Shawclough & Healey August 2018

The Bermuda Triangle
By Councillor Shaun O’Neill
Well not really, but with the
exceptionally warm weather and
some strange goings on up in Healey,
you would be forgiven for calling the
area bordered by Shawclough Road
and Dell Road, just up past the
Healey Hotel, the ‘Healey Triangle’.
Now, the Bermuda Triangle is
infamous for things (ships, boats and
planes) disappearing whilst the
opposite appears to be happening
at the, now hoping to be famous,
Healey Triangle.
Firstly, the annual daffodil display
moved to the edge of the Triangle to
form a striking primrose coloured
border. Then work started on the
wooded area with the old fencing
removed, trees cut back, coppicing
(that’s branches intertwined to make
a natural barrier that attracts wildlife)
and over 10,000 bluebells planted.
However, the mystery has been
solved. There was no magic; it was
all down to our Countryside Rangers
ably assisted by the Town’s Green
Volunteers headed up by local lad,
Dave Wild. The work they do is
phenomenal and the results of their
labour are on show for everyone to
admire.
Poppies and wild flowers now grace
the centrepiece within the Triangle.
A new sign has appeared,
‘Shawclough and Healey’ in the form
and colours of the LMS Railway,
representing the old railway station
that stood in the place that
Campion Way and Columbine Close
now occupy.
This was part of the Rochdale to
Bacup line, built in 1870. It carried
passengers up until 1947 and goods
up until the 1960s, serving Turners
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