WORK on building Blackburn's new railway station has yet again been delayed with the new start date being predicted for some time in March. When the demolition work on the old station was completed, Railtrack's plan had been to award a tender for the
A MASSIVE moorland search for a nursery school teacher was called off last night when she was found safe and well. Sadia Javid, aged 21, is believed to have disappeared to escape an arranged marriage. The search at Edenfield, near Bury, was mounted early
PATIENTS are being sent into private nursing homes to ease a beds crisis at hospitals in Blackburn. Managers at Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust said several people had been admitted to the homes because of the severe pressure on the NHS
FIVE soccer fans were arrested during disturbances following Blackburn Rovers' First Division match with Huddersfield Town on Saturday. Insp Stuart Coates, of Blackburn police, said the match had passed off fairly peacefully but two Huddersfield fans,
IN an age of concrete and tarmac, where rural land is mostly cultivated, it is difficult to understand how once most of Britain was covered in great forests. A glimpse at Rossendale's "Forgotten Forests" was given to visitors to Groundwork Rossendale's
CLARETS defender Mitchell Thomas rued the missed opportunity of a vital away win as Burnley surrendered a lead and were left hanging on to draw 1-1 at struggling Chesterfield. But he took solace from the fact that a point kept the Clarets in the play-off
A TRACTOR bought by Stephen Kyme, who died last month, is being raffled off to raise money for a trust fund for this three children. Stephen's friends and family organised the raffle of his prized tractor after he died from an epileptic fit. Stephen,
VOLUNTEERS across East Lancashire are set to be rewarded for the work they do, thanks to the new Whitbread Volunteer Action Awards. Whitbread is looking for individuals, organisations and companies to be nominated from all over Britain to go forward to
FILAN: Made one decent block early on before injuring his arm clearing a cross. GRAYSON: Looked shaky during the first half but resumed normal service after the break...6 DAVIDSON: Starting to make the left back spot his own thanks to another display
POLICE station staff are hoping to solve a mystery of a 50-year-old wedding ring which was found in the grounds of an East Lancashire school. The gold wedding ring appears to be a woman's and has various inscriptions on it, including the date of Christmas
Division Two: Chesterfield 1 Burnley 1 - Pete Oliver's match verdict IN THE brave new world of Burnley Football Club, with the aspirations of First Division football and the television monies that go with it, there would be no place for tired, out-dated
BROWNIE Lucy Rathbone had the shock of her life when she was presented with a special trophy. Nine-year-old Lucy, a member of St Silas's group, Blackburn, became the first girl to win the Granny Owl Trophy, presented by Edna and Jim Yates, known to members
A WOMAN has died four months after suffering head injuries in a fall while out shopping. Wendy Dawson, 53, of Eastham Street, Clitheroe, was initially taken to Blackburn Infirmary after the fall on September 4. She was transferred to the Royal Preston
A NEW policy for public entertainment licences has been drawn up by Ribble Valley Borough Council. The guidelines will provide a benchmark against which the council can judge individual applications for music and dancing. The council will consider observations
A NEW vision for the Ribble Valley aims to provide a greater range of employment opportunities in the borough. The council's economic development strategy has monitored the strengths and weaknesses of the local economy and pinpointed employment as the
I AM trying to trace former school friends who used to go to St Gabriel's School, Blackburn, about 1985-1986. I moved to Cornwall and would love to hear from anyone who went to the school at that time. GARETH COLLINS, 55, Frobisher Drive, Saltash, Cornwall
Solway 4 Blackburn Hawks 3 ; Blackburn Hawks 3 Solway 1 AN old friend came back to haunt Bobby Haig's side, but it was the Hawks player-boss who had the last laugh in this Border League double header. Ex-Blackburn player Gordon Whyte scored a heartbreaking
THE fact that the Prime Minister appeared on live television at the week-end to discuss the state of the National Health Service demonstrates the concern felt by the government over the recent barrage of criticism. And so it should. One of Labour's great
TWO more goals from leading scorer Gary Williams and a brilliant late double save from goalkeeper Jamie Speare set up a fourth consecutive win for Stanley. Watched by their highest crowd of the season - 405 - Chorley took the lead in the third minute
REGARDING the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, moving out of his four bedroom apartment in Downing Street for the Blairs (LET, January 7), I thought I had heard on TV that the Blairs had moved into 11 Downing Street a few months ago. Could you
FUND-RAISERS at a Burnley bowling club had a 'lotta bottle' to help the local branch of the Samaritans. Members of Greenhill Club raised £386 through having a bottle on the bar since last Easter for donations. The club also boosted the total by holding
CHILDREN are putting themselves at risk by starting fires in unstable houses being demolished on Burnley's Barclay Hills estate. Firefighters were called to deal with incidents on the estate nine times over the weekend and fire chiefs have warned that
A SINGLE mother who gave police her cousin's details when stopped driving, walked free from court. Debra Connelly, 29, would lose her home and possibly her three children if she was sent to custody, her counsel told Burnley Crown Court. Connelly, of mother-of-three
A WOMAN who died in a road accident was hoping to assist with a twin research programme with her identical sister, it has been revealed. Mother-of-two Aileen Wood, 55, died in Blackburn Infirmary after she was in collision with a car as she delivered
BUSINESS boss Mae Morton has landed a top level qualification. Former landlady Mae has been awarded an NVQ in owner management. Mae, who used to run the Stanhill Inn at Oswaldtwistle, has since set up her own firm, Morton Associates in Nelson, which runs
Reporter MIKE RIBBECK is trying to give up smoking. Here is the latest in his diaries: I HAVE reached another milestone - two whole weeks without a cigarette. And for the first time I can honestly say I am starting to feel the benefits of going without
A MOTHER-of-four who lost everything she possessed in two fires that wrecked her home has told how she snatched her youngest child from her bed as flames exploded around her. And Jacqueline Briggs praised neighbour Noel Leonard, who jumped from a first
IT'S the fitness craze that has taken America by storm and now it has arrived in East Lancashire. Tae-Box is billed as an energising, powerful and explosive workout which blends your own hidden strengths with the ancient arts of self-defence and boxing
MORRISON'S supermarkets has reported record breaking Christmas and New Year sales after customers rushed to stock up on goodies for the festive season. The group, which operates major stores in Blackburn and Nelson, said total sales during the seven weeks
SOAPBOX: Jonathan Colman argues that taxation should be cut AT 37 per cent, Britain's peacetime tax burden has never been so high, according to a recent report by the Labour think tank The Fabian Society. People may bemoan this figure but it would be
JUBILANT campaigners today welcomed a £201,000 grant to provide CCTV cameras in Nelson town centre after years of pressing for action. But bids to expand Burnley's CCTV crime-busting camera monitoring centre and bring cameras to Rossendale have been put
STAFF at Darwen Health Centre raised £266 at a Christmas carol service and they have donated it to the Heart of Lancashire Appeal. The appeal aims to provide defibrillators and fast response vehicles, as well as trained volunteers across Lancashire. Mrs
THE Forestry Commission's woodlands in Lancashire have been given a clean "green" bill of health. Government-approved auditors have issued certificates that the commission's 37,000 acre estate in the Lakes Forest District - which includes the Forest of
A THEATRE will end a troubled 18 months dogged by money worries when it reopens with a performance by the famous Reduced Shakespeare Company. The company, famous for staging shortened versions of the Bard's work, will appear at the 200-seat Darwen Library
HOUSEHOLDERS are being offered free first aid kits by bogus telephone callers and then charged £23 - even if they don't want them. Trading standards bosses have warned people in the area to beware of callers, who also claim a donation to a humanitarian
COURSES in media techniques are being launched by Accrington and Rossendale College. Budding Spielbergs can enrol on the Videodrome course to learn basic camera use and digital editing through scripting, shooting and cutting their own films. The Printworks
DARING couples who want to prove their love for each other will have the chance to take part in a "Leap of Love" this Valentine's Day weekend. And the challenge is not just open to couples, as single people who are looking for love are also invited to
A CROOKED businessman has been jailed for allowing stolen credit cards to be passed at his Blackburn shop. In addition, Mohammed Patel was involved in a fraud that involved dishonestly obtaining tax discs from vehicle licensing authority. Patel, 32, of
THE Women's Centre in Wellington Street, Blackburn, is offering new courses to give local women more self-esteem and confidence. Courses on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, 1pm to 3pm, are Overcome stress in mind, body and spirit, and relaxation and
ROVERS boss Tony Parkes is refusing to get carried away by Saturday's stunning 2-0 victory over promotion chasing Huddersfield. That result lifted the Ewood outfit up to seventh in the Nationwide League First Division, just a point off the play offs with
CRICHTON: Back on solid form, notably in dealing with corners and crosses, and given no chance by a stunning equaliser...7 WEST: Impressive performance defensively and when linking with Glen Little in attack, delivering the perfect cross for Andy Payton's
COUNTY hall bosses have been told by money watchdogs that they are running their financial affairs to a high standard. The district auditor has told Lancashire County Council that his annual inspection was a success with the authority "maintaining high
EAST Lancashire has won almost £400,000 towards two new CCTV schemes in the latest round of Home Office cash grants for surveillance equipment. Blackburn with Darwen Crime and Disorder and Road Safety Partnership Group will receive £197,200 for its Blackburn
PORT Vale boss Brian Horton has denied making an approach for Clarets' top-scorer Andy Payton. There have been suggestions that Horton might be looking to Payton to provide the goals to keep Vale in Division One. The Vale boss has previously managed Payton
TWO leading Labour councillors today broke ranks to publicly criticise cost cutting moves by Blackburn with Darwen Council which could mean contracting out more than 175 key jobs to a private company. A split appeared in the ruling group as Coun Don Rishton
BLACKBURN Rovers today angrily denied speculation linking Sunderland boss Peter Reid with a dramatic move to Ewood at the end of the season. A national newspaper story over the weekend suggested Rovers were prepared to treble Reid's wages in a bid to
A MAN slept unscathed through a fire in which the heat was so intense it melted plastic window frames. Frank Chisholm, of Grove Street, Nova Scotia, Blackburn, was asleep on the living room floor of his end terraced home when a gas pipe at the back of
ECSTASY users have been warned of the potentially fatal dangers of getting behind the wheel after taking the drug, following the death of a Blackburn teenager. An inquest heard that Christopher Gavin Woodward had ecstasy in his blood when his car crashed
Division One: Blackburn Rovers 2 Huddersfield Town 0 - Andy Neild's match verdict STEVE Bruce must have wished he'd stayed in Brazil after bubbling Blackburn turned up the heat in the scramble for play off places. The Huddersfield chief was in Rio last
A MAN who had weaned himself off drugs, turned his back on crime and held down a job was still sent to prison for breaching the requirements of a community service order. And stipendiary magistrate Jonathon Finestein said that people should not get the
Huncoat Ladies Club meet Methodist Hall, Marshall Avenue, Huncoat, 8.15pm. Accrington Friends in Bereavement meet Day Hospital, Burnley General Hospital, 7pm. Aromatherapy Evening for Highfield Scouts, Highfield Church, Edmund Street, Darwen, 7.30pm.
A STOLEN lorry crashed into the wall of a house after a thief wearing sandwich bags on his hands lost control of the HGV. The incident happened after the Leyland DAF lorry was stolen from Pendle Trading Estate, Chatburn. The thief lost control of the
A 17-tonne milk tanker slipped off a dirt track and fell 40 feet into a stream after the driver pulled into the wrong farm. Fire crews and paramedics were called to Walsh Fold Farm, off Bradshaw Road, Bradshaw, where they found Raymond Beresford, from
Down Under ancestor hunter Norman Bury last month sought Looking Back's help in unearthing links with kin left behind in Darwen His tackler grandfather John William Bury left Barley Bank Street and the textile industry for Australia in 1920, taking most
THE dawn of the new century saw the possibility of demolition arise for two of the three blocks of high-rise flats at Larkhill, Blackburn - the first to be built in East Lancashire. But when this 1964 picture was taken of them being erected where once
A CATERING operation which supplied big high street chains like Burger King and Pizza Hut was shutting with the loss of 130 Blackburn jobs, it was announced. Booker Fitch Food Services, of Burnley Road, Whitebirk, was to close within six months. Employees
MEMBERS of a Blackburn church joined calls to save the Bramley Meade maternity home at Whalley - on the day its future was being discussed. A petition from the congregation of Leamington Road Baptist Church was sent to the district health authority calling
REGARDING Mr L Lawes' comment (LET, January 4) about it being time to give up religion, I quite agree as 'religion' does cause wars and sufferings. You only need to look at the eastern world and, closer to home, Northern Ireland. But let's not get confused
Swinton Lions 54pts, Lancashire Lynx 6 LYNX'S miserable start to the season continued at Gigg Lane when they were again heavily defeated by Swinton Lions. Lynx contributed to their own downfall when centre Anton Garcia was sent off in the 35th minute,
I FELT a twinge of nostalgia reading of the 'Don't indulge your Dustbin' campaign. Nothing is new - it was done in the 1940s, except waste food was not composted but collected for pig swill. A recent television campaign promotes car-sharing to save energy
I READ with interest the advertisement from Morrison's, the supermarket chain, offering great savings for the new millennium. (LET, January 6). These price cuts come at a most opportune moment, when belts are particularly tight after such a long holiday
EAST Lancashire's Ronnie Baxter made history for all the wrong reasons last night after crashing to a humiliating defeat at the hands of Ted Hankey in the final of the Embassy World Darts Championship at Lakeside. Baxter's dream of going one step better
SO now we, the English, know what Jack Straw MP really thinks about those of us who are not ashamed to call ourselves English nationalists. If Mr Straw and many more of his ilk had their way, our nation state would be totally destroyed and every vestige
I AM sure that most readers will have welcomed the long overdue announcement by Jack Straw that the Government will afford parliamentary time to a Private Members Bill to ban hunting. The Home Secretary also announced an inquiry into hunting. It will
WORSHIPPERS from five Burnley churches gathered under one roof to mark the start of the national Week of Christian Unity. Greenbrook Methodist Church played host yesterday to congregations from Ightenhill Methodist, Habergham Parish, St Augustine's RC
BURNLEY's Bands in the Park 2000 organisers are now accepting applications from bands and artistes who want to take part in the event, between noon and 6pm, on Sunday, July 30. All kinds of contemporary music from folk to R'n'B, hip hop to bhangra will
A CONMAN has failed in a bid to have his sentence cut after writing to a judge. Father-of-three Asif Shah, 28, of Leyland Road, Burnley, currently serving six months in jail, must stay behind bars for the full term. He had asked Judge Raymond Bennett
A 32-YEAR-OLD plane passenger from Accrington was arrested by police after he refused to sit down as the aircraft landed at Manchester Airport. Police were today continuing their investigation after the jobless man "refused to take his seat for landing
A 29-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter following the death of an Oswaldtwistle man after incident in a pub. James Singleton, of Kingfisher Court, Oswaldtwistle, was due to appear before Hyndburn Magistrates today in connection with the death
A WOMAN and 12 Afghan hounds died early today after a fire at a house in Accrington. The woman, who is believed to be in her 50s and single, was discovered by firefighters in the lounge at her house in Dowry Street, at around 3.30am. Police have not named
MOST business bosses in the region expect sales, exports and profits to increase over the first three months of the year, according to a survey. But the Dun and Bradstreet survey found that the number of employers expecting to take on new staff had dropped
RETAIL giant GUS has revealed that its troubled home shopping arm, which includes Kays and Innovations catalogues, was beginning to see some improvements following a slump in clothing sales late last year. The division, which employs several hundreds
CAKE maker Inter Link Foods - which makes lines including cherry bakewells at its Blackburn site - today reported buoyant trading and a jump in profits. In the first six months of its financial year the company made £514,000 operating profits, compared
ABOUT 100 volunteers enjoyed a ceilidh and hot pot supper as a 'thank you' for their hard work for Age Concern Lancashire over the past 12 months. Music for the evening, at the Silverman Hall, Nelson, was provided by the Old School Band. The annual event
A FUND-RAISING effort went up, up and away at a primary school. Organisers of a balloon race at St Paul's School, Hibson Road, Nelson, had their hopes of raising a 'sky high' amount fulfilled when 450 balloons took to off to destinations unknown. The
A PUB was evacuated and homes over a wide area were affected after petrol fumes leaked from a sewer. Customers at the General Gordon, Hibson Road, Nelson, were ordered out of the pub at 7.30pm on Saturday after a strong smell of petrol was reported in
TWO men were killed when a car crashed into a wall and overturned early today. The accident happened at Bull Hill, Bolton Road, Darwen, at about 6.30am. Sub officer Steven Ryan, of Darwen fire service, said the black Toyota GTI appeared to have been travelling
ARMY recruiters are making sure their latest competition has got a little extra bite. The team have joined forces with a giant crocodile to urge young people to snap up an exciting trip to Africa. Recruiters were in Church Street, Blackburn, over the
