25 YEARS AGO

SMOKERS are facing a serious shortage of cigarettes. Tobacco manufacturers are unable to meet the demand and a rationing system has been introduced. In some cases, supplies to wholesale distributors have been cut by as much as 60 per cent.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, January 1, 1949

A CROWDED, brilliantly-lit fairground was the hub of Bolton's New Year celebrations last night. But even there, revellers spared a moment of silence for the Old Year's passing as the last minutes were chimed away by the Town Hall clock, and sirens heralded 1949. In the town's dance halls, young people celebrated the New Year in the traditional way. Even the thin drizzle at midnight failed to damp the spirits of revellers who gathered in the streets, leaving for a moment dances, house parties, or just their own firesides.

125 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, January 1, 1874

'A HAPPY New Year to you' is the exclamation which the Editorial pen naturally writes as the sentiment we wish to express to every reader on entering our duties for another year. Retrospectively, we have much reason to be grateful to our readers and to the general public for the large amount of support with which our efforts have been received hitherto. Our readers may depend on it that no efforts shall be wanting on our part to prove worthy of public support. We shall continue to report fairly, fully, and impartially all local events; we shall, as heretofore, supply a large amount of news and general interest, and we shall still devote many columns to interesting reading. stories by brilliant authors, and amusing reading for all.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.