AMBITIOUS plans for an Oswaldtwistle park have been revealed. Community groups working on a project at Rhyddings Park were given £100,000 to develop plans for that could lead to million pound makeover. Documents lodged with the council outline
WORK has started on a National Lottery cash bid that could see hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on refurbishing the historic conservatory in Blackburn’s Corporation Park. Initial proposals are being worked up by the borough council that could
DESIGNER Vicky Callan fought off competition from all over the North-West to walk away with a prestigious trophy at the Enterprise Vision Awards. Vicky has worked in soft furnishings and interior design in Rossendale for more than 20 years and two years
AN Accrington pensioner continued to receive disability living allowance for six years after she moved to Spain for health reasons. Blackburn magistrates heard Janet Beckett moved to a warmer climate to help with her rheumatoid arthritis. MORE
From the beginning against West Brom the line-up looked strange with the manager starting with Lukas Jutkiewicz up front on his own. I know from experience that it’s hard enough up front, but when you’re on your own it’s really tough. It’s going to
DARWEN is to get its own direct link to the West End when some of the top shows are broadcast live to a town centre theatre. Starting next month, Darwen Library Theatre will be part of the National Theatre Live scheme, the ground-breaking project
A HOMELESS man who claimed hunger had driven him to steal was punished by a night in a warm police cell and walked out of court £180 better off. Blackburn magistrates heard James Desmond Brewin appeared in court of Tuesday and claimed he had not
A DRAMA teacher has netted £5,000 for her school through her success as an international singing star. Kate Chapman, 31, was due to start her new job at a Chorley high school at the beginning of September but got the offer of a lifetime to sing
BEN Marshall playing as an attacking right back could give Blackburn Rovers the option to go 3-5-2. I’ve got to be honest, I’m not a big fan of the system myself, as I played 12 years at international level in what was supposedly a 3-5-2, when
MORE than 20 artists will open the doors of their studios and homes this weekend to give people a chance to view their work as part of the Rossendale Art Trail. The free event, formerly known as Reveal, is returning for its sixth year on Saturday
A COUPLE were seriously assaulted in an attack outside the Black Dog pub in Union Road, Oswadtwistle. The married couple were stood outside the pub, and were involved in an altercation with a man. MORE TOP STORIES: The husband was punched
A GROUP behind a project to refurbish a pinnacle from the Houses of Parliament has urged the council to get behind its bid. The Clitheroe Civic Society took up the scheme in January after the historic monument fell into disrepair. The Grade
MORE than 150 young people have started their careers at the Lancashire bases of defence giant BAE Systems. The military aircraft division intake includes 97 engineering and business and 20 higher apprentices who have begun training at the firm
DOG owners who persistently allow their animals to stray will be fined £100 – but not first-time offenders, following widespread concerns. Pet lovers had been worried after Pendle Council announced it planned to increase stray dog fees, which they
NORTH West MEP and Member of the European Foreign Affairs Committee, Afzal Khan MEP, has urged the EU to get more involved in the Middle East peace process. In a speech he said: “What is shocking is the little influence we in the EU have been able
PARAMEDICS, technicians and midwives are planning to take strike action in a row over pay. North West Ambulance Service staff will walk out on Monday, October 13, following a national ballot of Unison members. MORE TOP STORIES: And NWAS
I’ve just returned from a week in Bilbao in Spain’s Basque country. It was an unusual experience. It didn’t involve the usual holiday frolics of sunbathing and drinking, although I did spend one night flinging myself around a dance floor with a
LANCASHIRE County Council’s health boss Azhar Ali has authorised an extension of its ‘Smokefree Play’ scheme. The Nelson South representative approved widening the initiative to the whole of the county area. MORE TOP STORIES: It aims to
BLACKBURN Jobcentre is holding a special event next week to help over-50s get into work. It has been welcomed by East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce chief executive Mike Damms who wants a similar specialist jobs fair in Burnley. MORE TOP STORIES
AN East Lancashire sports firm that supplies some of the world’s top athletes has announced a hike in sales. Science in Sport (SiS), which was based at Brockhall Village before moving its manufacturing and product development hub to Nelson, said
BURNLEY are only 35 minutes of football away from potentially setting an unwanted club record at Leicester City on Saturday. Sunday’s 4-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion took the Clarets’ run without a goal to 616 minutes in all competitions since Scott
DENIM-clad workers weren’t looking blue when they raised money in support of an 11-year-old girl with a developmental condition. Staff at the Marsden Building Society in Burnley got kitted out and donated cash to the Jeans for Genes charity in
Two leading UK utility management businesses have embarked on a joint venture; creating new jobs and the potential to unearth millions of pounds of savings for businesses UK-wide. Lancashire-based energy experts Businesswise Solutions has joined
Employment law is forever being molded and reshaped by Politicians, both UK and European and the Courts and keeping up to date could be a full time occupation . The most recent changes are coming into play today, the 1st of October, effecting the national
NORTH West MEP and vice chair of the European Parliament Security and Defence Committee, Afzal Khan MEP, has called for an end to ISIS ‘barbarity’. He described the onslaught of ISIS against Christian and other minority sects in Iraq and Syria
EAST Lancashire’s Roman Catholics have a new leader. Pope Francis yesterday appointed John Arnold as the next Bishop of Salford. The Sheffield-born law graduate was ordained as a priest in 1983. Later this year he will succeed Terence Brain
BARNOLDSWICK councillor Lyle Davy has won a national award at a ceremony dubbed ‘the Conservative Oscars’ for his election win in Coates ward in May this year. Lyle picked up the award from Chairman of the Conservative Party Lord Feldman at a ceremony
A THIEF who told a shop security officer he had a knife, made off and dived into a canal to escape – but swam into the arms of the law, a court heard. Burnley magistrates were told how how prolific crook Darren Wrighton, 33, tried to hide in some
FIRE crews were called to put out a blaze in Padiham after a television overheated. Firefighters from Burnley and the retained station in Padiham were called to the incident in Russell Terrace. Kevin Birchall, acting crew manager at the Padiham
A DISABLED car park attendant has lost his battle with church bosses to keep his business open. Mark Pickering, who operated Park With Mark at Blackburn’s Wesley Hall Methodist Church since 1994, locked up for the last time yesterday after his
EAST Lancashire Doctor Who fans can see one of the stars of BBC One’s cult science fiction series in their local dimension next week. Simon Fisher-Becker, better known to viewers as Dorium Maldovar, right, will bring his light-hearted evening of
A REPORT showing half of children are not ready for school at the age of five makes ‘scary’ reading, according to an East Lancashire MEP. Paul Nuttall, who is UKIP deputy leader and education spokesman, has responded to the research from the University
A REGENCY mahogany bookcase which once graced the library of Woodfold Hall, Mellor, will go under the hammer next month. The piece, by Gillows of Lancaster, will be sold on October 7, by auctioneer Woolley & Wallis at its Salisbury salerooms
THE uniform of this WWI soldier makes his granddaughter wonder if he worked with war horses during his 1914-18 service. Maureen Eddleston is trying to find the war records of her grandfather George Alfred Supple and wonders if anyone can point
TWO former workers at Mullard’s in Simonstone are organising a reunion, a decade after the plant closed. Dot Calvert and Sharon Brown are inviting anyone who worked at the factory during its 49-year history. The reunion takes place on Saturday
POLICE were looking for a man who may have acted as a decoy for a daylight robbery at a Clayton-le-Moors antique dealers. The man was talking to the manager of A Graves antiques, Sparth House, when a thief grabbed a cash box containing £600 and
THROUGHOUT her brief life, Princess Diana supported many British designers, especially Arabella Pollen, Bruce Oldfield, Amanda Wakeley and Catherine Walker. Initially, the Princess of Wales was encouraged by staff of Vogue to pursue a particular
ONCE upon a time there were two townships, known as Lower Darwen and Over Darwen. As the 1800s became the 1900s, the first had been integrated into Blackburn and the second was known as Darwen. The town is named after the river that runs through
FORMER pupils of St Peter’s Secondary School, Blackburn, who were the first to sit the new GCE exams in 1954, met up again 60 years on. The old lads held their first reunion 10 years ago, to mark the golden anniversary of passing the newly introduced
A CROOK spared jail for trying to get rid of a dealer's car containing heroin with a potential street value of £170,000 has been locked up after intending to supply cannabis. Farhaan Zaroof, 22, had been given nine months in prison, suspended for
A POLISH man took his own life less than a year after moving to East Lancashire, an inquest heard. Michal Kasperek, 22, was found hanging at his mother’s house in Nelson and died two days later at the Royal Blackburn Hospital. MORE TOP STORIES
DOZENS of protesters are expected at a Burnley council meeting tonight to hand over a petition outlining their opposition to three proposed travellers’ sites. The campaigners, led by Steve Lupton, of Cog Lane, have collected 1,385 signatures calling
POLICE are appealing for information after a man and woman witnessed a teenager exposing himself at a bus stop in Blackburn. The incident on Burnley Road took place between 9:40pm and 10:40pm on Friday 19 September. It is believed the teen,
A GYM owner has died suddenly at home aged 50. Michael Coupe, who owned Fitness Factory in Burnley, passed away on Thursday but the cause of his death is not yet known. MORE TOP STORIES: It comes a mere fortnight after the death of Michael
BLACKBURN Rovers have slipped to 11th in the Championship standings after they were beaten 2-0 at struggling Rotherham United last night. Gary Bowyer’s side were terribly out-of-sorts in the first half and, while they improved after the restart
A FORMER Burnley footballer who was forced to retire due to illness has found a new direction in life – selling second hand luxury cars. Ex-midfielder Paul Weller was forced to hang up his football boots in 2004 because of Crohn’s disease and has
BLACKBURN is set to hit the silver screen in a new action film slated for release later this month. Parts of the town were transformed into 1970s Belfast last year during the shooting of the multi-million pound feature film on the Northern Ireland
ONE in five three-year-olds in Blackburn suffers from tooth decay according to new report on children’s oral health. Pendle youngsters fared just as badly, with the Ribble Valley the only East Lancashire borough to record healthier kids’ teeth
A FORMER Jaguar dealership which has become an ‘eyesore’ after being closed for years is being lined up to be brought back into use. The showroom in Grimshaw Park, Blackburn, will re-open as a Northgate vehicle hire and sales centre if a new planning
SEAN Dyche says Saturday’s match at Leicester City will be a test of character for his players – as they look to respond to a heavy defeat at West Bromwich Albion. Burnley suffered their first major disappointment of the league season on Sunday
A SHOCKING first-half performance condemned Rovers to a desperately disappointing and ultimately deserved defeat at the New York Stadium last night. Struggling Rotherham were by far the better team in the opening period and Gary Bowyer’s side could
Her family's shop may be in Birmingham, but Sharan Purewal's story could just as easily apply – and be of value – to any small to medium sized business in Lancashire. When you meet Sharan, you'd be forgiven for thinking that energy is the last of her
