A RELIEF fund, set up to help the relatives of 344 men and boys killed in the Westhoughton colliery explosion of 1910, is to be wound up.

Of the 593 widows, children and parents bereaved after one of England's biggest mining disasters, just one man - now aged 60 - is left to receive the weekly and annual payments from the fund. He was just eight months old when his father was killed.

The amount of money given to relatives of those who died now tops £300,000. This has come from a fund which started off with £149,220, invested over the years. 50 YEARS AGO

BURNDEN PARK

Sir,- With the extra revenue taken from Cup-ties, the Wanderers should: -

1) Knock down the groundsman's house and make some decent turnstile and exits, and not turnstiles for the "Thin Man".

2) Level the railway embankment outside the ground (terrible).

3) Give us three sides for 1s 6d like all the other Lancashire clubs.

Now a word to the police - leave room for the crowd to get away after the match instead of letting cars park until there is only a narrow passage left. Yours, etc., Take All and Give Nowt. 125 YEARS AGO

THE following telegram was received on Saturday, at the Prussian Embassy, at 11.45pm:-

Versailles. - The capitulation of all the Paris forts, and an armistice of three weeks by land and water, has just been signed by Count Bismark and M. Jules Favre. The army of Paris remain as prisoners of war in the city. The city will be allowed to re-victual as soon as the arms are delivered up. This is the first blessed reward of patriotism, heroism and heavy sacrifices.

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