Take a look at these fabulous pictures from our archives …
See also: Wiganers on the town in 2002 and The Verve in Wigan: It's 25 years ago this month since The Verve played Haigh Hall
. 1986
Steeplejack, steam enthusiast and cult television personality Fred Dibnah gets a bit steamed up as he meets the Ashton Carnival Queen Diane Galvin on Saturday 14th of June 1986. Photo: Frank Orrell
. 1986
The Red Barrows in formation in the Ashton Carnival parade on Saturday 14th of June 1986. Photo: Frank Orrell
. 1986
Princess Diana accepts a posy of flowers from Stephen Hooton of Orrell watched by proud dad Jim at Wigan North Western station as she and Prince Charles made their way to open a factory in Skelmersdale on Wednesday 23rd of April 1986. Photo: Frank Orrell
. 1986
Ashton beat bobby Dave Butler always joked he would have his retirement party in a telephone box. Little did he know fellow officers took it seriously and arranged his do in one. He was told to go to a telephone box in Bryn Street in late December 1986 to recover some 'suspicious property' which turned out to be his retirement cake. Out of the shadows jumped his colleagues and squeezed into the phonebox for a party at 5am. Dave had been in the force for 30 years. Photo: Frank Orrell
. 1986
West Indian and Lancashire cricket legend Clive Lloyd under the bats held by Warren Aspinall, right, Everton and ex Wigan Athletic striker, and Gordon Bennett, captain for the day, before Lloyd's testimonial match at Orrell Red Triangle Cricket Club on Sunday 29th of June 1986. Photo: Frank Orrell
. 1986
Viking marauders invade Ashton Carnival on Saturday 14th of June 1986. Photo: Frank Orrell
. 1986
Princess Anne shares a joke with workers after performing the official opening when she visited Stuart Edgar's new tissue manufacturing factory on the South Lancashire Industrial Estate at Bryn on Tuesday 18th of March 1986. Photo: Frank Orrell
9. 1986
World, Olympic and European decathlon champion Daley Thompson competing in the high jump representing his club Essex Beagles at Robin Park, Wigan, on Saturday 5th of July 1986. Photo: Frank Orrell
10. 1986
World, Olympic and European decathlon champion Daley Thompson with the javelin representing his club Essex Beagles at Robin Park, Wigan, on Saturday 5th of July 1986. Photo: Frank Orrell
11. 1986
Emma, Deborah and Eva Ward meet some of the boat owners at the Crooke boat rally weekend on Sunday 25th of May 1986. Photo: Frank Orrell
12. 1986
Farmland off Gidlow Lane, Beech Hill, is excavated as Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit examine traces of a Roman road after a cobbled stretch was found in December 1986. Photo: Frank Orrell