From the Evening News, December 5, 1992 - PUB hooligans face being blacklisted for life by every pub and club in the borough as landlords unite against escalating violence.

All 28 Westhoughton licensees have just adopted a stringent banning system following a vicious pool cue attack on Commercial Hotel landlord Marc Fletcher in July. Measures to keep premises thug-free include lifetime bans, court exclusion orders, a pub-to-pub early warning system, and posters displaying names of barred customers. And following the success of similar schemes in Bolton town centre, Halliwell and Chorley Old Road, licensees are now considering linking up in a borough-wide operation.

25 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News,

December 6, 1977

A FIGHT to save Farnworth's 117-years-old former Grammar School from demolition has been started by a local history society. The former school, one of the town's few historic buildings, standing near the park entrance on Albert Road, is in danger of collapsing. Since 1933 it has been the meeting place for members of the reorganised Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints, but they are now having an adjacent house for services after the school was declared unsafe. The building appears on a list of buildings worthy of preservation published in 1966, which showed there were only six such buildings in Farnworth.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News,

December 6, 1952

A COPY of the Bolton Evening News printed in 1868, the year after the newspaper's founding, was produced in Bolton Police Office this morning. One item carrying the heading "Police Intelligence" caused considerable amusement; it concerned the goings-on at Borough Court when various citizens of Bolton were charged with offences including "Cruelty to a Goat." Another defendant was charged with "intimidating a stripper and grinder", while in a third case a justifiable aggrieved individual was entering a claim for his wages to be paid to him.

Among the advertisements, reflecting sharply on today's rising prices, was one which offered tea at sixpence a quarter and another advocating shirts at 1s 6d (7p) each. The paper, a tribute to the quality of newsprint used a century ago, was in almost perfect condition, and showed no trace of fading.

2 8.2 8.2

100 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News,

December 6, 1902

SOME excitement was occasioned by a serious accident which occurred soon after half-past four yesterday afternoon at the Bridgeman-place machinery works of Mr Richard Threlfall, involving injuries of a shocking nature to Alfred Wild (31), of 15 Division-st., Great Lever. He was, we understand, engaged putting a strap on to the pulley when his clothing became entangled in the shafting with the result that he was carried round the shaft.

An alarm was raised, and the engine being promptly stopped, the unfortunate man was released, but not before he had sustained a fracture of the right leg and arm, and injuries to his neck and spine.

First aid was rendered by workpeople, and the Fire Station Ambulance was summoned by telephone, the man being removed to the Infirmary, where he succumbed about eleven o'clock this morning.