Wigan Album

Wigan printers at the Woods street works in the 60s. The wigan Observer had then a circulation of almost 50,000 copies every week.

I am old enough to remember the Observer when it was a broadsheet, it had real news by straight talking-truthful
reporters and more news than the Evening Post and Reporter put together. Nowdays the three newspapers are owned by the same group, so we have the same news three times a week.

Gordon Hurst and I work on the first ever front page colour picture, Gordon was one of two staff photographers at paper, with the Late Arnold Hall, I had been asked to come in and light the shot for colour reproduction

David, I remember Arnold Hall and Ian Lambirth. Can you remember the first colour picture in the Observer?

In my mind there are two that could have been the first, all about the time we were experimenting with colour, Gordon Hurst and I went to a circus in Hindley and shot a dress rehearsal in colour, but all about the same time Harry Stopforth was making separations from a NAASA transparency of the moon landing. We only had two choices of page space for colour back then, front page above the fold or centre spread and it's a toss up in my mind which made it where and when.
Some of the very early ones where the Queen of Industry Pageant that I shot in it's entirety. They were very exciting times to be on the cutting edge in little old Wigan and thanks to folks like Harry Stopforth, Steve, Hooley, Jack Winstanly and of course GM John DaKeyne I was was right on the cusp, above all very thankful to have been in there making history with a great bunch of people.

After months of trial runs, the first colour picture appeared on the front page on the 26th August 1966. It was of five children holding balloons. Another landmark for the Wigan Observer was in March,1968 the first Queen of Industry competition held at the Casino Club. Others were of the moon landing in 1969 and miss united kingdom. In The early days the photographic department were compiled by
H.Stopforth
S.Hooley
R.Edmondson
F. Collins.
The printers were
M.Dawson
M.Toulmin
C.Goodman
T.Harlow
D.Molyneux
R,Fishwick
All pioneers in early web offset innovations.

The photographer - Gordon Hurst - took the balloons to Wigan Infirmary garden party, took the picture and was instructed to return with the balloons. They were in the Print Hall by the colour unit so the printers could adjust to the correct colours. Saw Gordon's widow, Joan, in the Boar's Head couple of months ago. She was very well and as jolly as ever.

Mike Carroll a photographer in 1970s.. what happened to him? Any newspaper articles on him? Any information would be great. Thank you.

Sadly Mike died an awful long time ago. He was living in Appley Bridge.