The trouble with doing an intermittent blog is that I’m quickly ‘sussed’ when I post on April 1st especially when it’s a controversial story.

This year, I tried to set the tone for the fell being opencast, by posting a text on facebook, asking if anyone had heard what was going on with the fell as I’d heard rumours about a breaking story. In conjunction with Trevor Peate - it was HIS idea by the way - the comments came thick and fast. Some thought that Manor Grove was going to be extended onto the fell or the rest of the tip was going to be filled in. Gordon Hymers suggested that a ’Tesco’ was going to be built there and in an hilarious response, Julie Proudfoot said that if that were true there were plenty of horses down there for them!! So, by the time it hit the Echo site, readers were split as to the authenticity of the story.
Out and about yesterday and some people grinned and said, “Yea right, the fell, good one!” while others were quite dismayed with what was coming, others excited at the prospect of free coal and electric!

The clues were there in the story however; there’s no such company as Northern Coal Limited, a Google search would have exposed that and their spokesperson Lydia F Loopars is an anagram of April Fools Day, well spotted Craig Armstrong!

Fortunately for us all, the fell will be with us for the next thousand years and more and future April fool stories will have to be more subtle!