From the Evening News, January 18, 1977

A DILAPIDATED railway bridge close to a new housing estate at Breightmet could lure children to injury or even death, claim nearby residents. The bridge, over the long disused Bolton-Bury line, attracts children who use it as a giant climbing frame. It has also become a focal point for rowdy teenagers who ride motorcycles along the path of the old tracks.

ABOUT 20 workers will lose their jobs when Woodrow Universal's small century-old Victoria Mill at Chapeltown, Turton, closes at the end of this month.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, January 18, 1952

THE Food Minister, Mr Lloyd George, today announced at a Press conference that the carcass meat ration will be reduced from 1s 5d to 1s 2d a week from Jan. 27th. Mr Lloyd George also announced that from the same date the bacon ration will go up from 3oz. to 4oz. a week. He said the situation has arisen because shipments of meat from the Argentine have fallen seriously behind schedule.

THREE months since Holme Moss television started, local dealers conclude that TV has attracted many new viewers while not causing a stampede to buy sets. National sales in November averaged 14 sets per shop - but one local shop sold 100 sets in a week just before Christmas.

125 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, January 18, 1877

A REMARKABLE tale (says a London correspondent) has got abroad, which I believe will be vouched for in due time, by a journal which affects to move in Court and fashionable circles.

You will remember that some years ago, a crack-brained boy named O'Connor presented a harmless old pistol at her Majesty as she was leaving Buckingham Palace. On conviction, the lad was sentenced to a short term of imprisonment - a matter of a few months - and on expiration of his punishment, the authorities sent him out to one of the colonies and found him employment. There he remained until a short time ago, behaving himself in a most exemplary manner.

Ultimately, he announced his intention to return to England, and his actual departure was quietly telegraphed to Scotland Yard in order that the whereabouts of the young man might not be missed. In due course, O'Connor landed in England, and from that moment two detectives were appointed to watch him day and night. For some time they never for a moment lost sight of him; but one morning, to great chagrin and astonishment, they found that their bird had flown - whither they knew not.

The sagacity of their chief, however, suggested that the old delusion had broken out, and that in all probability the poor mad thing was making tracks once more for Buckingham Palace. The palace was visited, and sure enough there was O'Connor within the gates. How he got in is a mystery, as it was on the first occasion. The young man is now safely lodged at Colney Hatch. In this connection, I may just mention that Oxford, who attempted to assassinate the Queen years ago, is still alive - an inmate of Bedlam.