From the Evening News, January 17, 1993: COUNCILLORS have increased car parking charges by nine per cent -- three times the rate of inflation.

The rise means contract parking in Bow Street and Cheadle Square will increase by £30 and £35 a year.

The strategy is to encourage out-of-town parking by not raising outlying parks' charges for the first two hours.

And its aim is also to reduce the amount of traffic penetrating the town centre.

25 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, January 17, 1978

NORTHERN woman have fewer lovers before marriage, and once married are less likely to be as "inventive" in bed as their southern counterparts.

This is one of the findings of a survey on the British woman in bed, published in "Woman" magazine.

It finds that while a quarter of the women in the South said they had one or more lovers before marriage, the number falls to one in six in the Midlands, Wales and East Anglia, and one out of 10 in the North.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, January 17, 1953

SIR,- Women, married or single -- it makes no difference -- are in my opinion a liability in any office. This correspondence between married and single women is typical of the constant warfare that is waged between the female sex; if not over one thing, then another, and it only proves that were 1,000 men can agree, two women can't.

The younger ones are adept at reading "True Romances", and whipping it quickly out of sight when the boss is around. The old ones have discarded "True Romances" for a pair of needles and grey wool for their husbands' pullovers, and are no better.

Tell them off and they weep; encourage them and they get ideas. Let 'em all stop at home and then we can get some work done. Yours

The Boss

100 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, January 16, 1903

OUT in the country the cold is still more severe than in town, and the frost has been continuous for a week.

All still water is likely to have such a thick coating of ice as would soon make skating anywhere perfectly safe, though this would not apply to running water, the stability of the ice depending on the rate of motion of the water.

Skating has taken place on the Wayoh reservoir -- one of Bolton Corporation's beautifully situated stretches of water at Turton.

The wintry weather has also given a zest to exercise on the ice in Bolton.

At the skating pond this convenient stretch of water has been a centre of attraction for skaters.

Curling is now in full swing at the pond near Ladybridge.