I BLAME Kenny Everett. It’s like this. It was school holidays. With nothing better to do I started twiddling the knobs of a vast radio set we had in the kitchen. The sort with Athlone and Normandy and other long forgotten radio stations on the dial. Through the wheeze and screech, I bypassed Edmundo Ros’s Rumba Band and the Obernkirchen Children’s Choir ‘a-happy wandering,’ and came to an abrupt halt when Ken and Radio London, burst though the speakers. What I was listening to was like nothing I’d heard before. It wasn’t as if I was new to radio. The Archers were old friends and Kenneth Horne had always managed to brighten up a Sunday afternoon for me with a raft of cutlery and plates, waiting to be washed up. This was different though. This was inspired lunacy, as Everett ran through his trademark voices and surreal characters. Then there was the music. I didn’t know what a ‘Little Deuce Coupe’ was, but I knew I wanted one. I also had the feeling the Beac
HUNDREDS of people will be singing on their doorsteps in Lymm on Christmas Eve to keep a village tradition going during the Covid-19 era. ‘Carols at the Cross’ usually attracts up to 5,000 people who gather to sing traditional Christmas songs accompanied by Warrington Brass. Obviously, it is not possible for the event to safely take place in its usual form during the pandemic but Lymm Parish Council was determined to keep it going in some form as a show of festive spirit. That led to conversations with the newly formed internet radio station and community interest company, Lymm Radio, to create a virtual replacement called Carols Around Lymm.