February 8, 1969

BURY faces a steep rise in its bill for police services when the new Lancashire Police Authority takes over in April.

The borough will have to pay an additional £26,827 next year, taking the total paid for the new force to £150,827.

This compares with the £124,000 it will pay this year for the present Lancashire County Council run police services.

Next to Blackpool, Bury will have to pay a bigger increase for its policing than any of the other 13 borough’s involved in the combined force.

Most of the towns which now run their own police services will have less to pay under the new arrangement.

Total net cost of the new authority will be almost £17 million and,

after allowing for government grants, £8508,000 will be met by the constituent authorities.

Commenting on the borough’s new policing costs on Tuesday, finance committee chairman, Ald. S Lord said: “This bears out my contention that in being policed by the county we fared much better financially than we would have done had we been policed by our own authority.”

A GROUP of anglers dropped their rods and reels for the day to go on a fishing expedition with a difference – armed with grappling irons and ropes.

On Sunday afternoon the members of Radcliffe Angling Association got “catches” galore as they pulled in old rubber tyres, big and small, many bald of tread; from the waters of Whitefield’s bottom lodge, off Lowercroft Road.

Monikered “Operation Water-haul”, the effort was launched after a number of complaints about the tyres were made to the society, which holds the fishing rights to the lodge.

After the operation received an overwhelming approval at a recent society meeting around 15 anglers spent a chilly few hours clearing the lodge of between 40 and 50 tyres – some submerged, others floating and ranging is size from car tyres to those for large wagons.

It is suspected that the tyres may have been dumped in one large load rather than individually and now the society is attempting to trace the markings on the tyres to find their owners and those responsible for dumping them.

In the meantime the anglers can reminisce about the day they landed their biggest catch.