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ARCHAEOLOGY students from the University of Chester have joined forces with Cheshire West and Chester Council's Habitats and Hillforts project to investigate the Iron Age hillfort of Kelsborrow Castle, near Kelsall.

Students used geophysical survey techniques to catch a glimpse of what may be hidden underneath the surface of the ground, under the training and supervision of Dr Meggen Gondek, a senior lecturer in archaeology.

AUCTIONEERS have uncovered an antique silver trophy presented to the winner of the Tarporley Hunt Cup in 1858.

The foot-high trophy, expected to sell for up to £1,800, was discovered in the Surrey home of a direct descendant of the winner.

AMONG the congregation enjoying a service to celebrate the contribution made by the Cheshire Women's Land Army and Timber Corps was Pat Paton, who worked on a farm near Malpas for three of the war years.

Mrs Paton, neé Grainger-Smith, now aged 89, was invited to the service at Chester Cathedral to join a congregation of 700 people.

Mrs Paton was born in Wallasey and on joining the Land Army worked at Larkton House farm, Duckington.

Mrs Paton, the mother of David Paton of Threapwood, said: "I was very glad I went, it brought back many memories. I look back on those days as a time when we worked hard but we felt that what we were doing was worthwhile.

The plague was a constant threat to Cheshire in the seventeenth century and the Malpas parish records contain the story of how one Tushingham family was decimated in the summer of 1625.

The head of the family, Raufe Dawson, had unwittingly brought the plague back to Tushingham, apparently through infected fleas in his cloth bag.

IN VIEW of the recent demolition of the Moore & Brock site at Barons Quay I thought a brief history could be of interest to readers.

The area was used by Northwich Carrying Company Ltd, which was formed in 1883 by local slate merchant Thomas Moore to carry goods between Northwich and Liverpool. GH Brock joined him as co-director in 1906.

The company was used by many small businesses and shopkeepers as well as by Brunner Mond after its formation in 1874, to carry salt and chemicals. An early shareholder was WJYarwood, who built and repaired a number of the vessels.

The Old Marston salt mine, near Northwich, was the unusual setting for a grand dinner held in honour of the Tsar of Russia in 1844.

Rock salt had been discovered at Marbury in 1670 and by 1850 there were 23 mines in the Northwich area producing 100,000 tons of rock salt. The Marston mine had been sunk in the eighteenth century and became a major tourist attraction over the next century.

Visitors marvelled at the scale of the candlelit caverns over 300 feet below the surface. One such visitor in 1814 described how they 'appeared as if in an immense, solemn and awful temple' where the miners 'seemed like dark shadows' and only the noise of their hammers broke the silence.

PEGGY WOODCOCK looks back on 40 years of Chester's inimitable Gateway Theatre.

I remember the Gateway stage rippling with water for a stunning production of Pinter's emotive play Betrayal.

On the same stage I once talked to acting legends Pauline Collins, of Shirley Valentine fame, and John Alderton, currently in BBC's Little Dorrit.

These hugely successful actors memorably made clear the value they placed on small venues like the Gateway, and their determination to give support.

I remember children squealing and laughing through Charlotte's Web, Jungle Book and other Christmas productions, some of which went on to other theatres.

There was the youthful Hamlet writing red graffiti on dazzling white walls. Not for me, but, away from the classroom, a teenage audience was actually enjoying Shakespeare!

The Chronicle campaign is rightly focusing on the present, pressing for a re-opened Gateway as a way of redressing the dire situation existing for the arts in the city centre.

The strong case is being argued on these pages. Maybe some snapshots from the past will help to bolster it, to remind everyone what an asset the Gateway was to the city.

I helped report the Gateway from the early nineties, when the theatre created its own productions of wide-ranging plays like the shocking, brave, gay Torch Song Trilogy, the happy Yorkshire-set Second from Last in the Sack Race, the passionate Wuthering Heights, the thriller Night Must Fall.

Artistic director Jeremy Raison, now at Glasgow Citizens Theatre, attracted talent like actor Patrick Robinson, Ash in Casualty and then the first black Heathcliff in Chester. He went on to Stratford, is now in the TV drama Survivors.

Raison brought in household names, like Michael le Vell, Coronation Street's Kevin Webster, making his first foray into theatre as the sinister Dan in Night Must Fall.
It brought the national press to the Gateway as, later, did heavyweights Dennis Waterman, Patrick Mower and the late Ned Sherrin, when they made our theatre the first stop for their scriptwriter comedy Bing Bong.

The theatre commanded respect within the industry and helped talent grow.

And it entertained as Raison upped audience figures to more than 84% and brought a prestigious regional theatre award to the Gateway. He gave us rock and roll summers with great shows like Three Steps to Heaven, which twice went on to national tours.
I remember the relief of crucial Arts Council funding and the welcome arrival of pink seats from the Mayflower, Southampton - second-hand but such comfort! - and of Deborah Shaw, a talented director who made a success of the recent mammoth Complete Works of Shakespeare Festival in Stratford.

Passionate about the Gateway, she promised "the best of theatre, what Chester deserves and should have" and delivered with treats like a delightful Alice in Wonderland, a clever Vanity Fair and a lively version of the Hitchcock thriller Marnie.
Sadly the Gateway ceased as a producing theatre but went on delivering entertainment as a venue for visiting companies, stand-ups and other performers.

I remember laughter with Maria Gibb as a comic Joyce Grenfell, Aussie Caroline Reid, naughty as trolly dolly PamAnn, and Rodney Bewes, a delight in Three Men and a Boat.

And the fun of Hull Truck's nightclub Bouncers and football Perfect Pitch.
Colin Baker boomed through The Haunted Hotel and Rula Lenska shocked, well, some of the audience, in The Vagina Monologues.

I remember the pathos of Trestle's masked Stoneheads and the drama of death, bagpipes and Edinburgh Castle on stage for Tunes of Glory.

Soap stars came: Steven Pinder (Brookside) in Dial M for Murder, Chloe Newsome (Corrie) in Pride and Prejudice, and Scarlet Johnson (Eastenders) as Daisy Miller.
Rani Moorthy cooked curry on the same stage where, years earlier, Sunny Ormonde, as Shirley Valentine, had memorably fried chips and egg.

So many local societies entertained with opera and musical theatre, like Tip Top Productions, now keeping the Forum Studio alive.

It was here I watched school kids engrossed in a dark, mini Macbeth, and the marvellous Iestyn Edwards reduce his mini audience to tears of laughter as ballerina Madame Galactica.

You will all have your own memories of the Gateway, of productions that have made you sad, made you laugh, made you think, enriched your life.

But like me you will remember arriving to a crowded foyer buzzing with anticipation for the entertainment ahead, whatever it may be - this same foyer where once, earlier in the day, you may well have had a coffee or a sandwich lunch.

Great days. Let's get them back!

A FOOTBALL match played this week held historical significance for those who gave their lives in the 1914-1918 Great War.

Thirty officers and soldiers from the Chester-based 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh (Royal Welch Fusiliers) played a football match in Frelinghien, France, to commemorate a brief time of peace that occurred on the first Christmas Day of the First World War.

The Royal Welch Fusiliers met their German opponents, the Saxons of the 133 Infantry Regiment and the Prussians of the 6 Jager Battalion, in no- man's-land for an impromptu game of football on what was a rare day of peace on Christmas Day, 1914.

Captain C I Stockwell, who was present at the original Truce, wrote an account of the events on "one of the most curious Christmas Days" he had ever experienced.

He describes the singing, cheering and the exchanging of beer that took place. However, after this one night of peace and festivity, the fighting was resumed the next day.

Captain Stockwell recalls: "The German captain and I both saluted. He fired two shots in the air, and the war was on again".

The football match this week was played on the site of the original Truce game. The opposing team comprised members of the German Army's Panzergrenadier Battalion 371, formed from the Saxon Infantry, who originally played in 1914.

British soldiers attended the unveiling of a Christmas Truce Memorial in the town. This Memorial displays the badges of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the Saxon infantry and the Prussian Jager. They also took part in a Service of Remembrance before the football match, taking part in a two minute silence.

The Commanding Officer of The Royal Welsh 1st Battalion, Lt Col Nick Lock, said: "We are delighted to be taking part. The Christmas Truce illustrated the basic humanity of the men from both sides engaged in that terrible conflict."

CHESHIRE airfields had a massive hand to play in the Second World War, according to leading historian Aldon Ferguson.

At the height of the conflict the county had nine operational airfields, with six of them purpose-built to aid the war effort at Calveley, Cranage, Stretton, Poulton, Little Sutton and Tatton Park, while airfields at Ringway, Hooton Park and Woodford were already in existence.

These nine airfields were used by the Royal Air Force and many war-time fighters and bombers were built, while thousands of pilots, navigators and paratroopers were also trained, according to Mr Ferguson's new book Cheshire Airfields of The Second World War.

The book explains in depth what has happened to all nine of the airfields since the war, with only two of the sites, Ringway and Woodford, still operating.

The other seven have been built over or returned to quiet fields.

Cheshire Airfields of The Second World War is published by Countryside Books, priced £12.99, and available at all good bookshops or direct from the publisher at wwww.countrysidebooks. co.uk.

Cheshire airfields had a massive hand to play in the Second World War, according to leading World War II historian, Aldon Ferguson.

At the height of of the Second World War, Cheshire had nine operational airfields, with six of them purpose-built to aid the war effort at Calveley, Stretton, Poulton, Cranage, Little Sutton and Tatton Park, while airfields at Ringway, Hooton Park and Woodford were already in existence.

These nine airfields were used by the Royal Air Force and many war-time fighters and bombers were built, while thousands of pilots, navigators and paratroopers were also trained according to the book Cheshire Airfields of The Second World War.

The book explains in depth what has happened to all nine of the airfields since the war, with only two of the sites, Ringway and Woodford still operating.

The other seven have been built over or returned to the quiet fields that they once were, with a corner of the old Cranage airfield now lying under the M6.

Detailed research takes the reader through the action during the conflict that took place at the airfields during the war, including the construction of an aircraft that was amazingly assembled in just 24-hours, before having a successful test flight within just 45 minutes.

The book also describes how the airfields helped to protect Manchester and the docks at Birkenhead and Liverpool and how training at the airfields directly affected the D-Day Landings.

Mr Ferguson has also obtained access to several interesting photographs which help the reader to picture what the airfields looked like in the early forties.