From the Evening News, December 31, 1994: BOLTON'S 20,000 council house tenants face a rent rise of around £2 a week in the New Year.

Councillors will also hold a special meeting next month to decide how they are going to deal with a double dose of Christmas gloom handed out by the Government.

Housing chiefs have been told that they will have around £300,000 less to hand out in improvement grants for private homes next year and housing associations have also had a cut of around £5 million in the money available for new projects.

WORKERS at a Bolton factory are to begin an all-out indefinite strike on Tuesday after being locked out by management for nearly three weeks.

The 380 shop floor workers at Edbro tipping gear manufacturers were sent home shortly before Christmas and were told not to return to work until January 3 unless they called off a series of one day strikes in a row over pay.

25 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News

December 31, 1979

ALL of Bolton's outdoor postal workers walked out at lunchtime today in protest at a management refusal to grant a New Year's Eve half-day holiday.

The 150 Bolton area workers, who also cover Bury, Farnworth, Horwich, Turton and surrounding areas, were obeying a call by the Union of Post Office Workers for a national walkout.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News

December 31, 1954

THE New Year will open on a more optimistic note for the Bolton cotton industry with the news that all except two of the town's 91 mills will be back in production on Tuesday.

These mills employ 10,300 people.

Mr C. H. Barrett, manager of the Bolton employment Exchange, told me: "I am hopeful that the cotton industry will return to a period of full employment.

"There are many vacancies still on the register, particularly for skilled operatives, and this gives cause for satisfaction. Other industries continue to be quite prosperous and the outlook gives some encouragement for quiet confidence."

MR Mohammed Ali, the Pakistan Prime Minister, announced in Singapore today that he would hold fresh talks with the Indian Premier, Mr Nehru, over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

The meeting would be in the first week in March, probably in Karachi, Mr Ali told a press conference.

100 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News

December 31, 1904

BY the death, at Higher Broughton, of Mrs Sarah Gordon, the memory of a tragic crime of the eighties has been recalled.

Mrs Gordon's son, George, was the proprietor of a furniture establishment with a branch at Bury, which he left in charge of a manager.

The latter's honesty was suspected and George went over to make enquiries and inspect the books.

He never returned and when search was made his mangled body, standing bolt upright, was found inside a wardrobe.

The manager was arrested, confessed and was hanged at Strangeways - almost opposite Messrs Gordon's premises.