A LIGHT aircraft crash landed in a field in a Ribble Valley village. The 172 plane is understood to have been travelling from Blackpool Airport when it found itself in difficulty. It was due to make an emergency landing in Garstang but was
AN HISTORIC Padiham fuel firm has been bought by a Bury-based company. Crown Oil has taken over at the helm of Samuel Cooke and said it will keep the firm’s name trading. Matt Greensmith, the managing director of Crown Oil, said: “We will continue
MUG shots of known shoplifters will be handed to shop owners in Great Harwood in a bid to cut the number of thefts. Pictures of known thieves are being circulated by officers so they can be on the look out and regular meetings will take place between
A CANNABIS dealer on benefits enjoyed a “life of luxury” even though he claimed he didn’t make a penny out of selling drugs, a court was told. Heavy user Daniel Sharples, 27, admitted he sometimes supplied cannabis, but alleged it was to friends
PURSE alarms have been handed to hundreds of elderly residents as part of a crime prevention drive in a borough. Neighbourhood police officers have spoken to hundreds of residents in Church and Accrington giving them tips on how to stay safe. PCSO
BLACKBURN with Darwen Council leader Kate Hollern has been chosen to chair the new Lancashire Police and Crime Panel which will scrutinise the Crime Commissioner for the county being elected in November. She will also monitor police spending.
Sir Chris Hoy has won a fifth Olympic gold after Great Britain's men's team sprint squad triumphed on a night of high drama at the London 2012 Olympic Velodrome. After Victoria Pendleton and Jess Varnish were relegated from the team sprint for a
DARWEN councillors are laying the blame for recent traffic chaos on contractors carrying out gas main repairs. Journeys that usually take 15 minutes are now taking an hour, because of roadworks on the A666 at Lynwood, and council bridge widening
A NURSING home in Burnley has unveiled plans to expand its provision to create a ‘care village’ in the town. Bosses at Bank Hall Nursing Home, in Colne Road, want to create a three-storey sheltered care home alongside their existing premises.
A PUBLIC consultation will be held over changes to benefits in Hyndburn. Hyndburn Council is facing a potential funding shortfall unless it makes changes to its council tax support payouts. Government funding for the current Council Tax Benefit
RESIDENTS have won a victory in their fight to secure a fresh start for one of Burnley’s most rundown streets. Neighbours living in Burnley Lane have lobbied the authorities for 10 years for improvement works – and missed out on successive major
A LONG awaited scheme to solve problems with areas blighted by empty homes and flytipping has been given the green light. The Private Landlord Licensing Scheme to be implemented in parts of Peel, Barnfield, Central, Spring Hill, Church and Church
Great Britain's team pursuit squad set a world record in qualifying on a night of high drama at the London 2012 Olympic Velodrome. After Victoria Pendleton and Jess Varnish were relegated from the team sprint for a takeover infringement, Ed Clancy
Great Britain's Jess Varnish and Victoria Pendleton missed out on a ride-off for Olympic gold after being relegated by officials for a takeover infringement on an eventful opening evening of track action at the London 2012 velodrome. Varnish
A REHAB clinic that was due to open in Waterfoot has been delayed because of objections from furious residents and businesses. Bosses at East Lancashire charity Inspire planned to open the abstinence unit on the site of Glen Valley Guest House
A SCHEME aimed at keeping young people safe has been launched across a borough. Hyndburn Community Safety Partnership has launched Operation CANSafe, a joint initiative between Lancashire Constabulary, Lancashire Trading Standards Service and Hyndburn
BLACKBURN Rovers have made a bid for Fulham midfielder Dickson Etuhu as they close in on their seventh summer signing. The 30-year-old Nigerian has been targeted as the powerful central midfielder needed to partner new boy Danny Murphy this campaign
A DARWEN man has been released on conditional bail after denying assaulting three men. James Moran, 24, of Olive Lane has been accused of assaulting Asim Nazir, Andrew Harden and John Kyle. He will reappear at Hyndburn Magistrates on August 7.
ANTHONY Kitchen, 53, of Moorgate Street, Blackburn, was remanded in custody when he appeared before Blackburn magistrates and pleaded not guilty to five charges of assaulting his wife, Penny Kitchen.
FUNDRAISING for East Lancashire Hospice is being supported by a Clitheroe store. Supporters can now stop at Booths, Clitheroe, for raffle tickets to be in with a chance of winning a red Mini for a year, and £5,000 cash. For
A NEW “In Fine Fettle” health awareness course starts on August 16, from 1pm to 2.30pm, at Darwen Access Point. Locals are invited to go along and talk about their health, meet a health trainer, and have a health check. There will be six sessions
FOLLOWING Bradley Wiggins’ Tour de France victory, and Lizzie Armistead’s Olympic silver medal, Blackburn with Darwen Council and Sky Ride Local are urging people to cycle for fun and fitness. On Sundays August 12 and 26, novices can ride from
ROE Lee Park, in Blackburn, has been given a Green Flag Award, a national accolade which recognises, and rewards, the best green spaces in the country. In 2012, a record number of awards were made, with 1,424 parks and green spaces currently flying
HAMID Shafaq has applied to Blackburn with Darwen council to change the use of premises at 228B Shear Brow, Blackburn, from a vacant blinds workshop to a cafe.
DEFENCE Minister Peter Luff has assured Hyndburn MP Graham Jones, in a letter, that UK military chiefs are convinced the US government remains committed to the full production programme for the F35 warplane – partly made by BAE Systems at Samlesbury
POLICE are to increase patrols around Walverden Park, in Nelson, after complaints from residents and park users of anti-social behaviour in the area.
FIREFIGHTERS from Blackburn were called to tackle two rubbish fires on Friday evening. Crews were called to Byron Street shortly before 10pm and Fishermoore Drive shortly after 1am.
AN APPLICATION to demolish factory buildings at Wardle Storey Plc, at Grove Mill, Earby, has been submitted to Pendle Council. The buildings fall within the local conservation area which is why permission is required to demolish them.
A FREE children’s health clinic takes place at Colne Children’s Centre, in Walton Street, every Wednesday from 9.30am to 11.30am. Health visitors will be in attendance to weigh and give advice about the health of babies and young children.
BUSINESS students at Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form have visited Manchester for a tour of Media City, the Imperial War Museum and Old Trafford. Students studying on the college’s National Diploma in Business get a detailed introduction to
PENDLE Leisure Trust’s Live Well, Eat Well project has a range of family sessions to keep children entertained this summer. Throughout August the project team will be running sessions at Hodge House Allotments, in Reedyford Road, Nelson, covering
CONSERVATIVE councillors in West Craven have condemned vandals who caused £3,000 worth of damage to a wall between Earby and Sough. The damage, caused last week, comes just a matter of weeks after £1,000 was spent on the wall. Sections of the all
PENDLE MP Andrew Stephenson has joined over 30 other MPs to show support for an initiative that gives young people a role in Parliament. The new Youth Select Committee is made up of 11 young people aged 12 to 18 elected to hold inquiries into issues
DONATIONS are needed for the Friends of Darwen Cemetery stall at this year’s Darwen Gala. The group, known as FODC, are looking to raise money by having a bottle stall at the event on August 18, and ask for any drink in a bottle to be given. Drinks
A BEAUTY salon in Whitworth has been fined after ignoring an enforcement notice from Rossendale Council. Cobello’s in Market Street was the subject of complaints after it installed ‘dazzling’ lights which were a danger for passing motorists.
ENGLISH Heritage has launched a campaign to bring hundreds of disused and derelict mills in East Lancashire back into use. A survey of Lancashire’s 540 surviving textile mills by the charity has discovered that the equivalent of more than 175 football
Shooting star Peter Wilson claimed Britain's fourth gold medal of London 2012 in the men's double trap. The 25-year-old farmer's son from Dorset led from start to finish at the Royal Artillery Barracks. Wilson, the world record holder and world
LANCASHIRE Fire Authority has made two appointments to its top team following recent retirements and promotions. Justin Johnson, currently assistant chief fire officer with Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, has been appointed Lancashire’s deputy
GREENGROCER Rennie Simpson had a special visitor in 1964 – who took him back to his war days in 1943. For when he escaped from an internment camp in northern Italy, he had not far to go before finding shelter in a farmhouse, not far from Milan.
ACCRINGTON’S champion women footballers – the Wanderers – called foul against the male-dominated Football Association back in the early sixties. For its rulings prevented the angry young team from: playing on FA grounds anywhere in the
AN award-winning training company in Lancashire which provided a route into the military for hundreds of raw recruits has closed its doors. Staff have been told that Avenir Training, which had a base in Athletic Street, Burnley, and took in candidates
A POP group were a big hit with a seriously-injured Rossendale girl when they visited her in hospital. The lads of The Little Boy Blues went one better when they heard that 20-year-old Maureen Mulcahy wanted a photo for her bedside at Blackburn
STRANGE shaped vegetables can be entered into a fun competition hosted by a Chatburn garden centre. Shackletons Garden Centre is running the competition to celebrate national allotments week, which starts on Monday, August 6. David Shackleton
WE’VE heard this week about a courageous First World War soldier from Hoghton who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. He was Private James Miller, who showed ‘most conspicuous bravery’ on the Somme. James was born in 1890 at Taylor
Blackburn and Darwen Sea Cadets have use of the Charity Shop in Blackburn (opposite Town Hall) from Sunday 19th August for one week. They urgently require donations to sell. Clean clothing, household linen, curtains ,books, ornaments, crockery,
What an utter waste of billions of pounds paid to stage the Olympics in London, would it not been better to spend that money on our hospitals, stop the closure of A&E departments, instead it going to a dozen British athletes when it could have
Let's re-lay the A666, ask if any works are required first and then go ahead. Drivers will put up with that as the road will be better after. We'll ask, but NOT any person who knew gas works needed doing on that same stretch. I know – let's
A ‘SUPERLOO’ toilet which has cost a council £18 every time it has been used in the past year is to be removed. But Hyndburn Council will have to pay £100,000 to break the contract with the providers of the self cleaning unisex cubicle in Accrington
AN Oswaldtwistle man who posed as a council repair man, and then stole money from an elderly woman, has been jailed for seven years. John Roberts, 54, called at the 83-year-old’s Plungington Road home, in Preston, in April, and told the woman there
PENSIONER Harry Warburton could be spending his retirement relaxing – instead he has racked up his 3,650th game refereeing East Lancashire’s amateur footballers. Harry, 78, has just clocked up his 49th season as a referee, and was presented with
THE woman who prostituted a 14-year-old schoolgirl out to a Padiham builder has been jailed for five years. Leanne Gilder, 26, was found guilty of controlling child prostitution, after a trial at Manchester Crown Court. She faced trial alongside
Great Britain claimed gold and silver in the two-man canoe slalom in front a jubilant home crowd. Etienne Stott and Tim Baillie won gold in a time of 106.41 seconds, followed by Richard Hounslow and David Florence who registered a time of 106.77
Rebecca Adlington produced the fifth fastest 800 metres freestyle in the world this year to send out an ominous warning to her rivals as Britain's women had a successful morning at the Aquatics Centre. Ellie Faulkner failed to make it through
THIS year’s pre-season has had familiar tones to the warm-up campaign Eddie Howe orchestrated 12 months ago. Both began with a first friendly at Altrincham, four goals and a win. Both incorporated training camps in Bath, and friendlies against
Andy Murray put on a dazzling display for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as he crushed Nicolas Almagro to move within one win of an Olympic medal. Murray produced his best performance of the tournament in front of the Royal couple on Court One
Ben Ainslie got his gold medal charge back on track today by winning his first race of London 2012. The 35-year-old came into his fifth Olympics as over-riding favourite to top the podium, but failed to finish ahead of Jonas Hogh-Christensen in
Team GB has claimed another rowing medal, missing out on gold by inches. In an agonisingly close race, the lightweight men's four made it a second day of success on the water at Eton Dorney. On Wednesday rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning
SUMMER holiday activities are in full swing at Blackburn’s £8million Youth Zone. Each week of the summer break has been broken down into activities, and camps, suitable for all young people aged between eight and 21 . Junior club manager David
MORE than 3,000 homes and businesses in Colne are to benefit from a major upgrade of the electricity supply in the town. The £379,000 work from Electricity North West will mean less disruption to the network and faster reconnections. But motorists
A WORLDWIDE drugs scam operated through two Burnley terrace homes — which were claimed to be the bases of international chemical companies, a court was told. Large blue barrels of benzocaine, commonly used as a cutting agent for cocaine, were delivered
THE M65 has been partially closed after a car hit the central reservation. The eastbound carriageway at junction 8, has been affected by the accident, which occurred at 12.15pm. Police said the car is a Mini, and no other vehicle is involved
A BLACKBURN girl who has been making a big splash in the Big Brother house has become the target of cyber bullies, her family have said. Performing arts student Becky Hannon is battling it out against Deana Uppal, Ashleigh Hughes, and Luke Anderson
A JURY has begun considering its verdicts in the trial of a couple accused of murdering of their daughter because they believed she brought ‘shame on the family’. Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and his wife Farzana, 49, of Liverpool Road, Warrington, Cheshire
THE construction industry has been hit hard by the economic slowdown and the government is keen to see it revive. We are also told there is a big demand for new homes right across the country. The last quarter, according to the National House
A SOCIAL worker has been banned from driving for four years after she was caught almost four times the drink-drive limit with her two young children in the car. Jane Elizabeth Lamb, 36, of Abbeydale Way, Accrington, had pleaded guilty to driving
BURNLEY manager Eddie Howe showed just how much he wants his players to ‘raise the baa’ this season, by taking them on an alternative team bonding session. The Clarets boss organised a sheep herding exercise for his squad and staff during a midweek
A BURGLARY and car crime crackdown saw members of Lancashire police’s mounted branch take to the streets of Blackburn and Oswaldtwistle. The horses patrolled crime hotspots while officers stopped and searched suspected offenders as part of Operation
BLACKBURN’S Atlantic rowing heroine Helen Leigh and 7/7 London bombing survivor Lisa French will be coming to Blackburn Cathedral’s crypt this autumn to talk about their extraordinary lives. They will be joined by retiring Bishop Nicholas Reade
A SIX-YEAR-OLD injured in a collision with a van in Cog Lane, Burnley, is set to be released from hospital today. The younger suffered serious head injuries when he was struck at 1.45pm on Friday and he was taken to Manchester Children’s Hospital
Great Britain's Victoria Pendleton is determined to retire on a high at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the final competition of her career. From August 8, the 31-year-old from Bedfordshire, will have officially retired, but first she hopes to sign
One of the players involved in the badminton match-fixing scandal at London 2012 has reportedly quit the sport. Yu Yang, who was one of eight players disqualified yesterday for deliberately trying to lose matches on Tuesday night, reportedly made
Great Britain laid down a marker ahead of Saturday's men's four final with a thrilling victory over arch gold medal rivals Australia in today's semi-final. Andrew Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed, Tom James and Alex Gregory hit back from a length down to
Bradley Wiggins was left to reflect on becoming the first man to win the Tour de France and Olympic gold in the same year and reaching the peak of his cycling career. After winning a fourth Olympic gold in a third different event with victory in
THE biggest single homes plan in the Ribble Valley for more than two decades has sparked a storm of protest. Residents have branded the application for 504 homes near Barrow ‘horrendous’ while Ribble Valley council leader Michael Ranson said the
MOTORISTS in Blackburn have been offering special anti-theft number plate screws to try and reduce the number of thefts. Neighbourhood police officers handed out more than 80 tamper-proof screw kits and spoke to 150 motorists in the Audley and
BLACKBURN Rovers are walking a tightrope at the moment as their Champ-ionship fortunes hang in the balance. Most of us were of the opinion the squad still needed strengthen-ing before Leon Best’s shocking knee injury – now everyone knows urgent
FRIENDS of a Darwen man who went missing six days ago have been desperately searching moors, woods and rivers to try to find him. Zodie Atkinson said around 20 friends had formed a search party to look for Edward Sutton, 53, who has not been seen
MORTEN Gamst Pedersen is one of a number of a players put up for sale by Blackburn Rovers as the club continues its rebuilding process. The Norwegian has made more than 300 appearances for Rovers in an Ewood career spanning eight years but his
HASLINGDEN rider Tom Carne has received a confident boost ahead of the next round of the British Motostar Championship after making an appearance in an NG Road Racing Championship event at Cadwell Park at the weekend. The 19-year-old is currently
GREAT Harwood motorbike ace Lance Cronshaw has not given up hope of claiming victory in the Ace of Aintree Formula 600 Championship with two rounds remaining. Cronshaw finished fourth in the championship last season after two blown engines saw
BLACKBURN Harrier teenage hammer thrower Nathan Billington continued his fine 2012 campaign after achieving a superb personal best at the North of England Championships. The 14-year-old was among four East Lancastrians who picked up medals at the
CLAYTON Le Moors Harriers veteran Marion Wilkinson smashed her age group record at the 34th Cliviger 6 Road Race on Sunday. Wilkinson finished the course in 55 minutes and 39 seconds as the older generation showed there was ‘life in the old legs
A CANAL barge capsized and was almost fully submerged, after becoming trapped in a lock on the Leeds Liverpool canal. The boat, The Aleecia, was travelling from Blackburn towards Chorley when the incident happened at the Top Lock, Wheelton.
BRADLEY Wiggins has been offered the freedom of the borough of Chorley after adding to his Tour de France victory with an Olympic gold medal yesterday. The 32-year-old, who lives in Eccleston and often trains in East Lancashire, became the first
STEVEN Burke will bid to emulate his long-time role model Bradley Wiggins when he starts his campaign for Olympic gold today – but the Colne Cyclone has warned that Great Britain cannot simply view the team pursuit as a showdown with Australia.
RETURNING striker Sam Vokes insists he is looking forward to building a future with Burnley, and he believes it will be a bright one. The 22-year-old, who is back for his second spell at the club – this time on a permanent basis following a two-month
Olympic gold cyclist Bradley Wiggins is to be offered the Freedom of the Borough of Chorley on his return to his home village, council bosses said. The Londoner moved to Eccleston, Lancashire, to be closer to the Manchester Velodrome. Peter
BLACKBURN with Darwen Council has decided against immediately replacing resigning chief executive Graham Burgess. His deputy Harry Catherall will take over in the short term, and examine whether slimming the authority’s management structure can
A TEENAGER suffered a broken jaw when he was punched in the face in Oswaldtwistle. The 15-year-old victim was cycling along Melbourne Street when he was approached by two teenagers, one boy and one girl. The boy punched him in the face, causing
Team GB is aiming to continue its gold medal-winning performances after cyclist Bradley Wiggins' record-breaking feat in the time-trial. Four-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy begins his London 2012 campaign as the action gets under way in the
A BURGLARY victim has been helping the police in East Lancashire to improve the service they deliver to the local community. Pendle Coun Margaret Foxley helped set up the county's first Victim and Community Advisory Panel in Colne, after a burglar
A BLAZE has broken out at a controversial rubbish dump in Oswaldtwistle. Fire crews were called to the former Nipa Laboratories site in Nook Lane at 2.15am, and are still at the scene. A spokesman for the Darwen crew that left the scene at
