From the Evening News, October 30, 1976

25 YEARS AGO

A BOLTON headmaster is demanding action over a bonfire which he claims is unsafe. Mr Cecil Partington, head of Gaskell Primary School, is concerned that a massive bonfire has been built next to the school fence in Mere Walk, Halliwell. His action call has been backed by Mere Walk residents, who fear their homes will be in danger when the fire is lit.

TWO Bolton high schools will be closed down under a plan being put to Bolton Council for approval this week. The two threatened schools are the Wolfenden High School, Wolfenden Street, which has at present about 150 girls aged from 11 to 16 years, and Brownlow Fold High School, Mort Street, with more than 200 pupils.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, October 31, 1951

AN 84-years-old correspondent asks me to confirm his recollection of a Bolton fire 69 years back, says Quidnunc. Is St Patrick's School, he asks, built on the site of the old Temple Opera House?

So far as I can ascertain, his memory does not play him false, and he is right when he recalls that "The Two Orphans" was the play that had just finished its run when that spectacular £10,000 Sunday morning fire completely destroyed the theatre.

Messrs. Fletcher Burrow's coal office, next door at No. 16, was saved by the fire brigades.

Incidentally, the "Temple Opera House", or "The Colossal Temple" had in its earlier years been a cotton mill. It was built in 1838. It was more recently in the occupation of a waste dealer, and Mr Weston, the "people's caterer", bought it in 1877 and turned it into a theatre. It was destroyed on April 16th, 1882.

125 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, October 31, 1876

THE draft of the new Bolton Improvement Bill, which it is intended shall be promoted to the next Session of Parliament, has just been printed and distributed among members of the Council. In it, provision is made more especially for the extension of the Borough Municipal Boundaries, the purchase of additional land for waterworks and sewage purposes, the extension of water and gas limits, the purchase of the Rogerstead Estate for a new Cemetery, as well as numerous minor matters.

The Rogerstead Estate, off Chorley New-road., belongs to Major Le Gendre, N. Starkie, and is the occupation of Messrs W. Makant and T. Wood. The land is 63 acres in extent, and is bounded on the east by Gilnow-lane, Gilnow-brook, and Gilnow Bleachworks, on the south by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, on the west by lands belonging to Sir Charles H. Tempest, Bart., and occupied by Messrs W. Ramwell and J. Hough, and on the north by land also belonging to Sir C.H. Tempest, and occupied by Joseph Crook, Esq., and others. The bill also makes provision for the making of a road to the cemetery at a junction with Park-road. The land is considered to be eminently adapted for the purpose of a cemetery, and will be easily approached from all parts of town.