BLACKBURN Cathedral will be the first in the country to receive new statutes and a revised constitution tomorrow. The Very Rev David Frayne, who is Provost in charge of the cathedral, will also be installed as Dean of Blackburn. The cathedral will be
PUZZLED personnel managers have launched an inquiry into why almost a third of hospital staff left their jobs in 1999 within six months of taking up their post. Bosses at Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust have discovered that 30 per cent
A CONSERVATION group is looking for people in East Lancashire to help with its work in creating a Millennium Green in Pendle. The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) is inviting the public to roll up their sleeves to "get stuck in" during
A MOTHER of two has hit out at health bosses after claiming she was left fighting for her life when medics failed to diagnose a collapsed lung. Asthma sufferer Catherine Box (pictured), 30, says she may soon have no choice but to drop the legal battle
A ROAD engineer has dismissed environmentalist claims that county highways bosses are biased in favour of the controversial A56 by-pass in Pendle. More than 150 people visited the first day of a travelling exhibition that will follow the proposed line
THREE Blackburn shopkeepers were each fined £350 by Blackburn magistrates after admitting selling fireworks to a 14-year-old boy sent in by trading standards officers. The court heard that the boy had been in to each of the shops, accompanied by a "chaperone
A fan's-eye view from Turf Moor, with Stephen Cummings IT had to happen eventually. Over the course of a season it was more or less inevitable. Yes, readers, though it shames me to say it, Saturday saw your correspondent miss his first league match of
PAUL Brian Dakin, 39, of Whittaker Street, was bound over in the sum of £75 for 12 months when he appeared before Blackburn magistrates and admitted a breach of the peace. The court heard that police were called to Dakin's home early in the morning where
MORE than £300 raised by members of St Peter and St Paul RC Church, Ribchester, will be used for the Indian Cyclone Appeal. The money was sent to the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development and Mrs Judith Rees, head of support services at CAFOD wrote
NORTH West Water and Norweb have announced more than 600 job losses as part of a £400million programme to cut costs. The companies, which joined to become United Utilities in 1996, say they have already reduced their workforce by 300 in the last year
FORMER Ewood idol Alan Shearer has revealed he has waited four years to get his own back on the Blackburn boo boys. England captain Shearer was subjected to a barrage of abuse by some Rovers fans on his return to Ewood with Newcastle on Monday night.
CLARETS striker Alan Lee is on target to achieve his goal of playing again this season after receiving a positive report from the surgeon who operated on his injured knee. Lee was originally expected to miss the remainder of Burnley's promotion campaign
POLICE are hunting a gang of three who attacked a man on waste ground before stealing £63 from his pockets. The attack happened at about 7pm on Tuesday January 18 when the 38-year-old man was walking across spare land at Montague Street, Blackburn. The
A JURY was today starting its second day of deliberations in the trial of former headmaster Robert 'Rory' O'Brien. O'Brien, 57, of Fellside Farm, Kemple End, Stonyhurst, has denied six charges of indecently assaulting four boys. The boys were all aged
BEING forced out of the game through injury at the age of 29 has prompted former Burnley schemer Damian Matthew to take a different view of things. And it's his eye for talent and an attention to detail that will now count if he's to forge a new career
POLICE saw Anthony Barlow shouting and swearing at a paramedic dealing with a late night incident in Fleming Square, Blackburn. Blackburn magistrates heard that as the officers approached, Barlow threw a punch at a taxi driver. Barlow, 41, of Walsh Street
CLITHEROE Auction Mart Company Ltd has bought the Slaidburn auction firm C Silverwood, an antique and collectors' auction firm owned by Mary Silverwood. Mrs Silverwood originally set up the business with her husband Chris, holding sales at Newton Village
THE history of Bowland is about to be brought to life with the re-issue of a book written in 1955. Bolland Forest and the Hodder Valley was originally written by Margaret Greenwood, of Clerk Hill, Whalley, and the Rev Charles Bolton, of Leagram, and is
PLANS for a £2million high-tech dairy farm which faced fierce opposition from residents of a nearby hamlet have been backed by Ribble Valley councillors. Farmer David Barnes applied to build four new agricultural units and a machinery store, installing
THE trial of four men accused of plotting to evade duty on millions of cigarettes, has ended dramatically at Manchester Crown Court. Following the closing speech of prosecutor Christopher Cornwall, Judge Anthony Hammond heard legal argument in the absence
PARENTS across the Ribble Valley have joined together to fight for secondary school places for their children. Ribble Valley Schools for Ribble Valley Children (RVSRVC) is a campaign aimed at stopping children being given places in schools in Accrington
FIREFIGHTERS broke into a flat in Richmond House, Richmond Avenue, Accrington, at 6.55pm yesterday, after the man who lives there went out leaving his dinner on the oven. A smoke alarm alerted neighbours who dialled 999. The kitchen and lounge were smoke
POLICE believe a boy seen loitering near a house in Conway Drive, Oswaldtwistle, may have carried out a burglary there. An ELU cordless drill, worth £360, was stolen along with its carrycase, on Sunday after a crowbar was used to force a window. The boy
A MAJOR investigation into dental treatment in East Lancashire was launched because of the flood of practitioners leaving the NHS. The East Lancashire Health Authority launched a major survey into levels of NHS dental care available in the area. It hoped
TELEPHONE users in East Lancashire were the worst hit in the county by the winter weather, with some areas suffering eight times the average number of faults. Some people were still without a working phone as British Telecom engineers battled to repair
MORE than 300 people attended a choral thanksgiving service to mark 125 years of Accrington and District Blind Society. Held at Accrington's Christ Church, it included performances from Accrington Male Voice Choir and the Hyndburn Singers, while the Mayors
MAY I say a big thank-you to Neil Summersgill for his heavy workload in producing a local book 'The History of Mellor,' for the millennium. It has given many expatriates of Mellor ('Poots') immense pleasure and nostalgia. It is brilliant and should put
NO MATTER how much the IRA points to the long silence of its guns as evidence of its commitment to the Northern Ireland peace process and no matter that it pledges that it has no intention of returning to violence, how can the process progress with people
WITH the London Marathon only three months away, I would like to thank all those who are running for the Starlight Children's Foundation and invite other runners who are not yet running for a charity to join them. The money they raise will help to brighten
BURNLEY Cricket Club have signed Australian Geoff Foley as their professional for the coming season. Having missed out on South African Dale Benkenstein earlier in the winter, the Turf Moor club have pulled off quite a coup in coaxing Foley from Northern
OLDER people do not have much to look forward to in the Budget this year. The basic state pension is to increase by a pitiful 75p in April, leaving pensioners with £67.50 a week. This is compared to average earnings, in some parts of the country, of £400
WE believe that the following information relating to the regulations introduced on January 1, making the use of pounds and ounces a criminal offence, will be of immediate interest to traders and consumers. Over the past few weeks, trading standards officers
WE have written to Nigel Evans on behalf of the governing body of St Augustine's RC High School, Billington, regarding the way in which, as the MP for the Ribble Valley, he was chosen to represent the concerns of his constituents regarding secondary education
HOSPITAL waiting lists became a casualty of the New Year flu crisis in Burnley, health trust directors were told today. The flu bug brought a major rush of medical patients to Burnley General, resulting in the postponement of all non-emergency operations
A BURNLEY councillor who caused uproar by accusing town hall staff of skiving, today claimed victory after council chiefs announced sweeping changes in absence procedures. Independent Group leader Harry Brooks was condemned for "outrageous and degrading
PATIENTS who weren't even ill made the trip to Great Harwood Health Centre to say goodbye to popular receptionist Maureen Chippendale. Maureen, of Great Harwood, who celebrated her 60th birthday on Monday, retired having worked at the centre in Water
EMPLOYEES on their tea break dialled 999 after spotting smoke coming from their workshops in Church today. The fire, at furniture makers Pendle Woodcrafts Ltd, blew a hole in the roof of the workshops in Church Street after it began at about 9.30pm. Site
CHARITY fund-raiser Ken Ridehalgh (pictured) is furious after thieves stole two of his collection boxes. Ken, of New Row, Altham, had put out the boxes to help raise cash for Scope, the cerebral palsy charity. He is taking part in a sponsored trek in
RESIDENTS of a notorious East Lancashire road are celebrating victory now new signs have been put up to divert traffic to other routes. Signs directing Blackburn-bound traffic on the A56 Haslingden by-pass to use Grane Road have been removed, more than
CAPTAIN courageous Lee Carsley today vowed to get back in action as quickly as possible after paying a heavy price for his astonishing bravery against Newcastle on Monday night. An innocuous-looking challenge midway through the first half of a thrilling
THE biggest shake-up in local government for more than 100 years is set to be discussed by Hyndburn councillors tomorrow. The current committee format, which has been the same since the last century, is due to be swept away in a radical overhaul - in
A DETECTIVE told an inquest of his shock at the conditions he found in a bedroom where a toddler died with her head wedged in a cot. Nine-month-old Delicia Adora Mae Fenton was found dead in her cot, with her head wedged between the rails and an undersize
A FLOORCOVERING firm is celebrating one of its most prestigious dome-estic deals! Gaskell Textiles secured a contract to supply 6,000 square metres of carpet tiles for the Skyscape building in the Millennium Dome. The contract, the largest single flooring
Nature Watch, with Ron Freethy IT is not often that naturalists get the chance to explore a private woodland and can also help to design the area solely for the benefit of wildlife. This chance came to me this week when a landowner invited me to vist
AN export clinic to help East Lancashire firms break into new markets is being staged later this month. The South Asia Group of British Trade International is joining forces with the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce to hold the event on February 23
A TEENAGER was punched and head-butted after a gang demanded money as he was getting cash from a bank. The 16-year-old, who has not been named, was withdrawing money from a cash machine at the HSBC Bank, in Manchester Road, Nelson, when he was confronted
THREE under-used open spaces in Pendle are to be transformed into woodland areas open to the public thanks to almost £50,000 of grant cash. Elwood, an East Lancashire-wide urban forestry initiative aimed at improving the environment, will get local residents
A NEW bid to take cheap meals off the menu at County Hall has proved unpalatable. A proposal by Pendle Liberal Democrat David Whipp and his Leyland colleague Tim Farron to abolish the subsidised meals for councillors was defeated by the ruling Labour
JANET Anderson, MP for Rossendale and Darwen is to lead a trade delegation to Japan later this month. She will take 25 representatives of British companies to meet Japanese businessmen. Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting
A GIANT bottle of champagne helped raise £200 in memory of Joyce Kelly, of Darwen. Martin Williams, a regular at the Mill Gap pub in Bolton Road, Darwen, won the champagne in a previous raffle but decided to use it to raise money for Macmillan Cancer
EVIDENTLY embarrassed by its failure to stop the number of mainly-bogus asylum seekers entering the country from rocketing by more than 50 per cent to a record 71,160 last year, the government now decides to show it is getting tough over the flood of
SINCE expressing my perplexity last week at the government's priorities in seeking to repeal the Section 28 law that forbids the promotion of homosexuality in schools, the issue has snowballed immensely - even to the extent that the country's entire religious
VANDALS are putting lives and jobs at risk with wrecking sprees, the owners of a Darwen firm warned today. More than £8,000 worth of damage was caused at Horizon Foam Holdings Limited in Lloyd Street in the latest in a series of attacks. Windows and doors
A LABOUR councillor from Darwen says plans to create a cabinet style of government at Blackburn town hall are not radical enough. Coun Simon Danczuk has said the introductions of cabinets at town halls across the country would be a case of "putting old
JOHN Bailey needed 10p so he could phone his girlfriend to try to patch things up. But his efforts to get the money from Sunday afternoon shoppers ended with him being arrested for begging. Bailey, 33, of Whalley Banks, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to begging
AN investigation was launched today after three men died when their helicopter crashed on moorland in bad weather. Two men in their 30s died at the scene when the Robinson R44 helicopter slammed into moorland at Withnell Moor, between White Coppice and
HOUSEHOLDERS across East Lancashire can help cut global warming and save themselves money, according to environmentalists. The Worldwatch Institute's latest report has revealed that a rise in carbon dioxide emissions not only causes global warming but
THE Acorn Centre in Todmorden will serve 'winter warmer' meals to raise money for its drop-in project on Saturday, February 19 between noon and 2pm. Volunteers have baked bread, cakes and pies in previous years and the organisers are hoping they will
THE HEAD of one of East Lancashire's leading high schools has been forced to take early retirement because of illness. Linda Robinson has announced she will step down as the head of St Wilfrid's CE High School, Blackburn, when the school year finishes
A 16-year-old suffered a broken nose in a rounders bat attack, while his friend ended up bruised and with a lump on his head after trying to intervene. Burnley magistrates heard how attacker Mark Anthony Mellor, 23, told police he carried the bat for
A MAN from Barnoldswick man, jailed for "laundering" drugs cash, has won a substantial cut in his jail term at London's Criminal Appeal Court. Mark Vickers, 40, pleaded guilty to possessing £7,000 - the alleged proceeds of a drugs dealers trafficking
Grimsby Town Reserves 1 Burnley Reserves 1 THE CLARETS hit back to earn a share of the spoils at Grimsby yesterday thanks to a second-half penalty from Ronnie Jepson. Matthew McKenzie put the home side in front after 20 minutes and was then denied a second
PUPILS in Year Six at Blackburn's St James' CE Primary School have raised £110 for this year's Blue Peter Appeal. The group raised the money for the programme's New Life Appeal by organising a bring and buy sale at the Oozebooth Terrace school. The money
A TEENAGE care home worker tried to kill her boss and set fire to her in a bid to cover up £2,000 which went missing, a jury heard. Aseya Begum, 18, is accused of hitting Hazlewood nursing home owner Patricia Maghoub twice over the head with "a blunt
STAFF and relatives were in tears as they struggled to find new homes for 13 elderly, frail and confused people. One woman had only two hours to find her mother somwhere to stay. The old folk had to be moved when the St Emmanuel Residential Home for the
A fan's-eye view from Ewood Park, with Phil Lloyd OK let's get the platitudes out of the way first. Rovers played well and gave Bobby Robson's team one heck of a fright. It was a cracking cup-tie. Great crowd, great noise. Pity we lost. Now we can concentrate
A ROAD between Downham and Twiston is temporarily closed until March 3. The county council warns motorists that Twiston Lane is shut, between Downham Vicarage to its junction with Skeleron Lane, so that British Telecom can lay underground cables. The
AN investigation was launched today after three men died when their helicopter crashed on moorland in bad weather. Two men in their 30s died at the scene when the Robinson R44 helicopter slammed into moorland at Withnell Moor, between White Coppice and
CAPTAIN courageous Lee Carsley today vowed to get back in action as quickly as possible after paying a heavy price for his astonishing bravery against Newcastle on Monday night. An innocuous-looking challenge midway through the first half of a thrilling
POLICE driving along Market Street Lane, Blackburn, heard a loud bang as they drove alongside Shaun Carney. Blackburn magistrates heard that when officers asked Carney if he had kicked the vehicle he became abusive and said: "I haven't done it, plod."
AN annual Christingle service at St Paul's Church, Low Moor, has raised more than £200 for the Children's Society. And chief executive of the charity, Ian Sparks, travelled from Essex to be at the service. The Mayor and Mayoress of the Ribble Valley,
ORGANISERS of a catwalk show and dinner dance have handed over £5,500 for the East Lancashire Hospice. Jenny and David Grogan, owners of Solitaire Fashions, Darwen, organised the show in October with Blackburn menswear store Roy Marlor at the Bear Hotel
Blackburn Artists' Society meet St Gabriel's Church Hall, Brownhill Drive, Brownhill, Blackburn, 7pm. Royal British Legion meet Catholic Club, Wellington Fold, Darwen, 7.30pm. "On and Off the Beaten Track in Wonderful Wales," Hornby Lecture Theatre, Blackburn
A SPOTTY teenage conman tricked his way into a pensioner's home and stole her purse. The 76-year-old victim answered a call at her door in Ruskin Avenue, Oswaldtwistle, and the youth chatted and asked for a glass of water. The purse contained money, a
POLICE have appealed for witnesses to an accident in which one of the cars involved failed to stop. The accident happened at 4.30pm on Saturday on the A56 northbound near the Woolpack pub roundabout, in Manchester Road, Haslingden. Police said a white
EVEN though it entails embracing the man lusting for his job, Tory leader William Hague has displayed some sharp political nous in bringing ex-Cabinet member Michael Portillo back to the front bench in the role of Shadow Chancellor. For though it may
A REWARD is on offer for information about three men who carried out an unprovoked CS gas attack in Accrington Road, Burnley, at about 7.30pm on Saturday, January 22. The 26-year-old victim was walking along the street when the three attackers ran up
ROSSENDALE United will be bidding to pull off a cup shock when they travel to Holker Street to take on Unibond League Premier Division outfit Barrow in the Marsden Lancashire Trophy tonight (kick-off 7.45). Darwen's scheduled home tie against Marine in
SUPPORT by ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) for the introduction of Canadian-style graphic health warnings on tobacco products demonstrates how the anti-smoker agenda has descended into farce. Such a development will not only be ignored by most smokers
NINE parents went back to school in Burnley to gain a better understanding of their children's studies. As part of a county-wide Parents as Educators scheme, the adults spent at least one day a week, during an eight-week course, working with children
Division Two: Oxford United 0 Preston North End 4 PRESTON rubber-stamped their return to form as this comprehensive victory propelled David Moyes' side into second place in Division Two. A brace from top scorer Jon Macken was followed by goals from David
REGARDING your report (LET, January 21) that the council may restore the 1858 memorial drinking fountain uncovered at Darwen Street bridge, can't we save anything of old Blackburn? Since the 1960s the local authority has destroyed the old town and turned
FORMER Burnley town clerk Brian Whittle brought back memories with an official visit to the town hall. The ex-chief executive who led the town hall team from 1973 until his retirement in 1992, was guest of the mayor Coun Eddie Fisk, himself a councillor
POLICE are renewing an appeal for information about an attack on a 19-year-old girl . She was walking near to waste ground at Saltburn Street, Gannow Lane, Burnley, between 12.30-1pm on Friday, January 14, when she was attacked from behind by a man who
A £700,000 extra cash boost from the Government has eased Burnley Health Trust's overspending headache. But finance director David Meakin today warned trust directors that the hospitals and community care group will have to slim down annual budgets by
AN inquisitive cat is counting its remaining eight lives after escaping from a tank of used engine oil. The cat, dubbed Olive, after the cartoon character Olive Oyle, is now making a good recovery. The tortoiseshell and white cat managed to scramble out
ASIANS, gays and lesbians will get special protection from a new police team in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale. Pennine police are to set up a new minorities team to tackle racist and homophobic incidents. The area will become a trailblazer for a racist
THE head of hospital mental health services in Burnley went to medical college with Dr Harold Shipman - but said there was no indication of the chilling future actions of the man who was to become Britain's worst serial killer. Consultant psychiatrist
A BIKER was clocked doing 58mph on his Harley Davidson motorbike in Whalley Road, Blackburn. And Communicare Health Trust worker Robert Mitchell escaped a driving ban by the skin of his teeth when he appeared before Blackburn magistrates. Mitchell, 35
A DINNER lady will run in this year's London Marathon - her first-ever gruelling 26 mile run - to raise £1,500 for the Macmillan nurses cancer appeal. Jill McFadden, 36, of Percy Street, West End, Oswaldtwistle, has pledged the cash to the nurses because
POLICE want to hear from a "Good Samaritan" who came to the aid of a man assaulted by a gang in Accrington town centre. Two men in their 30s were assaulted in Infant Street at 3am on Saturday, January 15, after they were approached by a group of younger
CLARETS striker Alan Lee is on target to achieve his goal of playing again this season after receiving a positive report from the surgeon who operated on his injured knee. Lee was originally expected to miss the remainder of Burnley's promotion campaign
A YOUNG mother killed herself with an overdose of tablets and alcohol, an inquest heard. The hearing was told that Mandy Joleen Hunt, 21, left a note for her partner asking him to tell their two-year-old son that she was "nice." Coroner Michael Singleton
Reporter Mike Ribbeck continues his diary on quitting smoking AN anonymous reader has sent me a clipping from a national newspaper about a woman in her 80s who gave up smoking after 70 years on the fags. The problem with smoking is the longer you have
SUPERMARKET chain Booths has reported a record increase in sales. The Lancashire-based chain, which has a store in Clitheroe, saw sales jump by 26 per cent in the week leading up to Christmas compared to the same period last year. The firm also saw sales
IT is hard to think of anything more British than a small post office in the countryside. Certainly there are enough of them scattered around the small settlements of East Lancashire's fields and valleys. But they could soon be a thing of the past and
A CAR dealership is celebrating a multi-million pound management buyout which will herald an expansion. The Horners Motor Group, which has dealerships in Burnley and in Manchester, has been bought from existing chairman Robert Jackson. The buy-out was
A 47-YEAR-OLD woman confronted a thief who threw a stone through the window of her house in Brunswick Street, Nelson, at 5.20pm on Monday. The offender had stacked property at the back of the house ready to take away when he was confronted by the woman
PATIENT care watchdogs went on duty at Burnley General Hospital's accident and emergency unit for a snapshot of activity at the casualty department. The three-strong Burnley Community Health Council team, chairman Frank Clifford, Joan Ryan, chairman of
A YOUTH flung a piece of concrete at a council mini bus because he was bored, Burnley magistrates heard. Daniel Francis Marcos Ginley, 18, was bailed and later went into a shop and helped himself to a watch. Ginley, of Bankhouse Road, Nelson, admitted
TWO American visitors from the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints gave a presentation about their religion to the Mayor and Mayoress of Burnley, Councillor Eddie Fisk and Mrs Pat Chadwick. Elder Garth Pincock and his wife Sister Ressa Pincock
A BANNED driver who was found behind the wheel, didn't know he was disqualified, Burnley magistrates heard. John Gary Parkinson, 36, gave false details because he didn't want to get in trouble and thought he might have been disqualified. Parkinson, of
BRITAIN'S farmers could hardly expect much sympathy to begin with from New Labour with its London-led, townie southern middle-class values. But it was refreshing nonetheless that Tony Blair went to the National Farmers' Union yesterday without a cartload
DID you ever hear anything as ridiculous as the call by Mick Rix, general secretary of the train drivers' union, ASLEF, for his members to have more free time - so they can take recreational drugs without it endangering passengers' lives? Mr Rix does
FIVE streets off the A666 in Darwen will be closed to cars from February 14 while repairs are carried out to water mains. The streets involved are: Bright Street, from its junction with Duckworth Street for a distance of 20 metres. An alternative route
