Norah Wilson Wrightson, known as ‘Nonie’, died peacefully on February 12. She was the first woman to hold the title of chairman of the council when she was voted in in 1991. Leader of the council, Councillor Stewart Young, said Nonie had a distinguished career as a county councillor. He said: “She was a passionate and effective member of the Social Services Committee, and I served with her as a trustee of the Henry Lonsdale Trust who provide residential accommodation for the elderly at Rosehill and Stanwix. “She was always fighting for the best possible care for those who needed it, and retained that interest long after she retired. She will be remembered with affection by all who knew her.”
JOHN Lennon once recalled: “About the time of rock’n’roll in Britain – I think I was 15, so it would be about 1955 –there was a big thing called ‘skiffle’, which was a kind of folk music; American folk music, with washboards, and all the kids from fifteen onwards had these groups”. Lonnie Donegan, the ‘Skiffle King’, had a huge influence on countless future musicians, including Lennon – who, together with some schoolfriends, formed a skiffle group, The Quarry Men. On July 6, 1957, they played a church garden fete in Woolton, Liverpool. It was there that Lennon first met Paul McCartney; the group would eventually give rise to the Beatles.