Selling Runcorn By The Pound: 5. Telford Is So Bracing

East of the M60’s 2021 Advent Calendar looks at two gloriously 1980s ads on Telford

Once upon a time, quite some time ago, sub-par funk music was used to sell the joys of our New Towns. In our first clip, this was exactly what you got about Telford in the mid-to-late 1980s.

Selling Runcorn By The Pound: 4. Life On The Busway

East of the M60’s 2021 Advent Calendar looks at Warrington’s Cheshire sibling on the southern side of the River Mersey

The Runcorn Busway is 50 years old this year. It has outlived many bus routes across the UK and provides a cheaper option to modern-day light rail systems. Using a stylised figure-eight, it is designed so passengers can get from Castlefields, Windmill or the Old Town to Runcorn Shopping City. Without having to cross roads at street level and the ‘joys’ of being held up at traffic lights.

Selling Runcorn By The Pound: 3. Call on Eileen

East of the M60’s 2021 Advent Calendar looks at Warrington-Runcorn legend Eileen Bilton

If you lived in Granadaland during the 1980s, you might have heard of Eileen Bilton through the Warrington-Runcorn adverts. A mainstay of any Granada Television ad break, the telephone numbers of Warrington 39591 or 33334 is etched on the minds of some viewers of a certain age.

Selling Runcorn By The Pound: 2. You’ve Never Seen Anything Like Milton Keynes

East of the M60’s 2021 Advent Calendar looks at a curio from 1980 about Milton Keynes

“Sunny CMK, wouldn’t mind staying all day…” trilled Ronnie Bond in his paean to Central Milton Keynes. On a personal level, it has been 27 years when I first visited Milton Keynes, and the place made a huge impression on me at the age of fourteen. Like Bond (Ronnie Bond), I would have happily explored the places treasures even more. Especially as it looked unlike any other place I had been to before.

Selling Runcorn By The Pound: 1. Energy In Northampton

East of the M60’s 2021 Advent Calendar looks at a killer pop classic – for a town 60 miles from London

In a galaxy far far away, everybody thought it was a good idea to jump on the Star Wars bandwagon. Talk about UFOs were heard at many a dinner table from Ashton’s Wimpy bar to to Sunny Rose Café. Space Invaders was pretty big business back in the day; the Electric Light Orchestra went full Star Wars on their Out Of The Blue LP; and many a Briton laughed at the Cadbury’s Smash® alien adverts.

Skelmersdale Prize Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club, 21 November 2021

Skem Band’s second visit to Boarshurst Band Club another success

It is hard to imagine it was nearly three years since Skelmersdale Prize Band last played at Boarshurst Band Club. At the time, they were a fledgling fourth section band brimming with potential. That was also when its present musical director Ben Coulson made his Boarshurst debut. Back then they gave us a solid concert with a programme that would test one or two third section bands.

Northern Powerhouse Rail: Railing Against a Lack of Ambition

In 2015 we were promised hoverboards, but Stalybridge had Pacer units instead (Shapps 4′ 8″ Remix)

In a professional capacity, Preston has become my second home. I know almost every nook and cranny of its railway station. On some occasions I hope for a slack connection, so I could do a bit of spotting between trains. In the last six months, I have seen many a passing Pendolino, many a diesel, electric and bi-mode unit, and the odd goods train.

Boarshurst Silver Band’s Remembrance Day Concert (14 November 2021)

Fantastic Remembrance Day concert for Boarshurst Silver Band with new musical director

2021’s Remembrance Sunday will be a special one in more ways than one for Boarshurst Silver Band. Firstly, alongside many brass bands across the UK, the first such concert for two years. For Boarshurst Silver Band, it also marked the arrival of their new Musical Director, Jamie Prophet.

Greenfield Band: Sunday Night at the Boarshurst Band Club (07 November 2021)

Another sweet sixteen pieces from The Happiest Band in Saddleworth

Three years on from their previous concert at Boarshurst Band Club, Greenfield Band set out on their mission to be The Happiest Band in Saddleworth. By 9.35 pm, they succeeded with an enjoyable programme of popular music, brass banding classics and cheesy tunes.

Tintwistle Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (31 October 2021)

Tintwistle’s comeback special makes for splendid concert

With the weather, there was a sense of deja vu for this year’s concert with Tintwistle Band. On the eve of Glasgow’s COP26 summit, the heavens opened big style in Saddleworth and Glossop. On their previous visit to Boarshurst Band Club in 2019, pretty similar stormy weather to yesterday’s concert.

Over two years after Andrew Mallon’s Boarshurst debut, Tintwistle Band’s Boarshurst concert was their first indoor one since the first lockdown. For Andrew and the band, it was great to be back to the old routine. If the weather gods smiled on them, they might have been rewarded with a few more concertgoers.