TIME is of the essence in Oswaldtwistle Players' production of Theft, which plays at the town's civic theatre from tomorrow until Saturday. For, depending on which night you go and see it, real time and the performance time will match. Coincidentally,
STUDENTS are taking to the stage for a production of the popular musical 'Oliver!'. Witton Park High School, Blackburn, is set to stage the musical at the Thwaites Empire Theatre near Ewood Park. Rehearsals are now well under way and school staff said
A HILARIOUS spoof in the Agatha Christie tradition awaits audiences in the Rossendale Players' production of Murdered To Death. Set in a country manor house in the 1930s, the play has a "Cluedo-esque" cast of characters, including Bunting the butler,
nJENNIFER Smith stars as Little Red Riding Hood, with Katie Makie as the wolf, in the Dorothy Bruce School of Dance's pantomime. The show runs from November 20 to 22 at the Civic Theatre, Oswaldtwistle. For tickets call (01282) 773749. All proceeds go
REGARDING parking near Blackburn Infirmary, I agree with Rob Wilcock (Letters, October 16) that staff and visitors should not have to pay. But if they had bigger and better parking facilities at the Infirmary people would not have to park on the side
POLICE are warning people not to use mobile phones in public after two teenagers were robbed in separate attacks in the same street. The first robbery, in Spring Lane, Radcliffe, happened at 3.45pm on Thursday when a 17-year-old boy was approached by
A MOTHER has told of the terrifying moment she saw her young son's face ripped apart as he was savaged by a dog. Joshua Preston was playing with the two-year-old Bullmastiff, owned by his uncle, when it attacked and bit his face. The eight-year-old underwent
A BURNLEY pub landlady said to have inflicted "life threatening" injuries on one of her best customers was today behind bars awaiting a jail term. Michelle "Shelley," Lord, 38, who runs the Plane Tree Hotel, Westgate, had attacked builder and ex-convict
MARK Patterson says he quit Leigh RMI on Saturday, not because his side had suffered another humiliating defeat, but because of the pressures he faced from behind the scenes at the struggling Conference club. The manager's future had been under threat
A LOOK at the key moments from the game against Charlton BRAD FRIEDEL: Didn't have a save to make all night but still ended up on the losing side. 6 STEVEN REID: Possibly his best game in a Rovers shirt. Stuck to his task in an unfamiliar position and
IF David Blaine wants a real test of will-power and endurance then perhaps he should try being a Blackburn Rovers supporter in the current climate. On Sunday night, the American illusionist finally ended his self-imposed hunger strike after spending an
THIEVES have stolen cigarettes worth more than £300 in a raid on a Burnley newsagent. The two robbers, wearing black scarves over their faces, walked up to the counter of Oxford News, in Oxford Road, grabbed the 18-year-old shop assistant by the throat
SOME of Burnley's main recreation facilities could close under plans for a major overhaul of leisure centres in the town. The council has completed a review of the facilities it provides as part of a cost cutting exercise and to make sure sports centres
BURNLEY Football Club has launched a set of player card for young people which carry important information on issues including racial discrimination and community safety. The club has produced the cards in conjunction with the Burnley Community Safety
FOUR Clarets fans have staked a claim to be called East Lancashire's most determined soccer fans following a matchday transport fiasco involving planes, trains and automobiles. What should have been one of the highlights of the season turned into a battle
RESIDENTS took their fight to create a village green in Lowerhouse to an inquiry yesterday. A special meeting of Lancashire County Council commons and town greens sub-committee began at Rosegrove Unity Working Men's Club, in Accrington Road, and was expected
A SICK robber stole a wedding ring off a woman's finger as she suffered an epileptic fit in the street. The 49-year-old woman, who was left distraught by the incident, is now offering a "substantial reward" for the return of her property. Police said
TORY leader Iain Duncan Smith may be fighting for his political life over allegations surrounding his wife's employment as his personal secretary. But for Burnley MP Peter Pike, giving a job in the House of Commons to a member of his own family has only
BURY manager Andy Preece wants his players to put Saturday's heavy defeat behind them when they meet Hull City on Tuesday night (7.45pm). The Third Division leaders arrive at Gigg Lane on the back of a 13-game unbeaten run and any repeat of the dire defending
A FAMILY in Nelson had a lucky escape after a discarded cigarette set their house on fire. The house, in Gordon Street, was not fitted with smoke alarms. Two members of the family were still up when the fire broke out at 2.30am today and were able to
HOUSEHOLDERS in Reedley and Nelson are being asked to say yes to a new recycling scheme. Five thousand homes are being offered green plastic kerbside boxes to recycle cans, glass bottles and jars. A fortnightly collection service will start on November
MANY parents would fly off the handle if their daughter asked for a potential boyfriend to stay with them for a weekend. But when Paula Leeming decided to take part in the new BBC1 dating programme, Meet My Folks, her parents were more than happy to welcome
I WOULD never describe myself as a pessimist - I always try to find plus points. But in regard to the last week in the life of Blackburn Rovers, I really am struggling to look on the bright side. So, can I firstly thank the stayaway 'supporters' whose
RICHARD and Kathy Bevan have swopped the heat of Greece for the homely warmth of the Rossendale Valley to become the tenants of The Whitchaff Inn in Rawtenstall. The Bevans have 10 years' experience in the licensed trade including a recent spell running
SECRETARY for Trade and Industry Patricia Hewitt visited Hapton yesterday to open the new £6.5million premises of Smiths Aerospace Components-Burnley Ltd. The firm is part of the Smiths Group - a market leader in aerospace systems, detection systems,
YOUNGSTERS from across Bury teamed up at Gigg Lane to spell it out: let's kick racism out of football. They took centre stage (and centre spot) alongside the professionals at the Shakers' home game against Oxford United. The clubs, officials and pupils
COUNTY councillors are due to return to Irwell Vale in Rossendale for a hearing to decide on whether a patch of land should be registered as a village green. In July members of the commons and town green sub-committee heard from people supporting and
Southport 2 Radcliffe Borough 1: TWO clinical strikes from Peter Thomson just before half time were enough to to send Radcliffe Borough to a 2-1 defeat at Southport. Borough found it difficult against the strong breeze in the first half, but improved
THE manager must go. I'm fed up with his attitude to European football. I have been a Rovers supporter since 1960, and now living in Spain, I have been looking forward to seeing my team playing here. I've even bought this year's Rovers' shirt. Now it
HAVING endured my third consecutive Rovers match recently, I thought they were a disgrace. They have no width, no proper defence, and not many ideas. Why, with over £20 million received, did we buy average players, like Amoruso and Ferguson, who have
HEALTH chiefs in East Lancashire are urging parents to get their children immunised against measles, mumps and rubella following an outbreak of measles. And they have warned that levels of vaccination in the area are lower than recommended, which means
WITH regards to Paul Plunkett's article (LET Oct 17), I did not attend the second leg of the UEFA Cup because I was away in Spain. Had I been in the country, I would have been there, and probably taken my 11-year-old son with me, as I try to take him
THE problem this season with Blackburn is down to a change in personnel. With the money we have spent, we should be getting a much better return than we are doing. Emerton and Baggio look good, as does Reid, but there is an inconsistency in the centre
NEWLYWEDS Paul and Diane Dudgeon today revealed how a holiday photograph saved their lives in the New York ferry disaster. The Blackburn couple were on board the Staten Island Ferry which crashed into a harbour, killing 10 people and injuring dozens more
BRIAN Welch sensed his time at Accrington Stanley was up as early as the first day of the season. The 30-year-old striker left for Rossendale United last week just six months after his return to Stanley and made an instant impact with two goals in the
ACCRINGTON Stanley, Chorley and Clitheroe have all been given a bye in the First Round of the Lancashire FA Marsden Challenge Trophy. Stanley were knocked out in the semi-final last season by Kendal Town, after beating Barrow at Morecambe's Christie Park
BACUP Borough boss Brent Peters will hope his side can move up into the top 10 of the North West Counties League Division One with a win at Atherton LR tonight, writes PAUL GARBETT. Peters comfirmed that yesterday's training was postponed to give four
A PENSIONER was pushed to the floor in the backyard of her Bury home by two robbers who snatched her handbag from her arm. Two men forced their way into the 68-year-old's backyard in Westgate Avenue at 4.15pm on Monday. She was outside at the time. One
LEIGH started as second favourites after a run of two draws and six defeats and a Guiliano Grazioli hat-trick confirmed them as such with a classy showing. He opened the scoring four minutes after half time by converting a Simon King cross but the Bees
A LOOK at events, from amateur theatre to rambles through our beautiful countryside. Lunchtime recital with Sian Carys (soprano) and Gregg Morris (piano), Blackburn Cathedral, 1pm. St Peter's Church Mothers Union meet Memorial Hall, Salesbury, 7.45pm.
WORRYING statistics have emerged which appear to show that the scare over the measles, mumps and rubella jab (MMR) is having an adverse effect on our children's health. Levels of vaccination in the area are lower than recommended and doctors have warned
THERE'LL be elementary entertainment in Colne Operatic Society's forthcoming show The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes -- A Musical Mystery which runs until Saturday . The production is written by Leslie Bricusse and is based on the characters created by Sir
READING recent contributions to Your Letters, one could conclude that exceeding speed limits was compulsory. The police don't want your money -- you are choosing to risk spending it by way of a fine for breaking the law. As for car parking, we are a car-driven
TONY Blair has put up taxes an amazing 60 times! Britain is now paying an extra £130billion under Mr Blair and families are another £500 worse off because of council tax and national insurance increases. But what have we got to show for it? In 1997, he
ANTHONY Haworth, of Sabden, states (Letters, October 14) that "Blackburn was council of the year in 2002 but, let's be honest, Clitheroe, which has a Conservative council, would never ever be awarded that recognition by a Labour government or any organisation
REGARDING your report headlined "£12,000 rise for top man at council" (LET, October 8), it strikes me as a bit of a paradox that only two weeks before, hundreds of senior citizens were lobbying Labour MPs at the Brighton conference for inflation-proof
DETECTIVES today issued a fresh appeal for witnesses, a week on from the brutal rape of a 26-year-old woman in an area of woodland on the border of Westhoughton. The woman was attacked in broad daylight and left for dead in Borsdane Wood last Monday as
LORENZO Amoruso could be missing for the foreseeable future after Graeme Souness revealed last night that the Italian defender requires surgery. The former Rangers star has been booked in for an exploratory operation tomorrow in a bid to get to the root
FRUSTRATED Blackburn boss Graeme Souness claims his side were 'mugged' after Charlton sent Rovers crashing to a fourth straight home defeat in the Premiership last night. Hermann Hreidarsson's first-half header proved enough to seal a 1-0 victory for
A RIOT of colour and sound helped mark a special double celebration at St Peter's Church, Burnley. Visitors to the church, in Church Street, were treated to fabulous floral displays at the 200th flower festival, which coincided with the dedication of
POLICE in Burnley are looking for a knife-wielding thug who robbed a teenager at knife point. The 16-year-old boy was approached by a gang demanding cash after walking home from Asda, along Colne Road, rear to Railway Street, on Saturday. Police said
A BURNLEY pub landlady said to have inflicted "life threatening" injuries on one of her best customers was today behind bars awaiting a jail term. Michelle "Shelley," Lord, 38, who runs the Plane Tree Hotel, Westgate, had attacked builder and ex-convict
RESIDENTS in Nelson are campaigning to have a phone box removed from their street after claims it is being used by drug dealers as a drop-off point. Whitefield ward councillor Asjad Mahmood has backed the campaign by residents living in the Carr Road
THE fight has begun to stop the closure of Cadbury's sweets factory in Radcliffe. Workers at the Dumers Lane company, known locally as Hall's, have joined forces with Bury South MP Ivan Lewis in a bid to save all 310 jobs. Bosses at Cadbury Schweppes
A NAVY diver's career was today in tatters as he began an eight-month jail term for kicking a pub landlord in the head. Ashley Firth, 22, who has cost the Navy £1million to train as a mine clearance diver and who holds the UN Kosovo Peacekeeping Medal
ON ONE corner of West Ham's Upton Park ground there stands a church. On another, there stands a pub. Bearing in mind that just four days earlier Burnley had shipped six against Ipswich and were about to face the explosive partnership of Defoe and Connolly
HOME Secretary Michael Howard was urged to heed the warnings of a report into the £20 million riot at Wymott Prison in Leyland. Austin Clark, 14, and Alan Hartley 48, were the youngest and oldest competitors in the Lancashire Arm Wrestling Championship
A BURNLEY criminal was on the run after a prison break at Strangeways Gaol, Manchester. Four prisoners scaled a 30 foot wall to escape. Indian cricketer S P Gupte was set to be Rishton Cricket Club's professional for the next season. In his last tour
HAPTON motorist Kathleen Gosling was set to travel to the Motor Show in Birmingham in a friend's Morris Marina in a protest about the problems she had suffered with her Morris Marina car. A £105,000 Canaletto painting blew off a car roof rack on the M4
THIEVES went on the rampage after breaking into an Indian restaurant. The crooks caused £150 damage and escaped with a £350 haul after breaking into the eatery and pouring food on the floor. The culprits removed the beading from a rear window of the Megma
BUDDING soccer stars can learn the beautiful game from professionals at a special autumn soccer school next week. The four-day event run by Accrington Stanley manager John Coleman and qualified coaches will teach youngsters football skills and give them
GUINNESS flowed in Accrington when 16 members of the Omagh branch of Accrington Stanley fan club visited the town. The club, formed in March, has a membership of 41 adults and four youth members. Irish fans met staff at the club and were treated to drinks
RESIDENTS in Great Harwood will be able to see the fruits of their labour when a recreation ground is relaunched next week. The Windsor Road recreation ground has been the site of numerous projects over the last year, all of which will come under the
A QUARRY company has offered a £1,000 reward after vandals caused £5,000 damage to a digger. Park Royal has branded the actions as 'wanton' vandalism and said it was going to increase security at the Whinney Hill site near Clayton-le-Moors. Intruders
UP to 90 jobs will be created in Accrington with the opening of another store in the town's Market Square development. Home and garden store Wilkinson will open its doors on Wednesday, November 5, just in time for the busy Christmas trading period with
A MAN caught at the wheel of a car just a day after being banned from driving has been locked up for four months. Shachar Cohen, aged 20, of Shirehills, Prestwich, had been banned from driving by Bury magistrates, but the next day police caught him in
TWO pilots died instantly when their motorised glider became tangled in a winch cable and spiralled out of control, an inquest was told. Air accident investigators told the hearing that safety measures had been introduced at gliding clubs across the UK
BURNLEY skipper Graham Branch rode the feel-good factor in the wake of the West Ham result and declared: "That was for the fans!" Branch felt the Clarets owed supporters a performance to help erase the pain of the embarrassing 6-1 defeat to Ipswich a
Few Burnley fans would have expected us to go down to West Ham and come away with a point - especially after what happened earlier in the week. But every credit to Stan and the boys for coming up with a result that has put the smiles back on the faces
EAST Lancashire is well represented in the new Real Ale Pub Guide 2004. Pubs included in the 2004 guide are The Cellar Bar and The Postal Order in Blackburn; The George Hotel in Accrington; The Ministry of Ale and The Sparrow Hawk Hotel in Burnley; The
LANDLORD Wally Brookes had a licence to search far and wide when he sought someone to look after his latest pub -- but he decided to look closer to home and keep it in the family. Wally, 58, has put his daughter Lisa in charge of his new Blackburn venture
PARENTS at a Bury school are being charged for their children's PE lessons because it has no sports hall. Pupils from Derby High School have to travel to the town's Castle Leisure Centre for their compulsory PE lessons, and are asked to contribute 85p
YOUNGSTERS from across Bury teamed up at Gigg Lane to spell it out: let's kick racism out of football. They took centre stage (and centre spot) alongside the professionals at the Shakers' home game against Oxford United. The clubs, officials and pupils
BURNLEY skipper Graham Branch rode the feel-good factor in the wake of the West Ham result and declared: "That was for the fans!" Branch felt the Clarets owed supporters a performance to help erase the pain of the embarrassing 6-1 defeat to Ipswich a
FRUSTRATED Blackburn boss Graeme Souness claims his side were 'mugged' after Charlton sent Rovers crashing to a fourth straight home defeat in the Premiership last night. Hermann Hreidarsson's first-half header proved enough to seal a 1-0 victory for
FOUR East Lancashire organisations have collected top honours in the North West Training Awards 2003. The North Lancs Training Group in Accrington, Burnley College, and Rossendale's Hazlewood Homecare and Headmasters Hairdressing were among the 20 regional
BLACKBURN with Darwen Council has organised a series of craft activities to keep children in Darwen amused during their half-term break from school next week. All the events will take place at the Sunnyhurst Wood visitor centre from Monday, October 27
POLICE are to look into the problem of youths causing misery for elderly residents. People in the Gillibrand Street and Surrey Avenue area of Darwen are living in fear after several homes were burgled and property damaged. They are plagued by up to 60
YOUNGSTERS from three primary schools have gone green in a mission to collect old Yellow Pages and turn them into cash. Children from St Andrew's in Bolton Street, Peel Bow in Fir Street and St Paul's in Crow Lane, all in Ramsbottom, are competing against
TWO men were injured in an industrial accident in Blackburn yesterday. The accident happened at Crossfield Foods, based in Crossfield Street, Grimshaw Park, at 5.28pm. The factory was undergoing delivery of plant machinery when it is believed to have
DOCTORS have revealed that a 29-year-old man found slumped by a phone box in Pringle Street, Blackburn, on October 13 is in a "permanent vegetative state". Andrew Rawes is in the Royal Preston Hospital where he is being treated for a serious head injury
A THEOLOGY student, who ignored his friend's instructions not to drive his hire car, caused more than £8,500 worth of damage, a court was told. Blackburn magistrates heard that Obaidullah Salloo crashed the car into a wall in Lammack Road, demolishing
NEW figures released today revealed that under half of the residents in Lancashire think the police are doing a good job - even though the county force finds and punishes more crooks than in other areas of the country. The police performance monitors
POLICE chiefs today slammed a poll branding Blackburn the 'car mugging' capital of Britain as "not a true picture". Blackburn has come top of a national poll by company Autoglass which shows a growing trend for smash and grab car attacks, termed 'car
A MOTHER has told of the terrifying moment she saw her young son's face ripped apart as he was savaged by a dog. Joshua Preston was playing with the two-year-old Bullmastiff, owned by his uncle, when it attacked and bit his face. The eight-year-old underwent
A TRAVELLER accused of murdering his brother-in-law told a court: "I did not kill him, I loved him. And Shane Manson, 23, also rejected claims that he confessed to his great uncle on the night of the killing, as his defence case started on day five of
ONLY a 14,000 gate at £5 a ticket. Rovers could not even attract all their die-hard season ticket holders for a European game. Surely it's time for a post mortem as to why fans who turn up every week are now boycotting cup ties? The answer is not to blame
RAMSBOTTOM manager Andy Grimshaw is hoping to have addressed his goalkeeper crisis by tonight. Mark Andrews has quit the Rams to make the step up to UniBond First Division football with Rossendale United. But Grimshaw was hoping to snap up Jamie McVey
PARENTS at a Bury school are being charged for their children's PE lessons because it has no sports hall. Pupils from Derby High School have to travel to the town's Castle Leisure Centre for their compulsory PE lessons, and are asked to contribute 85p
