10 years ago

AN unusual piece of public art provoked a furious response from Oswaldtwistle residents.

The stone arch, in Union Road, was erected as part of a town square development plan.

But plans to cover it in wallpaper and add a dado rail, to make viewers feel as though they were looking into the inside of a house, were branded ridiculous.

Coun Peter Britcliffe said the artwork made a laughing stock of Hyndburn Council and was the "daftest of all the daft things" the council had done.

25 years ago

MILITANT workers vowed not to cross the picket line after an Oswaldtwistle firm sacked 20 striking workers.

West End Tufting was heavily picketed by members of the Boilermakers Union and the Engineers Union.

Members had been on strike for nearly six weeks at the sacking of a shop steward when they were handed their cards after the firm threatened to close.

50 years ago

CUNNING police officers snared a sticky-fingered railway guard by planting a letter stuffed with pounds notes on an Accrington-bound train.

The guard could not resist the £7 inside the registered letter and cut a hole in a mailbag, pinched the letter, and fell into the trap. The railway guard, from Manchester, later admitted his guilt to police.