From the Evening News, November 20, 1976

25 YEARS AGO

A SURPRISE presentation went wrong for members of the British Rheumatism and Arthritis Association in Bolton last night.

A secretly-organised "Steward of the Year" award was to be made to Mr Patrick Fitzgerald, of College Way, Bolton, by senior officials of the organisation. Senior officers of the association arrived at Derby Ward Labour Club from as far afield as Harrogate and Cheadle Hulme to make the award at a time when the Labour Club was in full use by its own members.

But Mr Fitzgerald was not there - he was waltzing away at the Mayor's Ball. He said today that he knew nothing about the award and the visit by the officials. Bolton District Chairman Miss Edna Bates said that missing Mr Fitzgerald was tragic.

"This must have been the one Friday night in the year when he was not at the club, and we had to choose the evening for the award," she said.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News,

November 21, 1951

BECAUSE of the deluge throughout the night, the secretary of the Westhoughton Ploughing and Hedging Society, Mr A. Forrest, was inundated from six o'clock this morning with about 30 telephone inquiries regarding today's annual competitions.

The answer he gave was, "The show goes on", and to the credit of the competitors practically all who had entered turned up at Mr J. Walker's Hart Common Farm.

Conditions were atrocious in places, and tractors had some difficulty in keeping a grip on the surface. A new tractor class which has attracted substantial interest is for novice teams from the inter-discussion societies of Croft, Wigan, Leigh and Bolton, and local Young Farmers' Clubs. The society has nine new cups, and with the £80 in prize money plus numerous special awards, the winning competitors should go home happy.

KEARSLEY'S new senior school, which is being built on the edge of the moss on Springfield-rd., is to be named the George Tomlinson County Secondary Modern School, after the MP.

125 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News,

November 21, 1876

SIR,- Permit me through the column of your valuable paper to make a few remarks in reference to recent letter. Your correspondent "GBD" states that during the time the concerts in the Albert Halls are going on the bells on the Town Hall clock are a nuisance. He also states: "It seems as if the clock were very peevishly inclined, and knew what it was about by selecting the most inconvenient time in the programme to strike". Whoever heard of such an absurd remark, as if the clock were a human being.

He then goes on to say that it would be somewhat selfish to ask that the chiming and striking should be stopped, but he would suggest that the bells be muffled during the performance.

In that case, I suppose he thinks it would not be a nuisance to people who are waiting for the clock to strike, and very likely miss a train through it. He himself must know that people at a great distance from the town are guided by the Town Hall clock. If the clock is a nuisance to the concert, a mere pleasure time, why isn't a a nuisance to justices on the bench, whose business is far superior to a "concert"? We never hear of them complaining of the bells.

And again, if the bells are a nuisance for the concert, why isn't the organ when practising for a concert a nuisance to the clerks, who have business in the Hall? It is completely absurd. But if the Hall keeper agrees with "GBD", I hope he will give him a gentle reminder of the trouble, and walk into his pocket. - Yours, JH.