25 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, March 29, 1974

THE toast to the County Borough of Bolton was drunk for the last time last night. It was proposed by the final Mayor of Bolton, Ald. Henry Devenish. More than 200 guests assembled in the Town Hall to say farewell to the 136-years-old Borough, and to herald the new Bolton District Council.

BOLTON'S great bean feast flopped last night - 255 short of a world record. The contender for the cold bean eating record - Paul Wootton, aged 26, of Kearsley - managed 1,485 baked beans before seizing up after 20 minutes 17 seconds. There were ten minutes of eating time left, but Paul could not force himself to carry on.

50 YEARS AGO

THERE didn't appear to be the difficulty in Bolton, as there was, according to this morning's newspapers, in London, in cooking the eggs which appeared on restaurant menus yesterday for the first time since 1941. Perhaps those who had tea in town and saw eggs on the menu were too surprised to worry whether they were poached or fried, though they were offered cooked either way. The suggestion that staff did not know how to poach eggs seems a little far-fetched for older people cannot, surely, have forgotten, and although eggs have been scarce, they have never entirely disappeared.

125 YEARS AGO

THE pensioners from Bolton, Preston, and Chorley, who served during the Waterloo and Peninsula campaigns, were subjected to a medical inspection at Fulwood Barracks on Monday last, with a view to them being granted an augmentation to their present small pensions. After the inspection the men were entertained at the residence of Major Browne, the Staff Officer of Pensioners. We are informed that the average ages of these old warriors exceeded 83 years.

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