Sandbach’s Heritage – November 2026

By Stewart Green

Sandbach has had more than its fair share of appearances on both the BBC and commercial television and radio. BBC Radio Stoke and Signal Radio both regularly broadcast at events including the annual fete at the Leonard Cheshire Home with Sam Plank hosting his Saturday show from there or Mel Scholes at the Sandbach Transport Festival. Sandbach was always in the broadcasters’ minds during the 1970’s and 1980’s but as radio became less interested in making appearances at events and concentrated on studio bound interviews or on the phone it has become the job of community stations like Salt Towns Radio to broadcast features on the town.

The first Sandbach resident known to make an appearance on BBC radio was Lady Barlow of Bradwall Hall who opened a Northern Variety Show by the broadcaster on the 18 February 1937 at the Lyceum Theatre in Crewe. Radio was the first to visit Sandbach with the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Down your way’ broadcasting a programme all about the town on the 31 August 1969 with presenter Franklyn Englemann. On the 2 June 1974 BBC Radio 4 again visited the town this time to broadcast its “Morning Service” from the Wesley Avenue Methodist Church conducted by the Rev Arthur Shaw assisted by Rev Stanley Waite and included a choir directed by Jessie Rosson and organist Derek Jennings.

On the 13 May 1978 the BBC’s flagship sports programme Grandstand covered the Sandbach Marathon which had been run the week before on the 7th May. In those days all pre-recorded inserts were made on film that had to be developed and edited before broadcast which is why it took a week before broadcast.

The BBC 2 television programme ‘A Moment to Talk’ broadcast a programme filmed in Sandbach with workers from ERF for the 24 May 1982 show.

BBC Radio 4 presented a programme called ‘Enterprise’ on the 5 May 1983 which featured the Sandbach based ‘The Jimp’ car designers and builders Steve Robinson and Peter Kukla who worked together on the project.

The Elizabethan Market was the subject of a Children’s Saturday Morning programme when on the 6 May 1985 the ‘Saturday Picture Show’ recorded items at the Market for the following week with presenters Maggie Philbin and Mark Curry.

BBC 1 TV quiz programme ‘First Class’ on the 19 March 1988 featured a team from Sandbach School against Kirkland High from Methil, Fife with presenter Debbie Greenwood. The team won through to the next round on the 28 May 1988.

A large gap between broadcasts was broken in October 2004 when the Sky TV programme ‘Most Haunted’ filmed at the Old Hall with local resident Yvette Fielding and Gaby Roslin meeting Derek Acorah (Series 5 Episode 2) to discover the identity of the hall’s ghosts.

On the 14 April 2015 the BBC2 Daily Politics Show filmed Foden’s Band as part of a live Broadcast they were to make the following day on the 15 April when reporter Giles Dilnot did a live feature on the views of ordinary people before the election that year and featured the band’s Ian Raisbeck (2nd Cornet), Dave McGlynn (Principal Bb Tuba) and Stewart Green (Archivist). Looking back it was a poignant piece as a year later on the 17 April 2016 there was a fire at the band room destroying the rehearsal room featured in the programme.

On the 8 July 2016 the BBC found themselves with a problem as the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Any Questions’ was unable to go to its first choice of destination in Northern Ireland as it had political problems at the time and Sandbach was approached to do the programme live from the Town Hall with Jonathan Dimbleby in the chair, and panellists Tim Farron, Dominic Grieve, Gisela Stuart and Liam Hagan.

On the 1 June 2018 BBC North West Tonight attended a special memorial service for Edwin Firth who had been killed 100 years earlier in 1918 and was commemorated at the Elworth and Sandbach War Memorials with Foden’s Band in attendance and various dignitaries with BBC Merseyside reporter Andy Gill looking back at the Foden Band solo cornet player’s life.

On Thursday the 12th December 2024 BBC reporter Ian Haslam from North West Tonight turned up at Sandbach Rugby Club to present charity volunteers Andy Milner and his wife Aggie with a joint Christmas Star which the regional television programme has been handing out for a few years to worthy charity workers at this time of the year.