By our Northern Correspondent,
Page 11
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Eric Strongitharm, Oswaldtwistle.
Residents of Oswaldtwistle were left openmouthed with awe and wonder this week as the town's premier employer took receipt of a vital part of its new production line.
The enormous load was destined for the Spagthorpe Motor Company having travelled all the way from its Lincolnshire birthplace.
The gargantuan boiler was hauled through the narrow cobbled streets of the picturesque Lancashire town with scarcely enough room to pass in some places. Local residents were struck dumb by the behemoth rattling past their front doors.
Bryan Tinsley, who lives opposite the legendary Ironworks, was surprised to see the steely juggernaut: "First I 'eard of it was when me tea cups started rattlin' and plates started fallin' off t'sideboard. Nearly hit Cbloornin' cat an' all," he says.
"Then I looked out of t' window and saw t'great lump of metal comin' down t'street. Took all me blasted window boxes off too. I had me prize azaleas in those—first place at t'Heckmonthwaite show last summer...hours of work crushed.
"Least it didn't get rue pigeons," he adds.
The massive structure was greeted with joy at the Ironworks plant. Engineering overseer Isaac "Slide Rule" Frazackerley glanced admiringly at the tank: "In't she lovely? Took 20 men three weeks to put that together. Inch thick steel plate, bevelled rivets, swaged valves. .the works. You name it, she's got it.
"Dunno what it's for like, t'boss muttered something about the 'old boiler' playing up so we thought we best get a new 'un. T'awd one sounds grand to me, but never mind, you know his nibs."
FLASH: An apoplectic Sir Jos Spagthorpe, chairman and president for life of the SMC, has angrily denounced his chief engineer. "Frazackerley's for t'high jump this time. I makes an off the cuff remark about me wife and we end up spending a thousands guineas on a 'ulking great lump of imetal. The man's mad, I tell you. One sniff-of a new grommet and he's foaming at tim 0 th ."