December 2008 Archives

ALTHOUGH Christmas means different things to different people, Times Past is of the opinion that It's A Wonderful Life sends the most universal message.

With the credit crunch hitting people hard, we can all learn to be thankful for what we have from Frank Capra's 1947 masterpiece, starring the monumental James Stewart. Incidentally, Times Past's favourite Christmas song is Fairy Tale of New York, but the Pogues' message is a little less wholesome.

We would also like to wish all our readers and regular contributors a Happy Christmas.

TIMES Past has become aware of a wonderful reunion between the founding members of the civic society and a former editor of the Formby Times.
Pat O'Neill, who edited the paper in the 1950s, recently chanced upon the Formby Civic Society's website and e-mailed Dr Reg Yorke and his wife Barbara.
Mr O'Neill remembered the Yorke's well, and the series of meetings that led to birth of Formby Civic Society. He also recalls Muriel Sibley and her sketches of village life.
And the Yorke's remember Mr O'Neill, particularly his attendance at one meeting in their Brows Lane home in the late '50s, when they "reformed the Formby Labour Party."
The former editor also recounts the Royal Visit of 1956, when the Queen Mum presented a new set of colours to the Manchester Regiment at Harington Barracks.
And it seems this special occasion was captured on film. Staff from the University of Liverpool arrived on the scene with a movie camera, and the fascinating footage was screened in Formby later that year.
If any of our readers have information on that film, please get in touch.