HOME owners in Lancashire have a one in 10 chance of being ‘stung’ by cowboy builders, according to a new survey. A new poll by the Federation of Master Builders, Master Builder of the Year Awards, found that 10per cent of people had been ripped of
DARWEN town centre police have reminded people heading to this weekend’s Darwen Live music festival that alcohol cannot be taken into the festival area. The event is on Sunday and Monday, and alcoholic drinks must be bought from the on-site beer tent
Last year’s beaten finalists Church will play Haslingden in the quarter-final of the Foster's Worsley Cup. Tonight's draw also handed East Lancashire a home tie against Enfield, while Nelson host Accrington and Lowerhouse face Bacup. The the Lancashire
ONE of three “drunk” louts who caused trouble on a Nelson street at 9.30am has been locked up. Burnley Crown Court heard Ian Shepherd, 27, struck John Evans, 50, with a stick, leaving him needing hospital treatment. The victim's retired father-in-law
NEARLY 19,000 emergency incidents were reported to the North West Ambulance service last week during the warm weather. Of these, 7,700 were life threatening and is a 12 per cent increase on last year’s figures. Despite the public warnings
BAKERS and pie-lovers accross East Lancashire are celebrating after the coalition government reversed its plans to add 20 per cent to the price of pasties. The U-turn came after pressure from the baking industry and confusion over revised definitions
PLEASINGTON’S Catherine Roberts made it third time lucky after finally winning the Lancashire Ladies Championships in a marathon final at Manchester Golf Club. The 26-year-old former Northern Women’s champion entered the tournament having been
AN irate man who declared ‘war’ on Burnley Jobcentre warned staff would need body armour, a court was told. Darren Wilkes, 41, had doused himself in petrol and threatened to set himself alight at the premises. And he told a call centre worker: “
THREE historic buildings in Rossendale have been identified as ‘at risk’ in a new report – the only three in Lancashire to be added to the list this year. The catalogue, by conservation charity Save Britain’s Heritage, details 100 buildings in England
LANCASHIRE captain Bill Bromilow has “every confidence” in the squad of seven players named for the England Golf Northern Group qualifying round at Ponteland on June 6. The final six will be announced after this week’s county championship at Preston
FOUR members of Tower Shukokai travelled to Bradford for the Amateur Martial Association National Karate Championships and came back with three trophies. In the 13-14-year-old girls coloured belt category, Imogen Skipper from Blacksnape was hoping
AN INTERNATIONAL running event which has exploded in popularity is to be introduced at Towneley Park, in Burnley, this weekend. Parkrun is a weekly, timed 5km run designed to offer a free, non-commercial event for all levels of runners. Burnley
RIBBLESDALE High School’s Year 10s football team’s incredible run is over after losing in the final of the English Schools U15s Cup. It proved to be a game too far for the Clitheroe school as they lost 3-0 to Oasis Academy from Croydon. Despite
IVY Hotel have written their name in to the Blackburn Combination record books by completing the treble and winning every single game. The all-conquering team clinched the league title with a 100 per cent record then lifted the Sports Council Cup and
S7 Soccer Academy 8, Totally Wicked 2 THE Ewood experience was always going to be a memorable one for all those involved as the Orphanage Cup returned for the first time in 20 years. And so it proved. S7 Soccer Academy – a team full of talented
GEORGE Hutchings underline his tennis talents after he was selected to compete on the clay courts of Europe. The 11-year-old is on of the top players in his age group in the country and was invited by the LTA to train and take part in tournaments in
YOUNG Katie Rilett-Young showed off her all-round abilities after winning five individual gold medals and two team awards at the annual Dwarf Sports Association Annual Games. The 13-year-old from Burnley picked up her first medal of the three-day event
ACCRINGTON Academy’s state-of-the-art swimming pool has been finished ahead of schedule. The pool at the Queen’s Road West school is set to be handed over from the construction firm on Friday. It is the first state high school in East Lancashire
A 22-YEAR-OLD man who kicked a shop window left footprints in blood through Burnley town centre, a court was told. Luke Thoms, 22, then of Hambledon Street, Padiham, had to go to hospital because of his injuries. Thoms admitted causing £1,000 criminal
A GREAT-great-grandfather, from Burnley, was celebrating receiving a telegram from the Queen this week. John Chapman spent his 100th birthday celebrating with family at Hilton Read Home, in Padiham, on Monday. And his eldest son, John Jr, 75, said
A TWO-year-old girl got her knee stuck in a gate while trying to get out of her bedroom at 7.40pm on Monday. Firefighters from Accrington attended the incident in Harlech Drive, Oswaldtwistle, and pulled the gate apart. A spokesman for the fire
A HEROIN addict who snatched a 13-year-old boy’s mobile phone has been jailed for 13 months. Patrick Leggatt convinced the teenager and his friend to help him look for a puppy in Blackburn town centre which had apparently run off. The 36-year-old
BLACKBURN with Darwen will be hosting its very own Olympic games this summer. The re:fresh2012 festival, which will be launched on Friday will see more than 40 events taking place all around the borough throughout the summer. The activities are
TWO officers who were attacked with a knife as they fought to arrest a violent suspect have been awarded the highest police bravery honour in Lancashire. PC Marc Rigby and PC Ian McGinty battled with Robert Wilson following an eight-hour manhunt
A DARWEN primary school has been hit by a spate of vandalism by young thugs – some of whom were younger than 10. A playhouse used by reception children at St Peter’s Primary School, in Turncroft Road, was smashed, benches broken and stolen and items
SATURDAY JUNE 2 Barnoldswick: Diamond jubilee celebrations – lots of events, various locations. Blackburn: St Oswald's Church Hall Garden – Jubilee street party. Blackburn: 11am- 2pm - Community Jubilee fun day at St Paul’s Methodist
A GOLFER in his 70s was taken to hospital by air ambulance after suffering chest pains. The man, who was visiting Clitheroe Golf Club with other members from Whitefield, had completed his round when he complained of a tight chest. He had suffered
THE Chancellor, George Osborne, has been forced to eat humble pie and ditch his plans for a ‘pasty tax’. He has caved in on his plans to charge the 20 per cent rate of VAT on hot baked snacks such as pasties and pies. The climbdown comes after
Strawberries fit for a Queen are to be delivered to Buckingham Palace this week as a Diamond Jubilee gift from Britain's soft fruit growers. A special crop of Royal Sovereign strawberries - the variety served at the 1953 Coronation banquets - has been
British children are well aware what this weekend's Jubilee celebrations are all about and almost one-in-five UK families are heading for a street party, according to a new survey. The parenting website Netmums asked hundreds of primary school youngsters
Millions of people - from the UK and abroad - will be on the move over the next few days to be in position to join in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee bank holiday celebrations. Heathrow expects to handle 2.9 million passengers in the next two weeks, with
THE former school of a Darwen man who died of a rare sarcoma cancer last year held a fund-raising evening in his memory. Paul Nixon, 27, a former pupil and staff member at Crosshill School, Blackburn, died in November. More than 70 people attended
PENDLE Heritage Centre is set to apply for a licence to sell alcohol after councillors gave the move the green light. The Heritage Trust for the North West (HTNW) runs the Barrowford-based centre, leasing the building from the council. It now wants
WITH the nation’s biggest soap tackling the issue, male-victim domestic violence has been brought to the fore. Colne actress Natalie Gumede, recently-crowned best newcomer at the British Soap Awards, is at the centre of an explosive Coronation Street
A BABY bonanza is taking hold at one of East Lancashire’s wildlife parks. Brockholes Nature Reserve, just off junction 31 of the M6 at Samlesbury, has seen its feathery friends flourish in the spring sunshine, leading to the 106-hectare park being
A DECISION to scrap plans for giant pylons across the Ribble Valley has been welcomed by the borough’s Conservative group. Proposals for two new energy plants in Lancashire have been cancelled, meaning the need for new infrastructure will be scaled
THE family of a teenage boy who plunged 15ft from a school roof while trying to retrive a football have said that he is ‘lucky to be alive’. Hamza Khan, 14, fell from the top of Stoneyholme Junior School on to the concrete playground below at 9pm on
ONE of Burnley’s most famous and well-established car dealerships has closed its doors. The Lookers Volkswagen garage, in Barracks Road, off the Cavalry Way roundabout, has been boarded up and the site left deserted. Nobody from the firm was available
CHILDREN’S welfare bosses are making more youngsters subject to care proceedings through the courts, according to latest figures. Lancashire County Council bosses applied for 203 orders in 2010-2011 up from 181 in 2010-2011. While in 2011-12, Blackburn
THE front of a town centre fish and chip shop was ripped out because of a dispute over an unpaid bill. Amid chaotic scenes workmen took out the windows and shutters of The Hake Boat, in Railway Road, Blackburn. A crowd gathered and police were called
FOUR terrace homes have been gutted after suspected metal thieves torched another property. The incident yesterday in Brierfield was the latest in a series of blazes at empty homes that have blighted the Burnley and Pendle areas in recent weeks
TWO Burnley youngsters are getting a taste of the ‘good life’ after taking over a role looking after their school’s chickens. Fourteen-year-olds Cory Webster and Jake Dobson have given up their time to run the garden at Hameldon Community College,
EDDIE Howe has already begun the hunt for a replacement for Jay Rodriguez, after the Clarets agreed a club record breaking £7million fee with Southampton, but he is not plotting a return for Richard Chaplow. The Accrington-born midfielder
A LORRY is stuck under a railway bridge in Blackburn. Police warned that Bolton Road near to the old Blackburn Royal Infirmary will be closed for some time while the vehicle is removed. Firefighters and police were called around 9.40am
A ROVERS supporters group was today urging Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore to investigate the purchase of Blackburn Rovers by Venky’s. Four members of the BRFC Action Group were meeting Scudamore at a Doncaster hotel this
MORE than £3.5m has been granted to rejuvenate empty homes in Burnley. The council will be getting around £3.5m from a Government fund to tackle the problem, which has seen some houses unoccupied for 12 years. The money will support work to bring
AN East Lancashire builder been found guilty of paying to have sex with a 14-year-old schoolgirl. Michael Booth, 43, was convicted of sexual assault, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and paying for the sexual services of a child
FIREFIGHTERS were called after a pan caught fire in Blackburn. But the occupants were only alerted to the blaze, in Leamington Road, when their neighbours called the fire brigade complaining they could see smoke in their own house. When the two
MOTORISTS suffered long delays this morning after a vehicle fire on one of the area's busiest roads this morning. Both lanes of the southbound A56 near Edenfield were blocked by the blaze at 6.50am One lane was re-opened after the blaze involving a
A FOUR-year-old girl has had emergency surgery on her arm and shoulder after being savagely attacked by a bull terrier type dog. It is understood the youngster was being looked after by a family member at her great aunt’s home in Scholes Street
MICHAEL Erlank says the mix of a host of South African professionals and the recent sunshine make East Lancashire just like a home from home – and he is loving every minute of his first taste of England as professional at Ribblesdale Wanderers. The 21
Lancashire Women’s first game of the ECB Women’s County Championship season ended in defeat as they lost to Warwickshire at Birmingham’s King Edward’s School. Lancashire started well with Jasmine Titmuss claiming two early wickets and there was also
LONGRIDGE took their tally of wins to three as they managed to beat Torrisholme by seven wickets in the Palace Shield Premier Division. Northern League legend Graeme Clarke hit 60 as Torrisholme batted first but his side could only post 159-6 from their
SOME people insist there is no place in modern league cricket for the professionals. Those same people bang on and on and say the idea of having a paid man is outdated and needs scrapping. That is an opinion that will never win any favour from me.
BARROWFORD kept up their relentless pursuit of Craven and District Division One leaders Haworth RM with a big derby win over Thornton. Amjal Choudrhy and Matthew Clark were the destroyers-in-chief for Barrowford as Thornton were bowled out for 122.
BLACKBURN-raised fashion designer Wayne Hemingway has thrown his weight behind a town dress agency. Sisters-in-law Carol Kenyon, 59, and Brenda Buck, 58, transformed their Simply Snacks sandwich shop in King Street into a high-end dress agency, after
THE North West Ambulance Service is reminding people not to take advantage of the service as it is expecting a surge of calls. Paramedics face an increase in calls during the hot weather, particularly from those with respiratory problems. But many
VOLUNTEERS and gardening enthusiasts are being urged to help create an edible wonderland. The green fingered Incredible Edible Accrington team are urging people to get involved as they draw up plans for an Alice in Wonderland themed garden at Oak Hill
