THE boss of a roofing firm was accused of being a ‘rogue trader’ tonight following an undercover sting by the BBC's Watchdog show. Simon Fielding, 50, of Sunderland Street, Burnley, runs 1st Call Roofing, listed to White Goat Farm, Whalley
SCHOOLS in Lancashire shared £2.6million in extra funding after an administrative blunder, it has been revealed. Teachers warned county council bosses against trying to claw the cash back once the mistake was realised. And the county
A MOTORBIKE fanatic fulfilled a dream when she appeared as a ‘grid girl’ for the British Superbikes race at Silverstone. Jade Robinson, 20, won a national competition to be a ‘grid girl’ for the day for the Motorpoint Yamaha team at
A CLOTHES shop manager from Haslingden has described the moment he was stabbed repeatedly in a frenzied attack by a colleague. Tony Barnes was speaking after a judge told his attacker to expect a prison sentence at Manchester Crown Court yesterday
RESIDENTS have formed a co-op scheme to open an ethical goods store and revamp an empty shop. The announcement follows the Lancashire Telegraph’s survey of how more than 30 shops are standing empty in Accrington Town Centre. Now one more will be occupied
A DEAL has been signed to transfer up to £1.9billion of Lancashire’s public services to a private company. More than 500 County Hall staff will initially be seconded into the new company after councillors approved the move this afternoon.
A GANG of armed robbers face jail after two men were today found guilty of a £250,000 jewellery raid at a Blackburn shop. At Preston Crown Court on Thursday, two men were convicted of robbery and conspiring to commit robbery at Ancient and Modern Jewellers
THREE murder investigations in East Lancashire in the last 10 days mean cuts to the force’s senior detectives must be ‘carefully looked at’. Former Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell was head of the Force Major Investigation Team, which deals
YOUNG Burnley striker Jay Rodriguez has been tipped to be the club’s biggest homegrown asset by one of his most experienced team-mates. Defender Clarke Carlisle has labelled the 21-year-old as “one of the most exciting forwards” he has seen
Accrington Stanley management duo John Coleman and Jimmy Bell have agreed new deals to keep them at the Crown Ground until 2015 to ease growing uncertainty over their futures. The pair were being strongly linked with the vacant managerial
THE boss of Blackburn wallpaper manufacturer Graham and Brown is predicting a strong 2010 after 2009 figures were published. Sales fell by £3million last year as the firm suffered a dip in exports, with turnover for the year ending December 31, 2009
A NEW education and enterprise park in the shadow of Burnley’s £81m college campus could bring 400 jobs to the borough, councillors have been told. Work on the partnership project, behind the Princess Way campus, is progressing as a replacement
GRANT Hanley’s emergence has been over-shadowed by Phil Jones’ exploits over the last few months but if early signs are anything to go by don’t expect him to stay off the radar for long. The Scottish under 19 international has missed the start of this
CORONATION Street star Julie Hesmondhalgh is to launch a writing competition in aid of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. Julie, who plays Hayley Cropper in the soap, is to set up the competition in 2011 with her dramatist husband Ian Kershaw. Rossendale
THE congregation of St Silas’ Church, Blackburn, looked back at more than 100 years of life in their parish. For an exhibition of photographs from the past century and more was staged as part of an open day. And visitors took the opportunity
HUNDREDS of visitors looked back at old photographs and memorabilia of life in old Padiham. Padiham Archive Group held its sixth annual exhibition showing the events, places, and people of the town over the decades. Former residents who had moved
BUILDING Schools for the Future programmes in Hyndburn and Rossendale could still go ahead after a review, according to an MP. Hyndburn and Haslingden representative Graham Jones has questioned the coalition Government’s schools boss about
NEW York guitarist Preston Reed, who created a sensation with his two-handed fretboard style, will play Bolton on October 9. Total Guitar magazine referred to Reed as “the world’s most gifted guitarist” and he has been widely cited as an influence
Spike Theatre premiere their new show, The Games, at The Met in Bury on October 12 and 13. Taking inspiration from the ancient Olympics, it is a hilarious tale of three athletes with aspirations of greatness, who are poised to compete
It seems to be a most unlikely setting for a miracle: St James Street, Mill Hill, a small cul-de-sac of about half a dozen houses. At one end was ‘the spare land’ where children played and at the other a Co-op store. In the middle was
FROM the beginning of the Industrial Revolution up to the present day, thousands of rural families have left the countryside to look for work. While some families emigrated, many were attracted by the industrial centres of Lancashire, where
Shia LaBeouf, Michael Douglas, Carey Mulligan, Josh Brolin, Susan Sarandon, Frank Langella, Charlie Sheen. Director: Oliver Stone. More than 20 years after Michael Douglas won an Oscar as scheming Wall Street trader Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s acclaimed
AT first glance, it might seem like Sam Wills — aka The Boy With Tape On His Face — wouldn’t have a lot to say to an audience. It’s the piece of gaffer tape over his mouth that does it, you see. When we are so used to comedians aurally assaulting their
I THOUGHT being on benefits meant life was a struggle? But I know four families with no-one working, yet they all have so much in common: they smoke, go out drinking, have mobile phones, Sky TV, go on holidays, not to mention owning a car. But
Blackburn Sea Cadets had use of the council charity shop for a week and wish to sincerely thank all who contributed in any way. Every penny raised is used to maintain the unit headquarters and ensure that we can continue our long history of training
THERE are six prisons in the county of Lancashire, with just over 4,000 total. If we jailed a similar proportion of the population to the United States, that figure would not be 4,000, but 20,000. There’d be a prison in every town in
ORIGINALLY part of the vanguard of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Marseille are back on the scene with a new tour and album. The band was originally formed in 1976 by Neil Buchanan, fellow guitarist Andy Charters, Paul Dale, Keith Knowles and Steve
POSSIBLY the most remarkable pictures taken of the Rolling Stones can be seen at the Lowry until November 7 as part of photographer Philip Townsend’s new exhibition. This 1963 picture of the band in Belgrave Square, when they were broke, hungry and
WITH the state of the economy, there is a lot of doom and gloom around business at present. And that is why it is so refreshing to celebrate some positive news today. An eco-housing company has taken over a 192,000 sq ft unit at Walker Park in Blackburn
Labour peer Lord Mandelson is still receiving a “transitional allowance” of £103,465 a year from the European Union; £8,622 a month is set at 50 per cent of his former salary as European Trade Commissioner to soften the hardship of leaving the job.
LISTENING to Jack Straw you might think that the only controversial issue in his time as government minister was the invasion of Iraq. There is much more. He refused Spain’s request to extradite Augusto Pinochet thus dashing the hopes of millions
CONTINUING his first world tour in his 30-year plus career, French keyboard king Jean-Michel Jarre returns to Manchester on October 9 to celebrate the pick of his catalogue. The multi-instrumentalist, who gave us synth-rock classics such as Oxygene
I have no interest in watching celebrities attempt whatever it is they’re not normally paid to do but some TV exec thinks will be entertaining for viewers. In this case, obviously, dancing. I have seen this before, briefly, and thought I would have
POP stars come and go but McFly, it seems, will be around forever. Seven years ago the fresh-faced foursome burst on to the scene with their debut single, 5 Colours In Her Hair. Floppy of fringe and low-slung of trouser, they were every teenage
MORE than 100 East Lancashire establishments have been praised in the new Good Pub Guide, published today. The Tempest Arms in Elslack near Earby scooped the prestigious title's pub of the year prize. While the best dining pub in the county was named
A FORMER soldier who left Pendle to search for missing toddler Madeleine McCann died in mysterious circumstances after returning home to Nelson, an inquest heard. Ex-paratrooper Colin Sahlke sold all his possessions around May 2007 to raise £5,000
ACCRINGTON Stanley have announced that they intend to finalise new contracts for management duo John Coleman and Jimmy Bell by the end of the week as they bid to stave off interest from Lincoln City. The future of Stanley’s long-serving pair has been
A CLEANER who stole money from an elderly couple has been ordered to pay back more than £2,500 of her ill-gotten gains. In April, Denise Hodgkinson, 44, was sent to prison for 12 months for stealing £6,000 from Harold and Doris Firman’s bank account
RESIDENTS have formed a co-op scheme to open an ethical goods store and revamp an empty shop. The announcement follows the Lancashire Telegraph’s survey of how more than 30 shops are standing empty in Accrington town centre. Now one more will be
A DEAD heat for first place in a time trial is unusual but a dead heat in a hill climb where timing is taken to one tenth of a second is amazing. That happened on Saturday in the Rossendale Road Club event at Crown Point near Burnley when Ian Stott
EYE-catching hotshot Wes Fletcher struck twice to send Burnley top of the totesport.com League, and knock rivals Preston off their perch. After a goalless first half, the Clarets won comfortably in the end, and deservedly so after bossing this
A RALLYING tradition that started 40 years ago will be broken when the Mull Rally takes to the road this weekend. Acknowledged as one of the most popular club events in the UK, the rally starts tomorrow night – but with a new name and a new
THE number of burglaries, robberies and vehicle crimes went up this summer. A series of campaigns has run throughout this year, and last, in a bid to beat burglars, which police rank as one of their top priorities. But in June, July,
BIKES: Oulton Park will host the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship decider this weekend, and the battle to be crowned champion will be decided in an epic six-way fight over three races. Tens of thousands of fans will witness the crowning
THE 2300 Club took the sensational decision to axe the Tour of Mull Rally after financial problems with last year’s 40th anniversary event left the club with a ‘substantial’ loss. “The organisers left Mull in October 2009 with morale very low indeed,
RALLYMAN Ross Miller has been burning the midnight oil in a bid just to make the start of the Mull Rally. Miller, from Whalley, is a front-runner in this year’s SD34 Stage Championship and needs the points in Scotland to secure his first title
CHORLEY’S Nick Dougherty hopes to take inspiration from Ryder Cup hero Lee Westwood and rediscover the magic that clinched him the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship three years ago. The 28-year-old returns to the venue of his greatest professional victory
n Pendle Forest Orienteers have been chosen to host the 2010 British Schools’ Score Championships, which will be held on Saturday at Witton Park, Blackburn. While it is too late to enter, there will be an open event afterwards giving anyone the chance
ENGLISH champion Rob Hope has narrowly failed to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive British Fell Championship. Needing to win the fourth and final counter in Wales to be sure, he could manage only eighth at the Black Mountains Race, at
THE cross country season is certainly making a late start this year with none of our local leagues kicking off for another couple of weeks yet. However, the first major competition of the winter is on Saturday when the inaugural Northern Cross Country
SOPHIE Hitchon has been nominated for the European Athletics Rising Star Awards for 2010 following her wonderful victory in the women’s hammer at the World Junior Championships back in July. The 19-year old Blackburn Harrier, who was also
ELIZABETH Greenwood of Clitheroe Royal Grammar School has won the English Schools’ Fell Running Championships at Sedbergh School in Cumbria. The 11-year old from Read won the Year 7 girls’ race while her fellow Blackburn Harrier Beckie Taylor
VILLAGERS are hoping for even more ‘joie de vivre’ in Gisburn as a new deli and cafe opens later this month. The Delicious Deli and Café will be opened by fictional Menton resident Claude, who featured in the tongue-in-cheek advert about the
TWO brothers and a sister were last night being quizzed on suspicion of double murder — as detectives probe whether the motive is revenge. Kenny Howson, 25, Lee Howson, 18, and Krystal Howson, 23, and a 30-year-old man from Burnley were arrested yesterday
ACCRINGTON Stanley and Ray Putterill will attend FA hearings on October 20. The midfielder played in the club’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy first round win at Tranmere – a day after he was due to start a 42-day ban.
Accrington Stanley are offering combined tickets for four home matches over the Christmas period. A combined ticket for the games against Shrewsbury, Burton, Crewe and Chesterfield cost £44 – a saving of £16.
THE man who fell victim to Blackburn Rovers’ last takeover has warned fans ‘be careful what you wish for’ as the search goes on for new owners. Rovers’ immediate future continues to be shrouded in uncertainty with several parties understood to be jostling
AN ECO-housing company plans to create up to 400 jobs after opening a huge £8million operation in Blackburn. Pretek Precision Homes has taken a 192,000 sq ft unit at Walker Park, near junction five of the M65 at Guide, where thousands of custom-built
A MAN climbed on to the roof of a factory during a three-hour standoff with police. The drama unfolded in Brierfield in the early hours of Thursday morning when police recieved reports of a man on the roof of a factory near to the B&Q store in
Barrow: Comedy/Folk group The Houghton Weavers return to Forum 28, tomorrow (Friday), at 7.30pm. Tel: 01229-820000. Beetham: Royal Northern College of Music Chamber Music Series continues with The Aves String Quartet performing Haydn, Grieg
