allowed to go home.

2007 OCT The former Bruche Police Training Centre could become the location for affordable housing, the council has announced.

2007 OCT 7 The annual Duke of Lancaster’s Regimental Sunday parade took place. It features a march past and a service at the Parish Church. A civic reception followed at the Parr Hall.

2007 OCT Paddington Meadows nature reserve received a grant of £38,386 from Waste Recycling Environmental limited towards the £54,000 cost of restoration. See photos of the Meadows in Warrington Green.

2007 OCT Tesco announced plans to transport wine along the Manchester Ship Canal to cut down on its carbon footprint.

2007 OCT Warrington bus driver Nuala Callaghan set off for north Vietnam on a 700km bike ride to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

2007 OCT 20 The Halliwell Jones Stadium hosted the Gillette Fusion rugby league match between the New Zealand All Golds and the Great Britain Northern Union to celebrate 100 years of International Rugby League. The All Golds won 25-18.

2007 OCT Warrington Borough Council announced a 300% increase in recycling rates since 2004.

2007 OCT Warrington Borough Council announced a Park and Ride scheme for Christmas 2007. The scheme would create 800 extra spaces to the north and south of the town.

2007 OCT A planning judge ruled that land near Peel Hall at Houghton Green is not greenbelt land. The site had previously been earmarked for 1,000 homes. The council has now been given permission to apply to the Court of Appeal.

2007 OCT Dallam motorists and bus users faced 11 weeks of disruption when large sections of Longshaw Street were resurfaced. Part of the work included a reduction in the size of the roundabout to aid buses travelling around it. ADD IMAGES.

2007 OCT 31 Colin Parry, who lost his 12-year-old son Tim in the IRA bombing of Warrington in 1993, met up with Sin Fein Leader Gerry Adams face to face for the first time since the atrocity at a charity function in London. Mr Parry says it was not easy to invite Adams to the event but it was infinitely easier than carrying Tim’s coffin.

Nov 2007

2007 NOV Local communities in the town were bracing themselves for a decision on whether six sub-post offices are to close. They are situated at Glazebury, Padgate, Winwick, Lymm, Orford Lane and Lovely Lane, Whitecross. It was part of a national initiative which could see over 2,500 small post offices closing. The closure of all six was confirmed in January 2008. Update.

2007 NOV A decision on the future redevelopment plans for Bewsey Old Hall are postponed as Urban Splash need more time to provide information to councillors.

2007 NOV 2 Wire FM, Warrington’s first radio station, held its 5th annual Bring A Pound To Work Day to raise funds for Warrington’s St Rocco’s Hospice and Runcorn’s Halton Haven Hospice.

2007 NOV 7 Warrington Hospital’s Radio General celebrated 50 years of broadcasting to the patients of the hospital, an operation which now runs 24 hours a day.

2007 NOV 9 The Birchwood Partnership launched a new website www.birchwood.org.uk, which is aimed at strengthening links between schools, churches, business and community groups in the Birchwood area. mywarrington has supplied photographs for future use on the site.

2007 NOV The murder trial concerning the death of Garry Newlove began.

2007 NOV 15 The annual Christmas lights switch on took place at Golden Square. Former Blue group member Simon Webbe performed at the event.

2007 NOV 19 Former Warrington Wolves star Mike Gregory died four years after being diagnosed with a neurological disease. Read more in Warrington Wolves.

2007 NOV 27 ‘Real Lancashire Day’ events take place across the county. Campaigners are hoping to reinstate the traditional border of Lancashire. Warrington is now a Unitary Authority, so not connected to Lancashire or Cheshire for administration purposes, but the original county border of Lancashire never actually moved, so all in all, Warrington is STILL in Lancashire. Read more at www.forl.co.uk.

2007 NOV Pressure from tenants and councillors forced a U-turn on the closure of allotments on land behind Steel Street in Padgate. The land has been used as allotments for over 30 years.

2007 NOV The world’s first professional qualification in Muslim youth work was launched at the University of Chester Padgate campus.

Dec 2007

2007 DEC 1 The Big Wheel is opened on the Town Hall lawn for the Christmas season. See On Top Of The World for photos.

2007 DEC 3 According to Channel 4 current affairs programme, Dispatches, more than 7,000 homes in Warrington are at significant risk of flooding – the seventh highest number in the country. Read more here.

2007 DEC 8 The village of Lymm hosted its Dickensian Festival.

2007 DEC 4 Nexum Leisure, the new owners of Mr Smiths nightclub, announced that the venue will re-open in March 2008.

2007 DEC Warrington Borough Transport announced a night time bus service over the festive period to get people home from pubs and clubs.

2007 DEC 4 Work got under way to install passenger lifts at Warrington Central Station after years of campaigning from the public.

2007 DEC 11 Former Warrington preacher David Brash, aged 62, was said to have been murdered in the Philippines by hit-men hired by his new wife ten days after he was reported missing. His body was found in a swamp and looked as though it had been burned. He was pastor at the Runcorn Independent Baptist church for 12 years. He had caused controversy by saying the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 was God’s punishment on humanity. He was divorced and had two adult children.

2007 DEC The Pride of Place poll for 2007 revealed the top ten attractions for Warrington residents. The results were: The Barley Mow pub 51%, Trans Pennine Trail 31%, Halliwell Jones Stadium 4%, Market Gate Skittles 4%, Risley Moss 3%, Walton Hall and Gardens 2%, Town Hall and Gates 2%, Bridgewater Canal at Lymm 1%, Lymm Slitting Bridge 1% and Bridge Foot 1%.

2007 DEC 14 Warrington celebrity Kerry Katona appeared on BBC1’s Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. On the show she confessed to taking cocaine drugs over 3 years ago, and admits she cannot say she won’t in the future, but hopes she doesn’t.

2007 DEC 17 Latchford swing bridge caused chaos for drivers when it froze open for two hours.

2007 DEC Warrington Cycling Campaign received national acclaim for their book about ‘crap’ cycle lanes around the country, highlighting how local councils jump on the bandwagon of eco-friendly travel and then fall flat on their faces with poor facilities to help tackle the problems. The book is on sale at local bookshops.

2007 DEC 26 Warrington Wolves suffered a humiliating defeat when National League One side, Leigh Centurions, beat them 38-18 in a pre-season friendly at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

2007 DEC 28 John Hales, former owner of Waysiders store on Horsemarket Street, and chairman of the Chamber of Trade, died aged 80.