50 years ago

POOR weather forced Great Harwood farmer Harry Sharples to sell his farm. The rain-hit harvest left Mr Sharples, of Hey Moor Farm, with only enough hay to feed his cattle for six weeks. Buying extra food would have cost £1,000. He was forced to sell 70 cows which produced 150 gallons of milk a day, but vowed to move to a drier district and continue his family's 50-year tradition.

25 years ago

A BURGLAR felt so guilty after stealing jewellery and cash worth £106 from a Nelson home he handed it back to his victim. The Nelson man broke into the house while the owner slept upstairs. But as his victim made her way back from a phone box after calling police she was approached by the burglar who made up a heroic chase story to cover his tracks. The police did not believe his story and he was arrested. He was fined £50.

10 years ago

A GROUP of four tiny terrors, aged five and six, were blamed for plaguing a railway line for months with a spate of vandalism attacks. The boys terrorised the Blackburn to Manchester line throwing objects at trains and blocking the track dozens of times. No action could be taken because they were below the age of criminal responsibility but their parents promised to make them stop.