ROYAL VISIT: Prince Charles cut out the red tape of his visit to Bury as he laughed and joked his way through his two-and-a-half hours in the town.

The Prince of Wales dispensed with the usual royal visit formality as he stepped away from his security men to meet some of the 3,000 locals who packed the streets around the town hall to see him.

One Bury housewife leaned over the barriers and planting a "Merry Christmas" kiss on the Prince's cheek as she held a sprig of mistletoe above his head. Prince Charles met pupils from Bury Church School and told them: "I hope your not playing truant."

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: Fourteen-year-old singer, Debra Leigh, of Lakeside Roch View, Bury, came joint first in ITV's top talent show, Opportunity Knocks.

Debra, a pupil at Stand Grammar School, got 90 marks from the audience to tie for top place with the winner of the show for the last eight weeks, singer Neil Martin.

TOWN HALL DISASTER: Bury Town Hall would be the nerve-centre of local authority operations should a disaster occur. The cost of setting up the civil disaster plan was estimated to be £10,550.

SOLDIER FINED: An off-duty soldier was fined £2 by Bury magistrates after he tried to punch a police officer and shouted abuse in Walmersley Road. The 20-year-old private of the 2nd Battalion of the Queen's Regiment admitted the offence while on leave at his parents home in the town.