Pete Hinchliffe

Pete had a great send off today, Father Paul Daly conducted the mass in a very personal way for Pete.

His red fedora took pride of place on his coffin and to make us all smile the final song to say goodbye was "Puff the Magic Dragon" which summed him up... the last laugh.

A number of Rochdale Online message board members attended and we have decided to have one of our Table 12 curry nights in Petes memory, date to be arranged to suit, so anyone wishing to join us will be most welcome, venue will likely be Zeeras at Castleton.

I'm sure you will all join me in sending our love and best wishes to Sinead, his daughter Anita and grandsons Paul and Jack.

RIP Pete, you will be missed by us all.

Charly

The requiem mass at St Mary’s was well attended with Father Paul celebrating Pete’s life and his writings as Hinch, Aqua and Mr Hardcastle being well received by the congregation, which included RO Forum members and RO staff.

It was good to meet Dale Lad and to hear Ava Maria sung beautifully by Tinkerbelle. I did not have the chance to tell her how much Matron and I enjoyed her rendition, you were great Anne.

Our MP Liz McInnes, well mine in Castleton that is,  gave a final round up of Hinch’s Trade Union days whilst working with him at Crumpsall, with some great, humorous anecdotes.

God bless you Hinch me old mate.  

I’d love to attend a table 12 night Charly

Salty

Many thanks to you both for helping us with the proceedings and the news.

Good on you for attending and for passing on the regards of those of us who couldn't.

Have a ball at 'Hinch's' old pals get-together and drink to a 'special' one - they're few and far between.

Just wanted to bump Hinch up to the top of the list, because that's where he belongs in our thoughts.

Well done.  Cheers.

I'm so pleased that Pete had what sounds like a great send off from his friends, reflecting his own unique style and humour.
Sadly I was in hospital last week and unable to get to the send off.

I so respected Pete's sense of justice and accountability and did my best to help him on some issues, including holding Pennine Acute and local politicians to account.
He loved being a thorn in the side of those trying to short-change and deceive the public.

He was a special guy; his sort don't come round very often.

It is a sign of the times when you find about the death of a friend online, from Rochdale Online.

Hiya Striding. Nice to hear from you on here. I got to know about Pete from my Facebook - apparently that's where lots of people go these days for their daily injections of blurb.
Such a loss - to everyone. Not just those who knew him. He was a 'star' in the greater scope of things.
Keep in touch. We are trying to keep the site going in the hope that others will return in due course when they realise what a good idea this was - and for 'Hinch's' memory as it was by his hand this site rose from the ashes after RO. Cheers.  Atlas.

So sorry to hear of Pete's death. I was shocked to see Charlie's post. as well as being a 'Hinch' fan from Rochdale Online days we also were involved through 38 Degrees in their fight for the NHS. 'Eternal rest grant onto him .....' My sincere condolences to both his family and friends.

Good to hear from you Manc. Your thoughts go for all of us. Keep in touch. Atlas.