Lancashire nostalgia in 1997: Trevor Hemmings PNE cash rumours; summer scorcher; and red wine

Here's a look at some of the stories that were making the headlines back in 1997:
Rumours that multi-millionaire Trevor Hemmings is to offer a huge cash windfall to North End has been talked downRumours that multi-millionaire Trevor Hemmings is to offer a huge cash windfall to North End has been talked down
Rumours that multi-millionaire Trevor Hemmings is to offer a huge cash windfall to North End has been talked down

Lancs millionaire in PNE cash rumours

Preston shot down fresh speculation that multi-millionaire Trevor Hemmings could be on the verge of “doing a Jack Walker” at Deepdale.

The local tycoon, ranked as the 51st richest man in Britain with an estimated fortune of £300m, was reported on a national soccer call-line to be lining up a massive North End cash injection.

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But managing director Derek Shaw, a personal friend of the building and leisure magnate, revealed: “That just isn’t true. It would be nice if it was, but this is just the annual Trevor Hemmings rumour.”

Hemmings, who already owns a 10 per cent slice of Preston North End plc, has long been touted as Deepdale’s sugar-daddy-in-waiting.

But, in spite of the repeated takeover gossip, a Walker-style windfall remains just wishful thinking.

Shaw insisted: “I saw the story advertised on Teletext and I can’t say I was that surprised. This rumour has been doing the rounds lately, just like it seems to every year.

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“What people have to realise is that now we are a limited company it can’t just happen like that overnight.”

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Look back at a selection of pictures from 1997 here

Summer will be a scorcher according to the seaweed

Some people can tell by sticking a finger in the air, some can judge from the way birds fly and some just feel it in their bones.

Others simply rely on people like Michael Fish.

But no matter which weird and wonderful method you use to predict the weather, you can be pretty sure that somebody, somewhere in Lancashire has a stranger technique.

That said, they don’t come much stranger than the method employed by Phil King to predict whether or not the sun will be shining on his home town of Southport this summer.

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Mr King has been busily examining pieces of seaweed on the town’s famous golden beach and he reckons we’re in for a scorcher! Yes, that’s right - seaweed.

But Mr King is no amateur weather man. An accurate weather prediction is vital for his job and he makes it his business to know what’s hot and what’s not.

As Southport’s chief tourism officer, he needs to know if the sun will be shining and if the tourists will be flocking to the resort each season, or if the rain is going to keep the visitors away.

He said: “I predict a hot one. It would be foolish to ignore what nature is telling us. People have been doing this for thousands of years and we in Southport will continue to use this method for predicting the weather.”

Alcohol - let us just take it as red!

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For decades drinkers have claimed that a “medicinal nip” will not do them any harm.

But can it really be true that drinking is good for you?

The latest research by alcohol experts claims that drinking red wine does not make you fat.

American boffins say that calories in red wine may be metabolised differently from other food and that moderation and regular intake of red wine does not appear to contribute to weight gain.

But Preston’s health experts say that this theory is too simplified, and that it is the overall diet that dictates whether anyone will put on weight or not.

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Lynn Pattinson, senior health promotions specialist at the town’s Health Promotions Unit, said: “Red wine contains a lot of sugar so it will add to the number of calories you take in if you drink some.”