From the Evening News, October 17, 1992 - DEVASTATED Bolton education chiefs today announced that 300 jobs are set to be axed next year as the national jobless crisis deepened.

They are planning to make cuts of £6.5 million which they fear will rip apart the whole service. The shock news came as it was revealed that Prime Minister John Major's standing with voters has plunged to its lowest level - leaving him with less support that Labour's John Smith as the best man for 10 Downing Street, according to an opinion poll published today.

25 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News,

October 17, 1977

A FIREBUG nearly destroyed Bolton's Central Post Office delivery headquarters last night. Detectives believe the arsonist broke into the Deansgate office and rifled through a large number of local letters before starting the blaze, possibly to cover his tracks. Twenty bags of mail due to be delivered in Bolton today were destroyed. The firebug dropped into the small mail room from the roof 30ft. above, after climbing through a toilet window in the telephone exchange next door.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News,

October 17, 1952

THE open fire will be with us for a very long time. There has been too great a tendency to think of it as something that must disappear." This remark was made in Manchester this week by a man who quietly but determinedly blew sky high several modern ideas about house heating and cooking.

He was Dr. J.C. Weston, of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Not only does he think that the open fire is here to stay, but he believes that so-called "old fashioned" contraptions - chimney dampers and canopies - might well be re-introduced.

100 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News,

October 16, 1902

IN Bank-st. Unitarian Chapel, around which cluster the hallowed associations of many Boltonians, past and present, a wedding of more than ordinary interest took place this afternoon. The contracting parties were Mr Oliver Winder, son of Mr T.H. Winder, J.P., of Westcombe, Heaton, and Miss Winifred Heywood Haslam, of White Bank, Deane, head of the firm of Messrs Haslam and Co., cotton spinners, Halliwell and Great Lever.

Elaborate preparations for the event had been made at the Chapel; an awning had been erected from the entrance to Bank-st., and a crimson carpet extended from the street to the vestibule of the Chapel.

The interior had been tastefully decorated by the loving hands of friends of the bride and bridegroom, the general effect being most pleasing. The whole of the body of the Chapel had been reserved for the accommodation of family and friends, the galleries being thrown open for other interested spectators of the ceremony.