A THIEF stole a car in Bury and drove off - while the owner's two children were asleep inside. John Berry's children Jacob, aged 10, and Ben, 14, were later dumped unharmed by the thief. It was the second incident in two days in which cars have been snatched
MIKE Whitlow offered battle-weary Wanderers a crumb of comfort today with a positive fitness report. The Reebok left-back, stretchered off in the first half of Saturday's FA Cup defeat at Barnsley is waiting for the result of a precautionary scan on his
SIR: Further to recent reports in the BEN, we are told our Council Tax is set to rise nine per cent this year. Why is there this huge increase in view of the following facts. Council receives 6.3 per cent increases in education allowance from Government
BOLTON West MP Ruth Kelly has hailed yesterday's launch of Labour's New Deal for the young unemployed as good news for Bolton. Yesterday 12 pilot schemes were started across the country offering jobs and training to young people who have been out of work
AN ambitious scheme which could create up to 300 jobs could be withdrawn if councillors give the go-ahead to a large shopping scheme at Bolton Wanderers' old Burnden Park site. Widnes-based developers Morbaine Limited are seeking planning permission to
POLICE who raided a house in Farnworth are trying to reunite dozens of old documents with their owner. Officers believe the bags of photographs from the First World War along with sports programmes and cards were stolen in Bolton but they have been unable
BOLTON paper-making machinery manufacturer Beloit Walmsley Ltd has been highly commended in the National Business Energy Awards. The Crompton Way works installs electric furnaces. The company was a winner in the 1997 NORWEB Business Energy Awards in October
SIR: Atherton prided itself on its pits, mills and foundries, but many citizens would have led useless lives through dust and fume diseases. Dwellers in Leigh, Hindley, Atherton, Mossley Common, Hindsford, Ince, Bickershaw, Abram and Tyldesley all suffered
SIR: In reply to Ken Danby (December 30), I would like to remind him that no-one likes the yearly rises of the Poll Tax and one wonders when will it stop. As regards his advice to the Council, on saving money, it is a load of hogwash as also was his advice
A SCHOOL was in mourning today after 15-year-old pupil died of meningitis. Dan Anderton, who was due to sit his GCSE examinations at Rivington and Blackrod High next summer, died on Sunday at the Royal Bolton Hospital after contracting the virus over
PUPILS at a local primary have been told they are the pride of their school and families. Government OFSTED inspectors praised the youngsters at Guardian Angels' RC Primary after spending four days at the school in Elton, Bury. Reporting Inspector Monica
FARNWORTH Little Theatre presents Willy Russell's Our Day Out as their first production of 1998. The play opens on January 17 and then runs from January 19 to 24. Tickets are available by telephone from 01204 303808 or at the theatre from 7 pm on performance
OUR hearts go out to the family of 15-year-old Dan Anderton who has died of meningitis. Parents at Rivington and Blackrod School High School where Dan was a pupil will obviously now be worried sick about their own children. In early December a pupil was
LEIGH RMI, the Unibond Club Of The Month, travel to Altrincham tonight in a hastily re-arranged Premiership game. They received their award after five wins and a draw in their six outings during December and ironically enough, their seventh game should
A ROW led to a bus driver abandoning his bus in the middle of a road - holding up traffic for 30 minutes. The man left the Timeline Travel service blocking New Holder Street, off Spa Road, Bolton, after he clashed with a van driver while trying to turn
25 YEARS AGO From the Evening News, January 5, 1973 TURTON Council decided last night to 'go it alone' with its controversial sports hall project, and site the £45,000 building at Longsight Park, Harwood. By this decision they rejected a Lancashire Education
BOLTON and Bury productions feature in A Year in the Theatre 1996-7 edited by Giles Haworth. This is the fifth edition of what must be the most comprehensive guide to amateur and professional theatre in Greater Manchester. In an introduction, Haworth
SIR: I am pleased to report that the Rotary Club of Westhoughton was very successful when it toured the streets of the town for over two weeks in December with Father Christmas. We were able to raise the excellent totalof £4035. This was in part by the
AN MP is warning Bolton shoppers to watch out for dangerous toys. Janet Anderson, backing a new government campaign, says parents should follow key rules when they are buying toys for children in the New Year sales. Advice includes checking for sharp
SIR: Having seen your article 'Busy Horwich Resource Centre' hits back and missed J Cooper's original opinion and letter, I felt so incensed by his obvious ignorance about the excellent work done by Sue Stockton and staff, that I felt obliged to write
THE headteacher of tragedy-hit St James's School in Farnworth spoke of his relief and delight after coach driver Jim Shaw walked free from a French court yesterday. As reported in later editions of yesterday's BEN, the driver at the wheel of the coach
TEACHERS at Rivington and Blackrod discovered someone had tried to burn down their school when they returned from the Christmas holidays. A bottle stuffed with paper and petrol had been thrown through a library window. The fire had smouldered on the carpet
SIR: Through the columns of your newspaper, could you please thank people for the kindness and consideration shown to me on December 24, 1997, around midday in Bridgewater Road, Walkden, when the police officer, driving a blue police van, stopped to help
RESIDENTS in Leigh and Wigan Council have joined forces to get rid of an anti-social neighbour. The teenage girl tenant was alleged to have had "many visitors" who were seen injecting drugs as well as creating noise and having abusive confrontations with
A REMINDER that a meeting to discuss the possibility of Bolton acquiring its own Amateur Community Theatre (ACT) will be held tomorrow at 7.30 pm at St Paul's Deansgate Church Lounge. Anyone interested is invited to attend this informal meeting. Organisers
A NEW scheme has given expert free advice to 23 Greater Manchester companies in its first year. The Business & Ecology Demonstration Project helps businesses improve their competitive edge by focussing on environmental improvement. It is funded by
CARMELA Horne, pictured, plays Dorothy in Our Lady of Lourdes AODS's production of the much-loved musical, The Wizard of Oz. Several new teenage members of the society will be taking the parts of the officials in Munchkin Land. Reports are that rehearsals
LOWTON writer Brian Lee has been celebrating the publication of his play Something Inside. The play, which has already had successful runs in Warrington, Stockport and Jersey, tells the story of a young girl's battle to save the trees in her neighbourhood
KATHERINE ROBERTS has found a new niche for herself in the world of pantomime - from chorus to principal boy to Dame. She is now busily rehearsing her role as the Dame in St Joseph's Players' Puss in Boots, the third time she has taken on the task. "It's
THE New Year Concert at the Albert Halls, Bolton, this Saturday looks set to be a sell-out. There is only a handful of tickets still available from the Albert Halls' box office. But any disappointed supporters of the Bolton Symphony Orchestra and Opera
FREQUENTLY after a tragedy somebody bays for blood. But since the deaths of three teenagers after a coach plunged down a ravine in the French Alps, nobody has demanded vengeance. Quite the opposite. The headteacher of St James's School, Farnworth, David
MIDFIELD man Jon Senior is set to make a long awaited return from injury tonight in Radcliffe Boro's home Lancashire ATS Trophy second round meeting with top Unibond Premier Division side Barrow. The former Leigh RMI player appeared to have earned himself
SIR: It was with great interest that I read your story recently in the Bolton Evening News about the Starmount Lodge dip on New Year's day. I can recall as diving officer of the De Havilland (Lostock) Sub Aqua club, back in 1958 and 1959, that we to used
I knew a girl with long, blonde hair, When I was myself a minor. Pity, she was so much younger than me, Which made her a "Mini Minor". The Christmas Sunday school party came round, To which I gladly went. I walked up the spiral staircase, And saw Blondie
YOU may be still in time to enter Sainsbury's Choir of the Year Competition, 1998. There are three cash prizes of £2,000 each and three titles to be won, plus the overall title of Sainsbury's Choir of the Year. The winners of the last title get an extra
ENGINEERS were today inspecting the M62 after high winds threatened to bring huge lighting columns crashing down. Seven columns swaying in gale force conditions were removed over the weekend amid fears they could fall on to drivers. This morning inspectors
VANDALS caused thousands of pounds worth of damage when they wrecked glass bus shelters between Walkden and Farnworth. At least 10 of the new style glass shelters were smashed in an orgy of destruction from Bolton Road in Walkden and along Albert Road
WORSLEY MP Terry Lewis has called for the Government to take the railways and buses back into public ownership, as it was revealed that seven local MPs had backed a Bill calling for targets to cut road traffic. Mr Lewis is joined by Bolton MPs Brian Iddon
GREATER Manchester Police say there was a 10pc fall in the number of drink drivers arrested in the county over Christmas. The figures come despite an alarming number of arrests in Bolton, which, as reported in yesterday's BEN, recorded a 27pc INCREASE
RACIAL diversity in the workforce and business partnerships is the theme of a conference to be held at the Reebok Stadium, Horwich on February 25. Race for Opportunity, the national campaign which is behind the event, aims to provide practical initiatives
