Cheshire Independent Issue 215

JUNE 2026 2 EDITOR: MikeHulme Mike@independentnewspapers.co.uk ADVERTISING: RobinAtkins 07767 840274 Robin@cheshireindependent.co.uk CLASSIFIED: JayneMeadowcroft 01204 478812 or 07703 045189 Jayne@independentnewspapers.co.uk No part of this publicationmay be used or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher. Every effort is made to ensure that the articles and advertisements that are carried are authentic, however the publisher accepts no responsibility for claims made. © Investors in Publishing Ltd 2026. This newspaper is publishedmonthly by Investors in Publishing, Publishing House, 3 Bridgebank Industrial Estate,Taylor Street, Horwich, Bolton BL6 7PD. 01204 478812 CONTACT US A TOP private school in Cheshire has been put up for sale after announcing it’s set to close next month. Earlier this year governors at Alderley Edge School for Girls – where fees are almost £20,000 a year – revealed ‘with deep sad- ness’ it would be permanently shutting its doors at the end of the summer term. In a letter to prospective par- ents, the school cited the intro- duction of VAT on private school fees last year, falling numbers and a slowing birth rate in the area. Governors said they looked at closing part of the school and sales to other education provid- ers but after ‘exhaustive con- sideration’ finally proposed a full closure. The letter read: “I want to acknowledge the impact this announcement will undoubtedly have on our community. AESG is a place of friendship, joy and learning for all our girls, and we are profoundly aware of the importance of the school in the THE Conservative and Labour candidates stand- ing to become mayor of Cheshire and Warrington have said they will not introduce a mayoral tax. Elected mayors across England have the ability to raise a mayoral precept – a sum on top of council tax to raise additional funds for services – although most of them currently do not. Conservative Ben Fletcher said “taxing people more was not the answer” and in response, Labour’s Dan Price said he also had “no plans to introduce tax”. The other major par- ties have not yet named their candidates. The Cheshire and War- rington Combined Author- ity came into force earlier this year and the mayoral election will take place next year. Businessman Fletcher said he would use his commercial experience to “lead an effi- cient and effective combined authority that creates plans that win private investment”. “Families across Cheshire and Warrington are having to live within their means. I think government should do the same,” he said. While Price – who is cur- rently the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner – said he had no precept plans, “the reality is that if you Homes started GROUND has been broken on a new 55-home development at Ledsham Garden Village. Expected to launch in the summer, The Cedars at Led- shamGarden Village is being built by Barratt Homes. Located on Ledsham Road, The Cedars will form part of the established community which has already taken shape at Ledsham Garden Village. The new develop- ment will comprise two, three and four bedroom properties. Alan Watt, Sales Director at Barratt Homes, said: “We are pleased to have started works on our brand-new development, The Cedars at Ledsham Garden Vil- lage, as it brings us closer to deliv- ering much-needed, high-quality housing for property seekers in Cheshire.” Candidates rule out county mayor tax Ben Fletcher and Dan Price have both been selected for the election next year Online sex offender jailed A MAN from Congleton has been jailed for offences includ- ing possession of extreme pornography and attempting to engage in sexual communi- cations with children. Mark Gould, of Park Road, Congleton, was sentenced to four years imprisonment. Gould, 63, had previously pleaded guilty to 17 counts of attemptingtoengageinsexual communications with a child and 10 counts of attempting to incite a child aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sex- ual activity. He had also pleaded guilty to four counts of distribut- ing an indecent image of a child, three counts of making an indecent image of a child and one count of possessing extreme pornography. It was heard in court that, in 2025, officers from Cheshire Constabulary’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) received a report that Gould was engaging in sexual communication with children over social media. Officers conducted a visit to Gould’s address in Congleton and he was arrested. Gould’s property was subsequently searched, and officers recovered two mobile phones. While in custody Gould denied theoffences, but digital media officers found message chats across two social media platforms where Gould was speaking with children under the age of 16 and encourag- ing them to share sexualised images. He also sent numerous explicit images of himself. Over 20 illicit images were found across his devices, along with three extreme por- nographic images. Gould pleaded guilty to a total of 35 charges on his first court appearance on 2 April 2026. Alongside his custodial prison sentence, Gould was also ordered to sign on to the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely and was handed a Sexual HarmPreventionOrder. ask people here in Cheshire – and I have – they are often prepared to pay a few pounds extra each year for decent public services that work”. The Cheshire and War- rington mayoral election is set to take place in May 2027. PRIVATE SCHOOL PUT UP FOR SALE Alderley Edge School for Girls is up for sale daily lives of our pupils, staff and families.” Now, the near 100,000 sq ft school buildings and play- ing fields on Wilmslow have been put on the market by estate agent Savills with ‘offers invited’. Another 5.5 acre plot of land off Lydiat Lane is also up for sale. The school, which has 400 pupils, is described as a ‘prime development opportunity... in one of Cheshire’s most desirable and affluent locations’. The listing adds: “This varied building stock and layout present strong poten- tial for redevelopment, including conversion and reconfiguration of existing structures, alongside new-build opportunities and phased delivery.” David Maynard, pictured second from left, found this photo (which has been digitally re-colourised) after a water leak forced him to clear out his loft 56 years later Missing Bowie photo found after 56 years A LONG-LOST photo of a young David Bowie backstage at gig arranged by a group of Stockport teenag- ers has emerged after 56 years when one of the group was clear- ing out his loft. David Maynard, now 74, was a member of the Stockport Schools’ Stu- dent Union in 1970 that booked Bowie for a spot at the Poco A Poco Club in Heaton Chapel. Photos of the event were believed to have been lost, but Maynard said he always suspected he had one somewhere. “I was relieved to find it because I had been going on about this photograph for several years, and I think they thought that I was just romancing and making it up and having a fantasy,” he said. “But I knew I had it and eventually I found it, and now it’s available for everybody to see.” The picture, which has also been digitally colour- ised, shows Bowie, who had already secured a top-five hit with Space Oddity, in his stage out- fit flanked by seven of the sixth formers in the student union. It was only found after a water leak in May- nard’s loft meant he had to clear out stacks of old boxes. “I had a lot of photo- graphs damaged by the water leak but not this one,” he said. Maynard, who is sec- ond from the left on the photo, said his memories of the “very hectic” night were blurry. “We were all sort of 17, 18,” he said. “We’d organised things before but only on a small scale, in like rugby clubs or in a railwayman’s club, before. “We knew roughly what we were doing but it was a great big step up because I think the Poco a Poco on the night had a bit over what it should have had inside it, it was rammed full and they must have made a lot of money on the bar.” Maynard, said Bowie, who died in 2016 aged 69, was “quiet” but “persona- ble” on the night. “He had a serious, studious air about him,” he said. “He looked compe- tent. He knew what he was doing.” Bowie’s evening in the town had already been marked by a plaque at Stockport train station, where he spent the night after missing his train home following the gig.