abstract
| - Weatherfield Gazette editor Mr Foley was one of the judges of the "Best Kept Street" competition held in Weatherfield in July 1967. Along with Councillor Wilson and senior judge Mrs Delamere, Foley had the task of touring the local streets and meeting the residents. Eager to get their hands on the £100 prize money, the inhabitants of Coronation Street had gone to a genuine effort to make their homes presentable, putting out window boxes, hanging baskets, union flags, and above the Rovers Return, a striped canopy. Their best laid plans went awry when, moments before the judges arrival, the welfare arrived in the Street to remove the squatting Lawson family from No.3. Fortunately, the judges arrived just as the car pulled away but Hilda Ogden instantly threw away their stroke of luck when, thinking that the regal Mrs Delamere was just a friend of Annie Walker's, she told the woman everything. During the inspection, Mr Foley said very little, appearing barely interested in proceedings. He broke his silence during an awkward moment just after a nervous Minnie Caldwell had replied to Mrs Delamere's "good afternoon", with "I'm very well, thank you". Asking Minnie how she was, Mr Foley only confused the elderly lady further, and she had to look to an embarrassed Ena Sharples before repeating her prior reply. The eventual winner of the competition was Inkerman Street.
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