BOLTON'S new Mayor has four wishes which would make his year as the town's first citzen complete.

Tory Cllr Alan Wilkinson's number one wish is to see Bolton Insitute become a university.

Number two wish is to see Premiership football back at The Reebok Stadium.

He said at today's town hall ceremony, where he took over the chains of office from Cllr John Monaghan: "I know you'll all join me in wishing the lads luck tonight."

Number three wish is that Bolton wins city status.

And number four wish is that more people sign up for donor registration. A kidney research charity will be one of the Mayor's charities for the year. He said: "We all know of the courageous battle fought by many kidney suffererers and the work of the doctors and nurses and I want to help sufferers by raising awareness of donor registration."

The Manchester Institute of Nephrology and Transplantation will be the recipient of the money raised from the Mayor's fund-raising efforts.

Mr Neil Parrott, consultant transplant surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary, gave a speech after lunch today explaining why the money will be so vital.

He said that although the unit at MRI carries out 150 transplants a year, research still needs to be carried out to save lives.

He told the BEN: "Kidney disease affects people of all ages and it has a significant mortality rate. There are still a lot of problems to be solved such as understanding more about how the immune system works."

The Mayor will also support local children's charities and tinnitus -- a high-pitched ringing in the ears which the Mayor himself suffers from.

Cllr Wilkinson, who is married to Denise and has a daughter Helen, represents the Bromley Cross ward.

A former pupil at Red Lane County Primary School, Crompton Fold, and Canon Slade schools, he was a trader at Bolton's Ashburner Street market for 21 years. But a mid-life career change to become a nurse was cut short by a serious car crash in 1991.

Tracing his family tree is one of his hobbies, but he said at today's ceremony that he hasn't found any kings and queens among his descendants -- but he found he was related to a former Mayor of Bolton, Cllr Gerry Riley!

Among his first duties as Mayor will be a town twinning visit to Le Mans in France. But he said he hoped it would not be as "eventful" as last time, when he was on a twinning visit to Paderborn in Germany.

He recalled that he was on his way to a bar when he was "approached" by a young woman. He said: "I don't speak German, but I knew she wasn't asking me what the time was. I've never wanted to get to a bar so quickly in my life!"