RAIL DISASTER: The keen eye of a worker prevented a rail disaster in Bury. The man, looking from his works, spotted a 20 foot long trailer which had been deliberately left broadside across a Bury-Ramsbottom branch line. He raised the alarm just minutes before a goods train was due to go through.

WILD GOOSE CHASE: Bury police launched a search for a gander after it vanished from Bridge Hall Farm in Heap Bridge. It was feared Fred the goose, who was 20 years old, lame and hopped on one leg, had been stolen.

CLEAN GETAWAY: A hearing at Manchester Crown Court ground to a halt when a defendant from Bury refused to take the oath because he had not had a bath. The judge was told by the strict Muslim that he could not pick up the Koran to take the oath because he was "unclean".

HOME BARGAIN: A four-bed, two-bathroomed detached house in Trimmingham Drive, Bury, was on sale for £15,500.

BIONIC BABE: Lindsay Wagner had a double starring role in this week's edition of Bionic Woman. She played her usual part, Jaime Sommers. She also played Lisa Galloway, a woman transformed by plastic surgery to look like the heroine in a bid to obtain top secret material.