Archive

  • Action plan over beauty spot reservoir

    AN angling club could join forces with the council to improve a run-down beauty spot. New Line Reservoir in Bacup is popular with walkers, anglers and families for picnics and days out. But some visitors have complained that the area is overgrown and

  • Take the plunge to keep fit

    PEOPLE are being urged to take the plunge to get themselves fit for the summer. Blackburn Penguins swimming club has vacancies for new male or female recruits to join in regular swim nights at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School. The club is non-competitive

  • Town's custody office closing down

    THE custody office at Rawtenstall police station is to close, with prisoners transferred to Burnley. The decision not to re-open the cell complex following minor refurbishment works has been announced by the new Pennine divisional commander Chief Supt

  • Fears eased over traffic plans

    A LONG running wrangle over plans to change traffic flows in the Feniscowles area of Blackburn may finally be drawing to a close. Residents in the area sent several letters of objection to Blackburn with Darwen Council over the original plans for the

  • Drug peddling mum is jailed

    A MOTHER who allowed her house to be used for drug peddling is behind bars, while her former house mate has been given five months to prove he can stay on the straight and narrow. Diana Steels, 39, was jailed for four months at Burnley Crown Court. Barry

  • Early start for baby bookworms

    PARENTS were today encouraged to enrol their babies at their local library as health workers hailed the success of a scheme to persuade mums and dads to read books to their tots. The Bookstart partnership between health visitors, the library service and

  • Police praise from Straw

    HOME Secretary Jack Straw today praised the work of police in Lancashire after the force achieved the best crime figures in the country. Crime in Lancashire as a whole fell by 10.8 per cent - the biggest reduction of any police force area in England and

  • Down by the Riverside by Phil Lloyd

    I THINK it was the moment when Clyde Wijnhard's cross, from near the corner flag, landed in the centre circle that confirmed for our visitors what Rovers fans had worked out already - that Saturday was not going to be Huddersfield's day! There's something

  • Sniffer dogs in drugs clampdown

    SNIFFER dogs are being hired to weed out drug users in a canine crackdown at a Blackburn night club, it was revealed today. Bosses at Utopia have launched the pooch-style purge in a bid to drive out customers who try to sneak cannabis and other illegal

  • Irish whizz kid Fitz right in

    EXCITING teenager John Fitzgerald has revealed why he turned his back on the Premiership's big four in order to sign for Blackburn Rovers. The highly sought-after central defender has been tracked by Manchester United, Leeds, Liverpool and Arsenal during

  • Stan set to trim the fringe

    BURNLEY boss Stan Ternent may be prepared to consider approaches for some of his fringe players at Turf Moor as he looks to keep the Clarets' promotion campaign on the boil. Ternent isn't pushing anyone out of the door and hasn't transfer-listed any of

  • Jansen: I want to stay at Ewood

    MATT Jansen has put an end to rumours linking him with a move out of Ewood by vowing to stay at Blackburn and fight for his place. The 22-year-old striker hasn't started a game since Tony Parkes succeeded Brian Kidd in November last year. But the former

  • O'Keeffe's

    big deals I WAS interested to read Ken Hartley's recollections (Sports Letters, January 11) about professional fees in the Lancashire League. I enclose a copy of Frank O'Keeffe's contract with Church for 1922. He was on the same fee for 1923 and we paid

  • Firm to probe milk tanker accident

    AN INVESTIGATION has been launched by a Clitheroe haulage firm after a milk tanker slipped off a farm dirt track and tumbled 40 feet into a stream. Tankfreight Ltd, of Croft Street, which operates on behalf of Milk Marque Distribution, is probing the

  • Trial told of blood spattered terrier

    AN ALLEGED badger baiter was seen walking out of woods in camouflage clothing, accompanied by a dog with a blood-spattered face, a court was told. Gary Haslam, 29, of Moorend, Clitheroe, is on trial at Burnley Magistrates' Court accused of cruelty to

  • Crime in Valley takes as tumble

    CRIME in the Ribble Valley has taken a nosedive with figures falling by 19 per cent - three times higher than target cuts. Figures so far for the year ending on March 31 also show that the number of incidents of disorder and anti-social behaviour dropped

  • FIVE YEARS AGO: £25 million cuts threat

    CUTS totalling nearly £25 million would be made in Lancashire schools after a stormy meeting of the county's education committee. The Labour-controlled committee said it had no alternative but to make the savings because of the Government's "inadequate

  • Congratulations to drug-fight nightspot

    THE fight to contain the drugs cult which threatens the very foundations of our society puts great strain on the emergency services and specialist agencies. It costs million and accounts for countless man hours. It is, therefore, encouraging to see that

  • Thanks for support

    MANY thanks to the landlord and landlady and customers of the Griffin Inn, Blackburn, for their support, raising £114 recently in the 'Millennium' raffle to raise funds for the land purchase for the Only Foals and Horses animal sanctuary. SHEILA BRENNAN

  • Stairlift a letdown

    POTENTIAL buyers of stairlifts, a boon to many people, should study the terms carefully and read the case of the elderly couple from Salford who had a stairlift fitted costing £1,425 and also entered into a maintenance agreement for another £257 per year

  • GREAT HARWOOD TOWN 2

    WARRINGTON 1 HARWOOD booked a place in the quarter finals of the FNWTL Floodlit Trophy thanks to Nick Grogan's first goal for the club. Manager Denis Underwood admitted he was relieved to see his Reds record their first victory in eight games. And, though

  • Non-emergency surgery resumed

    THE first non-emergency operations have been resumed at Burnley General Hospital - 10 days after the flu outbreak resulted in a blanket ban. Burnley Health Trust managers said the pressure on hospital beds had eased and elective surgery had been resumed

  • Nursing home sell-off rumour quashed

    THE matron of a Burnley nursing home said to be the target of speculators today declared: "We are not selling out - we are expanding!" Mrs Pauline Smithstone, in charge of the Holme at Cliviger spoke out after councillors rejected a planning application

  • Carry on 'Corrie'

    REGARDING J Uttley's remarks about 'Coronation Street' (Letters, January 11), if you want reality, you listen to the news, or read the papers, or look at your family, friends and neighbours struggling to cope with illness, no jobs, broken relationships

  • Campaigner socks it to Straw over Tyson

    A CALL for "Bully Boy" Mike Tyson to be banned from Britain came today from a leading Burnley women's rights campaigner. Labour stalwart Coun Alice Thornber said the decision to allow the convicted rapist into Britain sent the wrong message to everyone

  • Landowners get a tree spree offer

    FOREST of Burnley bosses are offering the deal of the decade to landowners willing to help them meet their million trees-planting target. They will provide trees for anyone willing to provide at least a quarter of an acre of land for the £3.6 million

  • All change at the top for police

    SEVEN inspectors have taken up new posts in a routine shake-up of officers in the division covering Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale. The Burnley part of Pennine division has also been changed, with Stoops estate now included in the section policed from

  • Blaze death

    A WOMAN who died in a house fire along with 12 of her 13 dogs has been named by police. Police said Sheila Holding, 54, died in her Dowry Street, Accrington, home early yesterday. Firefighters, who confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances, said

  • Smuggler's cheap cigs for work pals

    A FATHER who supplied cut-price cigarettes to work colleagues narrowly avoided a prison sentence after police chanced upon tobacco worth £3,283 at his home. David Guilfoyle sold the smuggled cigarettes to fellow workers at the Senator International Ltd

  • Anger at TV 'dump' slur

    A FURIOUS council boss is writing to a television company complaining about the negative portrayal of an East Lancashire town in a smash hit series. Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe has hit out at the Heartbeat programme - which is made by Yorkshire

  • Keeping it in the family

    FAMILY firms in East Lancashire need to play to their strengths to prosper. The county's Stoy Centre for Family Businesses believes that they have unique advantages over other businesses. "There are special qualities that differentiate family businesses

  • Carpet firm broadens its horizons

    A MAJOR investment programme is paying dividends for a carpet firm. Cavalier Carpets is in the middle of an £8million investment programme which has included the purchase of a five-metre wide Axminister weaving machine. The Blackburn firm is the only

  • Snow kids clinch a red-hot deal

    FILM boss Gary Smith has unveiled a £1.3million deal - to sell snowmen to Norway! The Blackburn-born head of Winchester Entertainment has signed an agreement with TV2 of Norway for the production and sales distribution of 'The Snow Children'. The firm

  • Newsroom students learn the tricks of our trade

    NEGOTIATING with international terrorists, saving lives and producing newspaper pages whilst keeping one eye on the clock was all in a day's work for students in a Hyndburn school. All 118 students in year 10 at Norden High School, Rishton, took part

  • Blackspot smash deaths pair named

    POLICE have named the men who died in a car smash at a notorious accident blackspot yesterday morning. Peter Floyd, 49, of Bury Fold Lane, Darwen, and David Ian Taylor, 29, of Robin Bank Road, Darwen, died at Bull Hill on the A666. The Toyota Celica they

  • Bakers roll out new bike for robbery victim

    TEN-year-old Nathan Jolley was over the moon when bakery bosses presented him with a new bike, after they heard a robber had ridden off on his Christmas present mountain. Nathan, of Laurel Avenue, Darwen, was chased and threatened by a youth with a four-inch

  • Rent hike to improve council homes

    RENTS will have to increase for houses to improve - is the message to Rossendale council tenants as the town hall prepares to set a rent rise for the year. Councillors want tenants to have their say in the rent-making exercise before the housing committee

  • What's on: Events in East Lancs, Wednesday Jan 19

    Blackburn and District Stamp Club, Feilden Room, Blackburn Central Library, 7.30pm. Blackburn Lions Ladies Charity Shop, Lord Street West, Blackburn, 10am-4pm. Friends in Bereavement, St John's Methodist Church, Albert Road, Colne, 7pm. Friends of the

  • 10 YEARS AGO: Maternity unit row

    PLANS to close an East Lancashire maternity unit were to go ahead despite a wave of protest. Members of Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Health Authority voted 11-5 to close Bramley Meade maternity home, in Whalley, to help pay for staff on a new

  • You can help grant a wish

    I WOULD like to urge readers to get involved in helping to raise money for the Starlight Children's Foundation, to grant the wishes of seriously-ill children. As patron of their fitness fundraising campaign, Step Out for Starlight, I want you to ask your

  • Change necessary

    HOW sorry I feel for S Ashton (Letters, January 6). It must be awful having to drink out of a plastic glass and have no pool table in his former local. Does he not stop and think, the reason for this is that plastic glasses don't break when thrown, or

  • Malik race apology 'not enough'

    DEPUTY Burnley council leader Rafique Malik was condemned for offering a "mealy-mouthed apology" to colleagues after they claimed he accused them of racism. But demands by both opposition councillors and some members of Coun Malik's own Labour party that

  • Terrified by shot through letter box

    TWO elderly women were terrified when a gun was fired through the letter box when they went to a neighbour's to complain about noise. Burnley magistrates heard how student Peter Compston, 20, thought it was his friends turning up at his door and "did

  • Cloud over health pay joy

    PAY joy for nurses cast a major shadow over hospital services in Burnley today - as it became apparent there will be no extra cash to meet the Government's inflation-busting wage award. And with health trusts expected to have to find the extra cash for

  • Found hanged

    A MAN was found hanged in the garage of his home in Stanhill Road, Oswaldtwistle. Police said Kenneth Hill, 59, who is believed to have been suffering from depression, was found by members of his family yesterday morning. Converted for the new archive

  • Cousin charged with pub killing

    A CIVIL engineer has appeared in court accused of killing his cousin in a pub. James Bruce Singleton, 29, of Kingfisher Court, Oswaldtwistle, is charged with the manslaughter of his cousin Mark Taylor, 25. An application for bail by Singleton's solicitor

  • Praise for woman who died with her 12 dogs

    A COUNCIL leader has paid tribute to a dog breeder who died with 12 of her 13 afghan hounds in a fire at her home. Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe praised Sheila Holding, who was Conservative candidate for Huncoat in the 1992 local elections.

  • Trucker gets that sinking feeling!

    A LORRY driver got a shock when a road collapsed. The vehicle's front wheel fell through the road as it drove along Church Bank Street in Darwen. Investigations are now under way into how the hole developed and the section of road has been closed. A Blackburn

  • Sniffer dogs in drugs clampdown

    SNIFFER dogs are being hired to weed out drug users in a canine crackdown at a Blackburn night club, it was revealed today. Bosses at Utopia have launched the pooch-style purge in a bid to drive out customers who try to sneak cannabis and other illegal

  • Homes without water after burst

    More than 100 homes in Colne were without water for six hours after a water main pipe burst. North West Water sent an emergency team to fix the broken pipe at the junction of Skipton Road and Castle Road. A NWW spokesman said: "The burst affected supplies

  • Cummings and Goings with STEPHEN CUMMINGS

    THE natives are growing restless. And following the witless second half surrender at Chesterfield last Saturday, it's easy to see why. But to be honest, it's mostly been this way since Christmas. With the exception of Andy Payton inspired victory over

  • Snooker star's son walks free

    THE son of former World Champion Snooker star Dennis Taylor has walked free from court, after admitting lying to help his friend, disgraced former Blackburn Rovers footballer Gary Croft. Damien Taylor, 26, of Beardwood Meadow, Blackburn, narrowly escaped

  • Tycoon's £45m 'Dump' site plan

    THE property tycoon behind Brockhall Village in the Ribble Valley is looking at developing a massive former armaments depot in West Cumbria. Gerald Hitman's company, Brockhall Village Limited, has suggested setting up a joint company with Allerdale Council

  • Sex case witness 'told lies to police'

    A TEENAGER at the centre of a sex abuse case involving a top Catholic private school told Preston Crown Court he had lied when first interviewed by police. The 17-year-old made the admission as he was being cross examined on a video link in the trial

  • Extra pay must mean extra funds

    PAY increases for NHS staff, including 7.8 per cent for 60,000 experienced staff nurses described as the backbone of the service, are welcome. They have taken the pressure off Tony Blair and his colleagues following the near-meltdown situation at some

  • Pensioners still victims

    PENSIONERS are being conned by our government all the time. First, they said that if they got in, they would put pensions up like other countries, but they have not kept their promise and we still don't get enough to live on. We get a £1 rise each April

  • The Stager takes centre stage

    Harry Barlow's Stable Whispers I SPENT a lively spring-like day at Southwell all-weather track yesterday. Royston trainer John Jenkins put me on the winning track when he told me that he fancied The Stager to run up a sequence on the all-weather and Tellion

  • Picture brought back memories

    REGARDING the picture of the cast of the 1946 play at Bangor Street School, Blackburn, sent to 'Looking Back' by reader David Aspden (LET, January 6), I also was at Bangor Street at the same time as David and, like him, was also at Cedar Street School

  • 'Spy' camera success

    COMMUNITY leaders in Nelson are celebrating the town's success in winning £200,000 to install town centre 'spy' cameras. Twelve mixed closed circuit TV cameras and one mobile camera are to be fitted thanks to the successful Pendle Community Safety Partnership's