Mayor's attendant Mr Fred Nutter with the missing links and the troublesome safe.
The chains of office of the Mayor and Mayoress of Burnley remained safely in custody at the Town Hall while our first and second ladies attended the Dunkirk Veterans' ceremony in "civvies".
There was panic on Sunday, when, half-an-hour before the Burnley Veterans' new standard was due to be dedicated at St Peter's Church, the safe at the Town Hall refused to divulge its contents. Inside the 3ft. by 3ft. safe were the gold chains and medallions which Coun. Mrs Margaret Tomlinson and Mrs Eunice Bacon were due to wear for the occasion. No amount of handle-shaking or rattling of keys on the part of Mayor's attendant Mr Fred Nutter could persuade the door of the ageing safe to open.
Eventually the Mayor and Mayoress of Pendle, Coun. and Mrs Harry Hardacre, who were also due to attend the ceremony, graciously offered to divest themselves of their own trappings of office so that Burnley's dignitaries would not feel left out in the cold.