THIS riotous romp brings the Octagon's current season to a splendid close. There is a "school's out", end-of-term feel about the production which is fast, funny and true to the spirit of Gilbert and Sullivan's irreverent view of opera. The cast of nine
SIR: Your correspondent R Slater, (Points of View, June 10, June 22 and others), has a strange fixation with slavery, as if the fact that the attitudes of Judaism and Christianity on this subject over the last 3000 years, do not seem to match modern attitudes
SIR: Whilst the emphasis of my previous letter was the lack of representation in Parliament for Bolton West, I realise that, as an openly gay man, my letter does not go far enough in stressing the importance of gay equality. It is my belief that Ruth
BUSINESSES based at the Bolton Technology Exchange on Spa Road fear trade could be driven away if a new parking system is introduced on the site. English Partnerships, which owns the site, plans to introduce a new state-of-art barrier system which recognises
WANDERERS today made a £2.6 million swoop for two of the world's brightest young stars. Patience and persistence paid off for Reebok boss Colin Todd when he won the race for 21-year-old Dane Claus Jensen and Jamaican wonder kid Ricardo Gardner. Todd was
SIXTY three people have been arrested in a police crackdown on burglars and car thieves in Farnworth, it was revealed today. Stolen property, worth more than £20,000, and a small haul of drugs was also recovered. Officers seized the property, mostly electrical
A BOLTON MP is denying making controversial comments in a national women's magazine about MPs' salaries. Bolton West Labour MP Ruth Kelly is quoted as saying that "MPs aren't paid a huge amount" in an article in Woman magazine. The Labour member of parliament
A GRANDFATHER'S creation of a giant "Millennium Ball" for Swansea put a bounce in the step of residents living there . . . and has even captured the imagination of Bolton's public. The huge ball is made entirely out of elastic bands, and is the brainchild
A BOLTON father died of a massive heart attack while he played five-a-side football with his friends. Richard Lancashire, aged 38, collapsed during a match at Premier Fives, Leverhulme Park, Bolton. The father-of-two's 10-year-old daughter Natalie, who
BOLTON Bury Training & Enterprise Council has reacted cautiously to the announcement of the proposed national minimum wage. The TEC's chief executive, Richard Bindless, said: "Surveys in the area have shown the effects of a minimum wage of £3.60 will
MAKE a telephone reservation for a hotel room at the Bolton Moat House and the friendly voice on the other end of the line will no doubt belong to Suzi Kenny. Suzi is the recently-promoted Reservations Co-ordinator at the town centre hotel, answering
BOLTON Council will tonight be called on to oppose plans for a "supercity" of Manchester. Councillors will be asked to give a thumbs down to Manchester's bid to virtually double its size and to extend into parts of Salford and Bury. Tory councillors are
25 YEARS AGO From the Evening News, June 30, 1973 CIVIC leaders from Le Mans are flying to Bolton next month to look over their prospective twin town. Earlier this month a Bolton contingent visited Le Mans. If the Le Mans group like what they see, arrangements
I've never had the yearning To visit Berkeley Square. So I've never heard the nightingale That sings so sweet down there. But I've listened to the blackbirds, They sound so happy to be free. I may have missed the nightingale, But the blackbirds' song
SIR: The news that Peter Temple-Morris MP has joined the Labour Party is another body-blow to William Hague's faltering leadership of the Conservative Party. As a Conservative Member of Parliament since 1974 (and the son of a former Tory MP), Mr Temple-Morris
Wednesday, July 2 THEATRE, MUSIC & DANCE AMBASSADORS Girls' Morris Dancing Troupe, practice night for ages 5 to 15, St Andrew's Methodist Church, Tonge Moor Road, Bolton, 6pm. ASIAN Folk Music and Dance Workshop, Wolfenden Community Centre, 6.30pm
SIR: One must take issue with Barbara Davies. Her comments on animals being essential for medical research are utterly irresponsible. Thousands of medical authorities world-wide have stated that animal research is not only useless, but harmful to medicine
SIR: I would like to nominate as Rat of the Week, a cruel, heartless motorist who in the early hours of Thursday, June 25, ran over a cat and left it trying to drag itself out of danger. The cat could not use its back legs and was in terrible pain and
MY daughter, who doesn't live with us any more, came to visit the other day. And she had some news for us. "I'm getting another cat," she announced. "But you've already got a cat," I argued. "Obviously," she said. "How else would I be able to get ANOTHER
ENGLAND'S World Cup matches have provided a beer bonanza for Bolton's publicans. With some watering-holes reporting takings up by 400 per cent when England played, it seems the fans' thirst for an England goal has only been surpassed by their thirst for
FORMER teacher Marjorie Houghton has helped thousands of Bolton folk to help save lives. Marjorie, who was head of biology at Mount St Joseph School, Farnworth, is a devoted first aid trainer with the St John Ambulance Association. The dedicated 49-year-old
TWO men were hailed heroes today for saving the lives of four children they plucked to safety from a blazing house. The youngsters, aged 15 months to 10 years, had been sleeping upstairs, unaware that in the lounge below thick, acrid smoke was billowing
AN RAF man who nearly died when he was stabbed by a knifeman in an unprovoked attack in Cyprus is back home in Bolton. Christopher Sweeney, aged 28, is recovering at home in Fryant Close, Blackrod, after the vicious assault two months ago. A knife was
STAFF who worked in Bolton's hospitals half a century ago have given a unique insight into the changes in the NHS. As Britain prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the organisation which vows to care "from the cradle to the grave", former staff
SIR: I find John Redwood's remark in the Commons, that we don't need a minimum wage because the state should pick up the tab for low wages, absolutely scandalous. No wonder they had to increase taxes so much when they were in power if they think it is
PETER Reid is prepared to wait to capture Bury's defensive rock Paul Butler. The Sunderland boss was scared off by the Shakers' seven-figure valuation when he made his first approach. But patient Reid is prepared to wait to get his man. Bury are determined
SIR: I refer to the "Stonestack" Garden Open Days last month. Well, the weather forecasters really did get it wrong. The very warm, fine day forecast for Saturday June 20 turned out to be very wet and there was almost continuous rain between 2pm and 6
FOLK in Bury are being urged to "Commit to Get Fit". Council-run Images Gyms at the Castle Leisure Centre in Bury and at Radcliffe Pool have thrown themselves behind Europe's biggest fitness campaign. TV presenter Sue Barker has taken time out from her
SIR: I refer to the conditions of the late Mary Starkie of Quebec Place, Bolton. I was the milkman who Mary would let into her flat. She was a very independent lady, but she refused all help, and pushed the welfare lady and anyone who called to help her
A CATHOLIC headmaster and a female infant teacher have been suspended amid rumours they are having an affair. Governors at St Mary's RC Primary in Horwich called a meeting after parents complained about the relationship between head Paul Ward and reception
HEALTH Secretary Frank Dobson today announced a new NHS Standards Czar who will inspect North-west hospitals and health trusts at least every four years. The Director of Health Improvement will have powers to send in hit squads to take over sub-standard
