A barman has been reunited with the family he has never known following a chance encounter at work. Wayne Farrington, 38, was fostered at just two weeks old, but has always believed he had three siblings somewhere in Cheshire.

Despite searching the internet, he had never been able to track them down.
But when a customer he had never met walked into the Gaffers Row pub in Victoria Street at Crewe, where Wayne works, it sparked off a chain of events that has reunited him with two half- brothers and a half-sister.

Wayne, who was adopted by his long- term foster family when he was 15, said: "I knew I had other family because my adoptive parents told me when they adopted me, but I have never been able to find them.
"They knew they had another brother, but our mother died 18 years ago, and I think at that point they gave up hope.

"We all tried in our own ways, but it goes to show that the internet doesn't always get you that far."
He explained that when a customer came into the pub and mentioned he was from Northwich, Wayne, of Queen's Drive, Nantwich, asked him casually if he knew a woman he believed to be his mother's sister.
"When I mentioned the woman's name he was surprised and said he did know her, that she was the landlady of his local pub.

"I got in touch with my mum's sister, and I've just met them all for the first time."
Wayne has now been reunited with Northwich-based Zoe, 36, Scot, 35, and 37-year-old Spencer, and says his life has changed forever.

"It was just how it all happened. I'd never seen the guy who came in the pub before, and if he hadn't mentioned he was from Northwich, I would never had said anything about it, and even then, what were the chances?

"It's hard to imagine that within three weeks I had met family I've never known. When we met for the first time, Zoe and I both had a kind of déjà vu, like we'd met before.

"We might have stood next to each other in a bar and never realised who we were to each other.
"All this from a bit of banter with a stranger to pass the time one afternoon. It's incredible. I never could have imagined it would have come about this way."

TIME stood still for Teddy Bacon after a gold watch he lost at sea 67 years ago turned up in the post - and was still working!

The year was 1941 when the Bulova automatic watch slipped off the wrist of Lieutenant Bacon as he threw a line to shore aboard HMS Repulse in Gibraltar harbour.

Two divers were dispatched to retrieve it from the drink some 24 feet down but to no avail.

The young officer left the details of his lost property with the deputy harbour master but never expected to see it again. So it was a surprise, to say the least, when the waterproof watch recently landed on his Tarvin doormat and was still ticking.

The timepiece had been discovered by workers dredging the harbour in 2007 who had seen something "sparkle" amid the sludge.

Mr Bacon, 89, said it was only because the Gibraltar harbour master's office is run so efficiently that someone had the presence of mind to check the records.

It was posted back in a brown envelope and after being redirected via two former homes it was eventually reunited with its rightful owner.

Mr Bacon, a widower with four children, and a great-grandfather, remembers the moment he lost his watch as though it was yesterday.

"I took the line off this able seaman who was not doing it properly and I threw the line ashore. Unfortunately, the watch was loose and went over my hand and I saw it go into the drink.

"I took a depth and I took a distance. Two divers went down but they couldn't find it," said Mr Bacon.

Lieutenant Bacon had bought the watch for $55 in the Azores while attached to HMS Repulse which was used to escort convoys to the Middle East and around Africa.

At the end of 1941, as the threat of war with Japan loomed ever larger, The Repulse was ordered to the Far East where she was holed by "waves" of Japanese fighter planes.

Mr Bacon, who celebrates his 90th birthday next month, narrowly escaped death and as the "commander of all decks" recalls being the last man off as she went down.

A NOTORIOUS outdoor sex spot has been hit with a parking fee during hours of darkness.

The introduction of a £3 pay and display system means anyone wanting to engage in illicit activities at Broxton picnic area between 6pm and 6am must pay - or face an £85 fine.

Doggers - people having sex in public watched by others - have been subjected to undercover police surveillance at the picturesque spot in recent years.

Charlie and Bec Dakin, of Duckington, own an arable farm which borders the picnic area and doggers often venture on to their land.

Mrs Dakin said: "If it prevents the damage occurring and the anti-social behaviour that goes on, we welcome it."

Tommy Lloyd, who runs a burger bar in the secluded car park and owns the land, imposed the fee on May 26 but denies the measure is solely to target doggers.

He said: "We've had a lot of damage done to the area including the drainage. It's taking a lot of money off us and the pay and display is a way of paying for it."

Mr Lloyd has employed a warden from Central Ticketing, who specialise in parking management, to issue £85 fines to people not displaying.

Police spokesman Glyn Hellam said: "What an individual chooses to do on his or her land is not for us to comment on."

CRIMINALS fear being banned from the pub more than facing the courts, a North Wales police inspector has said.

Holyhead's Inspector Andy Williams told the North Wales Daily Post that persistent crooks on Anglesey were more concerned with being placed on the town's Pubwatch banning list than any penalty imposed by the criminal justice system.

He said: "When they are arrested and we tell them they are off to court they shrug their shoulders, but tell them they are banned from the pubs and they start to plead with you.

"I am proud the scheme is having such an effect but it is also a sad state of affairs that they are not concerned about court."

Inspector Williams decided to speak out after becoming frustrated by the criminal justice system.

He said: "I've lost count of the number of times police have arrested particular persons officially known as 'persistent offenders', have then put them before the court to be later told they have yet again been bailed with the same conditions they had before.

"They are called 'persistent' for a reason, we have their bail history and we have the conditions that they have breached again, and again; the very conditions that were designed to protect the community from their offending.

"When speaking to one or two of the individuals concerned, they honestly find it amusing. I hasten to add that I do not blame our local courts for this.

"They are bogged down in the politics of the government of today, which I feel has some extremely pressing issues in terms of both prison populations and the balance between punishment and rehabilitation."

A CONTROVERSIAL restaurant critic has been blasted for claiming he had never heard of Chester and speculating that women attending Ladies' Day at the Roodee were "fat" and "hairy".

In response Richard Thomas, chief executive of Chester Race Company, has invited Sunday Times columnist AA Gill to visit Chester and "see what us yokel northerners get up to!".

Gill, famed for his unforgiving rants and critical excesses, also responded to comments about The Chester Grosvenor during an "Audience With..." style event at The Hay Festival where he talked about extracts from his book Table Talk.

One audience member said they had recently visited the Michelin star establishment and were surprised to be asked what sort of butter they would like.

Gill demanded to know where it was and the audience member reluctantly revealed it was in Chester.

Gill responded: "Oh, for god's sake, I don't know. Where's Chester?!"

To which John Mitchinson, who was leading the discussion, said: "It's in the north of England."

"What on earth were you doing up there?!" asked Gill.

The audience member replied: "Ladies' Day at the Chester races."

Gill quipped: "Do they race ladies in the North?! Wot ho! That's a lovely idea.Those fat, old Northerners. Chunky thighs, all hairy."

TOP secret files on UFO sightings have been released revealing Cheshire was once home to an "alien base".

Hundreds of reported sightings have been made public by the Ministry of Defence as they have been inundated with Freedom of Information requests to release the documents.

Among Britain's own X-files is a report from one ex-navy man from Kingsley who contacted Liverpool Airport's civil supervisor in December 1986.

Describing himself as a keen astrologer, he reported seeing six golden spheres moving "very fast" and leaving a vapour trail in the sky. He added they appeared to move from Speke Airport, Liverpool toward Manchester for about two minutes.

Another alarmed witness in Blacon called Cheshire police after seeing a red and yellow bright light on a clear night in December 1981.

They described the unexplained object as being steady in the air for five minutes before moving towards Mollington.

The recently unclassified information includes figures for the number of reported sightings of unidentified flying objects.

Numbers peaked in 1978, with 750 sightings - suspiciously a year after Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars first hit the big screen. By 1984 there were only 214 reports.

The most outlandish claims come from a man who wrote to the MoD in 1985 saying he had been in regular contact with an extra terrestrial named Algar since 1958 and visited alien bases in Cheshire and the Wirral.

In a three-page letter, the man described seeing an alien that was "green and very large, that had eyes all over it," and another with "fat worms sticking out of her head".

He claimed to have seen six UFOs shoot another down near Wallasey Town Hall, sending it splashing into the Mersey before disappearing.

He continued: "In June 1981, Algar was ready to approach the government in person. I was over the moon with pride to be used as the medium between alien race and our own race."

But before the historic meeting could happen, Algar and his "team of scientists" were apparently killed by other aliens in 1981.

The would-be emissary added later that year the same aliens tried to "dominate" him but died in their attempt.

AS voters go to the polls today (Thursday) in the high-profile Crewe & Nantwich by-election, local baker Chatwins is giving people alternative politicians to vote for.

This version does not give speeches and campaign promises or make U-turns! Instead, the Chatwins gingerbread men are taking political sides by dressing up in party colours.

The gingerbread politicians are on sale at Chatwins shops in Nantwich Square and at Victoria Street in Crewe and, rather than waiting until, the early hours of tomorrow morning for the result of the election, the bakery will announce which of the political gingerbread men is the shoppers' top choice at 5pm today.

An evergreen family's oldest living member celebrated her 105th birthday with a huge party last week.

And for Fanny Billington and her five surviving siblings it was their 575th annual celebration, making them Britain's oldest family.

Fanny and her 102-year-old sister Jinny, who both live at Crossways residential home in Lostock, were joined on Thursday by sisters Mary, aged 98; Sally, 92; Anne, 90 and "baby brother" Arthur, 88.

Fanny and Jinny have lived through the reign of five monarchs. Their dad John and their mother, Jane, were both in their late eighties when they passed away in the 1960s.

Crossways manager Sue Houghton said: "Everyone adores Fanny and Jinny, they are the life and soul of the place.

"They're both quite late risers but can be up until midnight or 1am watching telly!"

The 12 Billington children grew up in a three-bed end-terrace in Lostock.

Fanny said: "We are part of a long-lived family and it must be down to our genes. Everyone says it is amazing, but to us it's normal.

"We were a large family but in those days, it was common for families of nine, 10 or even 13. I can't remember anyone in the area having fewer than six children."

Sue admitted the home's oldest resident has a special medicine which helps keep her young. "Fanny loves a sherry!" she laughed.

"She just has whatever she wants whenever she wants - and why not? It hasn't done her any harm so far!"

A marine biologist has scotched rumours that a carcass washed up on the shore at West Bank last week was that of a baby whale.

The aquatic mammal, later identified as a "harbour" or "common" porpoise, was found yards from the Mersey Hotel on Monday night.

Manager Dean Gleavey said: "It wasn't alive but it wasn't stiff, so I don't think it had been dead long.

"Today (Tuesday) people have been saying that another one has been found at Spike Island on the sandbanks.

"And people have been talking about news reports that a whale is coming towards Liverpool - who knows, maybe it's the mother looking for its babies!"

Dr Julian Chantrey, of Liverpool University's Veterinary Pathology Faculty, identified the creature as a porpoise.

His department receives carcasses and carries out post mortems on behalf of a monitoring project at London Zoo.

He said: "They live in the Irish Sea and you find them in coastal waters looking for fish. Sometimes the young ones get separated and the juveniles can become disorientated as they move away from the family group.

"The babies are about cocker spaniel-size and the adults can weigh 150kg - I would say this one is a juvenile."

A council spokesman said staff had gone to dispose of the carcass but particularly high tides had hampered efforts on Tuesday.

Hacks up and down the country may have had a few things to say about Coleen McLoughlin being a journalist.

The WAG gave her occupation as "journalist" on the wedding banns posted by her and future hubby Wayne Rooney at Crewe Register Office.

But let's give the 22-year-old the benefit of the doubt - she does write a weekly column, Welcome to My World, in a national magazine - but what about the rest of her credentials?

Has she crammed in hours of shorthand as well as her public affairs and media law exams for example? Or has she done an in-house training course at her local newspaper or on a magazine? We just can't be sure.

Apparently, Coleen received extensive media training for her show, Coleen's Real Women, and receives £100,000 for her column about her day-to-day life in Closer magazine.

It seems it's fame that lands you a column these days, so we have called on Coleen, pictured, to take up a challenge at the Chronicle.

The WAG's agents agreed to put our proposal to Coleen of some paid work experience at the Chronicle. We are hoping she will jump at the chance of showing us what she is made of.

Allison Little, a journalism student at Chester University currently on work experience at the Chronicle, said: "Most of us have to work really hard to get into the business. Placement students work 9am-5pm every day without pay. I would like to see her do what we do."

Update
Celebrity 'journalist' Coleen McCloughlin has had to decline to our kind offer of paid work-experience at the Chronicle because of wedding commitments.

The 22-year-old, who is to marry Manchester United star Wayne Rooney next month, says she is "too busy" with wedding preparations to impress us with her journalistic skills.

The offer followed Coleen and Wayne's posting of their wedding banns at Crewe Register Office when the future Mrs Rooney, who writes a magazine fashion column, gave her occupation as journalist.