A LOOK back at some of the articles published in The Radcliffe Times 50 years ago includes a burst pipe, calls for a garden to be cleaned up, and the delayed opening of Whitefield new police station.

WATER from a burst main in Stand Lane, Radcliffe, forced its way through a stone-based bituminous macadam road surface in Irwell Street, in the early hours of Tuesday morning before pouring along a pavement in Stand Lane where it washed through cellars and seeped underneath shop doors.

Shopkeepers returning to their premises after the bank holiday were faced with messy mopping up jobs while corporation and water board workmen began repairs on the damaged road surface and the fractured pipe.

Traffic had to be diverted along James Street and water supplies were turned off until Wednesday morning.

A spokesman for the water board said: "A fracture occurred in a nine-inch water pip in Stand Lane.

"The water could not force its way up in the main road so it burst through the road surface in Irwell Street, a weaker road."

THE Grindsbrook Road Gardens which delighted the Queen during her recent visit to the town are being damaged by vandals and thoughtless teenagers.

Youths have been playing football, a number of trees have been uprooted, and a short time age someone was seen riding a horse across the gardens, its hooves cutting up the turf.

Residents for years campaigned for the development of the gardens on what was once an unsightly piece of land. Sited at the junction of Grindsbrook Road with Ainsworth Road, a major approach road to the town, the area was strewn with rubbish and an eyesore to travellers and people living nearby.

Councillor Arthur Scholes, who earned the nickname of Mr Springclean because of his work in organising residents to clear up untidy areas as part of Operation Springclean, has been recommended by the Parks Committee for the chairmanship of the committee during the current year.

And this week he appealed to the public to help preserve the Grindsbrook Road Gardens as a pleasant amenity by reporting anyone who misuses them.

MINOR snags and delays have prevented Whitefield's modern new police station in Bury New Road from being brought into service by the target date of last Saturday.

Although the main structure and its various outbuildings and garages are all completed, delays have arisen with the interior fitting-out and, in addition, some of the brickwork is taking longer than expected to dry.

It is not now certain just when the new station will be open for business.

The new building has been designed to help bring about an immediate improvement in police coverage of Whitefield and also to keep pace with the rapidly expanding size of the town.