ATTACK: A woman of 57 was brutally attacked in her bed by a masked raider. The intruder broke into the house in Shuttleworth and shone a torch into the victim's face before punching her about the head. Police described the attack as abominable.

DEBUT: Showing at the Classic cinema this week were The Towering Inferno starring Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, and the now notorious The Exorcist.

FINAL CURTAIN: Dwindling audiences forces forced cinema bosses to announce the impending closure of Bury's Odeon cinema. Owners the Rank Organisation said 15 staff would lose their jobs. DOUBLE TROUBLE: A Bury farmer was counting the cost of a mystery blaze which gutted a barn and destroyed hay worth £4,000. A tractor and machinery stored in the brick-built barn were also written off after the fire at Lower Brandlesholme Farm. It was the second blow for farmer James Chadwick within a year. A severe outbreak of swine vesicular disease among his stock cost him around £10,000.

PAINT: A new £600,000 resin production plant at the Bury's Macpherson's paint manufacturers was officially opened this week. The four-storey building replaced the firm's old plant which was gutted by fire two years earlier.

ALLOTMENTS: More allotment space was being sought in the Tottington area. Rising food costs were prompting many village residents to try their hand at growing their own vegetables.

ILLUMINATIONS: Five hundred children from the borough were treated to a visit to Blackpool illuminations. The trip for handicapped and underprivileged children was paid for by retired Bury bookmaker Mr Wallace Wilson.