UNIONS used the normally fun occasion of Horwich Carnival to make a serious point about the future of the town’s railway works back in 1982.

The unions’ float had an executioner holding an axe over the heads of Horwich workers and putting a noose around the necks of two young apprentices to demonstrate the threat of around 2,000 redundancies proposed by the British Railways Boards.

On the lorry which was among 30 floats travelling along the two-mile procession route through the town during the sixth annual carnival were representatives from each of the trades threatened with redundancy.

Union action committee leader Dennis Green said: “The object of our entry is to bring home the dire situation facing the works and to show that there will not be a Horwich works float next year if the Board has its way.”

On the carnival field at Horwich RMI’s ground after the procession, the men were inviting people to sign Save the Works petitions and posters promoting the campaign were put up in shops lining the route.

British Rail had also entered its own float into the procession illustrating the function of the town’s railway workshops which had an international reputation for the quality of its engineering work

The unions’ protests proved to be in vain with the works closing down in December the following year after a bitter struggle.