Golden couple remember exclusive night at hotel
9:04am Friday 3rd September 2010 in News
WHEN Eddie and Maureen McManus celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with their nearest and dearest at the Holiday Inn, it was no ordinary function.
Because the couple’s family played a big part in the formative years of the landmark hotel in Bolton.
Indeed, Mr and Mrs McManus stayed there before anyone else, the night before the former Moat House Hotel opened, almost 20 years ago.
The pair, along with others involved in the construction of the hotel, were invited to stay there for free as part of a dry run before the new hotel opened its doors to paying guests on August 27, 1991.
Mr McManus, now aged 72, worked as the clerk of works during the building process and his wife’s cousin, David Hyland, was the architect.
Mrs McManus, aged 73, of Daisy Hill, Westhoughton, said: “The last evening before it opened, we all had a meal there and stayed the night.
“We were even given Monopoly money to spend behind the bar.
“It was the first new hotel in the town for quite a while. Up until then, the Pack Horse had been the leading function hotel.
“It was lovely staying there before everyone else. They went to a lot of trouble.”
Mr McManus went on to work at the hotel for the next 12 months as the maintenance manager. He said: “Staying there on that first night was wonderful. There was a very nice manager who looked after us very well and it was my job to make sure everything ran smoothly.”
Mr McManus completed two years’ national service from 1960 to 1962.
He then worked as a joiner and carpenter in Swinton before working for Manchester City Council and then the local authority in Bolton.
In 1989, he was offered the job as the clerk of works for the Moat House.
The happy couple met as members of the Operatic Society at St Edmunds in Little Hulton, where they were also married, on September 3, 1960.
They celebrated their golden wedding with their three sons, their daughter and their 12 grandchildren, as well as other friends and family.
