Archive

  • Justice is overdue

    SIR: An Army patrol in Belfast (1992) questioned a suspicious youth, who suddenly fled. He was chased, ignored three 'stop or we fire' calls from two Scots Guardsmen, and was, regrettably, killed. A court (with no jury) convicted them of murder. Appeals

  • Older drivers under spotlight

    BOLTON Institute is a major partner in an important new transport technology research project. It includes putting the spotlight on the increasing number of older drivers on the road. The Government-sponsored Engineering and Physical Sciences Research

  • MP demands cheap TV licences for elderly

    BOLTON MP David Crausby has demanded concessions in the Budget for pensioners who can't afford their TV licences. Stepping up his campaign for cheap fees to view, he has written to Chancellor Gordon Brown giving him evidence of how other countries help

  • Lives at risk

    SIR: The risk to children from vaccination continues. London researchers suggest a link between measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and Crohn's Disease (linked to autism in children). Yet Bolton consultant Dr Aston dismisses the findings. Must millions

  • Hakkinen race cost me a grand

    A BOLTON man lost £1,000 after backing David Coulthard in the controversial Australian Grand Prix. The man placed the bet at William Hill, on Halliwell Road, the day before Sunday's race - the joint highest bet in the country. With odds of nine to four

  • Wanderers Worldwide Winning Time

    Wanderers face a relegation crunch game with Sheffield Wednesday at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday. And here at the Bolton Evening News we are trying to rally support for the Super Whites from all over the world. On Friday we will be carrying your words

  • Sheals ready to wait to make his Mark

    MARK Sheals' homecoming might have been a low-key affair, but that suits the latest addition to Leigh Centurions' coaching staff right down to the ground. Sheals starts to cut his coaching teeth at Hilton Park this week eager to keep out of the limelight

  • Food for thought

    SIR: When I read your guide to good eating in Bolton on February 19, 1998, I was somewhat amazed and disappointed not to find a mention anywhere of 'Michael's Brasserie' on Crown street, off Deansgate. Michaels has recently been elected Lancashire Life

  • Brassed off!

    AN unusual tug-of-musical-love has developed at a Bolton primary school between 'the two tenors' . . . and their one horn. The predicament has prevented the talented youngsters at St Peter's CE School in Farnworth from starting their own band, and has

  • The daily Poem

    LAMENT FOR THE WRENS And so a noble band has gone, The darlings of the fleet, Of all the women's services, Considered the elite. The priceless duties Wrens performed, Through many years of war, Provided sailors out at sea, With back-up on the shore. The

  • Coma man's plea to long lost daughter

    A BOLTON woman whose husband lies critically ill in a coma is desperately searching for their long lost daughter. Pensioner John Campbell asked to see his daughter Anne just before he sank into a coma at the Royal Bolton Hospital. Mr Campbell, of Shipton

  • Women's festival planned for May

    BOLTON is to stage its own Woman's Festival in May in a week long event promoting female activities in the town. Over the past five years Bolton has held its own Women's Week to coincide with the worldwide day. But this year, Bolton Council's Leisure

  • Summer house blaze riddle

    AN elderly couple's summer house has been badly damaged by arsonists - just yards from where a garage was set alight and destroyed at the weekend. In the latest attack, Harold and Sarah Bentley's timber summer house on a plot of land opposite their home

  • Police hunt for P.O. raiders

    POLICE are hunting thieves who broke into a post office by smashing their way through the floor of the flat above. The gang struck at Hillock Sub Post Office on Albert Place in Prestwich between 6.15pm last night and 6am today. Armed with some kind of

  • Highway horrors

    SIR: I write to add my name to the growing number of residents who are absolutely horrified at what has been done to "improve" Halliwell Road, Bolton. I, too, was totally unaware of what was happening until they started to dig a hole outside my house.

  • Smoking ban is burning issue for landlord

    A BOLTON publican is calling on the Government to think carefully before banning smoking in pubs. Tony Longmire, chairman of Bolton Licensees' Alliance, said the town's publicans would oppose any plan to ban smokers from their premises. Speaking on the

  • From the BEN files

    25 YEARS AGO From the Evening News, March 9, 1973 A LAST attempt to avoid the construction of a road through Haslam Park was defeated at this week's meeting of Bolton Town Council. Ald Mrs Doris Berry wanted the Recreation Committee to reconsider the

  • Ban danger lighters pleads burns dad

    A DAD is calling for a ban on cheap flimsy cigarette lighters after his 12-year-old daughter suffered horrific burns. Rebecca Lowe is still in the burns unit at Booth Hall Children's Hospital after the lighter set her clothes on fire and engulfed her

  • Director's group move

    A PROMINENT figure on the local engineering scene has had a promotion. Mr David Ball, managing director of Webster Drives Ltd in Bolton, now has the additional position of group manufacturing director of the Bradford-based parent company Syltone Industries

  • Firms slow to act on single currency

    THE vast majority of firms in the North-west have yet to start making preparations for the introduction of the single European currency on January 1 next year. This is according to a survey by the North West Chambers of Commerce. The research, sponsored

  • Diabetes in the office

    A CONFERENCE later this month will give advice to bosses who have workers suffering from diabetes. Bolton and Bury Chamber of Commerce is involved in a seminar taking place between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on Thursday, March 26. The free seminar at the Bolton

  • MPs fight bid to sink university vote case

    EDUCATION Secretary David Blunkett will this week receive a petition backing Bolton Institute's campaign for university status before a last-ditch meeting with its principal and chairman of governors. Yesterday the petition was handed to the town's three

  • Referees are caught in the middle

    WHO needs referees? There are thousands of them at every match, in every tap room, office and shop floor who can do the job better than the man in the middle. Refs are no good anyway. They get every decision wrong, need thick spectacles to match their

  • They're raising the Titanic

    THE Rotary Club of Turton are doing more than pushing the boat out for the Bolton Life Education Unit. They are "raising" the Titanic for a special concert at the Victoria Hall, Bolton, on March 21 when musicians from Smithills School Music Department

  • Mail misery

    SIR: I entirely agree with reader Mrs Walsh on the shabby service of the post office - but at least she did eventually receive her birthday card. I am still waiting for mine, as both my nephew and niece, and also their children, posted birthday cards

  • Hop along and help in pond life survey

    THE Bolton Wildlife Project is about to embark on its annual pond survey, scheduled to start at the end of March. The aim is to compile an accurate record of the area's ponds and surveyors are needed to help with the task. About half the natural ponds

  • Teenage bully thief strikes three times

    A TEENAGE bully robbed three young boys in separate attacks as they walked to school in Walkden. He punched two of the boys and threatened to stab the third. The boys, all aged 12, were robbed within one hour, and the thief escaped with a total of just

  • Tax men chase Frank beyond the grave . . .

    ZEALOUS Inland Revenue staff have fined a local man for not filling in his tax forms...even though he has been dead for more than a year. Tax men knew Frank Gaskell was dead when they fined him £100 for not sending in his returns. His shocked ex-wife

  • Wigan ace dropped for below par performance

    WIGAN Warriors prop Neil Cowie has been demoted to the substitute's bench after a warning from John Monie. The fiery front-row was told in no uncertain terms that his display against Dewsbury Rams in the last round of the Silk Cut Challenge Cup was not

  • Fax chief refuses to pay £1,000 fine

    THE Bolton businessman at the helm of a controversial fax firm has been fined £1,000 by the premium telephone watchdog. But the defiant boss of Planet Telecom plc, Mr Peter Hutcheon, has declared war on the monitoring body, ICSTIS, by refusing to pay

  • Todd ready to look abroad

    COLIN Todd is ready to turn to the Continent once again in his effort to keep Wanderers' Premiership hopes alive. After being told by Oxford United that Joey Beauchamp is not for sale, the Bolton boss is running the rule over two Portuguese trialists

  • Manuel will make Mayor's dinner a date to remember

    GUESTS had better be ready with the sponges to wipe down their best togs when the Mayor of Bolton, Cllr Peter Birch, holds his charity dinner and cabaret at the Albert Halls on Friday, March 20. For serving up the drinks - or, more accurately, spilling

  • Seventies show is a sell-out

    BOLTON Premier AOS's two-night concert at the Albert Halls in April is proving to be a crowd puller. The Pop Goes the 70s concert is already sell-out on Sunday, April 26. The concert is also being staged on Monday, April 27. The show is a new, full production

  • The professional touch of Alice

    ALICE Bowmer is producing J B Priestley's An Inspector Calls for St Vincent's ADS. The play will be staged in the Parish Centre, Rutherford Drive, Over Hulton, from May 26 to May 30. Trained professionally in the Drama Department of the then Northern

  • Piano threesome

    THE all-women Saskia Piano Trio will play for the next concert in the popular Bolton School Arts Centre Chamber Music Series on April 5. They will be playing Haydn's Trio in C; Beethoven's Trio in D Major, The Ghost, and the Ravel Trio in A Minor. The

  • Boro's eye final chance

    RADCLIFFE Boro's one last hope of picking up major silverware in a otherwise disappointing season is the Manchester Premier Cup and tonight Kevin Glendon takes his side to Curzon Ashton for a semi-final clash. Glendon has reacted with dismay to reports

  • Join the fight for our own university

    BOLTON Institute MUST be confirmed as a university. We know that the town is top-class, but we urgently need our top college to be given this accolade. The BEN - and a great majority of the Bolton public - back the Institute's governors' high profile

  • Marine cadets ride the crest of success

    BOLTON'S Marine Cadet Detachment left fellow competitors all at sea when they won the national Gibraltar Cup with the biggest margin on record. The cadets scored top marks in the prestigious contest after impressing Royal Marine Major Ian McCullough with

  • Motorist dubs council 'immoral' in roof row

    AN angry car owner has branded Bolton Council "immoral" after its insurers refused to pay out when roof slates smashed into his car. Tony Owens took legal action when his P-reg Ford Courier Kombi was damaged during gales on Boxing Day. But the council's

  • Police fear stolen air rifles will be used by raiders

    DETECTIVES fear that seven air weapons stolen in a smash-and-grab raid at a Farnworth sports shop will be used by the raiders to commit further crimes. The rifles and pistols were among a £6,000 haul - which included a large haul of clothing - stolen

  • Boss faces ruin over £6,500 water leak

    A BOLTON businessman faces ruin after a mystery leak led to a water bill for £6,500! Peter Greenhalgh, who runs Discount Packaging on Blackburn Road, was stunned when he was faced with the huge demand after his water meter showed he had lost more than

  • School soccer aims to boot out racism

    A SCHOOLS competition launched by the Prime Minister to combat racism in soccer will come to Bolton. Youngsters from Brandwood County Primary School, Daubhill, have been selected out of hundreds of schools to appear in the regional finals on home ground

  • Robbie's so 'chuffed' with himself

    By Jennifer Bradbury ROBBIE WIlliams, the wild man of Take That, performed a private show on the Mrs Merton set at Granada Studios last week. And the BEN was on hand to grab a word with this extraordinary talent, whose new single, Let Me Entertain You

  • Equal rights

    SIR: Regarding the press coverage of the Bolton Seven case The Bolton Evening News editorials relating to the 'Bolton Seven' case seem to have implied gays want more than equal rights. A number of the males involved in the 'Bolton Seven' case say they

  • Don't pick daffodils

    SIR: I am sure that everyone will agree what a lovely sight the daffodils are as they once more appear in and around the town. Every year the Bolton and District Civic Trust spend a great deal of time planting sacks and sacks of them in a bid to enhance

  • Ternent claims Bury don't deserve huge fine

    STAN Ternent today criticised the £25,000 fine imposed on Bury for the brawl at Bradford City in December. Both clubs must pay £5,000 now with another £20,000 suspended until the end of next season. But the Shakers boss believes they do not deserve to