BOLTON musician Damon Gough — better known as Badly Drawn Boy — is providing the music for a major new drama set to air next month. Actor Timothy Spall plays a 50-stone man in the title role for ITV’s The Fattest Man In Britain, written by
A pensioner claims new signs are trapping disabled drivers into receiving parking tickets. Muriel Davies, who walks with the aid of a stick and is a disabled badge holder, was horrified when she parked in a marked out bay in Queen Street, behind
SOLDIERS serving on the front line in Afghanistan are set to receive an early Christmas present. The Royal Mail yesterday took delivery of 700 Christmas boxes which have been donated by the people of Bolton. Veteran Jack Dixon, aged 77, teamed up with
YOUNGSTERS are set to turn their school yellow — after being given 500 daffodil bulbs. Sharples Primary School received the bulbs as part of a scheme to brighten up the area. Cllr John Walsh and Cllr Hilary Fairclough secured £700 from
THE meteoric expansion of Horwich RMI Harriers’ youth section has earned them the national junior club of the year award. In the last six years the Bolton Arena-based club has gone from 15 to 180 junior members and from three to 14 coaches. The club
BOLTON is braced for storm chaos — as gale force winds and more heavy rain heads for the borough. Weather alerts were issued by the Met Office yesterday as the town ground to a halt in the rush hour. Flash floods sparked traffic chaos
A youth project is still looking for a home in Little Lever. Zac’s Youth Bar, which runs a scheme in Farnworth, received planning permission to use Bolton Council offices in Market Street, Little Lever. But the building had “restrictive covenants” placed
KATIE SHAUGHNESSY of 2 Hesketh Walk, Farnworth, Bolton, writes: My grandma, Eileen (nee Brookes/Dawber) hasn't seen her older sister Joan for years. We believe she married Bill Aspinall and lived in Swinton area for a while, then nothing more has
A reunion has been arranged for former pupils of Sharples High School who left in 1979 as well as staff who where there at the time, as it is 30 years on. It will be held on Saturday, November 28, from 7.30pm onwards at the Brierfields (721
By Matt Lawton Leigh Genesis extended their winning run to five successive games with a resounding victory over struggling Harrogate Railway Athletic in a UniBond League First Division North fixture at Chorley's Victory Park. After a terrific second
MATT Jansen reckons success in the FA Trophy this weekend would cap a successful start to his new career in Leigh. The former Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers striker quit the high life this summer to put a foot on the coaching ladder alongside former
The Bolton News is part of Newsquest Media Group Limited, which is one of the country’s largest publishers of regional and local newspapers. One of our reporters is going to the BBC - and we are looking for someone to fill this role. The Bolton
WOLVES boss Mick McCarthy believes a win against Wanderers next month could be key to his side’s Premier League survival. The Midlands club face Chelsea this weekend, but their manager has already earmarked home games against the Whites and local rivals
GARRY Flitcroft hopes a dour derby battle can be avoided when Wanderers entertain Blackburn on Sunday. The former Rovers midfielder will be sat in the stands at the Reebok and although he expects the derby clash to be a fiery encounter, he hopes it will
THE country’s leading human rights group has slammed the Government’s introduction of controversial national ID cards in Bolton. From Monday, people living and working in Greater Manchester have been able to book an appointment to have their details
THE England and Wales Cricket Board are deluded if they think moving the Ashes to terrestrial television will be harmful to the game. If anything, it will have the opposite effect. The board’s chairman, Giles Clarke, believes the revenue lost from satellite
Opera North’s enthralling production of Massenet’s ‘Werther’ was the second offering in their autumn season at The Lowry. The opera is very much a nineteenth century French take on the late 18th century German romantic angst as exemplified
CONTROVERSIAL plans to move Greater Manchester’s fire control centre to Warrington will be scrutinised by MPs because of delays and spiralling costs. Bolton’s fire services are currently directed by a control centre in Swinton, which the Fire Brigades
A FAMILY moved into their new house to find thieves had stolen the garage door. Raiders took the 50 sq ft steel door the day before Rehana and Sajid Ali moved in. The couple, both aged 27, arrived at the house in Moorside Avenue, Farnworth, with their
Staging of the Czech composer Leos Janacek’s only ‘comic’ opera is a rarity and Opera North’s new production is the first outside London. In these straightened times it is a bold programming decision to enter into the quirky world of ‘The Adventures
RESIDENTS living near to a busy road have been campaigning for years for the speed limit to be reduced. So they were delighted when they saw two 30mph signs had been erected as drivers entered Hart Common from Hindley. But their delight quickly turned
A POLICE community support officer has been jailed for two years after he encouraged an 11-year-old girl to perform sex acts on a webcam. Steven Evans, aged 23, met the girl on the internet after he obtained her email address from other children he chatted
ABOUT 91 per cent of UK companies have seen an increase in defaulted payments from creditors in the past 12 months. That is according to new research published by Creditsafe, the business intelligence experts, which also discloses that 74 per cent of
LEADING professional services firm Deloitte says the days are numbered for “monolithic” local government IT outsourcing deals. Its report, Taking control of IT, urges management within that sector to take proper ownership of IT. It also says local government
TOTAL value of private equity-backed buyouts in the North West fell by 68 per cent in the first nine months of 2009 to £412 million compared with the same period last year (£1.3 billion). And latest data from the Centre for Management Buyout Research
A PROBE into corporate insolvencies must address the problem of “phoenix” companies starting again under a different name and leaving their smaller creditors unpaid. The Forum of Private Business (FPB) made the call to coincide with the launch of an
RESEARCH from recovery, restructuring and insolvency specialist Tenon suggests 87 per cent of North West entrepreneurs are adopting strict initiatives to manage their cashflow and their wealth as conditions for raising additional finance fail to improve
Police investigating a double-fatal shooting in March 2006 have released the picture of a man they would like to speak to. Marcus Rico Callaghan, aged 25, is believed to have returned to the UK after spending time in Spain. Callaghan
A DEAF businessman who has been hailed as a North West Enterprise Ambassador has been honoured by his home town. Esmail Patel, director of the Deaf Education Advocacy Fellowship (DEAF), was presented with an accolade for diversity and enterprise at the
IN response to the letters of Steve Hart (October 30) and J Rutter (November 4), Street Angels would like to affirm that we do want to encourage sensible drinking, not least by offering our café that serves non-alcoholic drinks. We will continue to
OUR government recently commissioned a report on early childhood education (The Cambridge Primary Review) and found that children respond better to a play-based learning at a young age. Children learn better through structure play. I have never met a
Ed Miliband warns that the British consumers face increased energy costs to meet the cost of building new nuclear power stations. Are the new power stations to be owned by the British people? Or by German companies like RWE npower and E.ON, or by the
FIRSTLY, as we all now know, a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty can no longer happen as the Czech Republic has agreed to it — unanimously — by the Czech High Court, and how can they have been threatened in any way? Philip Griffiths (North WEest chairman
SO, Queens Park is about to lose hundreds of trees in an effort to deter criminals (The Bolton News, November 7). Bolton strikes again! Following the depressing news of the forthcoming trashing of the Cutacre site, we are informed that the modern way
I’M sorry to hear that Mr Grainger, and others, are having problems receiving BBC channels following the first stage of switchover (TV worse since digital switch-over, November 13). While it is difficult to diagnose individual reception issues without
AS a regular reader of The Bolton News since 1945, I thought I would mention a most moving time I had at Bolton Crematorium last Friday, at 10am. I was there at the “Passing Out” of Roy Gaitskell who, like myself, was an adopted Boltonian. He started
THE recent case of a house owner being fined a paltry sum of £1,000 (The Bolton News, November 4) illustrates how, unlike other local authorities, our BMBC legal department and our magistrates apparently have problems in engaging with the protection
I AM pleased to see a campaign to consult with the public to improve our stations. I would like to suggest a facility which should not cost our local people a penny. When I book a journey on the internet, which I have to do to get the cheaper fares and
WHY has “Bobby” been dropped? Why is Bobby Heywoods Park now being referred to as Heywood Park, and not its full title? J Mack Crossen Street Darcy Lever
THE figureheads of an underground dance movement born out of a Bolton youth group are set to boost Children in Need. The Blackout Crew started humbly as a group of lads taking rapping and DJ-ing lessons at the Harmony Youth Project in Halliwell — but
PUDSEY Bear has been out and about visiting children in Bolton in the run up to this year’s Children in Need. The charity mascot dropped in at St Peter CE Primary School, Farnworth, and also visited poorly youngsters at The Royal Bolton Hospital. Pudsey
BEING a mere 10-minute walk from our house, Retreat seemed the ideal place to take our wonderful neighbour, Fran, as a treat for cat-sitting during our recent holiday. Over the years, the building that houses Retreat has undergone several makeovers and
A model has been jailed for five years after police found £600,000 of cocaine hidden in her Mercedes. Kelly Askew, a 30-year-old mother-of-two, was caught when undercover police followed her to the Shell petrol station in Manchester Road, Bolton
THERE is no doubt that the London-based Israeli musician Gilad Atzmon is one of the best alto saxophonists on the planet. I know that is a serious claim to make, but genuinely believe it, having heard him live and listened to his recordings, particularly
MONDAY night in the eternally-rainy city may not seem like the ideal setting for The Flaming Lips’ effect-laden show. But it’s difficult to imagine anything but sunshine as giant balloons, confetti canons and ticker-tape rockets work their magic around
MEMBERS of a local brass band are mourning the loss of a former president — and internationally acclaimed actor. Edward Woodward, who was most famous for his part in the cult horror film The Wicker Man, and in numerous TV roles including Callan
A BOTTLE labelling scheme to prevent shopkeepers from serving alcohol to children is to be launched in a trouble-hit district of Bolton. Police are set to distribute 20,000 stickers to shops in Kearsley in a bid to trace those which are selling
Police are growing concerned for the welfare of a 67-year-old man missing from home since Monday. James McCoy was last seen at about 3pm on Monday at his home on Valletts Lane, Bolton. James is described as slim, about 5ft 8in tall,
TRUSTEES of the National Football Museum have supported a planned move from its Preston base to Manchester. They said a move to the Urbis centre would secure the long-term future of the site and open up its prestigious collection to a much wider audience
