Nostalgia: Candle creations

Sixteen-year-old Kevin Vickers (pictured), who worked at a butcher's shop in the centre of Ashton, demonstrated an easy way to make your own candles back in 1970.

“Take a packet of dripping, cut it in half, bore a small hole through the middle of each piece, feed through a piece of string and hey presto, you’ve got two candles.”

Meanwhile Denton inventor Josef Balejka had been annoyed by the exortionate price some suppliers were charging. 

“Pensioners have told me they have paid as much as 4s 6d (22.5p) for one candle,” he said.

The Auburn Road resident came up with an alternative which ‘would burn for days and cost only coppers’ using a jam jar, water, cooking fat or oil, cork wrapped in cooking foil and a thick piece of string.