WAR TOYS: A grenade and a mortar bomb from the First World War were discovered in an empty council house at Whitefield. The explosives were later proven to be harmless and were probably used for drill purposes in the war.

EXTRA TIME: Technical hitches delayed the expected opening of Bury's new sports complex in Bolton Street. The £750,000 Castle Leisure Centre should have been handed over to Bury Council a week earlier but the interior decor and floor marking had not yet been completed.

HOLE IN THE WALL: A sneak-thief carried away the safe of St Paul's Church, Bury after chiselling in from a wall. The raid happened while the vicar, former policeman the Rev Ray Edgell, was dining at a Bury magistrates' banquet where guests were being told of the country's increasing crime rate. The safe contained around £30 in collection money.

RESCUED: Bury travelling salesman John Court of Church Street, braved thick smoke to rescue his frightened horse Doris from a blazing garage in Lomax Street. The horse was uninjured.