AS Christmas looms, we look back at the seasonal stories from 1952.

The discovery of three suspected outbreaks of fowl pest in early December imperilled nearly three million birds destined for the Christmas table.

The county's great poultry industry was thrown into turmoil, just as breeders were preparing birds for the last lap' of fattening for the market.

For the fear was that a stampede to slaughter Christmas stock earlier than usual causing a sudden flood of birds on to the market would cause prices to collapse.

Bad news for traders - but the housewife would have enjoyed the biggest Christmas poultry bargains since the war.

All over the North West poultry farms were being turned into fortresses to minimise the risk of infection.

They were also being guarded against thieves, looking for easy money and a cheap Christmas dinner.

And throughout Lancashire, particularly in the farms in the Ribble Valley, police staged a turkey patrol' to protect nearly seven million birds. It was a job that had begun 10 years earlier, when poultry stealing developed on a large scale.

It was vital in the years immediately after the war , when poultry farmers were the prey of black marketeers and lost thousands of their flock - the yearly figure of thefts rising to a peak of 6,886 in 1948.

The country policeman on his bicycle, who knew every inch of his territory, was joined by radio equipped cars.

In the lead up to Christmas that year, East Lancashire suffered some of its coldest nights for 15 years, with temperatures 12 to 15 degrees below freezing. Thousands of people skated, slid and sledged at Queens Park lake, Barrow lodges, Clitheroe, and in Victoria Park, Nelson.

It meant that hot water bottles and handkerchiefs were the items that were selling best for Christmas presents in local stores, according to reports in the Northern Daily Telegraph.

A few embarrassed men were also buying lingerie and one shop manager commented: "I give them particular attention; they look so lost and they spend so well!"

Sales of radios and electrical goods were selling well, too, as well as clothing.

In that year textile operatives in east Lancashire were beginning to face short time and mill managers in Blackburn were facing a poser.

With Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the official holidays, falling on Thursdays that year, management were worried that workers would not bother turning up to work on Boxing Day and Friday, January 2.

The possibility of them staying away to make a long weekend of the festivities was a problem for mills tied down to quick deliveries.

In Burnley and Clitheroe, however, this did not arise, as mills usually closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and ran on New Year's Day.