Annie Heyworth CD… During the 1960’s & 70’s local (Facit) resident Annie Hayworth was a regular performer at many church and club functions in the area providing entertainment in the form of Lancashire dialect recitations and poems. Although already disappearing from regular use in the late 1940’s, dialect speak was still recognised and sometimes used by some of the older residents of the Valley. Annie did achieve national exposure when, in 1975, she was interviewed by legendary cricket commentator Brian Johnston, ‘Johnners’ for the radio programme “Down Your Way”. The programme, featuring Whitworth as a township, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 later that year. Although the Lancashire ‘accent’ still remains recognisable to some extent, many of the words specific to Lancashire dialect have fallen out of use completely. Fortunately, a number of analogue recordings of Annie’s work were made towards the end of her lifetime and, thanks to modern technology, are available today in a digital format. For any of you wishing to make a purchase, we have a number of CD’s available for sale at Whitworth Museum, North Street, Whitworth, Lancs. OL12 8RE, for the modest sum of £5. Each CD, entitled “Nowt Fancy”, contains 15 tracks of dialect poems and tales. “Ee it’s a reet grand listen, sithee.” For those living outside the area, copies of the CD may be obtained by post by emailing sales@whitworthhistoricalsociety.org.uk. Payment can be made either by cheque (payable to Whitworth Historical Society) or, if preferred, by direct transfer. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide “Nowt Fancy” as a download. All profits from the sale of this CD will go directly towards the running costs of Whitworth Museum.