1996 ANTHONY BERNARD COYLE (1925-2007)
Anthony Bernard Coyle (known as Bernard) was born on 30 July 1925 in Platt Bridge, the son of a four-loom weaver who worked at Ryland’s mill. He attended St Patrick’s RC school. He always showed a great interest in sport, such as rugby and boxing. On leaving school in 1939 he began work as an errand boy at Rushton’s grocery shop in Scholes. He then worked at Eckersley’s mill, followed by Outram’s, a bakery in Poolstock. He served an apprenticeship in moulding with J H Naylor, manufacturers of mining safety equipment, in Stairgate, and afterwards worked as an insurance agent with the Co-op. He then set up his own business servicing cigarette vending machines. (In 1996 he told the Wigan Observer he wished he had never smoked as he felt he was setting a bad example to Wiganers.)
His marriage to Elsie Regan in 1950 produced 3 children.
After joining the Labour party he was elected as a councillor in 1962. In 1971 he was deputy mayor to John Harte, and in 1974 he became deputy leader of Wigan council, and was elected leader 2 years later.
In 1982 Bernard became chairman of the Greater Manchester Association of Metropolitan Authorities. The task of the GMMA was to oversee the devolution of responsibilities back to the local councils, by the abolition of the Greater Manchester County Council. The council was formed in 1974 as the top tier of Manchester’s local government, co-ordinating the functions of the 10 constituents district councils: Bernard believed that the creation of the GMCC had been an error. Referring to the huge task facing him, the headline in the Wigan Observer of 27 February 1986 was, ‘Undertaker with a £250m body to bury’.
In 1984 he was interviewed (Wigan Evening Post & Chronicle 29 February) about the controversial re-development of the town centre, involving the demolition of the old market and the creation of the Galleries. He said that he took criticism very hard, as he had then given 20 years of public service to the town ‘because it is my town and I love it’.
In 1988 he was awarded the OBE.
Other posts he held beyond those in Wigan included serving as director of the Greater Manchester Economic Development Group, and being a member of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities. From 1994 to 1996 he was Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester.
On 16 May 1996 Bernard became mayor in Charter year, having stood down as leader of the council the previous year.. He told a newspaper the day before, ‘I’ll be the proudest man in the land when I don that chain of office tomorrow’.
He was heavily involved in the Charter celebrations, including opening a special exhibition at the museum, and taking part in the special banquet at Haigh Hall.
During his mayoral year he launched a campaign to raise awareness of skin cancer, out of concern for children at risk during the hot summer.
In an interview with the Wigan Observer, published on 15 May 1996, Bernard looked back at the controversy surrounding the redevelopment of the town centre in the 1980s. ‘The new Mayor looks back at the town’s biggest triumph - the Galleries – and remembers the hooha when the old Market Hall had to go. “It was finished, and despite that vast petition we did the right thing”’.
In January 1997 he told the Wigan Observer that he believed the Wigan accent was becoming more neutral, in contrast to those of Birmingham and Liverpool.
He played rugby for 30 years, including a few games for the Wigan A team, but said that his son Bernard was a better player – Bernard Jr was a scrum half with Wigan and later Blackpool.
He died in March 2007 and is buried in Gidlow cemetery