THE Popstars TV programme may have captivated the nation but it has left Padiham girl band singer Marie Atkinson grating her teeth. DAVID HIGGERSON reports. GIRL pop/rock group Bliss chased fame and fortune for two years, only to see the five members
MRS Eileen Eastham's concern (LET, February 28) that British defence equipment is currently not up to scratch is unfortunately the other side of the "my-country-right-or-wrong" coin which, far from protecting its peoples, has frequently led to untold
SOCCER: Graeme Souness is spearheading a major sponsorship involving Blackburn Rovers and schoolboy soccer in the Republic of Ireland. The Ewood boss visited Dublin this week as part of an exciting new partnership between Blackburn and the North Dublin
NAME: Paul Fleming AGE: 32 Home town: Blackburn How long have you supported Rovers?: 26 years Where do you sit?: Walkersteel Stand (or as far away from the drummer as I can!) What was your first game?: Rovers v Sunderland (1-1) early Seventies. Most memorable
A MAGICAL musical experience was enjoyed by pupils at Brunshaw Primary School, Burnley. Bob Pegg of Scotland visited the Morse Street school to present a "Roots and Flutes" workshop showing the youngsters unusual musical instruments from around the world
REGULARS who drop into their local in the coming week can expect a poem with their pint -- with the best one winning a slap-up meal. Richard Bromwich, landlord of Ye Old Sparrowhawk, in Wheatley Lane Road, Burnley, is challenging customers to exchange
A £70-a-day heroin addict trashed his mother's home and pawned her belongings after she went on holiday and left him looking after the property. Burnley Magistrates heard how Paul Barnsley, 30, left her a note apologising and said he would send her the
WASTE paper collections in Pendle will be increased to twice a week from the beginning of May. Four-weekly collections of paper, newspapers, magazines and cardboard will be made across the borough following an offer to pay for the extra collections by
CHILDREN at a primary school in Barnoldswick are hoping their sponsored bounces will take them all the way to a new classroom. The youngsters at Barnoldswick Church School will see how many bounces on a bouncy castle they can complete in one minute to
WHEN members of the Colne St John's Ambulance were told the group was to be disbanded after 113 years service to the town, they felt so strongly about it they decided to set up their own group. The idea was a spur-of-the-moment decision by treasurer Roy
A LETTER of apology is set to be sent to the Co-op after it was accused of changing its plans for the future of shopping in Great Harwood. But the man behind the verbal onslaught -- County Councillor George Slynn -- today stood by his outburst at the
AS the dread of foot and mouth disease looms over Ribble Valley farmers, those who farm around Pendle Hill have other worries on their mind -- foxes. Last year one farmer alone lost more than 50 new born lambs to foxes, most of which he says were not
THE funky rock sound of Padiham-based Reverb is set to delight cinema audiences in America later this year after some of their ballads were picked up by an aspiring film director. Several of Reverb's songs are set to be used in the film by Ash Raf Meer
A RESERVOIR has been partially drained after cracks appeared in the road along the embankment. One lane of the road from Charles Turner paper mill to the A675, near Belmont village, has been closed. A North West Water spokeswoman said they had lowered
LOCAL youngsters got out their wellies, rolled up their sleeves and got digging to help improve their area. With the backing of Groundwork Rossendale children from Balladen County Primary, in Linden Lea, Rawtenstall, got to work on the nearby Fallbarn
THE family of an elderly caretaker who was killed at a Stacksteads mill have been given permission to hold his funeral, after an inquest was opened. East Lancs coroner David Smith adjourned the hearing sine die after evidence from Bryan Platt's widow
ROVERS manager Graeme Souness welcomed a group of pupils from St Mary's school, Stonyhurst, when they visited Ewood Park to see Blackburn play. Teacher Jonathan Hewatt said said the group, from years six and seven, also got a tour around the ground and
POLICE chiefs have moved to allay fears of trouble in the countdown to the big match clash at Ewood Park between Blackburn Rovers and Burnley FC on April 1. In response to public concern about violence at the match and in Blackburn before and after the
THE North West Regional Development Association has been given a massive cash increase for the coming financial year taking its budget to more than £250million. The 75 per cent rise was announced by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Chancellor Gordon
THE hunt was on today to uncover the identity of the guilty Blackburn scholar who has returned a library book -- 27 years late. Staff at St Mary's College were amazed to discover a dog-eared dictionary in the post from the mystery old boy. With it was
LESSONS have been learned and changes made in the wake of the Jamie Edmondson tragedy, according to health experts. Doctors willing to prescribe methadone three years ago took on huge caseloads without adequate support, but they are now given more help
A DEAL to provide a jobs boost by transferring council services in Blackburn and Darwen to a private company is set to go-ahead even though the firm faces the sack by another authority. The deal between Capita and Blackburn with Darwen Council is set
ICE, an inch thick or more, defeated just about all anglers last weekend. Time perhaps, to reflect on what has been and what is to come. Nothing to report then, or is there? Well by Tuesday at least one frustrated angler had smashed his way through the
REGARDING the legal question in Your Rights? (LET, March 2), about a neighbour's cat rescue centre, the writer obviously has no idea of the work the cat rescue people do. They take in unwanted pets, ones abandoned and left to roam by owners who have moved
Born: Nov 23, 1959 Debut: v Exeter, August 1978 At Ewood Park: 1976-1992 Rovers League goals: 168 Rovers goals (all competitions): 192 Other clubs: Boston United, West Bromwich Albion, Wycombe Wanderers Full Members Cup winner in 1987
Dunn victim to pair's high jinx ROVERS' FA Cup squad were in high spirits ahead of today's quarter final clash with Arsenal at Highbury. A camera crew from Northwest Tonight tried to interview David Dunn yesterday ahead of Rovers' monster clash. But the
April 15 1989 SIMON GARNER - Division Two Rovers v Man City Hotshot Garner sent the records tumbling SIMON Garner is Blackburn Rovers record scorer but one of his 168 League goals really stands out for the former Ewood hero. The strike which sticks in
FORMER England boss Bobby Robson has joined David Dunn's growing army of admirers after singling out the young Rovers midfielder for a top award. Robson headed a star-studded panel also featuring Lawrie McMenemy and Mick McCarthy which voted Dunn the
A SPORTSWOMEN'S dinner at Burnley FC has raised more than £1,000 for the local women's refuge. The well supported event in the James Hargreaves Stand was organised by the Friends of the Women's Refuge and was held in conjunction with an International
A DRUNKEN woman who smashed her way into her sister's house in the early hours, told police she had been cold and needed somewhere warm to sleep. Burnley Magistrates heard how Joyce McCamon, 35, knew there was a 14-year-old boy in the Nelson property,
YOUNGSTERS at Gawthorpe High School, Padiham, jumped in at the deep end to raise money to allow "Miss" Gillian Garner go off on a charity bike ride on the Great Wall of China. Thirty-one pupils of the English teacher took part in a sponsored swim at Gannow
THE High Sheriff of Lancashire Rodney Swarbrick and his wife Diana spent a day in Burnley looking at some of the community safety initiatives in the town. They were welcomed by the Mayor Coun Rafique Malik and chief executive Dr Gillian Taylor. They spent
DEATHS certified in Burnley are being investigated by detectives probing the killing spree of GP Harold Shipman. The East Lancashire coroner's officer has been asked to check old records in a bid to find new cases which may be linked to the serial murderer
I've been doing handstands here, there and everywhere OLYMPIC gymnast Craig Heap is set for another television appearance -- upside down! The Burnley man, who competed in the Sydney Olympics, will take part in a new Channel Five television programme "
MANIC STREET PREACHERS: Found That Soul (Epic/Sony) --They're back and, with a two great tracks like these, the Manics are here to stay. Reminiscent of the controversial Masses Against The Classes, this displays their early punk influences well. Being
Oxygen, Blackburn: '70s DISCO SOUNDS, 9pm to 1am, free. Cubes, Blackburn: DJ ROBIN WOLFENDEN, house and garage, 9pm to 2am, free. Utopia Discotheque, Blackburn: SEDUCTION, chart and party tunes, 10pm to 3am. Cubes, Blackburn: ROCK FM night, 7pm, free.
ACCRINGTON put out the bunting and rolled out the red carpet to welcome Princess Anne to the town. The Princess Royal was in town to officially open the New Era community centre in Paradise Street. And the crowds outside -- who were handed lollipops by
THE luck of the Irish blessed a Great Harwood pub after couple Steve Smith and Winifred Murray found shamrocks at the bottom of their garden. Winifred, 42, and Steve, 41, had an oak tree cut down last week and when they began cutting it up into logs,
A SPECIAL needs centre that uses animals as therapy for people with learning difficulties is at the centre of a suspected case of foot and mouth disease. Lord's House special needs centre, Wilpshire Road, Rishton, is being investigated by the Ministry
A SCHEME for a replacement house at Syke Chalet, Sawley Road, Grindleton, has finally been approved. The plan was formerly refused and an appeal dismissed but an amended design has been passed Ribble Valley Council. The application makes significant changes
FIVE new industrial units to be built on land at Lincoln Park, Salthill Industrial Estate, Clitheroe, have been given the go-ahead by Ribble Valley Council planners. Members of the planning committee heard from officers that the developers, Webb Properties
FOUR Ribble Valley men have received special awards for their life-giving donations. Each of the men have attended blood donor sessions in Clitheroe's St Mary's Parish Hall over many years. Harold Howorth, 69, of Victoria Street, Clitheroe, has notched
The Sam Ellis column SAM Ellis made his debut in the FA Cup in the 1966 final at Wembley as a 19-year-old defender with Sheffield Wednesday. It was a proud moment in Ellis's career but Burnley's assistant manager fears the Cup, which reaches the quarter-final
Moore is still hot at Stockport GONE but not forgotten. Ian Moore hasn't been a Stockport player since last November but he's still 'hot' property at Edgeley Park. The Clarets record signing continues to feature in an advert for Indian cuisine in County's
BURNLEY are planning to set up a number of satellite coaching centres and spread their recruitment policy into the other home nations in an effort to increase the flow of players from their youth set-up to the first-team squad. The Clarets are actively
A PIANIST who overcame a stroke to keep playing the music he loved has died of heart failure aged 59. Eddie Peacock, who performed for everyone from the Pope to Sooty, relearnt to play using only one hand after a stroke deprived him of the use of his
ICE HOCKEY: Blackburn Hawks switch into play-off mode this weekend as once again arch-rivals Altrincham Aces get proceedings underway when they visit the Arena on Sunday. The Hawks have met the Aces six times home and away in three separate competitions
g the learning curve on the tight curves of the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia. The Burnley rider, Britain's hope to step into the shoes of Carl Fogarty in World Superbikes, arrived in Spain with a few ghosts to bury. Having tested badly here in February
CRAIG Heap's gymnastic's career is on hold after he suffered an injury set-back. The 27-year-old, who recorded a personal best in his six disciplines in the Sydney Olympics last year, has been struggling since he returned from Australia with an elbow
play the loyalty card FOOTBALL has changed over the last 15 years. The game is now a multi-million pound business full of multi-millionaire footballers, all seemingly looking for their next big move and their next lucrative signing-on fee. So what makes
