From the Evening News, April 23, 1903: WHY will poets sing paeans about April? Mrs Browning's's lines on "Oh, to be in England now that April's there" are well-known.

Well, nothing could be more unseasonable than the turmoil of weather that we are having. Blighted orchards, whole counties of spoiled cereals, all manner of leaf buds blackened. Near our town the moors a spangled a-mornings with rime. Pretty but pitiful withal.

Cyclists have been out and about plentifully, and last evening the promenaders were out as on a summer's night. But what is the attraction in sitting on the wall at the top of the Bee Hive brow?

From the Evening News, April 23, 1993

SINGLES rolled up at the double -- and almost swamped the organisers of a new Bolton group for people who have lost their partners.

The new Bolton branch of the National Council for the Divorced and Separated, Widows and Widowers, plans to hold weekly ballroom dancing at the plush venue of the Moat house Hotel's Ashton Suite. But the new committee was left overwhelmed when the first dance was held on Sunday - and some people had to be turned away when the maximum 250 was reached.

From the Evening News, April 23, 1978

RIVINGTON Pike Tower, the Bolton area's most famous landmark, is in danger of collapsing. It has been given only 10 years' grace by a top conservationist. Mr John Hough, conservation director in the Rivington area, said urgent action is needed to stop the erosion of soil around its foundations. The ground on top of the Pike was being washed away at the rate of four inches a year. He blamed motor-cycles for the bulk of the damage, but said the popularity of the Pike among walkers was also taking its toll.

From the Evening News, April 23, 1953

WHAT is today? April 23rd, you say? And -- quoting a well-known comedian -- you'd be "dead right". An Evening News' reporter spoke to nearly a dozen people today and got the same answer from each. Not one answered "St. George's Day".

A housewife in Knowsley Street, arms cluttered with parcels replied, after some thought: "I know it's Thursday, but I couldn't tell you the date off-hand."

The businessman carrying his brief case was not slow with his answer. But it left our reporter nonplussed. "Today? Certainly I know what day it is," he answered. "It's Shakespeare's birthday." And he wasn't wrong.