AT THE April meeting of Winsford History Society members were treated to a knowledgeable talk by Tony Barratt on Cheshire Airfields.

The talk was of particular interest to some society members who were ex-RAF.

Some of the Cheshire airfields Mr Barratt described dated back to the First World War.

They all had military, as well as civil connections.

After showing a traditional map of Cheshire, including the Wirral, Stockport and Warrington, Mr Barratt, with the help of aerial photographs, described the history of each airfield.

Some airfields had became famous like Burtonwood, Speke and Cranage while others, not so well known like Stretton and Nantwich had an important part to play in the defence of the north west in the Second World War.

There were many interesting revelations.

The runway at Burtonwood at Warrington later became the site of Sainsbury`s and Ikea.

The site of the Cranage runway crossed part of the M6 motorway.

Hooton Park on the Wirral, home of the Royal Flying Corps in 1917, became Liverpool Municipal Airport.

Situated on the west bank of the Mersey Estuary the airport was relocated to Speke.

Hooton Park in 1957 was sold to Vauxhall.

Cranage housed a fighter Squadron of special importance in the defence of Liverpool in the Second World War.

Tatton Park had a runway and was used to train 5000 parachutists.

The History Society plan to make a collection of Winsford anecdotes and memories. Members of the Society were asked to contribute stories and memories.

The next meeting on Monday, May 11 will be the AGM.

This will take up a short amount of time and the rest of the meeting will be film and slides not seen before of Winsford.