JOHN Wright's Sunday dinner was unceremoniously chucked away in what is surely the first recorded act of positive vegetarianism in Bolton.

This little gem emerges in a book by a former Bolton Evening News journalist and now a Salford City councillor, Derek Antrobus, and the publication marks autumn's 150th anniversary of The Vegetarian Society.

Salford is the veggie hub of the universe at this time for that is where the Society began, thanks to pioneering campaigners.

The movement goes back to 1809 when the somewhat inappropriately named Rev William Cowherd established the Bible Christian Church in Bridge Street, Manchester. His congregation had to vow to eschew meat and one of his first converts was a Bolton man, John Wright.

This worthy left the church a meatless man and returned home to find his wife had cooked bacon for Sunday lunch; they threw away the meal. Wright became a well-known figure in the town (with good cause; not many could afford to throw away good bacon).

This upstanding fellow helped found the Bolton Temperance Society in 1833 and regularly attended Bolton Magistrates' Court where drunks who agreed to sign the pledge under his supervision were dealt with leniently.

According to one report, when Wright died in 1850 his funeral was attended by 400 mourners and 10,000 lined the streets.

Cowherd's vegetarianism was based on the theory that all life possesses a divine spark. The kinship of nature, the central idea, goes back 2,500 years to Greek philosopher Pythagoras.

Not surprisingly, Salford, birthplace of the modern vegetarian movement, plans several events to commemorate the anniversary. The world's first veggie cook book, written in 1812 by Salford woman Martha Brotherton, is being unearthed - this being the book she presented to the first meeting of the Vegetarian Society in 1847. Enquiries about other events can be made at the Society's Altrincham HQ on 0161 928 0793.

Derek Antrobus, Swinton North councillor, has written his own commemorative book, "A Guiltless Feast", which Salford City Council are publishing. He said: "Few people would expect a gritty northern industrial town like Salford to be the birthplace of the modern vegetarian movement, but it is very appropriate that this momentous date in the history of the Society should be celebrated here."

He has been a vegetarian for 25 years.

Today there are around three-and-a-half million veggies in this country. They include the best-known pair, Sir Paul and Linda McCartney, and actor Nigel Hawthorne, comedienne Victoria Wood, singer Jason Orange, model Christie Brinkley and tennis champ Martina Navratilova. And the world's oldest person, 117-year-old Canadian Marie-Louise Febronie Meilleur of Quebec, is another.

With the latest health warning counselling a reduction in meat-eating, the movement is set for yet another massive increase in numbers.

The Society believes: "The future of the UK could be completely meat-free. According to an NOP survey commissioned by natural healthcare company SevenSeas and the Society, one in every six people in the UK are either vegetarian already or considering becoming one....If the present acceleration of growth in vegetarianism continues we will no longer be needed by the year 2030. This is not a wild prediction but based firmly on current statistics."

"A Guiltless Feast" published by Salford City Council, is available from Vulcan House, The Crescent, Salford M5 4NL, priced £4.50. Alwyn Graham

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