A WELL-KNOWN family run motor business has ceased trading. D Kitchen Ltd in Trafalgar Street, Burnley, owned by the Blackadder family, closed its doors for the last time on Jan-uary 23. Bosses at the third gen-eration family business, which
A MAN who plummeted 80ft from a town centre multi-storey car park killed himself, an inquest has found. Mohammed Shaffak, 23, jumped from the roof of the Accrington Arndale Centre after losing his job in a British Gas call centre and starting to
PLANS to bring in compulsory micro-chipping for dogs has received a mixed reaction in East Lancashire. The Government said the idea would help reunite owners with lost or stolen pets as well as improving the welfare of dogs. Ministers also
THE Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen is going to his home village in Pakistan to show the people there what can be achieved in the borough. For the two-week trip, beginning tomorrow, Councillor Zamir Khan will be joined by fellow Labour councillors
THE Lancashire Council of Mosques is in deadlock with the county council over halal meat provision to schools. Three months ago the organisation urged parents not to allow their children to eat school meals provided by Lancashire County Council
A POET originally from East Lancashire has called for the topic of dyslexia to be part of the teacher-training programme. Christina Gabbitas’s son was misdiagnosed as not having the condition by two primary schools, despite her efforts to highlight
THE keys to a new studio school in Accrington have been handed over to staff. Headteacher Hilary McGonagle has received the keys to The Studio, formerly known as Hyndburn Studio School, based at the Waterside, St James’ Court, Accrington. She
EAST Lancashire Railway has announced a special weekend gala to mark 45 years since the last steam train journey in Britain. The event will see eight guest locomotives visit the railway on July 27 and 28 to coincide with the annual transport collectors
A JURY in the trial of a ‘brilliant and charismatic’ music director accused of raping and sexually abusing a former pupil in Manchester more than 30 years ago has retired to consider its verdicts. Michael Brewer, 68, is accused of committing a
A SCHOOL for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties has been hailed ‘outstanding’ by government inspectors. Ofsted, the education watchdog, praised teachers and pupils at Rossendale School, in Turn, near Ramsbottom, in a social care
NELSON’S high street will today be told that it must make radical changes if it is to pro-sper. The Government’s Local Growth Minister will tell the 27 Portas Pilot towns, of which Nelson is one, that the high street can no longer live in the past
A CHRISTIAN singer who has performed in front of thousands of people at Wembley Stadium and across the world will be at the small Hurstwood village church next month. Noel Richards will be flying in from Mallorca to perform at the village church
A PACKET of old family photographs is waiting to be claimed at the Lancashire Family History and Heraldry Society. It was left behind some months ago by someone who had been using the research centre’s facilities at 2, The Straits, in Oswaldtwistle
HAND bell groups were the first public subscription bands of the working class. From its beginnings in country areas, hand bell ringing spread among the towns and villages up and down the Pennines in the 1700s. The formation of bands began around
A NUMBER of shocking court cases in the past few years have highlighted the awful fact that sex abusers often have a history of showing inappropriate behaviour from a young age. It is also true that a significant number of child sex assault victims
Although you have a serious number of head-in-sand types who deny climate change, sooner or later we have to accept that our weather has now altered, and unfortunately for the wetter. If memory serves correctly, this summer would be our sixth wash
Anyone know why we pay our road tax? I am British but live in Ukraine some of the time and my friends there do not believe me when I tell them that roads in Lancashire are in a worse state than in Ukraine. Cuts and redundancies have been made
Darwen needs a new food supermarket like it needs a tsunami (LT, February 1). Lucite International seeks to selfishly fund its own research facility at the cost of small traders and the existing excellent stores. The plan for Market Street
I usually try to avoid the Rev Kevin Logan’s column because I find his reactionary views so upsetting. He is entitled to them, of course, as are bigots, racists and extremists of both left and right wing affiliations. Believe me, life is difficult
The Lancashire Council of Mosques (LCM) welcomes the suspension by the Ministry of Justice of a supplier after it discovered that Halal pies and pasties sourced from Halal-certificated supplier may contain traces of porcine DNA (pork). LCM is appalled
GREENWOODS Menswear store in Burnley has announced plans to move to a new site in the town. Bosses at the store, which has been in St James Street for five years, said the new location will be in a prime position in the town but they cannot yet
A SCHEME to introduce extra parking bays in a busy Colne town centre street would cost nearly £50,000. Councillors had agreed last autumn to look at costs for installing parking bays outside 28-34 Albert Road, following a request from shopkeepers
COUNCILLORS in Barnoldswick are set to call for action after finding more than 50 different sections of road blighted by potholes. LibDem David Whipp co-ordinated the survey and checked the condition of all Barnoldswick’s roads and pavements.
A SOCIAL worker committed suicide because of the growing pressures of her job, a coroner concluded. Mother-of-two Julie Dugdale, of Kemple View, Clitheroe, was found hanged by members of her family the day after visiting her GP complaining of feeling
THREE members of a Lithuanian gang said to have demanded £10,000 cash from a man with threats and weapons “over a debt” have been jailed for a total of six-and-a- half years. Burnley Crown Court heard how terrified factory worker Donatos Malciiaukas
COMMUNITY groups and organisations in Lancashire are being urged to apply for grants to help develop rural neighbourhoods. More than £10 million is available to community groups, as well as larger bodies interested in taking over local services
ONE of East Lancashire’s best known mill shops is moving to make way for the expansion of a marina. Bosses at Barden Mill in Burnley have announced that the store is relocating to Pendle Village Mill outlet in Brierfield after a merger was agreed
MICHAEL Duff is a major doubt for Burnley’s trip to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday because of a calf injury. Duff limped off during the Clarets’ 2-2 draw at Peterborough at the weekend and boss Sean Dyche revealed this afternoon that the defender could
EAST Lancashire MP Andrew Stephenson has described as “comical” a confusion which saw a speech by a gay lookalike Tory colleague in the Parliamentary debate on same sex marriage attributed to him. The Press Association claimed the Pendle backbencher
HYNDBURN Council has approved a plan to change the use of offices to four self-contained flats at Applebys Accountants, Empire House, Edgar Street, Accrington.
A SCHEME to mentor up-and-coming businesses and share good practice between firms has been launched in Accrington. For details on ‘Get Mentoring’, visit www.getmentoring.org or to find a business mentor, visit www.mentorsme.co.uk
PLANS to install a cash point outside a supermarket have been submitted to a council. The 24-hour cash machine would be at The Co-operative, in Harwood Road, Rishton
THE Civic Arts Centre, in Union Road, Oswaldtwistle, holds a monthly life drawing class. The next is on Monday and costs £5, which includes tea and coffee, plus some basic equipment. All welcome, at whatever skill level.
AN RSPCA fundraising event will be held at the Poplar Club, in Wellington Street, Accrington, on Wednesday, March 13, from 2pm to 6pm, featuring balloons, games, and a DJ. For more information, contact Sarah Howorth on 07568 502808
DARWEN is to be twinned with a town in Gambia after coaches from a youth football team went out to the West African country on a charity mission. Five people from Darwen Spartans junior football club and a councillor headed to Africa with charity
NEW exhibitions are on show at Accrington’s Haworth Art Gallery between now and the end of the month. Surrealist art, textiles, and abstract art, from some first-time exhibitors are on display. The collections, called ‘The Next Step’, are on view
A SUBSIDISED women’s fitness session takes place at St Charles’ Primary School, in Rishton, on Mondays, from 9.30am to 10.30am. The keep fit class costs £2, subsidised by Hyndburn Active Women.
A CHARITY race night is to take place at an Accrington pub on Friday, March 1. The Hyndburn Committee of Macmillan Cancer Support, together with Burnley Lions, will hold the event at the Peel Park Pub, in Turkey Street, Accrington, from 7pm. Tickets
A COUNCIL has joined a co-ordinated bid to clamp down on unauthorised traveller encampments. Hyndburn Council is the latest borough to join a Pennine Lancashire-wide protocol for the management of illegal camps. A report recommending the move
AN MP is lobbying for an increased amount of grit to be made available in his borough. Hyndburn MP Graham Jones said he has been in talks with Lancashire County Council over supplies being made available to the area. Mr Jones said he receives
A HOUSE owner has been taken to court for the third time after leaving houses in chronic disrepair. Fed-up residents complained that Julia Hickmott’s properties had inadequate guttering and a demolished back wall which was seeping water into neighb-ouring
CLITHEROE’s deputy mayor has warned that the decision to allow up to 50 new homes to be built in the town may set a dangerous precedent. Coun Kevin Horkin said he was concerned the Planning Inspectorate’s decision to allow the controversial development
A TEENAGER found with head injuries in Blackburn had not been attacked, police said. Police and paramedics were called to Bolton Road, in the Ewood area of the town, shortly at around 6am yesterday after an 18-year-old girl was found collapsed
Summer term jobs while studying for A-levels were never hard to come by in London in the mid-1980s. I had already done a stint in my local M&S working on the tills. Those were the days when you had to punch the amount in rather than pass it
A DANCE group is urging fellow groups across Lancashire to join them in taking part in a major event. Ludus Dance is offering youth dance groups the opportunity to take part in the Lancashire Youth Dance Festival at The Dukes, Lancaster in May.
AN East Lancashire internet start-up firm has been shortlisted as a finalist in the forthcoming E3 Business Awards. CVVID, of Blackburn, provides jobseekers with an online video CV profile they can send to employers. It was selected from hundreds
NUISANCE affecting town centre areas is to be tackled with extra police patrols this month. Police said juvenile nuisance was affecting areas near Accrington’s Vue Cinema and Bowling Alley Complex, and shops in Broadway and Blackburn Road.
JAKE Berry, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, will be holding advice surgeries on February 9. He will be at Bacup Library, St James Square, between 2pm and 3pm and his Rawtenstall office, Mount Terrace from 4pm to 5pm.
DANCERS from Blackburn-based school Chantelle’s Dance Academy will perform One Night Only at King George’s Hall in Blackburn on Saturday, from 7pm. Adult tickets cost £10, £8 with concessions.
VOLUNTEERS are need to help out at the Barnardo’s Children’s Store, in Berry Lane, Longridge. The shop is open seven days a week. Donations of baby clothes, accessories, prams, buggies and cots are also needed.
A MEMORIAL lunch will be held at Knowle Green Village Hall on March 3. The meal will be served at 12.30pm and guests are advised to bring their own drinks. Entertainment will be provided by the Sylvan Sound Singers. Tickets, which cost
THE MAYOR of Rossendale, Councillor Brian Essex, will attend a memorial service for the Accrington Pals next weekend. The event takes place at St John’s with St Augustine’s Parish Church in Addison Street, Accrington, from 2.40pm on February 17
THE A Cappella Singers will return to St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Rishton on Saturday, March 23. In a concert of Easter Harmony Music, the choir will start its performance at 7.30pm The singers have been to the same venue on several occasions
AN EAST Lancashire charity is encouraging everyone to dig out their bobble hats in support of the area’s older people. East Lancashire Age UK is asking everyone in the area to visit local stores in Accrington and Darwen on Age UK’s Bobble Day tomorrow
I was almost torn in two on Tuesday. Blackburn, or Westminster, that was the question. Jobs, or gay marriage, that was the choice. Last autumn I invited the Trade Minister, Lord Green, to come to Blackburn to talk to some of the area’s leading
AN application for three wind turbines at a Ribble Valley garden centre has been rejected. Bosses at Carr Hall Home and Garden Centre, in Whalley Road, Wilpshire, had applied to erect the 46m structures in a bid to offset the site’s electricity
A VINTAGE clothing store in Darwen will open its doors for an exclusive evening tonight. My Vintage, in The Circus, Darwen, will be open late with music, cakes and nibbles, as well as wine and cocktails from 6pm. Owner Emma Brown will also be on
HALF-term multi-sport courses for children in Darwen will take place at St Peter’s Primary School, Turncroft Road, from February 18 to 22. They cost £30 for five days or £10 per day and run from 10am to 3pm. Call Lyy or Scott on 07854 668507 or
A DARWEN Town Council bond of £35,000 has matured and will be moved into a new account with Britannia Building Society in the town. Councillors agreed to move the cash at a meeting on Tuesday night. Deputy chairman Trevor Maxfield said: “There
DARWEN Girl Guides group have places at Rainbows for five to seven-year-olds, Brownies for seven to 10-year-olds and Guides, aged 10 to 14. To sign a child up, visit www.girlguiding.org.uk
STAFF at Holy Trinity CE Primary School, Bank Top, Darwen, are inviting people to join them for their cake sale next Thursday at 3.30pm. Fairtrade will be supplying the confectionery, tea and coffee and all the proceeds will go towards its foundation
COUNCILLORS Jacquie and John Slater and Denise Gee are holding an advice surgery at Lower Darwen Community Centre on Sunday, February 10 at noon. No appointment is needed and everybody is welcome.
LEADING opposition borough councillors have called for action to ensure that a controversial 133- home development on land between Pole Lane and Spring Meadows in Darwen goes ahead quickly. Tory Alan Cottam and Liberal Democrat David Foster are
AN annual spelling competition for Darwen Primary Schools has come to an end after eight years. Journalist Harold Heys, who launched the contest with financial support from Darwen Rotary Club, said he was disappointed that last year’s entry had
THE principal who has overseen a massive eight-year expansion of Blackburn College has announced he is leaving. Ian Clinton, who joined Blackburn College in June 2004 after running colleges in Leeds and Cheshire, made the announcement to his colleagues
JEREMY Duerden will give a talk on the history of Blackburn Cathedral, at Livesey Library, Cherry Tree Lane, Blackburn, on Tuesday, February 12. He will trace the history of the building from its earliest days as a place of worship, to the present
THE Friends of Roe Lee Park, in Blackburn, are looking for new members and volunteers to join their community group. Anyone interested should contact Jason Walker on 77431 01067.
THE RSPCA in East Lancashire is asking for volunteers to help with collections. The charity is appealing for two hours of people’s time to take donations at the Pets at Home stores, on Nova Scotia Retail Park, Bolton Road, Blackburn, and Anchor
A FAIR held by the ladies’ group at a Clitheroe Church raised £272.51. The event was held at St Mary Magdalene Church, in Church Street, and money raised went to boost the church’s funds.
A TEENAGER has been fined £140 after being caught in possession of the controlled drug BZP and cannabis. Matthew Trezise, 19, of Edmondson Street, Church pleaded guilty to possessing the class B drugs at Blackburn Magistrates Court.
A SPECIAL enterprise morning will be held at Store First, on Centurion Business Park, Davyfield Road, Blackburn, on Thursday, February 28, at 10am. It will offer an opportunity to find out how start-up businesses, and sole traders, can run their
AN East Lancashire MP will hold a free advice event to encourage businesses to ‘Export For Growth’. Darwen MP Jake Berry will be at Crown Paints Learning Academy, in Hollins Road, Darwen, from 8.30am to 11am, on Friday, February 15. Mr Berry
SCHOOLCHILDREN in Simonstone are hoping to become record breakers in the world’s biggest synchronised signing and singing session. A total of 123 children from Simonstone St Peter’s CE Primary School stopped their class work to take part in Sign2sing
NINE bands will battle it out tonight in the first heat of the Reidy’s Talent Contest backed by the Lancashire Telegraph. The winners band will go through to the grand final on Thursday, March 7 when a prize of £1,000 in Reidy’s vouchers is up
Blackburn's branch of HMV is one of 66 shops to that will be closed by the music chain's administrators in a move set to cost nearly 1,000 jobs. Deloitte said the shops would continue to trade but the closures were expected over the next one to
St. Mary’s Nursery, based at Wensley Fold Children’s Centre in Carnarvon Road, was inspected and rated ‘OUTSTANDING’ in every category by Ofsted. The Nursery staff have found a unique way to celebrate their latest 'OUSTANDING' achievement by producing
Well done to Abbie Walker who came runner up in an NHS Northwest competition, ‘Respect You – why be like the rest?” The competition, which was open to all 13-19 year olds in East Lancashire, asked entrants to create a viral video highlighting the
Veteran BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall today vowed to fight sex offence allegations and "regain my honour", saying he had been through a "living nightmare" since the charges were brought. Speaking outside Preston Magistrates' Court, the 83-year-old
UP to 27,000 of the poorest residents in East Lancashire will have to pay a council tax bill for the first time from April. A change in Government rules means people who have previously qualified for a full discount will now have to find more than
St. Mary’s student Samantha Partington, who is currently studying Childcare and Learning Development, has been keeping busy and active over the last few months participating in a ‘Living and Working Abroad’ course. The course, which lasts five
A 52-YEAR-OLD man was taken to Preston Royal Hospital following a car crash in Chorley. The man was travelling towards Coppull on the A49 in icy conditions when he lost control of the Fiat Punto. He was travelling around a bend when he skidded
VOLUNTEERS are needed to help count the UK’s most elusive bird. The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and the British Trust for Ornithology needs 1,000 people nationwide to survey woodcock. Because of the birds’ secretive nature, there is
MORE than £25,000 worth of food parcels are set to be handed out across East Lancashire as part of a new crisis loans system. Major changes are already in the pipeline for hardship payments for some of the county’s neediest families from April
EAST Lancashire Hospitals Trust is to be investigated over its high mortality rates, the NHS Commissioning Board has announced. The news follows the publication of the Francis Report, an inquiry into the mistreatment and neglect of patients at
MARTIN Paterson believes Burnley are still capable of repeating their promotion achievements of 2009 – insisting the Clarets will not let a play-off place out of their grasp if they can move into the top six in the near future. Paterson was part
JUST as few are surprised when Charlie Austin is linked with moves elsewhere, perhaps it should have not have come as the greatest shock that Sean Dyche’s name was mentioned in connection with Nottingham Forest. It was a tentative link that the
BLACKBURN Rovers face a battle to land the loan signing of Jerome Thomas with West Brom yet to decide whether their winger is now available. Thomas believed he had joined Rovers last Thursday on transfer deadline day, after putting pen to paper
IN a day and age where footballers are on thousands of pounds a week and cost clubs millions upon millions, it is no surprise players are quick to seek representation. Before the growth of football agents, the clubs had all the power. What they
