Lancashire nostalgia in 1980: Major floods in Lancashire; nudist swimming; and chicken plucking bingo club

Here's a look at some of the stories that were making the headlines back in 1980:
Flooding under the bridge on Fylde Road in PrestonFlooding under the bridge on Fylde Road in Preston
Flooding under the bridge on Fylde Road in Preston

Under water... with worse yet to come

Lancashire waded through its second great deluge in a week... with the wettest weather for half a decade.

Flood water closed many of the county’s roads - and the M6 motorway was completely shut for the first time in many years.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A series of accidents forced police to block off the motorway between Lancaster and Preston and divert traffic on to the A6 at Broughton - and one driver said the roads resembled a “battlefield”.

Later, the A6 itself was closed at Brock, near Preston, and at Melling, near Lancaster.

Almost two inches of rain fell in the Preston area - the most since 1973 - and weathermen said it was the wettest October for 12 years in Lancashire.

A Lancashire police spokesman said: “Things are going to get worse.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In Lancashire as a whole over an inch of rain fell in the last 24 hours - almost half the average for October.

The county’s two worse affected rivers - the Ribble and the Wyre - were in danger of bursting their banks at high tide.

Chaos reigned on the M6 where dozens of cares littered both carriageways.

Read More
Look back at a selection of pictures from 1980 here

Nudist nights are set for Fylde swim pool

Councillors have got down to the bare essentials... and given the go-ahead to nude bathing in the Fylde.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The naked swim sessions will be held twice a month at Kirkham baths.

But the application from the Central Council for British Naturism did not go through without quite a bit of comment from the town’s councillors.

In fact Coun Jack Paton thought at first the group had mistaken them for Brighton!

He added it was a pity the council had gone to all the expense of building dressing rooms when now they would not be needing them.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

On a more serious note Coun Bob Fisher said although he approved in principle he would not like to see the nudists getting the baths as a priority over the public.

“The baths should never be closed to organisations like these. But at the same time we must always leave the baths open for the general public,” he said.

The only drawback to the application was that the times requested by the council clashed with the dates when Weeton army camp had booked the baths.

The nudists intend to give the arrangement a three-month trial.

Bingo club chicken plan get the ‘pullet’

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A bingo club hatched a novel plan for its Christmas bonus nights... a chicken plucking contest.

But the idea has been the “pullet”.

Police and magistrates decided Lancaster’s EMI Bingo and Social Club didn’t need a bar extension to make the feathers fly.

Morecambe court ruled that an extra hour on December 11 and 18 should not be allowed.

Now club manager Mike Bolton has decided the chicken plucking contest will probably be cancelled.

But he refused to get in a flap over the decision.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “The magistrates and police felt it would be unfair to local pubs and the festivities could easily be contained within normal hours.

“It has probably saved me money on entertainment. We’ll still have a good time.”

Related topics: