June 2008 Archives

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."