From the Evening News, August 12, 1904: THE graveyard of Rawdon, near Leeds, seems scarcely in harmony with the simple grandeur suggested by the "Elegy in a County Churchyard."

According to evidence given at an ecclesiastical inquiry, held by direction of the Bishop of Ripon, the hens and geese of the vicar, the Rev S. H. Mills, roamed the churchyard and picked the flowers off the graves. His horse cut up the turf by galloping over it. The Vicar said that geese and hens added a little life to a churchyard and made it more attractive. There is some public sympathy in the parish for the Vicar.

From the Evening News, August 12, 1954: MR C. B. Smith, sales director for Boardmans Ltd (furnishers), whose headquarters are in Leigh, told the Evening News today that Freddie Trueman, the Yorkshire fast bowler, is to join the firm as a salesman. Trueman will start at the Bradford branch of the firm and it is expected that he will later visit all the towns where the firm has branches and take part in a Trueman fortnight, when local people will be invited to talk to him on cricket and secure his autograph.

A MOBILE library which is expected to issue 100,000 books annually - as many as the average branch library - was handed over last night to Mr G. E. Williams, Chairman of Horwich Libraries Committee. The eleventh vehicle of its kind in Lancashire, it completes the library coverage of rural Lancashire and will serve the area bounded by Euxton, Parbold, Standish and Horwich. Mr Williams pointed out that many rural readers would now be able to choose their books from the van with the assistance of trained staff.

From the Evening News, August 11, 1979: LEAD thieves are playing a dangerous game in Bolton. Men working for nearby pipe flange makers J. B. Hulton of the Grecian Mill, Lever Street, discovered a severed pipe "hissing gas" on a derelict site in Rigby Street, Bolton. Managing Director John Hulton said the thief's selfish action had "endangered the whole area."

THE Rev David Roberts, minister of the Edgworth, Birtenshaw and Hawkshaw Methodist churches for the past seven years, is leaving the area at the end of the month. Mr Roberts, who lives with wife Christine, daughter Beth (18) and sons Michael (16) and Peter (11) at the Manse, Edgworth, is to be Superintendent Minister of the Bromsgrove Methodist Circuit, Worcestershire.

From the Evening News, August 12, 1994: BOLTON North-east Tory MP Peter Thurnham announced today that he will be standing down at the next General Election. Mr Thurnham, who has a majority of just 185, intends to spend more time with his family and in his engineering business. He admitted that the boundary commissioners' decision earlier this year to transfer 8,000 Halliwell voters into his marginal constituency had led him to consider retirement earlier than planned.

THE Co-operative Bank in Knowsley Street has an all-female staff - from manager to cleaner. Manager Karen Ingham, aged 29, who is also in charge of the bank's Bury branch, said: "It not only makes for a good atmosphere, but the team spirit here is excellent."