By David Magilton WITH millions of sports fans focusing on Valderrama and the Ryder Cup this weekend the pressure is more than ever on the world's leading golfers. Such an important occasion calls for cool heads and nerves of steel as Europe attempts
WOLSTENHOLME Rink plc has announced a group pre-tax profit for the half year to June 30 of £3.619 million - up by 37 per cent from £2.633 million in the same period last year. The Darwen Group's directors have declared an interim dividend of 10 pence
BOLTON-based EEF Lancashire has called for a strong role for the Government's proposed Regional Development Agencies. The engineering bosses' organisation believes RDAs could help boost the competitiveness of business and industry. The Association urges
A FURIOUS Wanderers fan given a parking fine outside the Reebok Stadium has blasted police for their hard-line approach. As reported in the BEN last night hundreds of supporters were given £20 fixed penalties for parking without lights on the A6 Chorley
A LITTLE Hulton mother who killed her severely handicapped daughter by removing a vital breathing tube as she lay in a hospital cot was given an 18-month suspended jail sentence by a judge today. Julie Watts, a 31-year-old former psychiatric nurse, was
BOLTON fund-raisers have been hailed as "trailblazers" by organisers of an appeal to equip the town's ambulances with life-saving equipment for child casualties. CHAT, the Children's Hospitals Appeal Trust, have been amazed at the extraordinary generosity
LITTLE Daniel Hellings hopes he will soon be able to see the dad he recognises only from photographs and speaks to only on the telephone. Daniel, two and his mother live in Farnworth but dad is thousands of miles away in Nepal. Leesa Hellings, aged 35
WATER bosses are asking local people to help find a way forward for ambitious plans to restore Rivington's terraced gardens following the collapse of the Lever Park plan. North West Water scrapped proposals to revamp the beauty spot and build a visitor
RESIDENTS of Heapey and Eccleston are celebrating after grabbing top titles in the annual countywide Best Kept Village competition. And there was plenty of other success for the tidiest corners of Chorley, despite Hambleton in Wyre taking the overall
MATRA BAe Dynamics have landed an order for a Sea Skua guided missile system estimated to be worth about £80 million. The Kuwaiti government has ordered the equipment and weapons for patrol vessels and training purposes. It is a big boost for the company's
FORMER Bolton MP Peter Thurnham completed his first seaside trip with the Liberal Democrats and appealed to his former Tory colleagues: "Come on in, the political water's lovely." The ex-Tory who deserted John Major to join Paddy Ashdown's party said
REGULARS carried on drinking their pints last night - while a Bolton pub burned. Twenty firefighters were called to the Oddfellows pub on St Helens Road, Daubhill at 6.30pm when an upstairs store room in the pub's adjoining outbuilding caught fire. But
LOCAL soldiers are helping Bosnian Muslims return to their war torn homes. Soldiers from C Company, The Second Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers are part of a joint British force deployed on Operation Lodestar to uphold the Dayton Peace Accord
AROUND 3,000 people took the opportunity to learn more about one of the most prevalent medical conditions affecting the people of Bolton. Health professionals, representatives from medical companies and local dignitaries were on hand in Victoria Square
CHILDREN are being given a head start when it comes to understanding numbers, thanks to a pioneering scheme to help teachers improve standards of maths in primary schools in the Leigh and Wigan areas. Wigan is one of just 12 education authorities taking
YOUNG Daniel Green is one of a number of youngsters nominated for a "flight of a lifetime". Daniel's name has been put forward for a trip with charity Childflight, by local singer and next-door neighbour Jean Pasquill. The charity takes handicapped, deprived
Officers from a special team are patrolling the linear walkways in Little Hulton and Walkden in a bid to block escape routes for thieves. The crooks on motorbikes are using the walkways to escape unseen after breaking into homes and cars. The lives of
BOLTON'S Asian community took up the offer of free health and fitness sessions encouraging members to become Active for Life. Free sessions in weight and fitness training were organised by a qualified instructor in Dane Leisure Centre in Deane as part
AN organisation set up to help the handicapped is calling for "obstacles" to be removed from Bolton's pavements. Bolton Handicapped Care Committee say cluttered pavements are a hazard to their members and want them cleared. Secretary Mrs Agnes Parkinson
RESIDENTS thought they had seen the last of nuisance neighbour Scott Atherton when he was sentenced to 28 days in jail. But days after Atherton was "jailed" by a judge at Bolton County Court he was seen skateboarding in the same street where he had been
25 YEARS AGO From the Evening News, September 25, 1972 AMATEUR distance runner Paul Murray showed a clean pair of heels on Sunday when he beat his friend driving a 1600cc car from the top of Winter Hill to the bar of their local in Belmont village. Driver
WANDERERS have been handed the incentive of a revenge mission in the Coca-Cola Cup. The third round draw has put Colin Todd's side on course for a Reebok showdown with Wimbledon - the team that knocked them out at the quarter-final stage last season.
A PRIMARY school where 94 per cent of pupils are the children of Asian families and English is not their mother tongue has won the praise of Government inspectors. Wolfenden Primary School, in the heart of Bolton's City Challenge initiative area, is praised
BOLTON microlight pilot Graham Hodgson is flying high after helping the British team win gold at the first World Air Games. Graham, aged 30, was competing in his first international event in Turkey this month as part of a 16-member team. The self-employed
A TRAFFIC administrator from Heaton is warming up for the trek of a lifetime. For Keith Bateson has set his sights on hiking through the Himalayas - and it's all in aid of children for whom walking out of the front door is a major expedition. Keith will
THIRTEEN Bolton people who have been told by their doctors that they need physiotherapy have been waiting more than A YEAR for treatment on the NHS. Another 32 have been waiting between 26 weeks and a year, 83 have been waiting between 13 and 26 weeks
WRITER Andrew Oldham is putting the finishing touches to a new book which he is hoping to get published in the near future. Andrew, aged 22, has just been awarded a Young Writer's Bursary of £250 by the North West Arts Board, which will be used to try
WHEN former Bolton schoolboy Richard Henderson headed home after working in Hong Kong he decided to take the long route - by boat! Richard, a former pupil of Church Road Primary School, had completed a three year contract working as a shipping lawyer
LANDLUBBERS will be all aboard for the cruise of a lifetime next week - without even leaving the shore! Tickets are selling like hot cakes for the event in aid of the Adlington branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Organisers are hoping 175
POLICE have issued a firm warning to drivers following the launch of a new hi-tech speed trap - just days after a rock legend was fined for speeding on the motorway near Chorley. Megastar Eric Clapton was given a £40 fine and had three points put on his
ERIC Hughes expects his side to continue their end of season form by clinching the Premiership Trophy at Old Trafford on Sunday. But the Wigan Warriors coach will take nothing for granted as his side faces old rivals St Helens in the traditional end of
A MASKED gang threatened a cashier with a lump of concrete and a metal bar during a robbery at a motorway service station on the outskirts of Bolton early today. The three thugs, all wearing balaclava masks, burst into the Bolton West Services - formerly
FA CUP FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND CHORLEY 3 PONTEFRACT COLLIERIES 1 CHORLEY got the elusive first win of the season against a useful Pontefract side to take the first step on this year's FA Cup trail. The Magpies were forced to field a depleted team with
CHORLEY 190 for7 FLEETWOOD 175 for 8 AN AFTERNOON of almost unbearable tension ended with Chorley denied the Northern League title by the slimmest of margins. At the end of the day Chorley and Netherfield finished level on points, but Netherfield grasped
QUIZ crazy Michael Greenhalgh put his mind to raising funds for Muscular Distrophy by appearing on TV. Mr Greenhalgh, aged 45, of Bertrand Road, Heaton, is one of the contestants on Channel Four's popular quiz show 15 to 1, hosted by William G. Stewart
A SHOCKED resident has revealed the device which rocked a quiet street with a late night explosion. As reported in later editions of last night's BEN, horrified elderly residents were woken from their beds by a loud explosion just after midnight yesterday
BOLTON's cash strapped special educational needs service is expected to come under greater pressure from a growing army of youngsters. In common with many authorities across the country Bolton council runs a home tuition service. In the past a full-time
CUSTOMERS of the TSB in Bolton have expressed their concern following the withdrawal of the bank's safety deposit facility. The town centre bank on Hotel Street, which has operated in Bolton for many years, will end the service on October 18. But life-long
WILDLIFE fans will soon be able to tuck into fish and clips after the BBC took their cameras to Bolton Aquarium. A film crew from the Natural History Unit spent a day at the aquarium shooting the Xenopoecillius Sarasinorum "Egg Carrier" fish for the BBC's
PAUL Payton has been appointed as the new Head of Music Service for Bolton Education Department. He takes up the post in January after Frank Wood retired in August. Paul recently conducted the Manchester Camerata for the Bolton Hospice Gala Concert. For
THIS is believed to be the first local amateur production of this award-winning show and you can see why - it is clearly not easy to do. But the company tackles it all with skill and verve to produce a memorable evening. We are taken into a well-depicted
FURIOUS Farnworth residents complain they are being driven to distraction by the "appalling" state of a garage in their neighbourhood. The residents of Buckley Lane are furious about the state of Manor Garage. They are also angry that a fence has been
PIGEON droppings are so bad beneath a Little Hulton railway bridge that children are forced to risk their lives by walking in the road. Janice Wilson, who works in the office of Joseph Eastham High School, says walking to and from work is now on a par
TOP football dignitaries will turn out to celebrate the Centenary of Bolton and District Referees Society. The Society, which is the oldest in the country and has produced five FA Cup Final referees, will mark its historic milestone with a Centenary Dinner
Bolton Res 3, Sunderland Res 0 WANDERERS Reserves went back to the top of the Pontins First Division with a resounding 3-0 defeat of another high flying side in Sunderland at Hilton Park last night. In a competitive game, Wanderers soaked up some early
