From Alec Price, Chapel Street, Brinscall, near Chorley. From a hill high above Blackburn town I stood there struck dumb as I looked around For on that May afternoon I saw a Lancashire in full bloom. Not the Lancashire you used to read about,
A ROSSENDALE man, said to have dragged his girlfriend out of a pizza shop by her head, must attend a community domestic violence programme. Burnley magistrates heard how Paul Anthony McDonald, 23, had also pulled the victim along the ground after she
A YOUNG dad kneed his partner in the face and threatened her after returning home from a 13-hour drinking session, a court was told. Burnley magistrates heard how Lee Nuttall, 20, had arrived home drunk and awoken the victim Laura Nicholls and their
Arsonists are being blamed for a fire at a caravan in Park Road, Padiham, about 9.25pm yesterday. Duncan Barker-Brown, watch manager, said there were some children hanging around nearby and that it appeared the caravan was being used for storage and
A MAN beat up his partner a third time after they rowed about the dog but she wanted him back, a court heard. Simon Clark, 24, and his girlfriend of six years, Michelle Green, had been on pre-booked holiday together since and had such a good time they
A COMPANY boss says jobs may go after he lost a fight to keep his driving licence. Terence Eastwood, 57, the £60,000-a-year managing director of RTE Fabrications Ltd, Lomax Street, Darwen, was banned for six months under the totting up procedure in April
FOOTBALL'S longest serving physio was touched to receive his MBE from the Queen. Sprightly Syd Parkinson, 91, the man with healing hands, was treated to a Royal appointment as he picked up his gong at Buckingham Palace. The Barnoldswick Town physio
A ROGUE crow is putting staff and pupils in a flap by terrorising their school playground. The "enormous" black bird swoops out of the sky to disrupt lessons and break times at Meadowhead Junior School, Livesey Branch Road, Blackburn. Staff are
POLICE are investigating the death of a 21-year-old found hanging in his room at a privately-run rehabilitation hospital. Ryan Peachey was found in The Fountains, Pleasington Close, Blackburn, on Wednesday. The the opening of an inquest, it was revealed
A COMPANY boss says jobs may go after he lost a fight to keep his driving licence. Terence Eastwood, 57, the £60,000-a-year managing director of RTE Fabrications Ltd, Lomax Street, Darwen, was banned for six months under the totting up procedure in April
A POLICE officer who sold pirate CDs and DVDs to fellow officers has been sacked. But PC James Moodie's wife Jane, also a police officer, has kept her job after she was cleared of trying to cover up for her husband. The Burnley couple had been under
EAST LANCASHIRE MPs Greg Pope and Gordon Prentice are urging the Government to pardon shell-shocked World War One soldiers executed for desertion. The two Labour backbenchers had intended to vote against the Government on the issue last week as the House
ASSUMING that hospital beds in East Lancashire are to be cut, then the executive management should have their salaries cut by the same. Saving £11million plus, how does this figure in the amount payable for the lease of the new hospital? ROD PETTY
IT is indeed great news that Lancashire County Council is to install wind turbines and solar panels at the proposed Shuttleworth College. While this is the first school to get green energy, what about the others? However, how green is it? Are readers
MOTORISTS on Mincing Lane, Blackburn, will notice a large sign, prominently displayed, showing the way to Barton Street car park. However, anyone trying to follow the direction is in for a frustrating time. All is well until one reaches the junction
I WAS brought up with two heroes the Queen and the IRA. Mam would've been out there this week waving her Union Jack. She was the spitting image of HM, mimicking the royal hairdo (minus unaffordable tiara). Her Majesty, I was assured, boasted
A SEMI-NAKED sex pest who repeatedly targeted a frightened teenage girl and her mother in their home has been spared jail. Lonely bachelor Geoffrey Sconce, 54, knew what time the girl would be in her bedroom and exposed himself to her several times a
A LIBERAL Democrat councillor on Pendle Council has resigned over the "strains" of the plans to regenerate a former Barnoldswick school. Councillor Marlene Hill-Crane has become an independent after turning her back on the party. In February Barnoldswick
A CARE home worker stole £15,000 from her bosses but was only caught after sending a rude email. Clare Greenwood, 30, even sailed through two audits without being rumbled before her email prompted her suspension from work and led her employers on a
Darwen folk were shocked at the thought of their town hall flowers were being used to spruce up Blackburn for the Royal visit. Blooms from the centre were taken away just days before The Queen arrived in East Lancashire. And they suspected they
Indie-folk musician Seth Lakeman is following up recent tours with Billy Bragg and The Levellers by coming to Darwen for a headline gig on June 16. The Mercury Prize nominee, who plays guitar, violin and viola, will perform at the Library Theatre as
THERE will no brotherly love when Vishal and Bharat Tripathi go head to head in Lowerhouse's derby clash with Burnley in the SponsorBank Lancashire League tomorrow. The Tripathi's will be the first brothers to face each other in the league since 1977
CLARETS striker Kyle Lafferty admits he's still living the American dream after earning his first senior international cap for Northern Ireland. The 18-year-old hitman played against Uruguay at the Giants Stadium in New Jersey last weekend in the first
BIRMINGHAM City chairman David Gold has underlined his determination to keep Emile Heskey in response to reports linking the former England striker with a summer move to Blackburn Rovers. Former Liverpool ace Heskey is thought to be on a list of potential
MONEY, it is said, cannot buy you happiness. Why then do so many people dream of being rich? Flash Families on ITV set out to prove that not only is happiness not guaranteed, excessive amounts of cash also appear to destroy your taste buds. Chav TV
WHEN you book a table, you don't really expect to find one too few chairs. You certainly wouldn't expect to make up the seating arrangements yourself. But that's what happened when I arrived at the Bull's Head in Wilpshire. Thankfully, after
AN 80-year-old war veteran 'rescued' his wife of 55 years from a nursing home because he could no longer stand to be without her. But council bosses immediately got a court order giving them legal custody of the 88-year-old woman and took her back
FAMILY and friends of a 19-year-old girl who died of cancer two years ago have now handed more than £1,500 to the hospice which helped her. Brave Emily Culligan, of Lynthorpe Road, Infirmary, Blackburn, lost her fight against a rare form of bone cancer
A RAFFLE to win a giant teddy bear wearing an England shirt will be drawn by former Coronation Street star Shobna Gulati in Darwen. The event will raise money for the Five Star Appeal for a children's scanner in Manchester and will be launched at Darwen
THE Chief Inspector of the probation service (LET, May 10) insists that the re-offending rate by high or very high risk offenders is miniscule in percentage terms. For Naomi Bryant, murdered by Anthony Rice out on licence the percentage was 100 per cent
A DAMNING report by a Government Inspector shows convicted rapist Anthony Rice was freed from jail because officials placed his human rights above protecting the public. Rice, who had 22 previous convictions, including assaults of young girls, then went
