FOURTEEN pairs of civic scissors were at the ready as the heads of 14 councils joined Wigan's Mayor, Cllr Ken Pye, to open a new hide at Pennington Flash Country Park.

Mayors, Mayoresses and civic heads from Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside and Cheshire snipped the red tape on the hide, named after veteran Leigh ornithologist Frank Horrocks.

It replaces the first one on the same site destroyed by arsonists last year.

After the opening ceremony the party returned to Leigh and boarded a narrowboat for a trip along the canal to Astley Green Colliery Museum.

The trip, a change from the traditional visit, was organised by Cllr Pye to show that "there's a lot more to Wigan than just Wigan Pier".

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