Archive

  • Elvis fan Lee all shook up

    A DISABLED Elvis impersonator says he is being terrorised by a gang of teenage thugs. Lee Weaver, who suffers from epilepsy and a brain cyst, says he feels trapped in his own home because thugs taunt him over his enthusiasm for the dead rock 'n' roll

  • Cadets' year of success

    BOLTON SQUADRON of the Air Training Corps say the old adage "success breeds success" has turned out true for them, at the end of another all-action year. Officers say flying awards gained by the air cadets have been numerous, including two Sixth Form

  • MP backs warm home campaign

    A BOLTON MP is giving his support to a scheme designed to end the scandal of people shivering in their homes over winter. David Crausby, MP for Bolton North-east, has lent his weight to a House of Commons motion calling for a 15-year scheme to ensure

  • Wrestling guru is man of honour

    AN inspirational figure to generations of Bolton sportsmen has been decorated in the New Year's Honours List. Life President of the Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club John Rigby has been awarded the MBE for services to wrestling. Mr Rigby, aged 75, said: "

  • Mixed fortunes for junior rugby players

    Chorley Borough Juniors Under 10s Chorley Borough 12 v Latchford Albion 22 Chorley were unlucky to go down in this close encounter with the home side having four tries disallowed. The two tries scored came from Men of the Match Robert Campbell and Sean

  • Time to be kind in 1999

    THE RSPCA is urging pet owners to show more kindness to their animals in 1999 after inspectors and rescue centres spent a hectic festive period dealing with pet casualties. The Christmas holiday has seen the charity inundated in Bolton with discarded

  • No cash for transport

    GOVERNMENT ministers have ignored repeated pleas from council bosses to improve the state of Chorley's transport system. Chorley missed out on the latest round of government funding announced last week by Transport Minister John Reid. Parts of Lancashire

  • The BEN review of 1998

    January AMBULANCE crews in Greater Manchester have a busy start to the year with a record 757 emergency calls in the first six hours of New Year's Day. Animal shelters also face their busiest New Year on record. A FRENCH coach driver is sentenced to pay

  • There's no place to hide

    POLICE chiefs in Lancashire have this week warned drink drivers - you can run but you can't hide! Officers launched a new countywide drink drive campaign together with Crimestoppers at Chorley police station on Monday. Drink Link has already proved worthwhile

  • Simon's collection is out of this world

    DO you know your Bobba Fett from your Jabba the Hutt? - No? . . . well a collector from Chorley certainly does. Simon Brotherton, 23, from Lancaster Street, Coppull, is hooked on Star Wars memorabilia - with a huge collection of official figures from

  • A golden Christmas for loving couple

    THIS Christmas will be extra special for a Clayton Green couple as they mark a marvellous milestone in their lives. For Marie and Tony Morris celebrate their golden wedding anniversary on Sunday, December 27. Former postman, Tony, aged 74, really was

  • Welcome boost for homeless

    HOMELESS people in Chorley are to receive a welcome boost with the launch of a new drop-in centre next year. Work is already under way on the Clifford Street property where Chorley's Help the Homeless group is opening the outlet - with the help of Chorley

  • View from the house with Lindsay Hoyle

    MEETING WITH GLENDA JACKSON I led a delegation of local borough and county councillors to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions the other week to present their Transport Package bids. It was an interesting meeting in which the ideas

  • Wolves Cup worries

    WOLVES boss Colin Lee has quashed speculation that a flu epidemic could prompt him to ask for a postponement of Saturday's FA Cup showdown with Wanderers. But the Molineux manager has big selection problems ahead of the third round Reebok tie. Centre-back

  • THE DAILY POEM: BEN competitions

    The competitions in the BEN, Are there to do so get your pen. You could be lucky just like me, And win a year's supply of tea. Cinema tickets, tickets to see Buddy, Pots of marmalade and some money. Every evening I read the BEN, And off I go with my trusty

  • Santa's chief helper posts a record

    BOLTON people posted more than 13.5 million festive cards and parcels in a record breaking Christmas for the Royal Mail. A total of 13,580,300 seasonal cards, letters and packets were dealt with by the Bolton Mail Centre in the four weeks before Christmas

  • OPINION: Celebrate in style - not in the cells

    CELEBRATING the New Year is something most people in the Bolton area will be doing tonight. But would-be town centre revellers have already been warned not to ignore the drinking ban on the streets, or they could be starting 1999 in a police cell. Police

  • Personal choice

    You ask what do we think of fluoride? (December 22) In the USA during World War Two, an investigator found dental decay scarce where a lot of natural fluoride existed in drinking water. When the manufacturers of fertilisers heard the news, they chose,

  • Help wanted with reading

    VOLUNTEERS are needed to help Bolton teachers improve children's reading skills in the New Year. A charity which provides nearly half of Bolton primary schools with extra help needs more people to come forward for courses next term. Volunteer Reading

  • Back to school chance for grown-ups

    A NEW centre offering part-time education for adults is poised to open in Farnworth. It will be based in the town centre when suitable premises have been identified and the plan is to have computer-training rooms, learning areas, an advice and guidance

  • 100 drivers stage Reebok 'rally'

    UP to 100 high-powered sports cars descended on the Reebok Stadium last night for a bizarre rally in the car park. The unauthorised event - during which some drivers performed high speed handbrake turns demonstrating their driving skills - followed a

  • From the BEN files

    From the Evening News, December 31, 1973 THOUSANDS of workers in the North West were laid off today as Britain got its first taste of a three-day week. Many of them were still on an enforced holiday which started before Christmas and will not end until

  • Chemists open in the Bolton area on Sunday, Jan 3:

    Nash, 15 Devon Street (9am to 10pm); Landmark, 12 Chorley New Road (9am to 1pm and 2pm to 11pm); Cohens, 576 Blackburn Road (9am to 10pm); Hunt and Marsden, Asda, Brackley Street, Farnworth (noon to 1pm); Tesco, Mansell Way, Horwich (noon to 1pm); Cohens

  • Causing delays

    JUST before the Christmas holidays, I was working on the M61 motorway along with two other men, coning off the outside lane of the southbound carriageway. We were astounded to see a car driver travelling along lane two, both hands off the wheel, apparently

  • Pensioners owed cash

    THE GOVERNMENT owes Britain's pensioners up to £1B in pensions and other benefits. The failure of the Government to repair the new National Insurance computer, since it was shut down in the summer, has cost some new pensioners over £100 a week from their

  • Positive

    moans IF given the choice to join Doreen Sanders (BEN December, 23), moaning about moaning Brian Derbyshire, I'd join the latter instead as he is the more convinced, consistent and positive moaner who has recognised that we complainers can serve a purpose

  • Ban on New Year street drinking

    NEW Year revellers spotted flouting the drinking ban on the streets of Bolton could find themselves celebrating the early hours of 1999 - in police cells. Hundreds of people are expected to join the celebrations on Victoria Square in Bolton town centre

  • Green work bears fruit

    THERE was good and bad news for Bolton Council when the national Green Apple Environment Awards were announced. The good news is that it received an engraved trophy as winner of the National Bronze Award. The bad news is that it failed to scoop the top

  • Magnificent seven for Chorley Ladies

    BOLTON WANDERERS GIRLS 1 CHORLEY LADIES 7 CHORLEY Ladies put on another impressive display away to Bolton to consolidate their position in second place of division one. This takes their goal tally to 16 in the last two games to keep the pressure on the

  • 'Bionic' Steve weds dream girl Edna

    A DREAM came true yesterday when ex-Marine Steve Greenhalgh, who was paralysed in a holiday accident nearly 10 years ago, married district nurse Edna McNeely who helped nurse him back to health. And during the fairytale service, the groom was able to

  • Rescue teams to help stretched 999 mercy crews

    EMERGENCY mountain rescue team ambulances will take to Bolton's streets tonight to support the over-stretched paramedic service. Two Land Rover ambulances manned by six fully trained first aiders will be on call this New Year's Eve from 8pm for a planned

  • Weather watching group gets council backing

    A PIONEERING climate group - set up to assess the impact of changing weather on the North West - has received the continued backing of Lancashire County Council. The North West Climate Group, a unique partnership between public and private sectors working

  • It's a hobby horse

    NOW that's what you call a hobby horse! There's nay-one to beat 72-year-old David Gillett when it comes to collections. For he has amassed hundreds of horsey items, such as brasses, harnesses and photographs from bygone times that many of us fondly look

  • Council listens in to noise problem

    COUNCIL chiefs have launched their latest weapon in the fight against noisy neighbours. A new noise policy is being piloted in the borough which will force the council's environmental health section to follow strict guidelines when investigating domestic

  • Engineers' feel the cold

    PAY freezes in the engineering industry have risen to the highest level in three years. The Engineering Employers' Federation says there were no increases in nearly a quarter of pay settlements agreed in the three months to the end of October. The EEF's

  • The people's will

    I refer to the article: What do you think of fluoride? which appeared in the Letters Page on December 22. I wholeheartedly agree with the writer and the comments made. I must also add, in support of the comments, that I had always believed that our MPs

  • OPINION: Honours mystery

    WE'RE beginning to get used to it, but it's no less upsetting. The recipients in the New Year's Honours' List have, to many local minds, one major absentee: Nat Lofthouse. Although the modest Bolton Wanderers' president would be the last to press for

  • Nat's dip for charity trip is just the ticket

    SOCCER legend and Bolton Wanderers Club president Nat Lofthouse O.B.E. drew the winning tickets in a Christmas raffle at the Reebok Stadium, to finance a charity's annual European "tour". The raffle by the local charity 999 Romanian Child Line was held

  • THE DAILY POEM: Jesus is no lottery

    "It could be you," the saying goes A millionaire tonight. You spend a £1, you wait and hope, Have you picked 'em right? The shout goes up "We've got them all, Our luck is in at last." Our worthless lives and lack of things Now that's all in the past.