I AGREE wholeheartedly with Roy Wallbank's letter (LET, December 15), regarding nurses and pay. I would like to comment further on another group of workers within the NHS, namely the healthcare assistants who work in the community. Like nurses, these
IT is good to see that so many parents are now encouraging their children to take up horse riding lessons. I know that some of these parents will, at some time in the future, consider whether these lessons have equipped their offspring with enough knowledge
LEIGH RMI's hopes of a confidence-boosting victory over local rivals Northwich Victoria were dashed when the bad weather put paid to the Boxing Day derby clash. But manager Geoff Lutley is hoping that the postponement will leave his side fresh for Tuesday's
BLACKBURN Rovers manager Mark Hughes praised his players' fighting spirit after they twice fought back from a goal down to claim a point against Newcastle United yesterday. A thrilling contest played in freezing conditions at Ewood Park ended in a 2-2
THEY say revenge is a dish best served cold and Andy Todd gained his by grabbing the goal that denied Graeme Souness a winning return to a freezing Ewood Park. Todd found the net for the first time since April 2003 to earn Rovers a point from a game where
A COMPANY behind a multi-million pound housing development has launched a bid to avoid completing a road safety scheme. Today angry residents and councillors blasted Rocketfine Homes Ltd, formerly of Preston New Road, Blackburn, accusing it of reneging
PLANS for a new bus and rail interchange in Nelson are set to go ahead. Lancashire County Council has applied for outline planning permission for the scheme which would be built between Broadway, Broad Street, Stanworth Road, Railway Street and the railway
CONTROVERSIAL plans to put a phone mast in Brierfield have been recommended for approval, despite a public campaign against it. O2 (UK) Ltd has applied for a 20-metre mast, with six antennae and equipment, on land at Belvedere and Caldervale Sports Club
HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds will be channelled into canal projects in Pendle in the next 18 months. A new scheme to create Pendle's answer to the Angel of the North, or Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, is being launched and people are being asked for
Eighteen-month-old Matthew Baldwin suffered bite wounds to his neck and ear after being set upon by the mongrel at his grandparents' Blackburn home. Police said the dog was a family pet and so they would not seek an order to have it destroyed.
AN Altham firm has been praised for handing a brand new minibus over to an East Lancashire Children's Hospice. What More UK, based on the Altham industrial estate, is a manufacturer of plastics, including household, storage and garden products. Its clients
JAILED security guard Graham Huckerby was home for Christmas. The 45-year-old walked free from Dovegate Prison on Tuesday after the Court of Appeal in London ruled he was wrongly convicted. And on Christmas the Huckerby family will have the biggest party
A MOTHER fighting leukaemia for the second time in a year spent Christmas in a hospital's isolation unit while undergoing chemotherapy. Today, one of Wendy Boyer's two daughters issued a plea for more people to sign up to bone marrow donor registers in
BURNLEY have rejected a £1.25million bid by Birmingham City to sign 13-goal captain Robbie Blake. City boss Steve Bruce last night confirmed his club had made an approach to sign the Clarets striker, who has already been the subject of four failed bids
TWO outstanding youngsters were praised by their teachers after receiving Remarkable Pupil and Service awards from Blackburn's Soroptimist group. Nominated by school staff, Oliver Hunt, from St Francis C of E Primary, and Luke Scarr, from St Wilfrid's
FORMER coal miner John Cowley received a special Christmas visit today to help celebrate his 100th birthday. The Blackburn centenarian, also an ex-footballer, was given a royal delivery by the borough's mayor and mayoress. They reminisced about his passion
PROJECTS to build a centenary garden, a kids' play area and a community pergola in East Lancashire have been given a £55,000 funding boost. The money, from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, will allow Burnley Golf Club to build a landscaped garden
SEVEN bundles of Christmas joy ensured anything but a silent night for the medical staff at one of East Lancashire's main maternity units. The first festive baby to arrive into the world at Blackburn's Queen's Park Hospital was Lille Woodruff, born at
Plan for extra officers EXTRA police officers have been drafted in to take back more of the profits of crime from crooks. Now criminals face the long arm of the law reaching their bank accounts for assets on a more regular basis. Lancashire Police is
EAST Lancashire got its first white Christmas of the 21st century, bringing delight to children but misery to festive travellers. Flakes first began falling on hills around East Lancashire at 4.20am on December 25. Snow showers continued throughout the
EDUCATION bosses have praised East Lancashire pupils and teachers despite a difficult 2004 -- and pledged to help them improve in 2005. In the last 12 months Queen's Park High School, Blackburn, and Darwen Moorland High School were put into special measures
ACCRINGTON Stanley are counting the cost of yesterday's controversial postponement of their Nationwide Conference Premier home game with Halifax Town. Up to 40 volunteers had grafted throughout the morning to clear the Interlink Express Stadium pitch
THE stables at the Only Foals and Horses Sanctuary are full this Christmas. Donkeys, horses and ponies galore have made the sanctuary at Oswaldtwistle sanctuary their home, but Olive Lomas, who runs the centre for unwanted animals, is praying there will
ONLY four days to go until the new year dawns - and everyone starts spouting off about their resolutions. And aren't they always so predictable? Stop smoking, go on a diet, take more exercise, save more money...yawn. Boring, boring, boring. You never
MAGNA Carta, Habeas Corpus, the UN, the European Convention on Human Rights, Amnesty International, international legal opinion, and now eight law lords have said it is wrong to keep people locked away in prison, for years, without the right to charges
ST HELENS 17, LEIGH CENTURIONS 16: LEIGH Centurions issued a clear statement of intent that they may not be the easybeats of Super League X. Favourites to drop back into the National Leagues after their debut Super League season, the Centurions came within
DETECTIVES have charged a man with murder following the death of a disabled Burnley grandad. Adrian Howker, 31, of Hawthorne Road, Burnley, was remanded in custody charged with the murder of John Russell after he made a brief appearance at Burnley Magistrates
A BLACKBURN couple spent Christmas in a Malaysian hospital after suriviving an horrific coach crash which killed five people. Matthew Taylor and Angela Moody, from the Revidge area of Blackburn, were on board the bus when it collided with a rock face
KEVIN Davies lines up against Rovers tomorrow having defied the critics by reviving a career that many were writing off 18 months ago, writes CHRIS FLANAGAN. The Sheffield-born striker looked to have played his last Premiership game after being released
A TEENAGER jailed after an armed mob melee in which a shop owner was attacked has lost a bid to have his term cut. Burnley Crown Court heard how the 17 year old - who cannot be named for legal reasons- had been sent to detention and training for six months
DETECTIVES have charged a man with murder following the death of a disabled Burnley grandad. Adrian Howker, 31, of Hawthorne Road, Burnley, was remanded in custody charged with the murder of John Russell after he made a brief appearance at Burnley Magistrates
WHILE Santa was making his festive drop-offs, nurses in Burnley were making four special deliveries for themselves. And for the lucky parents, it was the best Christmas present they could have asked for, despite the fact that they weren't expected on
SHAKERS' scheduled home game with Shrewsbury on Boxing Day was postponed after the visitors were delayed on the motorway. Shakers fans turned up at 8.30am to help the ground-staff clear snow from the Gigg Lane pitch to ensure the game went ahead, but
A WOMAN was taken to hospital after a TV left on a cooker sparked a house fire in the early hours of Boxing Day. Firefighters were called to King Street, Radcliffe, at 2am after the woman, in her 30s, suffered burns to her feet as she tried to carry the
PC John Wilson spotted the semi-conscious woman clutching a stone buttress of a bridge at Penwortham. He leapt into the water when she lost her grip and began floating downstream of the swollen water. The woman was recovering in hospital. PC Wilson, 27
John Calderbank Woods and his bride, Elise Hope, still in her dress, broke their honeymoon journey from Halifax to Blackpool to nip into Accrington Victoria Hospital to say hello. Staff across hospitals in East Lancashire said hospital visits were up
POLICE officers in Hyndburn are heading back to school to warn youngsters against committing crimes. So far community beat managers have visited Rhyddings, Oswaldtwistle, and Hollins, Baxenden, to give talks to school children. The officers have been
FRANK Sinclair could celebrate signing a new Burnley contract with a New Year's Day reunion against former club Leicester City. The Clarets defender, who penned a two-year extension with the Clarets on Christmas Eve, was hoping to end a troubled year
BURNLEY have rejected a £1.25million bid by Birmingham City to sign 13-goal captain Robbie Blake. City boss Steve Bruce last night confirmed his club had made an approach to sign the Clarets striker, who has already been the subject of four failed bids
THEY say revenge is a dish best served cold and Andy Todd gained his by grabbing the goal that denied Graeme Souness a winning return to a freezing Ewood Park. Todd found the net for the first time since April 2003 to earn Rovers a point from a game where
BUSINESSES are being asked to dig deep into their bank accounts to help a disabled horse rider from Darwen become a top equestrian. Felicity Coulthard, 20, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has been training hard in recent months in her bid to take part
ROSSENDALE MP Janet Anderson MP has welcomed government figures showing more than 1,000 children in the constituency will be eligible for the new Baby Bond child tax fund. Parents with children born between September, 2002, and December, 2003, will be
A PRE-Christmas night out with friends lost its sparkle when a Ramsbottom man was arrested for pushing a policewoman, a court heard. Kevin Butler, 35, of Bolton Road North, Ramsbottom, appeared before Bury Magistrates' Court where he admitted public disorder
ROSSENDALE Council has backed plans to crack down on the licensed trade when it takes over responsibility from magistrates in the New Year. Under the new system, responsibility for issuing licenses to sell alcohol will be transferred from the magistrates
AN outraged Labour MP has demanded the Government re-thinks the decision to abandon 300 years of history with its merger plans for the Queen's Lancashire Regiment. Defence Minister Geoff Hoon has abandoned the preferred title of The Royal Lancashire Regiment
A BLACKBURN couple spent Christmas in a Malaysian hospital after suriviving an horrific coach crash which killed five people. Matthew Taylor and Angela Moody, from the Revidge area of Blackburn, were on board the bus when it collided with a rock face
A COMPANY behind a multi-million pound housing development has launched a bid to avoid completing a road safety scheme. Today angry residents and councillors blasted Rocketfine Homes Ltd, formerly of Preston New Road, Blackburn, accusing it of reneging
