October 2008 Archives

A FUNDRAISER who has raised more than £100,000 to help others has made his final splash in charity duck racing at Crewe's Macon Meadows.

Crewe and Nantwich Liberal Democrat borough councillor Ray Stafford - dubbed the 'Duck Man' - has put away his yellow plastic quackers after 15 years.

The Lea Avenue resident hosted his first duck race on the River Waldron running through Macon Meadows in 1993 and since then he has arranged hundreds and they have coined in more than £100,000 for voluntary and charitable organisations.

The last race, which was held earlier this month, raised £914 for the Cheshire Academy and the Lions Youth Brass Band. In total this year 15 races have raised £11,406.

"I first started the duck races because I had occasion to witness one on the River Waldron," said Cllr Stafford. "Someone came and asked me if I could help with further fundraising, which I had done intermittently over many years and once started I got the bug."

He added: "It's been an absolutely marvellous experience to share the fun and action of the races with so many different people.

"Youngsters with parents and families often shout across the street 'there's the Duck Man' and that most certainly brings a huge smile all round."

"I couldn't have done all this without the help of so many people, too many to mention but you know who you all are. I would also like to thank numerous organisations involved in the races and for their efforts in getting so many ducks sponsored. Also, thanks to St Leonard's Church at Warmingham who, through Judy Baxter, has loaned the 1,000 plastic ducks for his use.

"The community have also helped out in offering support and donating draw and tombola prizes."

Cllr Stafford has also thanked his wife for her support.

A BEATLES fan literally had a 'ticket to ride' when she put a set of autographs of the Fab Four up for auction on Friday.

The autographs, contained on a Whitchurch Civic Hall ticket stub, sold for £2,300 at Halls in Shrewsbury after keen competition from two bidders.

The local buyer, a keen fan of The Beatles, held off competition from an eBay bidder.

The owner, who lives in Oswestry, collected the autographs when The Beatles played at Whitchurch Civic Hall in 1962, before they became famous.

Stewart Orr, toys expert at Halls, explained the woman had attended the concert with a friend at about the time of the group's first single, Love Me Do, which was released on October 5, 1962.

"She arrived early and was sitting in the foyer at Whitchurch Civic Hall waiting for a friend when Paul McCartney came in and asked if they wanted to meet the rest of the group backstage," he said.

"The only thing that the girls had to sign was the stub of a ticket for a concert by Chris Barber's Jazz Band. As an extra bonus, the owner of the autographs got to kiss John Lennon.

"The Beatles had just released their first single and were still carrying their own equipment to and from their van."

A TARPORLEY restaurant owner has been ordered to pull the plug on dummy parking tickets which left motorists hot under the collar.

Chris Baker, of Christiano's restaurant at Tarporley, dished out 500 fake tickets to vehicles in Nantwich's car parks with the message 'Gotcha: free bottle of wine with a meal for two at Christiano's hidden inside."

Now Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council has stepped in and told him to stop or receive a £300 fine for littering.

A council spokesman said: "We were alerted to these tickets being placed on vehicles on Saturday and we took immediate action to have them removed because they bear a resemblance to those issued by police.

"This caused a lot of distress to residents and the borough council frowns upon this type of thing."

Mr Baker admits numerous phone calls were made to the restaurant by irate drivers who he says 'failed to see the funny side' of his promotion.

He added: "This has just been a complete over-reaction to our new offer. I have literally had people telling me they have high blood pressure and need to go to the doctors because of this and that one man had an asthma attack.

"Some have said it was a good idea but I have had so many angry calls. We must have had about 150 calls and one man told me it was causing havoc in the town centre. It has just completely backfired."

A dozen people took up the offer and visited the Italian restaurant on Sunday night. Mr Baker, who lives at Wettenhall, is delighted but he says he continues to receive calls from angry people: "It seems a lot of people just don't have a sense of humour and have taken this completely the wrong way."

It was the first time the restaurant, run by Mr Baker and his wife Dawn, had carried out the promotion.

by Haydon Wood, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Prince of Wales turned down an offer to star in science fiction hit Doctor Who, the show's producer revealed at the weekend.

Speaking at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, writer and executive producer Russell T Davies told 2,000 sci-fi fans the Prince snubbed his invitation to star in the popular BBC drama. Joined on-stage by actor John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack Harkness in the hit series, Mr Davies OBE called the Prince a "miserable swine".

Referring to his new book, Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale, Mr Davies was asked about his plans for a Prince Charles cameo in the time-travelling series.

He said: "He turned us down, the miserable swine."

Mr Davies, considered to be the leading force behind the 44-year-old show's revival, recently announced his tenure as lead writer and executive producer would end in 2009.

The 45-year-old Welshman resisted giving away any secrets about the forthcoming specials or fifth series to the crowd in Cheltenham. Mr Barrowman, who also plays Captain Jack in Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, said David Tennant was his favourite Doctor.
Liverpool Daily Post

WIDNES-BORN Big Brother star Mario Marconi returns to the screen tonight in a new reality show.

Mario, 43, formerly of Moon Street, who appeared on the cult Channel 4 show earlier this year, can now be seen on the ITV2 show Celeb Air, alongside partner and fellow Big Brother contestant Lisa Appleton.

The couple, who now live in Lisa's home town of Warrington, will be passengers on a flight stewarded by other celebrities, such as former X Factor contestant Chico.

Mario said: "We're on there to cause a bit of havoc basically as each week one of the celebrity flight staff gets the sack.

"I'm not the best flyer and on the show Lisa has to provide me with the rescue remedy, but that's all I can say."

The couple, who have signed deals with Neon Management and OK magazine since leaving the Big Brother house, have been delighted with the reception given to them by the Widnes public.

Former stunt man and Royal Mail employee Mario said: "The response has been really good and I've been mobbed when I've been out in Widnes.

"It takes a couple of weeks to get used to having people who you don't know shouting your name in the street.

"It's especially weird when I get spotted walking around Asda in Widnes with my mum, so she's become a local celebrity as well."

Mario and Lisa, who became the first couple to compete in the Big Brother house, are now both hoping to pursue TV careers.

Mario is now in talks with TV bosses to film a fly on the wall style documentary, as well as negotiating coverage of his and Lisa's forthcoming marriage.

A FOOTBALL fan has paid the ultimate tribute to his club - by naming his daughter after it.

Eva Toni Ann Pierce, who is eight months old, owes her name to her dad's love of Everton Football Club.
Danny Pierce, of Moorfields, Holywell, said: "I am Everton beserk. I thought up the name when I was in school and always said if I had a daughter she'd be called Eva-Toni-Ann."

But Eva's mum, Claire Cooper, needed convincing.

She said: "I'm not interested in football and I didn't like the name at first but it has grown on me now."
The couple have two other daughters, Tia and Casey, but it wasn't until the birth of the third that Claire allowed the football-themed name.

Danny said: "We put all the names we had thought of in a hat and I picked out Eva-Toni-Ann. Then we got our eldest daughter to pick one and she picked it too."

Claire added: "She didn't have a name for the first couple of days because we were going to call her Ciara but it didn't suit her."

If they had had a boy, he would have been called Duncan, after former Everton player Duncan Ferguson.
The unusual name has attracted a lot of attention.

"When we go into the chemist people always say what a great name it is," Danny said.

"People come up to me in the street to talk about it. Even Liverpool fans think it's great."

The name has extra meaning after Danny's father, a huge Everton fan, died following a house-fire earlier this year.

Danny said: "My dad was a big fan and a season ticket holder. He brought us up on Everton. "He was here when Eva was born and I know that he was proud."

A CRICKET club owner has been buried next to the scoreboard at his beloved Haslington ground.

Mike Trevor, of Fields Road, Haslington, was buried at the club he has run for more than 20 years on Friday following a funeral which family and friends say was more like a wedding.

Sam Trevor, son of 70-year-old Mike, said his dad had the day he wanted.

"It was unbelievable," said 39-year-old Sam. "A couple of people turned round and said it was the best funeral they'd ever been to and that it was more like a wedding. We wanted it to be celebration of his life and it was."

Sam said his dad decided he wanted to be buried at the cricket club two and a half years ago when he was first diagnosed with cancer.

Various checks with officials, including the environment agency, then had to be taken before permission was granted.

The funeral was held at the Clay Lane club and then Mike was taken in a horse drawn hearse to his final resting place - next to the score board.

"It was incredible about 500 people attended," said Sam. "We'd only catered for 200 but we managed. We'd just like to really thank everyone who turned up."

Some of those who attended had flown in from as far away as Canada. Others came from Scotland and Ireland.

They all took part in the celebration of Mike's life which was led by his widow, Pauline, elder son Michael, 44, and his wife Melanie and daughter Louise, together with Sam, his wife Nicky and their son Oli.

In keeping with Mike's wishes, there was a big celebration followed by a hog roast. "Again, that was just what he wanted," added Sam.