FRED WAS a third generation farmer on the hillside overlooking Delph and Denshaw.
It was a cold morning even by Saddleworth standards when he ventured out into the fields to collect his cows for milking.
On entering the field he was astounded to find all his animals motionless, standing like frozen statues. He knew that it had been a cold night but he had never seen anything like this before.
Then the realisation of what had happened suddenly struck him. With his entire livestock gone, how would he make ends meet? How would he feed his wife and kids and pay the mortgage?
He stood there with his head in his hands trying to come to terms with his impending poverty.
Just then an elderly lady walked by and seeing Fred’s distressed state she said “Is there something a matter?”
Fred pointed to his frozen cows and explained his predicament. Without hesitation the old woman smiled and said “Don’t worry chuck.”
Then she walked up the nearest cow and gently rubbed its nose. After just a few seconds the cow twitched and was soon back to normal and began feeding and chewing the cud. The old lady defrosted the rest of the field full of cows one by one until they were all fine and healthy again.
Farmer Fred was delighted and asked the woman what she wanted as repayment for this amazing deed. She politely refused any form of payment and walked off to continue her journey.
A passer- by who had witnessed the whole event approached farmer Fred and said “You know who that was, don’t you Fred?”
“No I don’t,” said farmer Fred.
“Well,” said the bystander. “It was THORA HIRD!”
