Archive

  • EVENTS taking place in East Lancashire on Thursday, June 12

    A LOOK at events, from amateur theatre to rambles through our beautiful countryside. Livesey Women's Institute, Livesey Community Hall, York Terrace, Feniscowles, 7.30pm. "Floral Art." The Rossendale Players present "Confusions," New Millennium Theatre

  • Nature Watch: Kindness can kill hedgehogs

    THIS month we are all likely to see hedgehogs and many will be killed on our roads. We must also be careful not to kill our hedgehogs with kindness. During the night hedgehogs wander into gardens and kind people can kill these attractive animals. Too

  • Treat animals with respect

    REGARDING your report on ritual slaughter (LET, May 17), there should be a total ban on these methods. All animals should be treated with respect and should not suffer in death. If a human was found with his or her throat cut, it would be classed as barbaric

  • Collection is simply rubbish

    THE way the department at Blackburn Town Hall in charge of waste collection goes about its job is rubbish. Six bags of the stuff in my case were left by the binmen -- not my rubbish, mind you but those collected from Saunders Road and deposited at my

  • Tolerance only stretches so far

    IN the aftermath of the local elections and BNP gains, I must confess I have been gratified to see the alarm caused among mainstream politicians at even this relatively insignificant challenge to their power. Why, they ask, do people vote for this racist

  • Tories are forgetting the facts

    IT would seem that amnesia is rife among Blackburn with Darwen Conservative councillors. Just a few weeks ago, we had Coun David Pearson saying that the Liberal Democrats voted for the increases in council tax imposed by Labour, despite it being a matter

  • Job depression ends in hanging tragedy

    A MAN hanged himself in his garage with an electric cable after a 10-month battle with depression, an inquest heard. Terry Graham, aged 54, became depressed last year after he lost his job as an engineer. Mr Graham, of Hendon Street, Leigh, hanged himself

  • Gift of life from tragic Lee

    A GRIEVING father today told how his 30-year-old son would live on through others after his heart was donated to a young mother-of-two. Lee Mulby died of a brain haemorrhage at the Royal Preston Hospital at 11.45am on Saturday.. He had collapsed in his

  • I could have died

    A SEVERE asthmatic today told how a newly fitted gas fire belched carbon monoxide into her front room and revealed: "I could have died." Joyce Yeoman, of Springfield Street, Darwen, said her daughter and her next-door neighbour could also have been poisoned

  • RMI aim to tempt back Wanderers

    LEIGH RMI are hoping that improvements to their pitch will tempt Wanderers back to Hilton Park writes David Magilton Manager Mark Patterson wants the Railwaymen to re-establish a close bond with its Premiership neighbours which could see a return for

  • Bruce: I'll pull out all stops for Dunn

    BIRMINGHAM boss Steve Bruce today underlined his determination to land Blackburn midfielder David Dunn. Bruce has already had one offer rejected by Rovers for the England midfielder. But the Blues boss is not prepared to take 'no' for an answer and he's

  • Olympic 'British bid' role for MP

    BURNLEY MP Peter Pike has been appointed an executive member of the new All Party Parliamentary British Olympics Committee. He has been asked to help ensure the bid for the 2012 games is clearly a British bid rather than a regional or London bid after

  • School breakfast heralds success

    A HIGH school in Burnley, named as one of the first specialist business and enterprise colleges in the country, held a special breakfast meeting to review its first year's work. Ivy Bank has spent the first 12 months of its new status planning a major

  • Worsthorne Bulletin

    THE Mother's Union next meets on Tuesday, June 17, when the guest speaker will be Betty Scott. She is the section leader for Worldwide Mother's Union in the Diocese. Betty has recently returned from Rwanda and Burundi and will be able to update members

  • Gift of life from tragic Lee

    A GRIEVING father today told how his 30-year-old son would live on through others after his heart was donated to a young mother-of-two. Lee Mulby died of a brain haemorrhage at the Royal Preston Hospital at 11.45am on Saturday.. He had collapsed in his

  • New Blackpool bid for Newby?

    BLACKPOOL have once again been linked with Bury striker Jon Newby who is currently trying to sort out a new contract with the Shakers. Seasiders boss Steve McMahon could be set to make as renewed bid for Newby later this week.

  • George Michael farewell for ex-model

    MORE than 400 mourners used a poignant song from pop star George Michael to say farewell to a former model who was one of his biggest fans. Friends, family and colleagues attended St Anne's Church, Edgeside, for a service dedicated to the life of Adam

  • County moves towards Fairtrade status

    LANCASHIRE could become Britain's first Fairtrade County if moves by backbench councillors are accepted. The Fairtrade mark is awarded to products such as coffee, tea, chocolate and bananas to assure consumers that the farmers in developing countries

  • Retail park to include DIY super store in £31m plan

    A NEW DIY superstore is definitely on the way to Blackburn, developers announced today. Henry Boot Developments, of Sheffield, has confirmed that B&Q will anchor its new retail park in Blackburn. The firm secured planning permission to transform the

  • Cat walks eight miles to its home

    A SUPERCAT who refused to be given away has won a reprieve from his astounded owner after completing an epic eight-mile journey back home. Tigger was taken in to Alice Sumner's home in Frederick Row, Blackburn, as a rescue cat about two years ago after

  • Hitman killer gets life sentence

    HITMAN killer Manzoor Qadar has been sentenced to life imprisonment in New York for the roadside shooting of his cousins six years ago. The father-of-six, of Holland Street, Blackburn, will now consult with legal representatives in a bid to serve his

  • Censor row over 'offensive' art

    A STUDENT from Radcliffe is angered that her controversial artwork was censored when it was displayed at an exhibition. Rebecca Heyes, aged 21, helped organise the event at Bolton Institute's Deane campus to show creations by herself and fellow students

  • Call for former police officers to return

    EX-POLICEMEN across Bury are being asked to strengthen the thin blue line. In a pioneering scheme and part of Greater Manchester Police's Project 8,000, which aims to bring the number of police officers up to 8,000 by March 2004, "Many Happy Returners

  • Summer barbecue warning

    PENDLE people are being urged to take more care when enjoying a traditional summer barbecue as part of National Food Safety Week. The council's environmental health service is aiming to get key safety messages to residents by making advisory leaflets

  • Five years ago

    A PLAYGROUP founder retired after 29 years of voluntary work. Muriel Lawson, of Higher Commons Lane, Mellor Brook, who started the Mellor Brook playgroup, retired after a life-time of working with children.

  • McAlpine pay strike

    WORKERS at a Great Harwood engineering site were conducting their first one-day strike today. Fifty mains layers and road resurfacers from the McAlpine plant in Heys Lane, Great Harwood, walked out after pay talks with managers reached a stalemate. The

  • Invite to join the parade

    FANCY dress fans still have a chance to get involved in this year's Accrington Carnival. The event, organised by Accrington Lions, takes place on Saturday, June 21 and the grand procession will feature at least five bands, five majorette troupes and several

  • Artist Michael puts MP on the canvas

    BLACKBURN MP Jack Straw may think he's "no oil painting" but thanks to a Fine Art student from Great Harwood -- he is! Michael Youds, 21, of Blackburn Road, is a second year student on Blackburn College's new Fine Art degree and has created two portraits

  • Club boss positive about meeting residents

    A CLUB manager wants to set up regular meetings with residents after a get-together to discuss their concerns about noise. Angela Calvert, manager of the Clayton-le-Moors Sports and Social Club, got together with residents, councillors and police last

  • Concern growing for missing man

    A 41-YEAR-OLD man has been missing from his Prestwich home for almost a week. Police in Bury are becoming increasingly concerned for the health and welfare of Benares Jehangir Khan. He was last seen in Prestwich on Tuesday, June 3. Mr Khan requires daily

  • Farmers warned of a blitz on safety

    LANCASHIRE farmers were today urged to ensure that safety standards are well monitored this month when inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will be carrying out an inspection safety blitz. In 2001-02, 41 people died in the agricultural

  • Bruce: I'll pull out all stops for Dunn

    BIRMINGHAM boss Steve Bruce today underlined his determination to land Blackburn midfielder David Dunn. Bruce has already had one offer rejected by Rovers for the England midfielder. But the Blues boss is not prepared to take 'no' for an answer and he's

  • MyTravel looking to bright horizons

    THE boss of the troubled holiday group MyTravel has pledged to return the company to profitability next year. Chief executive Peter McHugh was in upbeat mood, despite disclosing pre-tax losses of £617million for the first six months of 2003. Business

  • 'Slow down' plea in villages

    WARNINGS have been set up around villages in North Turton urging drivers to slow down. The parish council hopes the signs will encourage motorists to keep to the 30mph limit. Council clerk Geoff Hughes said: "We have put them up in four separate areas

  • Church home for playgroup

    YOUNGSTERS attending Scallywags playgroup in Edgworth have settled into a new home. Twenty children and four qualified pre-school staff made the move from the now closed Crowthorne School to St James's Church. Parents and volunteers formed a committee

  • Drug ban 'is right move'

    A CAMPAIGNER against anti-depressant drug Seroxat today welcomed a Government move to ban it from being given to children. Lynne Bradley, of Avalon Way, Darwen, said the news is a big step in a campaign towards getting the use of the drug limited. The

  • Teenager raided stepmum's home

    A TEENAGER who raided his former stepmother's home helped himself to jewellery and cash from a meter box. Burnley Crown Court heard how Gareth Cooper, 18, had earlier been told he could no longer live at the home of Linda Pickering and she had taken his

  • Police battle new rise in burglaries

    A NEW campaign to deter thieves from parts of Rossendale has been launched in the valley following an increase in burglaries. Officers from Rossendale West, which covers the Rawtenstall and Haslingden areas are taking steps to prevent opportunist thieves

  • Remedy needed for sickness toll

    THOUGH absenteeism levels among employees at an East Lancashire council that are among the worst in the country have already provoked an accusation that some are skiving, new figures suggesting that almost half the sickness is due to stress. This demands

  • Contempt for voters

    I READ (LET, May 29) with disbelief the saga of councillor-in-name-only Graham Pound and the antics of Blackburn with Darwen Council's Conservative group as they try desperately to prevent a by-election and voters electing a councillor who actually has

  • Council apprentice scheme planned

    A MODERN apprenticeship scheme could be introduced at Burnley Council in a bid to increase the number of young people working for the organisation. The idea is one of a raft of proposals included in the council's Human Resource Strategy which will go

  • Clarets seek cheerleaders

    THE hunt is on to find cheerleaders to help warm up the crowd ahead of Burnley Football Club's matches next season. Girls could find themselves dancing with their pom-poms at Turf Moor before a crowd waiting to watching the exploits of the Clarets Anybody

  • Reality deal 'a positive move'

    THE union representing around 1,000 East Lancashire workers at the GUS home shopping group has welcomed its sale to the Barclay family. More than 800 people work at the group's Reality call centre at Kingsway, Burnley, and over 100 are employed at its

  • £4m effort to restore 'jewel' park to former glory

    ONE of Burnley's premier parks could be restored to its former 17th century glory thanks to a £4million lottery bid. One hundred years after Towneley Park first opened to the public the council are seeking to breathe new life into the 400-acre attraction

  • Cash-strapped Bury hope for twin windfall

    BURY could be set for a double cash boost after it emerged that Blackpool have been linked with striker Jon Newby and Paddy Kenny is interesting Leeds United writes Steve Bott Blackpool manager Steve McMahon has been tracking Newby for some time and he

  • Water main burst drama

    RESIDENTS in the Edge End area of Brierfield had to collect water from mobile tanks at the end of their streets after a water main burst. The incident happened at around 10.15am on Monday and water to several streets was turned off while repairs could

  • Burglar's second sentence

    A BURGLAR jailed by a judge four days ago has been given a second prison sentence to run at the same time. Stuart David Brown, 25, was sent to custody for six months at Burnley Crown Court, last Friday, after admitting assault causing actual bodily harm

  • Fair share of £13m handout

    COMMUNITIES in East Lancashire have won a share in more than £13million of lottery cash for long-term projects in the North West. Pendle and Hyndburn are among 16 areas targeted by £13,088,000 from the new funding scheme, called the Fair Share Trust,

  • Special meeting in power battle

    A DECISION will be taken next Tuesday on whether the Liberal Democrats in Pendle will play any part on the executive committee. The Mayor of Pendle, Councillor Mohammad Iqbal, has received a requisition, signed by 14 members of the council, to call an

  • Roadshow to help disabled

    A DRIVING instructor from Radcliffe will be among experts advising people with disabilities about learning to drive or getting back behind the wheel. The Mobility Roadshow, which takes place at Donington Park, Castle Donington, near Derby, on Thursday

  • Carnival capers attract sun-blessed crowd

    THE entire population of Radcliffe appeared to turn out for the town's annual carnival. Spectators were six-deep on the streets with revellers eager to get a good view of the parade of carnival floats. The weather put people in good spirits, and the Radcliffe

  • Easier access to beauty of the Dales

    RESIDENTS in Rossendale, Burnley and Pendle can now enjoy easier access to the Yorkshire Dales with the X43 bus service now running every Sunday from Manchester. The service operated by Burnley & Pendle Travel (B&P) with funding from the Yorkshire

  • Kirsty's bravery touches all our hearts

    THE Pride of East Lancashire Awards have been praised by the people helping a battling little girl who has touched the hearts of the country. Seven-year-old Kirsty Howard, the face of Didsbury's Francis House Hospice, was born with her heart back to front

  • Ten years ago

    THE hilly roads of Lancashire were tackled by cyclists in the Milk Race. The 99 riders swept through Bacup, Haslingden, Blackburn and Chorley as part of the 116-mile Sheffield to Liverpool stage.

  • How we'll burn the new fuel

    CEMENT firm bosses are to host an exhibition about plans to burn waste meat and bones as an alternative fuel in Clitheroe. It will outline Castle Cement's proposal to use agricultural waste-derived fuel to fire kilns at Ribblesdale works and will take

  • Ternent homes in on Fergie Fledging

    EX-MANCHESTER United starlet Lee Roche is in the frame to join the Stan Ternent's new-look Burnley Babes. Right-sided defender Roche, 22, was released by Reds' boss Alex Ferguson this summer after failing to break through into a star-studded team at Old

  • Clarets close on Camara

    BURNLEY are closing in on the capture of former Wolves defender Mohamed Camara. The Guinean international, 27, has been targeted as Clarets boss Stan Ternent looks to start plugging the gaps left by a host of summer departures. And I can exclusively reveal

  • Singh set for comeback after injury

    HARBHAJAN Singh is due to link up with Lancashire this weekend after missing the first six weeks of the season, resting a finger injury. But the Turbanator, as the Indian spinner is known, may not be immediately able to play - and that would allow his

  • Isn't this a waste of police time?

    A READER sends me an item from his ex-servicemen's journal, telling of a chap who spotted people stealing things from his shed just as he was going to bed. Yet, on ringing the police, he was told no-one was in the area to help, but they would send someone

  • It's just so galling

    I DON'T know about you, but the row over a Blackburn trader being, in effect, told by visiting French stallholders what he could and couldn't sell on a continental market in his own town fairly gave me the pip. The upshot was described as a "compromise

  • Clarets close on Camara

    BURNLEY are closing in on the capture of former Wolves defender Mohamed Camara. The Guinean international, 27, has been targeted as Clarets boss Stan Ternent looks to start plugging the gaps left by a host of summer departures. And I can exclusively reveal

  • Dads create their own 'Eden Project'

    A GROUP of dads who cleared an unofficial tip have now won money to create a community garden. Blackburn Diocese, together with Darwen's SureStart, Bootstrap Enterprises and residents of the St James' area of Sudellside, have come together to form the

  • I could have died

    A SEVERE asthmatic today told how a newly fitted gas fire belched carbon monoxide into her front room and revealed: "I could have died." Joyce Yeoman, of Springfield Street, Darwen, said her daughter and her next-door neighbour could also have been poisoned

  • Say how your cash should be spent

    ROSSENDALE residents are being urged to have their say on how they want taxpayers' money to be spent in the valley. Rossendale Partnership is hosting a number of consultation days throughout the coming weeks. Some of the topics for discussion include

  • Moors bog saves three young lives

    A BOGGY field saved the lives of three young people after their car tumbled off a country road, police revealed today. The accident, on Jackson Heights Road at Pickup Bank, near Hoddlesden, happened at 3.45pm yesterday. Fire officers worked in 18in deep

  • Mum-to-be has jail sentence cut

    AN expectant mum who admitted handling stolen car stereos and having heroin and cocaine has walked free from the dock after top judges reduced her jail sentence. Danielle Nicholson, 23, of Stonyhurst Road, Blackburn, was jailed for nine months on January

  • 'Fixated' eyes of man arrested for murder

    AN Iraqi asylum seeker accused of murdering a fellow countryman had a "glazed and fixated" look in his eye after the stabbing, a jury was told. PC Eme Susan Assiak was despatched to Infirmary Street, Blackburn just before midnight on January 19 this year

  • Town hall hit by staff stress

    NEARLY half of sickness at a council beset by staff taking days off is down to stress, new figures have revealed. Blackburn with Darwen Council has reported that the condition is behind 42 per cent of all absenteeism -- much of it from 'outside influences

  • Hospitals hopeful of more doctors

    EAST Lancashire's hospitals are set for their biggest-ever influx of doctors -- helping to improve patient care and reduce overtime payments. In an unprecedented move, the Government has made money available for hospitals in the Cumbria and Lancashire

  • School figures just don't add up

    THE Government claims to have passed on more money than ever to schools to raise standards and boost education for all. But head teachers in East Lancashire say they are faced with spiralling costs and a squeezed budget for the coming academic year. CLARE