10 years ago from the Evening News March 2, 1995: Lonely hearts are being offered the chance to find Mr and Mrs Right - at a Bolton supermarket.

Singles shopping nights called "Love in the Aisles" are to be launched at Asda's Bolton store.

"There is no reason why people's eyes could not meet over a packet of frozen peas,"says manager Peter Riley.

FURIOUS headmaster Alan Atherton today slammed an exam board as "incompetent" after it wrongly downgraded 50 English GCSE papers.

Thirteen pupils at Harper Green School, Farnworth were told six months ago that they had failed the exam.

But now a marking error by the Northern Examinations and Assessments Board has revealed that they have passed.

25 years ago from the Evening News March 1, 1980

THE site of a massive gas blast in Bolton is to be cleared and landscaped in a bid to erase the memory of the explosion.

Ever since the blast rocked four houses in the middle of a terraced row in Cecilia Street, Great Lever, two years ago, piles of rubble have remained to mark the spot.

But, following requests from Great Lever ward councillor Stuart Haslam, the council has agreed to include the site in its "Operation Clean Up" programme.

COUNCIL experts have started excavations on land at Stopes Road, Little Lever to try to discover why it is prone to flooding.

The site becomes an unofficial wildfowl reserve in wet weather as water collects - sometimes as deep as three feet in places - attracting seagulls and even a pair of swans.

50 years ago from the Evening News March 2, 1955

BOLTON Corporation's bid to win new industries for the town have been carried a stage further.

The Ministry of Housing and Local Government has given consent to the carrying out of road works and construction of sewers, at an estimated cost of £2,800, in connection with the Corporation's proposed industrial estate on Manchester Road. The land which will be developed as an industrial estate covers about 20 acres behind the main Manchester Road frontage and will be accessed along Raikes Lane.

100 years ago from the Evening News March 2, 1905

THE sequel to the police raid upon a shop where gambling was suspected was heard before the county justices this morning.

Bartolenes Ferretti, ice cream and sweets dealer, Lee Lane, Horwich, was charged with keeping a common gaming house and a number of lads, aged 13 to 19, were charged with haunting and gaming.

Mr Fielding, prosecuting on behalf of the police, said PC Hillyard visited the shop on three occasions and each time found about 40 boys playing dominoes.

They played for penny checks which had to be spent in the shop, the lads usually buying tobacco or cigarettes.

Ferretti, an Italian who did not speak English well, was fined £10 and costs with two months' prison in default.