The hit which changed lives forever

November 1987 and China In Your Hand seemed to be at Number One forever.

It was the biggest hit for Shropshire's biggest ever band. Will Shropshire ever again see (and hear) anything like it?

It spent an amazing five weeks in the top spot in the days in which being at Number One still really meant something.

The band was T'Pau – named after a character in an episode of Star Trek. And the song which became almost their theme tune had been written in a loft flat at Pengwern Boat Club in Shrewsbury.

They were fronted by Liverpool-born Carol Decker, whose family moved to Hordley Road in Wellington when she was seven, and who attended Wellington Girls' High School.

Although her parents later moved away to Nuneaton, Carol returned to Shropshire and after a while joined a local band called The Lazers.

Carol teamed up personally and musically with Ronnie Rogers, a BT engineer from Shrewsbury, and together in that flat in the county town they wrote over 35 songs, including the one which was to have such an impact on their lives.