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Stories for 22 April 1998
Bolton Business
Martin's judged the best on the buses - again!
VEHICLE apprentice Martin Latham is celebrating a double training win. more...
Awards shortlist is announced
ORGANISERS have announced the shortlist for this year's Bolton and Bury Business Awards. Total prize money of £22,000 will be distributed when the winners in eight categories are revealed at a gala dinner on Friday, May 15. This year there were more than 100 entries from businesses of all sizes - the highest number in the six years that the competition has been running. more...
Students vie for trade trophy
LOCAL schools and colleges are represented in a major business presentation and communications skills competition on Friday. more...
Firms invited to go Deutch
LOCAL firms are being invited to take part in a UK delegation to Northern Germany. more...
Bolton News
Greetings from space!
ONE of the world's top spacewomen landed at Bolton Lads' and Girls' Club to tell youngsters about her interstellar adven- tures. more...
Toddler death sparks calls for new laws
THE death of a toddler at a Belmont nursery last year has prompted an MP to press for new laws. Alex Rae died last year at the Hilltop Bunnies Nursery run by Carolyn Brown. The 20-month old boy drowned in a rainwater-filled tarpaulin covering an ornamental pond. more...
MP's bid to help doomed factory
MP Ruth Kelly has stepped in after it was announced more than 200 jobs are to be lost by a sewing factory closure. more...
Scribble not art
SIR: The recent case of an artist stealing corpses to create sculptures raises serious questions about the value and purpose of modern art. Ever since the turn of the 20th century certain movements in art have achieved notoriety by use of the desire to shock. Cubism, dadaism, surrealism, conceptional art and action painting have fraudulently been passed off by trendy art critics as viable subjective expressions. These critics have heaped praise on manifestations that were little more than scribble. Such nihilistic expressions of deranged subjectivity, however, add nothing of worth to our society and deserve only our contempt. more...
Too busy to shout about it!
MRS Therese Mahindrakar is determined to clear up an image problem. "When I tell people I'm involved in Soroptimists, they think it's something to do with feet!" more...
From the BEN files
25 YEARS AGO more...
Mums spearhead drugs clean-up
WESTHOUGHTON residents packed into a meeting organised by two Westhoughton mums whose children were pricked by discarded junkies' needles. more...
190 jobs to face axe at Dannimac
STUNNED staff at a Bolton clothing factory have been left reeling by the news that 190 jobs face the axe. more...
Firemen free locked in tram passengers
A DOZEN tram passengers were left fuming last night when pranksters locked them in the Metrolink station. more...
Wrong in principle
SIR: I agree with Christine Adams in her letter 'Double cross', but for different reasons. more...
House damaged by car
A CAR crashed into a house causing structural damage when a young driver lost control last night. more...
REVIEW: Opera House, Manchester. Beauty and the Beast. Runs until Saturday.
STEVE Shappelle and Jill Ashall's production of Beauty is a musical fairytale to be enjoyed by children and adults. more...
Daily poem
Saturday was such a special day more...
REVIEW: Entertaining Mr Sloane, Octagon Theatre, Bolton. Runs until May 9.
THIS play from a writer slain by his homosexual lover in 1967 created something of a stir when it had its premiere in London three years earlier. Joe Orton, who also wrote Loot and What the Butler Saw, shocked people in the allegedly swinging sixties with this wickedly funny and unsettling account of the aspirations and imperfections of bizarre, amoral people seeking respectability and social/emotional acceptance via sex, murder and suchlike. More than 30 years later it is still a memorable piece of theatre, even if it does not seem particularly daring any more. more...
Try for Lanky status
THE BEN has always been Lanky and proud of it. more...
The responsible way
Frequently television programmes are criticised for sensationalising or trivialising important issues. more...
Better training plea
WE back Bolton coroner Martin Coppel in his call for better training for new drivers after two children were killed in a motorway crash. more...
Red Rose campaign in Lancs mail shot
A PRESSURE group is calling on people to support its campaign to get Bolton back into Lancashire - through their mail. more...
TWO men and a woman have been charged by police probing the Bolton town centre death of Mark Ashwort
Simon Brookes, 19, of Hawker Avenue, Great Lever, is accused of the manslaughter of Mark, 21, of Waverley Road, Astley Bridge. more...
Six years for attacker who left boy's life a ruin
A TEENAGER viciously beaten up in a Bolton town centre street fight suffered the most serious case of brain damage a top neurologist had ever seen in a living person. more...
Elsie sees red over dud crossing lights
A FED-UP Halliwell pensioner sees red every time she tries to use a pelican crossing - even though it is not working. more...
There's no bias here
SIR: I, my colleagues and, I'm sure, many of your readers were saddened to read that a 70 years' young employee of an Age Concern Organisation in South Wales had been asked to leave because she was too old. more...
Following the law
SIR: I read the letter by Mrs J Booth (Points of view, April 10) and I thank the BEN for printing it. No wonder Mr/Mrs Booth were offended following the reported article on March 26. more...
Cut tax on cigs
SIR: Sweden's recent decision to reduce its rate of cigarette taxation by 27pc to counter the ever increasing trade in cross-border tobacco smuggling, is one that should be followed by the British Government. more...
We've got the best
SIR: Surely many local people will have found the recent comments on the Points of view page regarding a second pregnancy for Ruth Kelly uncalled for. Not a dyed in the wool political activist myself, I did, however, support Tom Sackville as my Member of Parliament. more...
Keep a watch
SIR: I was pleased to read the report of April 9, in which you correctly identified that the cause of the recent UFO mystery was an airship, operating for Sky Sports. The airship was the Goodyear Airship "Spirit of Europe", visiting Bolton and Blackburn as part of its national tour. more...
Mark's pals quit soccer league
FOOTBALLERS mourning the tragic death of a team mate have pulled out of the Sunday League they played in each week. more...
Memories revived by Street baby's death
CORONATION Street producers have been praised by Bolton parents whose children were struck down with the deadly meningitis virus. more...
Woman's head is smashed against wall
A YOUNG woman had her head smashed against a wall in a vicious street attack. more...
I'm still waiting
SIR: I have really began to question the competence of the MP for Bolton West, Mrs Ruth Kelly. I am not a member of any political party. My measure for judging the worth of an MP is attentiveness to issues raised from within the constituency, plus impact on the national political scene. more...
REVIEW: Pirates of Penzance, Adlington Music and Arts Society. Adlington Community Centre. Runs till
ADLINGTON Music and Arts Society celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and this acclaimed company has certainly pulled out all the stops to mark the occasion with its latest production. more...
Oui to French-style cafe idea?
THERE will be a continental flavour to Bolton's prestigious Market Place if the go-ahead is given to convert the patio area on Bridge Street into an outdoor cafe. more...
Driver runs off after crashes
POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a motorist involved in two crashes abandoned the car. more...
Michelle innocent victim of shock closure
VICTIMS of the sudden closure of a chain of estate agents included Michelle Bridgland - the Bolton teenager battling to beat life-threatening anorexia. more...
Hypocrisy in defence of football
SIR: The hypocrisy of David Mellor on BBC Radio, on March 30, and Sports Minister, Tony Banks, the next day, in defence of their sport, football, is in stark contrast to their outrageous criticism of pistol shooting, a sport which has been an Olympic event for more than a 100 years. Football, of course, has not. more...
REVIEW: St Osmund's Amateur Productions. Perfect Partners and A Jolly Sinister Jape. St Osmund's Sch
TWO contrasting comic capers kept a large first night audience thoroughly entertained at St Osmund's School Hall last night. more...
Bolton Sport
Good Evans!
Leigh RMI 4, Spennymoor Utd 2 KEITH Evans wishes he could play against Spennymoor every week after taking his season's tally to 16 in Leigh RMI's 4-2 win at Hilton Park last night. more...
Monie will end career with Wigan
JOHN Monie could finish his career with Wigan Warriors. more...
Beardsley's Reebok dilemma
PETER Beardsley refused to rule out a return to Bolton Wanderers today as he considered the next move of his long and distinguished career. more...
Lancashire Business
£600,000 expansion brings a jobs boost
A FACTORY expansion move is set to create 16 jobs. more...
Major drive for trade is on
A MAJOR drive to help East Lancashire firms win business in Germany is under way. more...
Lancashire Leisure
FIVE YEARS AGO: Firebugs cause chaos
A 'TOWERING INFERNO" terror threatened residents of a block of high-rise flats when vandals started a fire in a lift. more...
TEN YEARS AGO: Council accused over blunders
A COUNCIL was accused of misusing its powers to cover up "blunders" by town hall officers. more...
Lancashire News
Clarets strip show!
A CHARITY fashion show at the Comfort Friendly Inn, Burnley, provided the ideal launch pad for the Clarets new home and away strips. more...
Teddies' tale brings a family together again
COUSINS living thousands of miles apart have been reunited by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph after more than 30 years. more...
Tories reshuffle in control bid
TORIES in the Ribble Valley have reshuffled at the top in a bid to seize control of the borough's hung council. more...
Spice stunt leaves such a sour taste
The John Blunt column more...
Pendle's prime for rhyme
A POET has put Pendle in the spotlight as a centre of creative Urdu writing after his latest work was the subject of a literary review in Manchester. more...
Weather man's silver lining
The Entertainers: JOHN KETTLEY more...
Sky's the limit as Dr Who club aims to recruit new members
A CLUB for people who are dotty about Dr Who and the Daleks wants to hear from other fans of the popular TV series. more...
Different lives: The alien world of insects and molluscs
Nature watch, with Ron Freethy more...
Grants on offer to help elderly
SENIOR citizens and OAP groups can claim up to £10,000 for community projects for the elderly. more...
Charity begins on a website
Valerie Cowan Surfs the Net more...
Action over housing
YOUR front page article (LET, April 14) under the headline 'Homes bar shock on Asians' accurately reported some of the issues highlighted in my report on the housing allocations policy. more...
Ban needs chop and so does minister
WHETHER or not the case against the first person prosecuted for flouting the government's beef-on-the-bone ban collapsed on a legal technicality, as Agriculture Minister Dr Jack Cunningham maintains, is not the main point of this controversy. more...
After the fact
YOUR Westminster correspondent, Bill Jacobs, alleges (LET, April 20) that introducing proportional representation (PR) for the European elections will enable the New Labour leadership to "weed out leftwingers... a consideration believed to have been part of Michael Hindley's decision not to stand..." more...
Labour no different
DESPITE the inevitable fury of environmental groups, the row over Britain agreeing with America to take nuclear fuel from the former Soviet republic of Georgia might be far less considerable if there had been no cover-up. more...
Clones in control
SO the Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen, Councillor Peter Greenwood, may be disciplined by the Blackburn Labour Party for stating what is common knowledge - that the ruling Labour group on the council is controlled by a small elite while the rest of them have to vote as they are told to. more...
Appalled at doubters
ON Easter Sunday, I was appalled to read a report that up to two thirds of bishops in the Church of England have doubts about the Resurrection. more...
Why don't the English display patriotic fervour?
A special report on the eve of St George's Day more...
Heartbreak widow wins campaign after settlement
A WIDOW who vowed to show up the devastating effects of asbestos exposure as she nursed her terminally ill husband is today celebrating securing a landmark £150,000 out-of-court settlement. more...
Hoax phone calls mystery after food shop burglary
A BUSINESSWOMAN has blasted thieves who broke into her sandwich bar by writing an angry message on her menu board. more...
Sainsbury's in joint bid for Prestige site
SAINSBURY'S have joined in the store wars over the development of the former Prestige factory site at Burnley. more...
Councillor injured by glass in attack on car
A RIBBLE Valley councillor has told of her terror after thugs smashed her car window in a late-night attack that left her with cuts on her hands and legs. more...
True blue honour for old Rovers captain
THE memory of cup-winning Blackburn Rovers captain Harry Healless has been honoured with a commemorative plaque at the house he owned just yards from Ewood Park. more...
Liberal leader Paddy will be getting his skates on
LIBERAL Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown will be getting his skates on for a packed programme of events during a visit to Pendle on Monday, as part of the local election campaign. more...
Neighbours protest over paper mill rebuilding plans
MOVES to rebuild a demolished paper mill have sparked objections from residents in Feniscowles. more...
Bishop's plea for Paul
THE Bishop of Blackburn has joined forces with his counterpart in India to appeal for fresh information about student hostage Paul Wells. more...
Sandra's double marathon aim
CHARITY runner Sandra Snape has a double aim when she takes part in her third London Marathon this weekend. more...
Lancashire Sport
CLARETS: Gleghorn returns to Turf for final career fling
NIGEL GLEGHORN is ready to retire from professional football this summer but would jump at the chance to help Burnley beat the drop before signing off. more...
CLARETS: Billions of pounds behind Shackleton takeover deal
THE Peter Shackleton backing for his Burnley takeover deal is believed to run into BILLIONS of pounds. more...
ROVERS: Roy cracks the whip in bid to halt losing streak
ROY Hodgson has a ready answer to the sort of run that ranks alongside last season's disastrous start - hard work, writes PETER WHITE. more...
GOLF: Natalee's the leader
PLEASINGTON golfer Natalee Evans led the qualifiers into today's first round of the Lancashire Women's championship at Pleasington Golf Club. more...
CRICKET: Martin stakes England place claim
PETER Martin has England in his sight after another match-winning display for Lancashire. more...
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