BENEFITS BONUS: The DHSS was very concerned that a substantial number of single-child families in Bury had not sent in their claims for child benefit and urged them to do so without further delay.

JOBLESS GIVEN THE SACK: Unemployed people in the Bury area joined forced with students to help full-time postmen tackle the extra Christmas mail. Altogether the regulars were backed up by about 60 helpers in Bury and 11 in Ramsbottom.

EGG-CITING: Thirteen regulars at the Black Bull in The Rock, Bury, were left with egg on their faces when they attempted to crack the world individual hard-boiled egg-eating record. The "yoke', however, was on the contestants as they failed to get near the record of 14 eggs in 100 seconds.

ACE REPORTER: A member of the Bury Times editorial staff, Steve Burton, won an award for his performance as a trainee under the auspices of the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Assistant sports editor Steve (23) received the John Crawford Award for the best performance in the proficiency test.

OUTNUMBERED: Figures published by the Department of Education and Scienced revealed that Bury's 19,312 primary school pupils were being served by 792 teachers (pupil-teacher ratio: 24.4) and its 12,485 secondary school pupils by 725 teachers (ratio: 17.2).