CULTURE secretary Tessa Jowell conducted a whistle-stop tour of Bury and praised the work of Bury FC and the town's library.

The secretary of state for culture, media and sport was in town for a visit to Bury FC's museum, which recently received a £900,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. She also took some time out to tour the library, recently announced as one of the best in the country. She was accompanied by Bury North MP David Chaytor.

She said: "Bury Library has shown huge improvement over the last four years and is now in the top 10 per cent in the country. I am very keen to see excellence in libraries and what can be learnt from libraries like Bury."

Ms Jowell then moved on to Bury FCs ground in Gigg Lane where she spoke to members of the team while watching the reserve team play Wrexham. Speaking about the clubs financial problems, Ms Jowell claimed it was not the job of the government to bail out struggling clubs.

She explained: "I think the dilemma we have is it is not the job of the government to support financially what is a commerical enterprise. The job is to support the club to the maximum for the benefits it can bring to young people in the local community which is why the government supports the Football Foundation."

When asked if she would like to see the larger Premiership clubs shelling out for the smaller grass root clubs she said it was an issue the FA would be considering in the future.

She added: "I do not think we want a situation where the government is running football.I know that in the review of government and the review of the FA, this kind of issue is going to come up.

"The Premier League already puts money from very lucrative TV rights into grass root football clubs as football is a force of good in the community."