From the Evening News, 1993: TINY lollipop lady Jean Doxey has taken a step up in life -- thanks to a piece of her patio. Jean, who measures just 5ft 1in tall, found a set of school warning lights just too high to handle.

The mother of three from Westhoughton tried to jump up and down to use the key to work the lights, but with no luck. But now she has come up with a solution that is giving her the extra lift she needs to turn out the troublesome lights -- a brick from her patio!

25 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, January 31, 1978

A HEAVY snow fall caused chaos on the main roads into Bolton during the morning rush hour today. Hundreds of commuters were late for work as traffic crawled and slithered into Bolton town centre. The police said that there was a multitude of minor accidents and breakdowns, forcing some motorists to abandon their vehicles.

KERK Lazarides, the Bolton-based Greek international runner, was out-sprinted by Olympic Games marathon runner Ron Hill in Bermuda in the national marathon championships after the two of them had battled it out shoulder to shoulder for most of the 26 miles, 385 yards. Hill won the race by just under half a minute from second placed Lazarides.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, January 31, 1953

COUNC Childs and others who live in the town centre will soon be able to sleep peacefully at nights if the Town Council decides that the Town Hall clock shall not chime between the hours of 11pm and 7am.

For a long time now, Counc Childs has been kept awake by the boom of the bell which tells the hour, and by the reverberations of the quarter-hour chimes. So also have visitors to Bolton.

Counc Childs has fought for some time for "quiet nights" for those within ear-shot of the civic clock, and yesterday at a meeting of the Finance Committee he won part of his battle. The Committee now recommends the Council to approve its decision that the Town Hall clock be silent during the night.

100 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, January 31, 1903

SIR,- How long are the Bolton public going to submit to teetotal tyranny? This morning, at the Town Hall, there were 17 applications for licences for billiards and ping pong -- most innocent amusements -- and they were all indiscriminately refused. Public houses exist and will continue to exist, and surely it is better that a man should be playing billiards and ping pong than to be sitting and drinking. Consider the young men in the town who have no private sitting room and no club.

What are they to do at night? Their only club is the public house.

The public house tone ought to be raised, not lowered, as will be the effect of this morning's decision. - Yours truly, John Heywood, The Pike.