» Bolton’s Edmund Potter Hospital would have to close

Edmund Potter Hospital, Bolton, 1976  (Image: Newsquest) The 38-bed convalescent hospital in Chorley New Road was threatened with closure and campaigners feared it would fall victim to Government spending cuts.

In January the following year, the North West Regional Health Authority confirmed that the hospital would close at the end of March.

Health bosses said that Bolton had ‘more than its requirements of surgical beds’ and the closure would allow better use of staff and resources elsewhere.

Originally a family home, MP and industrialist Edmund Potter donated the building to Bolton.