SIX employees at Collie Carpets in Stone Hill Road, Farnworth have been presented with long service awards. Norman Sargent, Robert Mann, Philip Mann, John Berry, Mavis Greenwood and Edna White have combined service of 130 years. They have seen the carpet
BUILDERS deployed by a Walkden company battled against all the usual problems faced in an outdoor job - continuous rain, sleet, snow, high winds . . . and inquisitive seals! The workers were placing the final touches to the local firm's new prefabricated
DELTA Air Lines has launched a daily afternoon service from Manchester airport to JFK in New York to link in with its US domestic network which feeds more than 240 destinations. The scheduled service - which started yesterday - arrives in Manchester each
A BOLTON Christian film campaigner may picket the Bury-based Warner multiplex cinema as it starts screening the controversial "sex and wrecks" movie, Crash, this Friday. Tom Jones is "not happy" that Bury councillors opted not to ban the film, which features
GRAHAM LLOYD lowered his own mark for the fastest century of the season at Leicester yesterday - then saw it beaten by a contrived century from Warwickshire's Nick Knight. Lloyd had already hit the two quickest tons of the year - from 76 balls on his
A BOLTON dad who lives on the breadline has been landed with a £19,500 bill from the Child Support Agency - despite paying maintenance for the last 16 years. Furious Christian and Edward Pearson have hit out at the "heartless" agency they say has threatened
SIR: Please allow me, through your letters page, to thank those people who braved storms and torrential rain, to attend our recent fund-raising concert presented by the Houghton Weavers. Those who were brave (or foolhardy!) enough to venture out were
By Dave Toomer VILLAGERS who live in a rural retreat on the outskirts of Bolton need to be vigilant to ensure the area remains unspoilt, according to a new report. The Chapeltown Conservation Society, formed after the Redrow housing development at Tower
AMBITIOUS plans to build a major aquatics complex at Pennington in Leigh have moved a step closer with the English Sports Council endorsing the scheme. And the £25m plus project will become an important component of Wigan's Xanadu leisure development.
THE Bolton Sports Federation Basketball League is planning another Summer League, building on the success of the one run at Astley Bridge last summer and the indoor Winter League at the Excel Leisure Centre. It starts on Sunday July 6, at 1.30 pm, and
police time SIR: After reading the story 'After time landlord thought police were regulars" (BEN, May 21), I felt so incensed by the way this police operation was carried out by the Central Licensing Squad in order to gain a prosecution. What a complete
THE Lancashire ladies and men's flat bowls teams have had contrasting fortunes. The ladies lost by 25 shots to Nottinghamshire at Selby in the Inter County Championship (Johns Trophy) but the men, under the direction of the new County Captain, Stephen
CAPTAIN Fantastic Andy Farrell has set his sights on creating yet another slice of RL history by becoming the first player to carry off the World Club Championship. The Warriors skipper has already carved himself a place in the record books by becoming
a marvel SIR: I am writing about two subjects for your consideration. 1. That of the spacious newly modernized fruit and vegetable etc market which is adjacent to Moor Lane Bus station and 2. Genetically engineered food. Now that alterations to the market
SIR: I felt compelled to write to you regarding the article in Tuesday's paper about the new Barbie doll for sale 'Wheelchair Barbie'. I am in full agreement with Samantha and Vicky's letter. People want to ban this toy. Why? Don't they have any idea
STOLEN slides, representing 30 years' medical work, have been found safe and returned to their owner. Consultant surgeon, Mr Les Forrest, was a guest at a wedding in Smithills Hall, Bolton, when the thieves struck. They broke into the boot of his BMW
POLICE probing the cultivation and supply of skunk weed - a powerful form of cannabis - raided homes throughout the North-west today. Four people were arrested in the co-ordinated raids on addresses in Burnley, Colne and Manchester. Police involved in
CLERGY and lay people from near and far, ranging from an Orthodox priest to a Salvation Army officer, attended the annual Assembly of Greater Manchester Churches Together. The event took place at St Matthew's Church Hall, Stretford. Churches Together
DRIVERS who leave cigarette lighters in their cars during the heatwave are putting themselves in danger. The fire brigade has issued the warning after a plastic cigarette lighter exploded in a car while it was parked in Bolton. Driver Dave Ashworth had
AN animal charity claims dogs can be "baked alive" when they are left in parked cars in hot weather. RSPCA Bolton branch administrator Kathy Kay says "leaving a window open or parking in the shade is not the answer. "The sun changes direction or breaks
A SAILOR died early today after trying to cook chips while his ship was berthed at Irwell Park Wharf, Eccles. Firemen were called to the 2,800 ton Irish registered cargo ship Arklow Venture after a blaze in the galley set off a fire alarm at 3am today
BOLTON and Bury have boosted their council tax collection rates persuading more and more people to pay up on time. Both town halls were in line with the national trend when they cut the amount of uncollected cash from local residents. All over the country
RESERVOIR stocks in the area remain healthy at just over 90 per cent full in spite of the recent hot and sunny weather, according to North-west Water. Heavy weather in the first two weeks of May, coupled with reduced leakage and customers' conservation
A UNIQUE experience hits Bolton on Friday when The Australian Pink Floyd Show rolls in to town to play The Albert Halls. To see the 'Aussie Floyd' perform is like witnessing all the excitement and spectacle of a Pink Floyd "stadium" concert but in the
A DES-RES designed to attract new people onto council estates has upset existing tenants. Housing chiefs will today visit a show-home aimed at proving how good council houses can look with a few personal touches. Would-be tenants will be able to look
NORTH West engineers aim to wipe the slate clean to update the image of engineering through a national campaign. They are supporting a radical overhaul of the profession throughout the country to help raise the profile of engineering and make it an attractive
MORE strange sightings in the skies over Bolton are puzzling local UFO investigators. Two people contacted the BEN independently to report the sighting of a strange object over Harwood. Chris Deakin, aged 34, was sitting outside his home in Castle Croft
A MOTHER-of-two from Dunscar was killed instantly in a motorcycle crash during the TT races' "Mad Sunday". Pillion passenger Janet Fealey Harrison, 40, and the rider of the high-powered bike, Graham John Evans, 44, are the fifth and sixth victims to die
BOLTON'S licensees have vowed that controversial alcopops are safe in their hands. In last night's Bolton Evening News, pub landlady, Ann France, of the Blundell Arms, in Horwich, announced she had banned the designer label drinks from her pub. The bottles
DETECTIVES are hunting a vicious hammer gang who brutally beat up a man in a Bolton street - as horrified residents watched helpless. The victim was left in a pool of blood after being hit repeatedly by a gang of four men wielding hammers. The attack
Previous sport story Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
THE Vicar of Bolton, Canon Alan Wolstencroft, has hit back at claims that church attendance figures are being exaggerated. Canon Wolstencroft believes local vicars are not massaging attendance figures to disguise a decline in Sunday worshippers, as a
SIR: Only prayer can change and heal our society. Headteachers are wrong to ask the present government to abolish prayers in school assemblies. It gives young people a framework that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Local fellowships are
SIR: It isn't the welfare state that leads to lack of ambition (JW, USA, May 26) it's lack of decent jobs. The WS worked wonders from its introduction, until Thatcher closed down our manufacturing industries, by encouraging them to invest abroad, where
SIR: May I though your column, express my disgust over the condition of Bolton's pavements and roads. At the time of writing, we have in our street, the contractors for North West Water and what a mess the street is. I do not think there is one street
By Alwyn Graham As a new Government pledges to raise standards in education, an old subject comes under fresh scrutiny. Reading is the key which will unlock all other doors, and too many children are fumbling for that key. Education and Employment Secretary
SIR: On reading the BEN today, Tuesday, I was incensed at the inane, cliche-ridden addled thinking of 'Talking Point'. When do journalists do their thinking? Can they think or does the beer swilling cloud their programmed minds to do their masters' bidding
SIR: The latest letter in your columns on the subject of North West Water's plans for Rivington appeared on May 23, and was from a so called "Friend of Rivington", John Smith, who, by giving himself that title and speaking against the NWW scheme, implies
A NEW and expanded Intestinal Failure Unit will be officially opened today at Hope Hospital, Salford. This is the largest unit of its type in the UK, providing a valuable service for people who have to be fed artificially and who would otherwise die.
STEEL window shutters could be replaced by frilly net curtains in a bid to improve the image of Bolton council estates. Housing chiefs believe the metal security boards on the windows and doors of empty properties are proving a real turn off for would-be
FIREFIGHTERS have warned people to be on their guard against bogus salesmen selling stickers door-to-door claiming they have been endorsed by the fire service. Greater Manchester Fire Service back a scheme run by Bury-based Welephant Enterprises which
By Betty Lightfoot Wentworth Road Swinton Matchstick Man, aroused from sleep, Painting previous fight in street. Boots and tempers black as night, Lodging house a flaky white. Matchstick Man, stands, unseen, Pencil sketching playtime scene. Dark eyed
EXERCISE on prescription has proved just the tonic they needed for over 450 local patients. Couch potatoes from all over Bolton are shedding pounds and improving their health thanks to the pioneering "Fine Fettle" scheme. Now doctors are looking for more
ALAN Ayckbourn turns his back on his usual menu of middle English angst for this whimsical time hopping comic thriller. Ayckbourn paints with a softer brush to make this a more attractive offering than his usual fare. In his story he decides you CAN defy
BOLTON'S links with a famous national black pudding contest have been severed after 26 years. Until this year Bolton has been the home of the annual contest, attracting the top pudding makers from around the country. But rival competitions reducing the
25 YEARS AGO From the Evening News, June 3, 1972 THE Prime Minister, Mr Edward Heath, was one of the thousands admitted to the lying-in-state of the Duke of Windsor today. Baroness Spencer Churchill and Earl Mountbatten of Burma were also among the estimated
BRIAN Halton's impression of the last match at Burnden Park has proved a real winner with Wanderers fans. A limited edition of 1,000 prints of the artist's original canvas, which will hang in the boardroom at the Reebok Stadium, are being snapped up as
