UNLICENSED scrap metal dealers operating in Ribble Valley have been warned they face fines of up to £5,000. The borough council said it intended to use new laws designed to stamp out metal theft. Dealers need to apply for a licence to operate
A HYNDBURN newsagent has written to a government minister to protest against plans to move Accrington’s bus station. The bus depot is due to move from Peel Street to Crawshaw Street in a £4m project starting next year. But Mushqat Juwale, owner
EAST Lancashire’s hospitals will mark World Stroke Day by helping showcase research into the disease. As part of the National Institute for Health Research and North West Stroke Research Network, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust will take part
AN ‘UNSUNG’ Darwen hero has been commemorated for his work in the community. Former Lions president Ian Ashton was unveiled as the first person to be named on a memorial plaque on the Town Hall building. Darwen Lions Club commissioned the granite
EIGHT people have been arrested on suspicion of burglary offences in a series of raids in Burnley and Bacup today. Warrants were executed at addresses in Constable Avenue, Nairne Street and Hebrew Road, in Burnley; Prince Street in Bacup and Monmouth
AN EX-WORKER with autistic adults who looked after a £1,150 cocaine stash for a dealer after getting into debt has been jailed for two-and-a-half years. Nathan Slater, 24, wasn't a drug addict but had run up bills on household items after being
AROUND 20 shotguns have been stolen from a shooting range in Pendle. Thieves broke into Kelbrook Shooting School, off Cob Lane, through the roof between 8pm last night and 7am this morning. Police said that the school were yet to do a stock
VOLUNTEERS are being sought to improve beauty spots in Accrington. The Lancashire Wildlife Trust and the Prospects Foundation are running sessions on the Woodnook Vale and the Coppice nature reserves. Volunteers, including local school children
A NEW health programme to help families get fit and healthy this winter starts at Darwen Vale High School on November 5. ACES, or Active Children Eating Smart, has been designed with practical solutions to support families through realistic and
COUNCILLORS have been receiving complaints about the building work at historic former cotton mill, Hampden Mill, Grimshaw Street. Residents fear the roof has been left in a potentially dangerous state. David Foster, councillor for Whitehall
CALLS have been made for more measures to make a school crossing and drop-off point safer. Blackburn councillors Konrad Tapp and Ashley Whalley said the creation of designated laybys for St Bede’s RC College buses in the main Green Lane entrance
THE Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals have been identified as ‘high risk’ by a health watchdog, meaning they may not be offering safe, good quality care to patients. The Care Quality Commission has given every hospital trust in England
A DEAF man is asking for further changes to his home because his smoke alarms keep going off, leading to repeated visits from the fire service. Ken Jarvis, 75, said fire crews were regularly called to his house in Shearwater Drive, Blackburn because
THE brother of a 28-year-old man who died after collapsing in the street has successfully reached the summit of climb Mount Kilimanjaro in his bid to raise money for charity. Richard Lord, 33, has raised £5,500 for Epilepsy Action after his younger
A VICTORIAN mansion which was transformed into a school for children with educational and behavioural difficulties has received a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating. Last year the former Woodlands building in Holly Tree Close, Darwen was turned into Brambles
A SEVEN-WEEK-OLD baby died in the early hours. Police and paramedics were called to Hollin Bank Court, Blackburn, at around 4.20am on Wednesday after reports that a child had died. The baby was taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital with its
PUPILS from Bowland High School in Grindleton visited Westminster this week to see democracy in action. The group were looked after by Parliament’s Education Service before meeting Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans. The Tory backbencher said: “As
CLITHEROE’S 900-year-old market could be in line for a multi-million pound revamp. And plans could include covering part of the site and adding some high-quality shops on the edges. Ribble Valley Borough Council has asked Barnfield Construction
TRAINEE volunteers for Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team (RPMRT) joined 32 others from across the country for a course in rescue techniques. Ten volunteers from RPMRT learned stretcher handling techniques, steep ground evacuation and rope
Cancer battler Sam Shaw has had his first look around the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The four-year-old and his family flew to America at the weekend after raising the £250,000 needed for Sam to undergo immunotherapy treatment in his fight
A MAN from Haslingden has died after drinking industrial toilet cleaner. Anthony Cosgrove, 55, accidentally drank the liquid from a soft drinks bottle. Lancashire Police said there were no suspicious circumstances. Mr Cosgrove, of Manchester
GAMBLING machines which East Lancashire punters poured £270m into last year could still be restricted, David Cameron said. Fixed-odds betting terminals, found in most bookmakers, have been previously labelled ‘the crack cocaine of gambling’.
HEALTH workers are making people aware of the common signs and symptoms of breast cancer in a bid to increase the chances of early diagnosis. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK with around 41,300 women and 400 men being diagnosed
ALL East Lancashire under-fives will get free vitamin D injections to combat the menace of rickets after England’s health boss warned the bone disease was making a come-back. England’s chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies yesterday called for
EVERY so often you will try to make sense of why some people are how they are. Take for instance bus drivers. This week, one of my friends had a big issue with bus drivers because he was concerned that they were getting far too much special treatment
Re: New 'Blood in Pee' health campaign launched in Blackburn. Every week there seems to be a new health initiative launched. Usually they say if you have blah blah blah, go to see your doctor immediately. Fine, but it sometimes takes more than
RE: East Lancashire's Hallowe'en revellers face strict curbs. I live on pendle hill and in recent years the preventative measures by the enforcement agencies have virtually killed off halloween in the area. Sure, there used to be a few idiots
RE: Future of Burnley market under review. The biggest thing here is to reduce the amount it costs to rent a plot. I used to know a former stall holder and 15 years ago she was complaining about the cost of rent on her business, let alone today
YOU can’t walk down a high street in East Lancs without coming across a bookies or turn on the TV and see an advert for the latest football odds. But the streets are not always paved with gold as gambling addicts know to their cost. And even
WORK to restore internationally-renowned heather and peatland above Burnley which is home to the threatened Pennine finch, has been declared a success. Worsthorne Moor, a haven for the tiny twite, has been transformed into a must-see spot for wildlife
A BUS driver has been given 100 hours community service after an accident in which a Pendle man was injured last summer. Stuart Day, 57, of Burnley Road, Crawshawbooth, admitted driving a ‘58’ plate Volvo bus without due care and attention on Colne
BLACKBURN Cathedral’s ‘iconic chairs’ are getting a special facelift. The £88,000 refurbishment of the intricately designed stackable chairs is in the hands of craftsman Paul Case. Paul, who runs Osbaldeston business Paul Case Furniture, has
GARY Bowyer will take his Blackburn Rovers side to Blackpool tomorrow with praise ringing in his ears from his opposite number Paul Ince. Blackpool boss Ince, who endured an unhappy six-month spell in the Ewood Park hotseat in 2008, believes Bowyer
CLARETS fanatic and former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell has said he regrets not standing for election as an MP in Burnley. Mr Campbell, 56, said supporters at Turf Moor had encouraged him to consider putting himself forward as a candidate
A FORMER drug user ‘not expected to live past 16’ turned her life around and has graduated from university. Jennie Kirby, 27, became dependent on sleeping tablets and marijuana after being placed in care at 13. A self-confessed ‘tearaway’ who
NORTH West MEP Arlene McCarthy will today take part in Breast Cancer Campaign’s ‘Wear it Pink Day’. The charity has asked people to put on something pink and donate £2 to help hit the target of raising £2 million, in order to continue to funding
BOSSES at The Mall in Blackburn were delighted by the number of bags of unwanted items donated as part of a major fundraising drive. The British Heart Foundation shop collected nearly 500 bags of secondhand items in September, as part of the charity
A CONVICTED ‘bubble’ dealer is facing jail for reoffending while subject to a suspended prison term. Carl Van Bassttene, 31, of Newmeadow Close, was given the sentence last December, but was involved in supply of the drug within days of his arrest
A PRIMARY school was celebrating after an inspection found they had upgraded to a ‘good’ rating. St Oswald’s Church of England Primary School in Knuzden was described as offering good leadership, good teaching, and that pupils had a good level
LANCASHIRE’S favourite Strictly Come Dancing star Natalie Gumede will appear in a new series of BBC daytime drama, Moving On. The Burnley-born actress, who played villain Kirsty Soames in Coronation Street, will star in one of the five stand alone
QPR boss Harry Redknapp says he is not surprised by the way Burnley have started the 2013/14 campaign. The Clarets lead QPR by two points at the top of the Championship table and Redknapp is under no illusions about the difficulty of the trip to
CONCERNS have been raised about the number of ‘ageing’ GPs in East Lancashire which could lead to a worrying shortage in the coming years. Nearly a third of family doctors in the area are over 55, double the national average. Mohammed Iqbal
HIGH school students were put through their paces designing a weight-powered vehicle. Pupils at The Hollins Technology College in Accrington welcomed other schools as they hosted the annual Rotary International and BAE Systems Technology Tournament
A BITTER row over a closure-threatened community centre in Burnley has exploded with calls for a fresh investigation into its demise. Four Liberal Democrat councillors – Jeff Sumner, Neil Mottershead, Tracy Kennedy and Jennifer Knowles – staged
GOALKEEPER Tom Heaton goes into tomorrow’s top of the table clash with QPR ‘proud to be a Claret’, and he knows he isn’t the only one. Burnley’s position at the head of the Championship has led to a feel-good factor sweeping through the club and
ARMED police told residents to stay in their homes after reports of a firearms incident in Blackburn. Dozens of officers carrying guns were called to Parklands Way, off Heys Lane, at 6.30am today. Witnesses said they saw police sat waiting
A SECONDARY school which received the lowest possible Ofsted rating is in talks about becoming an academy. Darwen Vale High, rated ‘inadequate’ this summer, is said to have made some improvements after inspectors re-visited for the first monitoring
A TERRIFIED mother-of-two whose psychotic ex-partner strangled her until she became unconscious believed she could have died but for a friend arriving, a court heard. Ben Almond, 34, had flown into a rage and left Nicolette Simpson badly injured
A GRANDAD from Burnley was found hanged on a general ward at Royal Blackburn Hospital the night before he was due to be assessed by a mental health nurse, an inquest heard. John Knowles, 59, of Brunshaw Avenue, was found in the bathroom by another
DANNY Ings wants to come off the Turf Moor pitch with more goals and points than Charlie Austin. Last season's top scorer and this year's leading marksman go head-to-head tomorrow when the Clarets host QPR. But when it comes to their individual
POLICE are appealing for information after high value Asian gold jewellery was stolen from a house in Burnley on Tuesday 22nd October. The burglary took place sometime between 7.50pm and 8.30pm at a mid-terraced house on Clive Street when someone
BLACKBURN Rovers midfielder Jason Lowe has signed a new contract extension that will tie him to the club until June 2017. The 22-year-old, who has been on Rovers’ books for 10 years, said: “I’m over the moon. “I love playing here and
A HOTEL boss left £600,000 out of pocket due to the ‘rate-swap’ scandal took his protest to the House of Commons yesterday. Stefan Sikorski, who owns the Oaks Hotel in Reedley, Higher Trapp at Fence and The Old Mill Hotel, Ramsbottom, said the
A MAN suffered a three-inch cut to his face during an assault in a town centre beer garden. And police believe this man, right, may have vital information about the unprovoked attack which happened while the man was sat outside Bar Ibiza in Mincing
BLACKBURN Rovers are well equipped to break down Blackpool’s mean machine. That is the verdict of Rovers boss Gary Bowyer ahead of tomorrow’s derby clash between the Lancashire rivals at Bloomfield Road. Blackpool have gone nearly five hours
WILL Straw, the Labour party candidate looking to challenge Jake Berry MP for his Rossendale and Darwen seat at the next General Election, has said the energy price rise has come as ‘a kick in the teeth for many families’. Mr Straw said: “Npower
Kyllachy Rise has shown a liking for cut in the ground before so the rain-softened surface at Doncaster for the Racing Post/SIS Betting Shop Manager Handicap should hold no fears. The three-year-old has seen plenty of action this term and has been
RED-hot Ramsbottom United will be looking to build on their stunning FA Trophy victory against Worksop last weekend when they return to league duty tomorrow. The Rams travel to Harrogate Railway Athletic in Evo-Stik First Division North looking
CAPTAIN Luke Joyce says derby day has come at the right time for Accrington Stanley. The Reds earned their first League Two win of the season, at home to Bristol Rovers in Tuesday, the night that Morecambe’s nine-game unbeaten run come to an emphatic
BRADLEY Smith will get the chance to show off his talents on the biggest stage when he competes in the qualifying rounds of the AJ Bell World Squash Championship in Manchester this weekend. The Chorley teenager, regarded as one of the brightest
HIS manager may not be making special plans to shackle Tom Ince in tomorrow’s Lancashire derby – but Blackburn Rovers midfielder Jason Lowe has been doing his best to put the Blackpool star off. Lowe and Ince are England U21s team-mates and were
Former Chorley boss Tony Hesketh has returned to football management and taken over at West Lancashire League Premier Division outfit Fulwood Amateurs. The popular Hesketh, who has also managed Kendal has been away from the dugout since being by
MIKE Phelan says Manchester United would have delivered a marquee signing had Sir Alex Ferguson’s regime remained at Old Trafford. Ferguson took the decision to slip into retirement at the end of the 2012/13 campaign, passing the managerial reins
SAM Vokes may not yet be ready for the Great British Bake-Off, but he put his culinary skills to the test to impress his team-mates this week. As is tradition in the workplace – with football clubs no exception – anyone celebrating a birthday supplies
A RURAL campaign group has urged residents and councillors in Lancashire to join its campaign for fairer funding from the government. The Rural Services Network has asked the government to change its funding formula, which sees urban councils currently
