MANY thanks to everyone who got in touch about George Formby after last week.

You didn’t let me down.

I asked if anyone knew where George’s friend Fred Bailey lived.

First up was Peter Foy.

He told me: “Fred Bailey owned a wholesale fruit and veg business at the old Warrington market and also had a retail stall within.

“In 1961 I used to deliver meat to their house in Silverdale Road off Chester Road and then they moved into a large detached house on New Walton Road.

“Mrs Bailey once made me a drink in their kitchen and she let me try on a face mask of George Formby that was the original one made at Madame Tussauds waxworks.

“She said that it was moulded on his face prior to them making a life-size replica of George.

“I can remember standing outside Singleton’s butchers’ shop on Buttermarket Street in 1961 when George’s funeral passed by.”

A few of you said Fred lived on Manx Road, just off Chester Road.

Thanks to Linda Pridden.

She said Fred died sometime in the Sixties, adding: “His wife, a lovely lady, used to stand at the garden gate and chat to passersby.

“She bought me some white towels when my first baby was born in 1977.

“When she died the bungalow was sold and extended/modernised.”

It also appears that Fred Bailey lived for some time on Loushers Lane.

This was confirmed by a few people, including Josh Walsh, but also by Carol Hughes, who lives at 2 Loushers Lane.

She said: “I believe that Fred Bailey lived in my house during that period of time.

“I have been told by several, unconnected, people that George Formby on many occasions visited my house to see his friend Fred.

“This has been confirmed by a relation of Jessie Bailey, Fred’s wife.

“It would be of interest to check the electoral roll for the 1950s and 1960s to check if Fred really did live in my house.

The Baileys later moved to a bungalow on Manx Road.”

We left off the Formby story last week with the death in 1960 of wife Beryl.

Within a matter of weeks George was engaged to Pat Howson, who was a lot younger than he was.

For all of his married life to Beryl, George had been bullied by his overbearing wife.

Sadly, he was never to find happiness with Pat as he, too, died aged 56 in March 1961. More than 150,000 people lined the route at his funeral and he was buried in Warrington cemetery in the same plot as his father.

Next week I’ll look at George’s legacy – and also the remarkable story of his mother, Eliza Booth, who lived to be 102.