A £200,000 grant has been awarded as part of a £1.5 million investment at a Blackburn factory. Scapa Scandia won the regional selective assistance grant after negotiations through Blackburn-based EuroGrant. The grant is to support the development of a
SUB-ZERO temperatures, blizzards and biting winds brought Arctic conditions to the region at the weekend, causing chaos on the roads and turning East Lancashire into a winter wonderland. Gritting machines struggled to cope with heavy snowfalls early on
HEALTH chief David Chew has slammed as 'totally untrue' claims that up to 70 staff will be axed and the future of Rossendale General Hospital thrown into doubt. He said a maximum of 14 jobs would go, following a necessary shake-up at the hospital - and
A CLIMBER and his girlfriend were found alive and well after spending a night in snow hole as a blizzard raged around them on a Scottish mountain. Matthew Higginson, 23, of Crosshill Road, Blackburn, and Jessica Hopkins, 19, from Yorkshire, protected
DISGRUNTLED Burnley fans will turn their backs on the Turf Moor directors in a spectacular silent protest. Thousands of supporters are being urged to show their dissatisfaction with the Burnley board by turning away from the pitch for two minutes during
TROUBLE flared on the picket line outside the Silentnight bedding factory as more than 120 sacked workers tried to stop the evening shift leaving. Police reinforcements were drafted in and coaches taking workers home from the Barnoldswick plant were held
HEALTH watchdogs in Burnley were to join the hospital team steering the local NHS towards going it alone. In a controversial move, Burnley Community Health Council became the first CHC in the country to join a project group aiming for health trust status
FURTHERGATE Working Men's Club, Blackburn, would like to thank all the traders who made donations for the charity show, held at the club on January 18, in aid of Ward Four at Blackburn Infirmary. We also thank all the WMCs who also donated and the artistes
FOR the third year running staff at Park Lee Hospital, Blackburn, have given £100 to the Blackburn Nightsafe refuge for the homeless by sponsoring my sleeping rough for a night. The money really does go a long way and directly to its cause. It helps to
WORLD Superbike motorcyling champion Carl Fogarty made a successful start to his new career at Honda during tests at Shah Alam, Malaysia at the weekend. Fogarty, 29, from Tockholes, has switched to a Japanese-built Honda from Ducati after taking two successive
WHY is Blackburn Council thinking of taking another of our services away, with the future of the public toilet attendants' posts being under consideration? I am told that, from April, the toilets will be opened in the mornings by the road sweepers and
THE rather over-excited Michael Gavin (Letters, January 19) seems to be confusing two very separate issues: 1. Whether the majority of people in this country are in favour of the death penalty. 2. Whether capital punishment for such crimes as rape and
EMERGING bloody-nosed from a dreadful week for Labour as a result of Shadow health spokeswoman Harriet Harman's choice of a selective school for her son, Tony Blair today resorts to a bold tactic - that of keeping education high on the political agenda
A REAL-LIFE fairy godmother has made a dream come true for five-year-old Charlotte Spencer. She always wanted to be a bridesmaid, but she looked destined never to walk down the aisle until her godmother, Elaine Cunliffe, turned to the Lancashire Evening
"THANKS for all the lovely gifts you gave me and the children at Christmas. They were very much appreciated. I am glad to know you all and to have your support". This is not the only thank-you card which adorns the walls of the Blackburn Homestart office
A CAMPAIGN against a Ribble Valley wind farm has been taken up across the Atlantic on an Internet link-up. Former East Lancashire man John McLeod, who keeps in touch with news from home on the computer news line, was horrified to learn about plans for
SHARES in Holliday Chemical, owners of the Blythe chemical plants at Church and Hapton, dived after a profits warning. The Huddersfield-based firm warned that results for the year to the end of December will be below market expectations following a drop
WORKERS at a Rossendale slipper factory have been told they face an eight per cent pay cut - and an extra one and a half hours on their working week. But the 120 employees at Bacup Shoe Company's Atherton Holme Mill, Stacksteads, have rejected the move
WEATHERMEN today warned the bitterly cold snap in East Lancashire is set to continue - as power bosses braced themselves for electricity cuts. Freezing temperatures are expected to last for most of the week and road conditions are expected to be treacherous
ANGRY Norweb staff in Lancashire today condemned bosses over job cuts and fears that local electricity shops could be axed. Employees in high street stores across the area have received letters asking for volunteers to take redundancy packages. Today
SAFE drive campaigner Anne Ravenhill is protesting at government plans to allow anyone to teach driving theory. From mid-summer, the Government is introducing a separate classroom theory test which a driver will have to pass, as well as the ordinary driving
AT LEAST 15 jobs could be cut at Ribble Valley Council as councillors struggle to make budget savings of more than £400,000. It would be the first time in the 22-year history of the council that jobs have been cut in this way. Members of the policy and
WORKERS have set the standards for their colleagues at Smurfit by becoming the first to receive NVQ awards. All levels of the 250-strong workforce at the Smurfit Paper and Board Mills factory at Burnley are working towards NVQ certificates. And staff
MUCH has been said about banning or strictly controlling military-style knives, martial-arts weapons and replica firearms - and with overwhelming justification (LET, January 23). But I am curious why, and disappointed that the same concern and condemnation
DENNIS Taylor sailed into the last 32 of the Regal Welsh Open at Newport with a comfortable 5-1 victory over Paul Wykes. The Blackburn-based professional now plays Graham Dott for a place in the last 16. Victory over the Scot could set up a possible clash
REGARDING the recent enthusiasm for making Blackburn Council a unitary authority, I am not in favour of the proposal. I told the Commission for the Review of Local Government I would prefer to see the present "two-tier" system retained for two reasons
INTO THE row over Pendle Council's proposed sell-off of its half-share of Burnley and Pendle Transport to private bus operator Stagecoach is hurled a very telling question. Just what electoral mandate do the ruling Pendle Liberals have for handing over
CARBON monoxide poisoning because of faulty and poorly serviced gas and coal burning heating machinery has caused an estimated 200 cot deaths and 500 'near misses'. The figures, which come from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, have led
HISTORIAN James Howell is the man to settle any dispute about any television play or serial. Mr Howell, who lives in Burnley, loves television drama and has completed a detailed document of just about every play and serial to have appeared on British
FEARS that a new all-night GP visiting service will result in doctors too tired to work during the day, have been dismissed by Burnley council chiefs. Some 25 Burnley and Pendle GPs have set up their own out-of-hours rota and are also bidding for £200,000
A HORRIFIED mum watched in disbelief as a torrent of raw sewage flooded the back garden of her Blackburn home. The waste water, being pumped away from the nearby Barratts estate at Feniscowles Bridge, gushed into the rear of Janet Ward's detached house
HEALTH studio workers Vicky Lee and Denise Hartley are set to become charity champions when they run the London Marathon in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. The dynamic duo, who both work at Lee Carter Studios in Clitheroe, hope to raise more than £5,000
I ENDORSE C A Bakewell's view (Letters, January 16) that the British soldiers executed for alleged cowardice in World War One should have their names cleared and recognised as sufferers from shell-shock - which the generals and other officers, too, might
MANAGING director John Lancaster hopes his firm's latest creation will be a soaraway success! Workers at his Ultraframe company have just completed a model of a space craft nose cone to feature on a CD cover for Christian dance band DBA. The band is soon
JACK Walker today blasted the latest bout of transfer speculation concerning Blackburn Rovers and declared: "There are no footballers for sale here." In fact, Mr Walker is aiming for his club to strengthen the playing staff for a European push, rather
I WOULD like to thank all the residents who signed the petition against the planning application for the tipping of construction waste at Mount Pleasant Farm at Bull Hill, Darwen (LET, January 22). However, I think it may have been a complete waste of
OLD Trafford boss Alex Ferguson has blocked a Burnley bid to lure Manchester United's exciting young goalkeeper Kevin Pilkington to Turf Moor. And, in a new development today, I can also reveal Burnley were turned down when they asked Arsenal to loan
THE driver of a Jaguar XJS escaped uninjured after crashing through a railing into the side of a town centre pub. Only one vehicle was involved in the accident which happened at about 4.10pm yesterday near the White Bull Hotel, in Church Street, Blackburn
HAWKS hopes of landing the British Ice Hockey League's First Division title may well have vanished into thin air - but the Premier League still beckons. Hawks bounced back from last week's shocker to win a tough contest in Edinburgh last night and maintain
WANNA be in the movies, kid? While Hollywood has taken the plaudits with its glitz, glamour, big budgets and larger-than-life stars, many people aren't aware of the role played by East Lancashire in the world of films. This part of the world has a rich
TWO single mothers who each sought refuge in heroin and agreed to defraud the DSS each netting £600, have both been sent to prison. Beverley Smith was jailed for 12 months, her co-defendant Michelle Kirkbright for nine months. Smith, 26, a mother-of-two
A £2.5 MILLION investment programme has been brought forward to help meet growing world demand. Tensar International Ltd is spending the cash on its two Netlon factories in Blackburn and expects extra jobs will be created from the expansion programme.
