CHESHIRE has more than its fair share of unpronounceable place names.

Residents of Upper Peover, Cholmondeley, Wynbunbury, and Wildboarclough will no doubt be used to visitors getting the names of their towns and villages wrong.

However, people who live in the Cheshire villages of Lostock Gralam, near Northwich, and Handforth, near Wilmslow, have more to contend with, as every time they get on a local train, the names of their village is mangled by the pre-recorded station announcers.

But this is set to change.

Northern Rail have announced they will be re-recording 34 places names for use on trains across their network, including Lostock Gralam and Handforth.  

The new announcements will be recorded by Northern employees Pete Corley and Laura Palmer, who will pronounce Lostock Gralam, Lostock ‘Grey-lem’, and Handforth, ‘Hand-futh’.

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “This has been such an interesting process and proof if ever it were needed of the passion our customers have for the North.

“Some of the stations on our network are pronounced very differently to how they appear in writing – it’s important to get these things right.

“I’d like to thank Pete, Laura, and all of the on-board systems team for their persistence with this project – and to everyone that took the time to get involved and speak-up for their hometown.”