Lancashire nostalgia in 2008: Deepdale complete; sozzled swine; and Malteser maggots

The four sides to North End’s ground

Deepdale will officially become a four-sided ground again next week when work on the new Invincibles Pavilion is completed.

The final touches are currently being put to the 3,700-capacity stand, with the builders handing it over to North End early next week.

It will be used for the first time in the Championship game against Crystal Palace on August 16.

Preston’s general manager, Ben Rhodes, said: “The handover from the builders to us takes place next week – everything is on time.”

Work on redeveloping Deepdale started in 1995 with the demolition of the West Stand and building of the Sir Tom Finney Stand.

Next came the Bill Shankly Kop before the Alan Kelly Town End was completed in 2002.

A pig walks into a bar... and gets turned into tasty sausages

“Oink barman, you got any pork scratchings to go with my beer?”

These thirsty porkers happily tuck into their daily feed – washed down with a bottle or two of beer.

Bright spark pig farmer Jim Beary has come up with the ingenious idea to combat rising wheat and diesel costs by producing Beer Bangers from his hungry hoards – with an extra tipple pint of Hen Harrier chucked in for good measure.

Jim, owner of family-run Ribble Valley Meat Company in Woodplumpton, said: “It’s a bit of a struggle at the moment because the feed’s so expensive.

“I decided to do something a bit different and come up with an end product to sell to people rather than just selling pigs to market.”

The free-range Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs at Greenside, Ribchester, are fed on the waste by-products from the brewing process, reducing costs.

Jim, 28, said: “It’s the end part of the brew – just not quite the quality that would go into the pub or a bottle. They absolutely love it. It’s not bad for them at all, we don’t give it to them in huge quantities.

“We’ve sent some down for Anthony Worrall-Thompson to try so some quite good names are interested.”

Jim, who lives in Ribchester, hopes to roll the sausages out to pubs, restaurants, farm shops and delicatessens.

Maggots shock for Maltesers fan

Lisa Oakes used to love the taste of Maltesers.

But the 34-year-old from Poulton was in for a very nasty shock indeed when she last opened a bag of the light chocolate treats.

The marketing executive, who works for a Preston-based insurance brokers, was about to savour the snack as an after lunch indulgence when she saw something wriggling inside.

And to her horror she saw the maggots had got there first.

Mars, the firm which makes Maltesers, is now investigating.

Miss Oakes had just popped a Malteser in her mouth when she made the terrible discovery.

She said: “There were two maggots inside the Malteser still alive and wriggling round.

“It was absolutely disgusting.”