From the Evening News, September 2, 1904: THE first annual show of the Astley Bridge Poultry, Pigeon and Horticultural Society will be held tomorrow in a field adjoining Messrs Hesketh's mill.

Entries are most numerous in all sections and there will be a splendid display of flowers, fruits etc. Belmont Band will play selections for dancing during the day and in the evening the ground will be illuminated. The exhibits are being staged under large marquees so that ample shelter will be provided in case the weather is unfavourable. The exhibits are from all over the United Kingdom.

IN a Liverpool shipping office there is a clerk who has used the same penknife for 18 years, the same pen for 14 years and an indelible lead pencil for five years.

From the Evening News, September 2, 1954: AN inquiry into nail-biting among 2,300 children in a large city in the North of England showed that 62 per cent of the boys aged 12, and 50 per cent of girls aged 12, bit their nails. No increase had been observed in classes working for entrance examinations for grammar schools. At one school where a boy of nine was reproached by his teacher for continuing to bite his nails, he said: "Yes miss, but I am giving it up for Lent."

LAST year 579 Corporation houses were completed in Bolton, making a total of 9,199 which have been built by the Housing Committee. This was disclosed at last night's Town Council meeting. Total capital expenditure on housing in Bolton to March 31 last was £8,377,514. Income from rents amounted to £298,286, Government subsidies were £108,704 and the amount contributed from the rates was £42,732. There was a deficiency on the year of £8,060.

From the Evening News, September 1, 1979: THE decision to scrap Greater Manchester's 11 consumer advice centres has provoked bitter reaction. Mrs Ann Taylor, Labour MP for Bolton West, described the move as "pretty outrageous" and a "threat to every shopper's right to protection from big retailers." Greater Manchester Council took the decision because government grants for consumer centres will dry up next March.

PENSIONER Albert Parker, aged 75, of Beechfield Road, won the Fairhurst Cup for the second year running. His plot on the Harpers Lane Allotments Society site was judged the best in the borough for tidiness, layout and general variety of produce growing. Albert, a retired textile overlooker, is chairman and secretary of the Harpers Lane Society and has had a plot there for about 40 years.

From the Evening News, September 2, 1994: ENTERTAINER Roy Castle has lost his courageous battle against cancer. Mr Castle, aged 62, whose fight had touched millions of hearts, died at his Buckinghamshire home in the early hours with his family by his side. His wife Fiona requested "no flowers, no fuss, no mourning, just lots of joy."

A freak explosion brought instant winter to part of Bolton yesterday. Streets at Daubhill were covered with up to a foot of flour after a bakery silo erupted. It left the area around Park Cakes Bakery, off St Helen's Road, looking like it had been hit by a blizzard.