Archive

  • Searching for the superkid

    "I TRAIN five times a week, play football every Sunday and enter boxing matches on a regular basis." These are not the words of some top world-class athlete - well not yet anyway - but of pretty 14-year-old schoolgirl, Vicky James. And to describe her

  • Class of 98 pass the test

    HOW would the average Wanderers fan assess the season so far? Fair to middling? Encouraging rather than exciting? Some of the ultra-critical might even say disappointing, considering they kicked off in August with such high expectations. In any event,

  • Empty homes to get a new lease of life

    FED-UP residents are set to enjoy a boost to community facilities when empty council houses are given a face-lift. People who live in sight of four council houses on George Street, Farnworth, complained to the BEN that they had been boarded up for months

  • Samaritans call for help in time of need

    BOLTON Samaritans are employing new tactics in an effort to boost their dwindling number of volunteers. Despite regular appeals for more people to offer a listening ear to those in need, not enough people are coming forward to man the phones at the Bark

  • Class of 98 pass the test

    HOW would the average Wanderers fan assess the season so far? Fair to middling? Encouraging rather than exciting? Some of the ultra-critical might even say disappointing, considering they kicked off in August with such high expectations. In any event,

  • Silent witnesses who save an abused child

    A MUM finally brought herself to ring for help 12 months after her five-year-old daughter had returned from a visit to her father complaining of a "sore bottom". A baby-sitter called someone after spotting cigarette burns on a baby's face and foot. And

  • Swan death trap diversion plans

    WILD swans should face a safer New Year in Westhoughton as Norweb draws up plans to protect them from overhead power cables. As reported in yesterday's BEN, birds landing and taking off from a pond at Lanns Farm, off Hindley Road, Westhoughton, have been

  • Council repair blamed after house break-in

    FURIOUS friends and family of a disabled Bolton man are blaming the council after burglars stole his most treasured possessions. David Wallace, who is mentally ill and needs daily visits from care workers, accidentally locked himself out of his terraced

  • Reebok joins foreign fields

    THE continental mid-winter break has sparked a sudden rush of interest in Wanderers' affairs. Highbury, Anfield and Old Trafford used to be the places for off-season foreigners to see and be seen but Euro journalists have now put the Reebok on their itinerary

  • Schoolgirl raises house wreck alarm

    A DETACHED house in Atherton was wrecked and its roof had to be stripped off following a massive blaze in the loft. Five people who were in the house when the fire broke out last night all got out uninjured. But the house was uninhabitable and under tarpaulin

  • Bookies back Reid's leaders

    THE bookies are convinced that Sunderland can succeed this year where Wanderers failed so narrowly two years ago. They've stopped taking bets on Peter Reid's runaway leaders winning promotion and they're ready to close the book on the title. Now, to keep

  • New Year drunks blasted

    AMBULANCE chiefs have blasted drunks who have caused their New Year workload to spiral. Crews say they will be glad when the festive holiday is over. And they say they dread to think how bad it will be when the whole population goes into party mode for