150 Facts About Todmorden

1. The Lancashire-Yorkshire boundary used to run through Todmorden and it was once possible to stand with one foot in each county. This “at the edge” feeling has contributed greatly to Todmorden’s independent nature.

2. Although Todmorden’s postmark is Oldham and telephone code Rochdale, both in Lancashire, it is a Yorkshire town.

3. Todmorden was granted Borough status in 1896 and accordingly has its own coat of arms, enrolled in the Herald’s Office.

4. The town is almost certainly unique for a town of its size in boasting two Nobel prizewinners, two Todmordians gaining this worldwide recognition.

5. Our first Nobel prizewinner is Sir John Cockcroft, who gained the prize for Physics in 1951. He was the first man to split the atom artificially and his role was crucial in the development of nuclear power.

6. Then Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson received the prize for Chemistry in 1973, in recognition of his work on the chemistry of organometallic sandwich compounds. He received the award jointly with Professor Ernst Otto Fiocher. Sir Geoffrey and Sir John were both taught by the same teacher at Todmorden Grammar School.

7. In 1978 the Grammar School and Todmorden Secondary School were united as the comprehensive Todmorden High School. This year the Government’s granted the High School arts college status.

8. Artistic achievement has always played its part in Todmorden life, be it through the work of sculptor and former Todmorden News editor Sam Tonkiss, the paintings of Bohuslav Barlow and a host of skilled musicians.

9. Among those reaching the top of the musical tree were conductor Dr Ben Horsfall, rock stars Keith Emerson and John Helliwell and bandleader Geoff Love.

10. Ben Horsfall’s skills shone at the very top of his profession - the accomplished violinist was a member of, among others, the famous Halle Orchestra.

11. Leader of first the Nice and then the world famous Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Keith Emerson was born in Todmorden but it is likely his family moved away in boyhood.

12. By contrast Supertramp’s John Helliwell has often returned home over the years and the saxophonist was resident here again in the 1990s. Last year the group - perhaps best known for their “Breakfast In America” album - reformed, playing the world’s biggest arenas.

13. Geoff Love was a fixture on television screens through the 1970s and an edition of the famous TV show “This Is Your Life”, presented by Eamonn Andrews, was devoted to him.

14. Todmorden has provided location shooting for several television series’ over the years. The BBC’s 80s police show “Juliet Bravo” and 90s series “Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit,” plus ITV’s “Life And Times of Henry Pratt” were all filmed here.

15. A common joke in town over the years is “I’ll bet you I’ve walked down every street in Tod”. Every Street in the Kilnhurst area is where some of “Life and Times...” was filmed.

16. Mention Kilnhurst and it won’t be long before someone mentions it was the home of author, journalist, traveller and artist William Holt. A true eccentric, Holt’s book “I Haven’t Unpacked” was a best seller.

17. “Striding out” makes Todmorden a popular destination for walkers. It has its own Centenery Way series of walks and forms part of the Calderdale Way, with the Pennine Way passing close by.

18. At the heart of the Pennines, modern Todmorden was founded on cotton and its red rose leanings come because, although in the white rose county, it is often referred to as “the last Lancashire cotton town”.

19. One cotton dynasty, the Fielden family, played a pivotal role in Todmorden’s history, the famous Waterside works being the major employer in the 19th century town.

20. John Fielden was MP for Oldham and he helped steer the Ten Hours Act through Parliament in the 1830s. The Act limited the number of hours children could be forced to work.

21. Fielden’s involvement in radical politics also manifested itself in his support for Chartism, Todmorden’s opposition to the Poor Law (Stansfield View workhouse was not built for decades) and his backing for extending the vote.

22. When the Great Reform Act of 1832 was passed by Parliament, a major step along the road to Britain becoming a full democracy, Fielden presided over a celebration banquet in the town.

23. John’s sons - Sam, Joshua and John Jnr - also played a prominent role in the town’s affairs, giving the town its Unitarian Church, Town Hall, Fielden School and Dobroyd Castle.

24. The Unitarian Church and Dobroyd Castle are both architectural gems. The castle in particular has had an amazing history. Built as John Jnr’s stately home, it has also been an approved school and is now the Losang Dragpa Centre, home to a community of Buddhists.

25. Joshua’s estate in town was Stansfield Hall while Sam’s home was at Centre Vale. The eldest of the brothers, Sam was a passionate cricket fan and allowed part of the estate to be used by Todmorden Cricket Club.

26. Centre Vale is still Todmorden CC’s ground. The club has a proud history in the Lancashire League, winning league and cup honours. Two future England players began their careers at Todmorden.

27. Derek Shackleton and Peter Lever both bowled for England as well as playing lengthy county cricket careers. Other players who began their careers at Todmorden who played at county level include Richard Horsfall, Peter Greenwood, Kenneth Fiddling and Harold Dawson. Ewart Clayton, father of last season’s first eleven captain Mark, also played some county cricket.

28. Of course, Todmorden is not the only cricket club playing at that high level in Todmorden. Walsden Cricket Club, whose home is at Scott Street, have achieved a great deal of success in the Central Lancashire League.

29. Winners of the CLL league title and cup competitions, Walsden also had a player Sydney Starkie, who played for the club before the second world war, who went on to a county career.

30. In December history was made when Walsden’s Allan Stuttard became president of the CLL. Todmorden’s Malcolm Heywood was already in situ as LL president, meaning that, perhaps uniquely, both Red Rose leagues had presidents from Yorkshire clubs!

31. Todmorden’s position as a border town crossing point led to important transport links, including the building of Summit Tunnel, a tremendous effort on the part of 19th century engineers.

32. This was put to the test in December, 1984, when a goods train derailed and the crash caused an inferno. Summit’s engineers had been up to the task and although repairs were lengthy, the structure withstood the heat.

33. By the 20th century road transport levels increased at a rapid pace and in 1907 Todmorden pioneered a motor bus service, well ahead of the rest of the country. The first bus travelled along the Walsden valley.

34. Until local government reorganisation in 1974 the “Todmorden Corporation” had a hand in running the town’s bus services.

35. The re-organisation in 1974 meant Todmorden Borough Council, which had virtually run the town bar for education matters, ceased to be and the area became part of the new Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council.

36. When given charter - borough - status back in 1896, Todmorden’s new Corporation (later borough council) was very much a go-ahead authority with a remit to improve the town as a new century approached.

37. One early move, which has had a lasting effect, was the purchase of Centre Vale Park from the Fielden family. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful in the area and plays host to events such as the town’s carnival and agricultural show.

38. Both these events were cancelled two years ago at the height of the foot and mouth scare. It meant a delay of a year for Todmorden Agricultural Society’s 75th show. The show is often dubbed one of the best one-day shows in the north.

39. A similar reputation is held by Todmorden Market, which dates back for more than 200 years and has been subject to regeneration refurbishment costing around £500,000 this year.

40. Last year its 200th birthday was marked by a series of special events. Stallholders stepped back in time, dressing as their forbears may have done. A special ceremony re-enacting the opening of the orginal market hall in the 19th century was included in the festivities.

41. Once again there was major Fielden family input into building the market hall, just yards away from the Town Hall site. The current town hall was not the first one planned - previous efforts had failed.

42. A design for a public hall by James Green, chosen by the Local Board, which would have incorporated a market hall, was actually begun in the 1850s with foundations dug and construction work started, but it fell by the wayside amid legal wrangling over land ownership.

43. Eventually the Town Hall was the third of the major projects architect John Gibson undertook for the Fieldens and it was opened in 1987 by the then postmaster general Lord John Manners. It was presented to the people of Todmorden by the Fielden family in 1891.

44. For many years the Town Hall wasn’t just home to the borough or town councils - it was also a permanent courtroom and has holding cells underneath.

45. Todmorden Magistrates Court was the epitome of justice being done and being seen to be done as members of the public often attended court sessions to watch court business being carried out.

46. The court finally closed in January 1993 when all the district’s criminal courts were amalgamated in Halifax, becoming part of the Calderdale Magistrates Court. It brought to an end centuries of certain levels of justice being carried out in Todmorden.

47. In earlier periods the stocks, whipping post and ducking stool had all been in use, but only the stocks continued in use as far as the 18th century!

48. Prior to the town hall, courts had been held in various places around town, including the White Hart Inn and the Queen Hotel.

49. The latter is where the commital proceedings for Todmorden’s most notorious murder case took place, that of Miles Weatherill.

50. On March 2, 1868, Weatherhill, who had been forbidden by the Vicar, the Rev Anthony John Plow, from seeing his sweetheart, maid Sarah Bell, armed himself with an axe and a pistol and headed for the vicarage.

51. He attacked the Rev Plow, another housemaid, Jane Smith, and Mrs Plow. He killed Jane Smith and Mr Plow later died of his injuries.

52. Committed from Todmorden to stand trial at Manchester Assizes for the murder of Jane Smith, he was, with another man, Timothy Faherty, the last to be publicly hanged at Manchester.

53. The case is notorious and has endured down the years. A broadsheet ballad telling Miles’ story was sold to onlookers at the execution, on April 4, 1868; over a century later nationally known folk singer Nic Jones penned his own ballad, “Miles Weatherill”, and recorded it on his “Noah’s Ark Trap” album.

54. In those days the parish church of Todmorden was Christ Church, opened in 1832. Historically the oldest church had been St Mary’s, in the town centre, and by the early 1990s St Mary’s, dating back to 1476, was rededicated as the parish church and Christ Church closed.

55. Over the years followers of many religions have found a home in the town, from Quakers to Unitarians and Methodists to Catholics. In 2003 the town also has a Mosque, a Buddhist centre and a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall.

56. In addition to being centres of religious worship, many of these churches, particularly the Methodist chapels, were social centres, each boasting cricket and football teams to play in local leagues.

57. Todmorden has produced several footballers of note, including England schoolboy international David Wilson in the 1980s, who began his professional career at one of the world’s most famous clubs, Manchester United.

58. Playing professionally for Stockport County with his heyday in the 1950s, Jack Connor, a member of one of Todmorden’s best known sporting families, was voted the club’s best player of all time by its fans and Connor’s Bar at the club’s Edgeley Park ground is named in his memory.

59. Todmorden boasts a League Championship and FA Cup winner. Billy Nesbitt’s achievements were all the greater because he was reputedly deaf from birth. Playing for Burnley he won an FA Cup winner’s medal in 1914 and a first division championship medal in 1921.

60. In another link with that great Burnley side, defender George Halley’s family settled in Todmorden. His grandsons Jim and George were part of one of the best recalled local football sides.

61. In 1968 Lydgate United carried off a terrific treble, including Halifax league and cup double. Locally the strikeforce of Tony Lyons and Barry Shackleton was as well known as any in the league.

62. Lydgate, with a history dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, became part of a new era at the start of the 21st century, becoming part of the new Todmorden Borough Football Club, who play in the West Lancashire League, part of football’s “pyramid”.

63. The club’s home ground is Bellholme at Walsden. Eventually pushed through to fruition by the Bellholme Sports Association, the ground boasts a clubhouse and can be hired out.

64. There aren’t many sports not available to Todmordians, which boasts clubs and societies ranging from angling to archery and from swimming to snooker.

65. Some of these take place in the new Todmorden Sports Centre at Ewood Lane, which incorporates a new swimming pool. It opened in June 2000.

66. Todmorden Golf Club, at Rive Rocks overlooking the town, boasts a record breaker. Helen Gray has won the club’s ladies’ championship 38 times, a feat which has given her a place in the “Guinness Book of Records”.

67. One sportsman deserves to be singled out for mention as in professional terms he is the most successfully of them all. Neil Cowie played for Wigan Rugby League Club in its most successful side of the modern era in the 1980s and 1990s.

68. Neil crowned his career with a string of performances for Wales and Great Britain. He began playing as an amateur with Todmorden Rugby League Club, who sadly folded in the summer after more than a quarter of a century.

69. The rugby club’s Centre Vale Park pitch was on the area in front of the bandstand which is due to play a major role in increasing Todmorden’s flood defences.

70. Work costing millions of pounds will re-sculpt that section of the park to create a massive holding tank to deal with floodwater to a “one in 25 year” level. Throughout Todmorden’s history nature has waged battle against attempts to channel it away.

71. There are two floods in recent memory which caused millions of pounds worth of damage to homes and businesses, in 1982 and 2000.

72. The 1982 flood particularly devastated the Cornholme valley, where a block culvert was unable to cope with flash flooding and ripped up part of the main Burnley road on what had begun as a sunny August day.

73. In June 2000, torrential downpour into an already saturated river system saw river walls break their banks at Shade and at Industrial Street in the worst flooding Todmorden has seen. It made national headlines and the Environment Agency began formulating plans to minimise the risk of something so devastating happening again.

74. One of the places badly flooded in Halifax Road was the Hippodrome Theatre, which dates back to Edwardian times and is now owned by Todmorden Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society.

75. As well as being the town’s theatre for a century, it was also one of Todmorden’s three cinemas.

76. The Olympia, on Burnley Road, was later a bingo hall and is now Kwik Save supermarket, but one glance at the building gives away its origins. Its art deco exterior reminds people that once it was a state-of-the-art venue for public entertainment.

76. The other cinema was the Gem, in Cornholme, whose name lives on the electrical goods store which is in the village not far from where the cinema once stood, in those pre-television days.

77. One of the town’s biggest gems, and its most obvious landmark, is Stoodley Pike - but the existing monument, visible for miles around, is not the original...

78. According to “History of Todmorden”, by Malcolm and Freda Heywood and Bernard Jennings, an earlier Pike was built to commemorate the surrender of Paris to the allies towards the end of Napoleonic War in 1814, although there was some evidence even then of earlier structures.

79. It collpased and eventually rebuilt in 1854, on a design by the aforementioned James Green. “History of Todmorden” says its obelisk shape may reflect the freemasonary of Samuel Fielden, who not only subscribed £50 towards the project but also cleared the final debt of £212.

80. Local history has long been keenly followed in Todmorden, and the town boasts a thriving Antiquarian Society, whose Millennium publication “Todmorden Cameos” details biographies of several dozen notable Todmorden folk.

81. For example, did you know that a black sheep of the Fielden family, Simeon Lord, was transported to Australia after stealing some cloth, but made a real success of his life after landing at Botany Bay - he settled in the Sydney area and had a hand in naming various parts of the city. Sydney’s Dobroyd is named after his birthplace.

82. “Cameos” brought recognition to the achievement of many Todmordians including one who has since been properly honoured in the town - railway engineer John Ramsbottom.

83. In July this year a plaque was unveiled to Ramsbottom’s memory at Todmorden Railway Station. John Ramsbottom was one of the 19th century’s leading railway engineers and one of his inventions, the split piston ring, is still in use on petrol and diesel engines 150 years later!

84. The “Cameos” book was beautifully illustrated by Dennis O’Neill, who along with Coun Albert Marshall also produced a special book, “Todmorden Centenary”, to mark a hundred years of borough status in 1996.

85. That year saw Todmorden in high profile across the county. To tie in with its centenary it was an honour for the town when Yorkshire Day was held here, including a parade of red-robed Mayors from all over the county.


86. It was a proud day for Coun Albert Marshall MBE, who as Mayor of Todmorden led the parade. Albert served the town with distinction and is the only person to have been Mayor of both Todmorden’s borough and town councils.

87. The first Mayor of the Borough of Todmorden was Abraham Greenwood Eastwood, from June 2, 1896, to November 9, 1896, but his position was only provisional. the first elected Mayor, in office from November 9, 1896, to November 9, 1899.

88. The first Mayor of Todmorden Town Council, in office from May 11, 1974, to May 3, 1975, was Peter Cockcroft.

89. There are other Todmordens, including a Todmorden Mills in Canada and a Todmorden sheep station in Australia.

90. The town may also have links further afield, if the experiences of former policeman Alan Godfrey are anything to go by - under hypnosis (consciously Alan can remember nothing of this incident) and with a senior officer present he was taken aboard a UFO in 1980.

91. As sightings of strange phenomena were reported the same night by police officers from two forces, it has become one of the most documented cases of its kind and was only months after the disapperance of a Polish man, Zygmunt Adamski.

92. Alan’s story and the Adamski case were linked together in a national newspaper and since the incidents have been made into a television film in America, by filmaker Michael Grais, who worked on the “Poltergeist” films.

93. It also means Alan is likely to be the only Todmordian to appear on the biggest chat show in America - the “Johnny Carson Show”. In the UK he is constantly in demand by television companies making programmes about the paranormal, including prime time shows like Michael Aspel’s “Strange, But True”.

94. Locally Alan has honed his television and media experiences to good effect, raising money for a number of charitable causes, including the Walsden Community Fund.

95. The Walsden Community fund is one example of the townspeople’s ability to lend a helping hand. Good contacts can put the icing on the cake - when the fund presented a special electronic wheelchair to youngster Jonathan Knowles in the mid 90s, local comedian Tony Jo was able to get friend and colleague Jeremy Beadle to present it to him.

96. Tony’s own career has gone from strength to strength and to most folk outside Todmorden he is now better known as a key member of the famous comedy group, The Grumbleweeds.

97. Another example of local folk prepared to go the extra mile to raise money for charity came in the form of Todmorden Cancer Research UK’s own Calendar Girls, who bared (almost) all for a special 2003 fundraising calendar.

98. In the past few months the charity has also received television and newspaper headlines thanks to a marathon walker who chalked up many hundreds of miles walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

99. But Stephen Perry’s trek was a little out of the ordinary and believed to be unique - Stephen climbed more than 300 mountains, and walked every major path along his route, to get there. It took more than seven months and some appalling weather conditions.

100. Some of these were probably predicted by John Kettley. John, who grew up in the Kilnhurst area, has been a television and radio weatherman for 20 years. A pop song, “John Kettley Is A Weatherman”, paid homage to him in the 80s!

101. On one return visit home, John opened Todmorden Tourist Information Centre, on Burnley Road, in 1988.

102. Since then the centre has offered advice and help to more than 400,000 visitors to Todmorden. Unlike most TICs, it is run by a trust. It’s a real success story.

103. Tourism is one area the town should surely make a success of and the complete re-opening last year of the Rochdale Canal, which links Yorkshire with Manchester, should mean more visitors arriving by barge.

104. In Todmorden’s industrial heyday the canal was crucial link to get raw materials to the mill manufacturers and then onto the markets. These days Todmorden’s population numbers around 13,500 - about half it was in its heyday, when cotton was king.

105. The First World War marked a watershed. Todmorden not only lost many of its sons in the trenches - it never totally recovered its economic strength afterwards.

106. Centre Vale Park in Todmorden is home to Todmorden’s war memorial, which also includes tributes to the town’s fallen in subsequent conflicts, including the second world war.

107. Another integral part of the park is its bandstand, rebuilt according to the original design after it was destroyed by fire in the late 1990s.

108. The bandstand is no white elephant, forming a focal point for many events over the years, including the town’s Greenpeace support group’s Day on the Green events, which ran for the best part of 20 years until 2002.

109. And some things stay the same - it is used for its original purpose through the series of Brassworks concerts, held throughout the summer and culminating with a major brass band in the spotlight. This year the famous Brighouse and Rastrick band played to the firework finale.

110. Todmorden’s brass band musical tradition continues in the form of the Todmorden Community Brass Band, following disputes which saw Todmorden Old Brass Band drift away from its roots in the town and eventually fold.

111. These cirumstances were a controversial end to a band which had its roots in the 19th century and which had competed at the highest levels.

112. The community brass band offers the chance to play at a number of levels and offers beginners’ and learners’ sections. Other musical groups which form part of the town’s culture include Todmorden Orchestra and Todmorden Choral Society.

113. It has become a pre-Christmas tradition for the Choral Society and Orchestra to link up for a usually sell-out and rousing performance of Handel’s “Messiah”.

114. The big switch-on of Todmorden’s Christmas tree lights by the Mayor fires the starting gun for Christmas...

115. ...And last year the council linked up with local traders and Calderdale to vastly increase the amount of festive lighting, meaning Todmorden had one of its brightest Christmases ever!

116. These days firework displays have become all the rage at New Year too, something which seemed to start on Millennium Eve.

117. Among events to mark the Millennium in Todmorden was a specially-commissioned Millennium Textile, which now hangs in Todmorden Town Hall.

118. Carefully and pain-stakingly designed and hand stitched by a team of volunteers, in addition to symbolising people, places and achievements it also replicated Todmorden’s geography, building up the land’s contours with layers of fabric.

119. Place names can reveal much about Todmorden’s early history, as the “History of Todmorden” book shows. The River Calder has a British name, meaning “violent stream” - something flood victims through the ages will testify to.

120. The English (Anglo-Saxons) conquered the British kingdom of Elmet in the AD630s, it says, and helnce Walsden is an English name describing British neighbours, in this case “the valley of the Walhs”.

121. Todmorden itself derives from Tott-mer-den - “the valley of Totta’s marsh”.

122. The Danish conquest of Yorkshire in 867 does now however seem to have much impact on Todmorden, with the one distinctive Scandanavia name being Mankinholes - “Mancun’s hollow”.

123. Mankinholes Youth Hostel is a long-established rest place for weary travellers and many of them keep coming back. The hostel was hard hit by the foot-and-mouth scare of 2001 but the following year saw it bounce back with bookings up 21 per cent.

124. The nearby Lumbutts area is also host to two prominent Todmorden “landmarks”, one of them physical and the other a tradition - Gaddings Dam and the Lee Dam Swim.

125. The Gaddings Dam Group have recently bought the dam with the aim of keeping it open for people to enjoy. It’s known as the “highest beach in England”.

126. The swim, on the other hand, used to be on New Year’s Day but although the date now varies a little it’s still near the start of January - and it’s always very cold!

127. One of the best ways to get around the tops in Todmorden is to tackle the Todmorden Boundary Walk, organised annually by Todmorden Rotary Club with help from Todmorden Inner Wheel Club.

128. It is approximately 22 miles long and although the route or direction can change a little, the hard work of walking the distance is rewarded with some of the most breathtaking views of the town.

129. Having mentioned Gaddings and the Pike, mention should perhaps be made of Whirlaw rocks above the Burnley valley, which lent their title to William Holt’s novel, “The Wizards of Whirlaw”.

130. One of the ways William Holt sold his books was by loading up the saddlebags of his equally famous white horse, Trigger, who outlived Billy by a year and is buried in a field at Kilnhurst.

131. This is just over the hill from the Folly Dam, one of Todmorden Angling Society’s most popular waters.

132. With a membership reaching outside of Todmorden, the society controls waters on the Lancashire-Yorkshire border and a decade ago the Cliviger Fishponds project won a major environmental award.

133. Todmorden’s environment began to change at the end of the 1960s, when an extensive renewal scheme began, involving the clearance of many homes and the occasional business premises, such as the Grapes pub.

134. Barbrara Rudman’s book “The Old Pub Trail” took readers through pen portraits of every pub or beer house that Todmorden had had to that date. The landlady of the Grapes landlady from the 20s to the 50s, Mrs Crowther, was renowned for her firmness and dignity - she often told customers, politely, when she felt they had drunk enough!

135. Following the clearances many properties, including the famous Town Hall, lost the sooty covering they had had for years and the beautiful honey-coloured natural stone beneath was revealed.

136. A host of “general improvement areas” followed, performing similar stone cleaning duties and road tarmacing schemes along the way - a precursor to the carefully tragetted regeneration projects of the last three years.

137. These have seen a number of gateway sites created for the town, a major project to renovate Todmorden Market, the bringing back into use of historic buildings such as the Fielden Sunday School and building a garden area next to St Mary’s Church.

138. The same period of time has seen Todmorden gain a growing reputation in the Yorkshire in Bloom competitions, held several times each year.

139. Steered by the Todmorden In Bloom group, in addition to encouraging the town to generally keep itself neat and tidy, it also hosts a competition of its own with a good selection of categories.

140. Regeneration moves have brought major funding to the town and Todmorden became a pilot scheme in the country for the Government’s Market Town Initiative programme.

141. This autumn has seen regeneration links forged with Spain and America, proof that in developing and bringing improvements to towns, communities across the world can help each ohter.

142. Over the past quarter of a century Todmnorden has already formed cultural links and has always had a thriving Town Twinning Association.

143. Todmorden has two direct twins, first twinning with Bramsche, in West Hermany a quarter of a century ago. Bramsche Square was named in recognition of this.

144. Roncq, in France, was twinned with Todmorden in the early 1980s and, as with Bramsche, twice-yearly exchange trips give an insight into each other’s culture.

145. As part of Calderdale, Todmorden has a twin area of the Czech Republic called Strakonice. A few years ago the practical help and understanding organisations like this can bring was demonstrated after the Todmorden flood of 2000.

146. Strakonice residents gave a sum of money to help with the extensive claning up operations needed for many householders. Todmorden was then able to reciprocate when Strakonice fell victim to even more severe flooding a short time afterwards.

147. Sometimes a little can make a difference - for some years now Todmorden Rotary Club, sometimes in conjunction with other organisations in the town, have packed emergency boxes which have been sent to disaster areas worldwide by Rotary International.

148. It shows an international dimension to Todmorden which showed itself as far back as the 19th century, when the famous Fielden family’s business interests included shipping lines and running a power company in South America.

149. In those far off says, before television or radio, newspapers were the only way to widely disseminate news from far afield. Realising the opportunity, Richard Chambers first published the “Todmorden Advertiser” on November 5, 1853.

150. It was one of several newspapers eventually amalgamated under the Waddington family ownership as the “Todmorden News And Advertiser” which, 150 years on, brings its readers the best in local news and sport each week as the “Todmorden News”. We celebrate our 150th birthday next week!