A MAN was due to appear before Blackburn magistrates today charged with robbery at Guide post office. Richard Paul Lucas, 18, of Bury, has also been charged with motoring offences including theft of a motor vehicle. Police are still looking for three
VISITORS put faces to the voices on the other end of the line when Blackburn's BT Operator Assistance Centre opened its doors. The Mayor and Mayoress of Blackburn and guests from the emergency services and local businesses toured the switchroom on Jubilee
MORE than a third of East Lancashire employees are now involved in an initiative aimed at improving Britain's workforce. Figures revealed today show that more than 63,748 local workers are employed by companies who have achieved or are working towards
NEIGHBOURS campaigning against a proposed children's home have failed to win backing from planners. Rossendale councillors were being told today there were no grounds for refusing a request to convert the farmhouse at Higher Greens Farm, Greens Lane,
THE social club at The Greyhound pub, Barnoldswick, are to hand over £2,500 this weekend to Burnley and Pendle Hospice and the Macmillan nurses fund. The money was raised from a variety of events including a celebrity dinner, seventies night and Blues
A WOMAN wants greetings cards removed from the shelves of two Blackburn shops after claiming they were obscene. Margaret Foster said she was horrified to see the Quitting Hollywood cards - which carry cartoons of a sexual nature and strong language -
A PENSIONER died despite frantic efforts by neighbours to rescue him from his blazing flat. Thomas Harbinson, 67, suffered 60 per cent burns at his first floor bedsit in Queens Road, Blackburn, last night. The alarm was raised at 6pm by next door neighbour
HIBERNIAN are on the trail of Blackburn Rovers' towering defender Graham Coughlan. The 24-year-old Irishman played in a behind-closed-doors match against East Fife last night and impressed enough for Easter Road boss Alex McLeish to want another look
A COUNCILLOR who supports Blackburn Rovers has urged the Liberal Democrats to try to block the takeover of Manchester United by Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB, for fear it could damage his Ewood Park favourites' future. Tim Farron, the South Ribble councillor
PUNCH-UP victim Sebastien Perez today revealed he is still bewildered by the shock red card he collected against Chelsea. And the Frenchman, who was flattened by Graeme Le Saux's attack, pleaded his innocence after a second yellow card from referee Peter
A POPULAR council figure who has scaled some of the world's most fearsome mountains has climbed back into his town hall seat. John Wells ended 34 years' service with Burnley Council this month when he took early retirement. But the 54-year-old, of Peel
A FENCE around a deserted house that has fallen prey to vandals should be electrified to keep them out, a councillor suggested. Slaidburn resident Peter Goodill asked Ribble Valley Council's Community Committee to replace a fence around his mother's unoccupied
WINDS gusting up to 55mph lashed East Lancashire. A lorry driver had a lucky escape in Ribchester when a 20ft beech tree missed his cab by inches. But locals with chainsaws were quickly on the scene to help clear the blockage, and the lorry, which was
REGARDING the reports of a supermarket being built in Great Harwood, my town is dying and I don't like it one little bit. What we need is a supermarket that sells everything. It's a great little town and the people are kind and friendly. They deserve
I WAS pleased when Duncan McVee (Letters, September 15) complimented me by referring to me as a monarchist. I was not so pleased when he added "traditional". Let me make it very clear that I do not blindly and dogmatically accept all which is passed on
FINISHING line manager Chris Wareing is operating on a whole "new level" after achieving a high calibre management qualification. Chris, an employee at Burnley-based Ashworth Diecasting, has just gained Level Four NVQ in management through Eltec's Management
THE web of intrigue surrounding Peter Shackleton's attempts to buy Burnley Football Club widened today. The Lancashire Evening Telegraph can reveal that his backers' account is held at the Zurich-based Union Bank of Switzerland. One of the UBS directors
CHILDREN in Oswaldtwistle had a colourful summer thanks to a competition run by their local library in Union Road. It offered book tokens to arty kids who created the best colour pictures of popular characters Mog and Family and Winni Allfours. The competition
PUNCH-UP victim Sebastien Perez today revealed he is still bewildered by the shock red card he collected against Chelsea. And the Frenchman, who was flattened by Graeme Le Saux's attack, pleaded his innocence after a second yellow card from referee Peter
ONE drink of whisky too much cost a retired hospital cook her driving licence when she faced Hyndburn magistrates. Pilar Ernestina Rivas, 54, of John Street, Clayton-le-Moors, was banned for 12 months, and fined £120 with £35 costs after admitting drink-driving
THE countdown to the euro has begun - and East Lancashire firms are being urged to take action. There are just 100 days to go before countries across Europe start using the euro. Although Britain has not signed up for the new currency many European firms
A HEARTBROKEN aunt fought back tears as she helped to bury her two young nephews and her sister who were murdered in their beds. More than 200 mourners attended the funeral of former Darwen woman Celeste Bates, 31, and her two sons, 18-month-old Milo
CATHERINE Flint has become the first user at Rawtenstall Library to achieve an Acorn Book Club gold award. Catherine, 12, has read and reviewed 85 books. She received a certificate and £20 book token from branch librarian Nick Bury. Bronze and silver
POLICE were called to a house in Haslingden where a son was causing a disturbance in his parents' home, magistrates heard. They found a considerable amount of damage to doors, utensils and crockery in the kitchen of the house in Maple Avenue and the father
A ROSSENDALE rescue team which helps people all over Lancashire is appealing for people to take part in a fund-raising sponsored walk around Pendle. Rossendale Search and Rescue Team recently held its annual Rossendale Way In A Day, sponsored by brewer
LONG distance lorry driver John Grayson has decided to get back on a bike after 30 years to raise money for charity. And he is planning to kick start his fund-raising effort by holding a charity auction at the Weir Hotel in his home village in Rossendale
A £200,000 building plan could save the weddings of hundreds of brides-to-be and end a three-year wrangle between council planners and a hotel owner. Jane Taylor, owner of Horncliffe Mansion, Bury Road, Rawtenstall, stumbled on to a winner when she came
A NIGHTCLUB bouncer was cleared of raping a teenager after a four-day trial. David Johns, 20, was found not guilty by a Burnley Crown Court jury and acquitted of witness intimidation on the direction of Judge Raymond Bennett. Johns, formerly of The Crescent
THE WEB of intrigue surrounding Peter Shackleton's attempts to buy Burnley Football Club widened today. The Lancashire Evening Telegraph can reveal that his backers' account is held at the Zurich-based Union Bank of Switzerland. One of the UBS directors
Blackburn Rovers Reserves 2 Aston Villa Reserves 1 DAVID Dunn showed just why Roy Hodgson rated him highly enough to put him on the bench for Monday night's Premiership clash with Chelsea, as he inspired Rovers Reserves to a deserved win over Aston Villa
CHESTERFIELD are keen to sign Burnley defender Steve Blatherwick on a permanent basis if he impresses during a loan spell at Saltergate. Blatherwick joined the Spireites last week and was on the bench for their 1-1 draw at Maine Road on Saturday. The
SIX women who may have been victims of the Billinge Wood rapist have contacted police following a national television appeal. Police were today investigating a string of sex attacks which could have been carried out by the same man who savagely assaulted
Blackburn Artists Society meet St Gabriel's Church Hall, Brownhill, 7pm. Creative Writing, Confidence Building and Tell Your Own Story, The Women's Centre, 25 Wellington Street (St John's), Blackburn, 1-3pm. Blackburn Rambling Association meet at Witton
PLANS to create a hostel for the homeless in a former home for the mentally handicapped were rejected by Blackburn councillors. A crowd outside the town hall chanted slogans before the planning and highways committee met to discuss the plans for the building
BRITAIN finds itself jolted out of its general detachment over the single currency today by the disclosure that the Queen's head will be banned from the Euro banknotes - if we ever join in. This decision is manna from heaven for the euro-sceptics and,
ANOTHER important prong in the fight against crime in East Lancashire was unveiled today as Blackburn and Darwen were chosen to be among the 12 towns and cities in the country piloting the government's "pathfinder" partnership initiative. It is scheme
CARL Fogarty's team boss has hit back at his Ducati rival following the bust-up that followed the Blackburn rider's World Superbike victory in Assen. The two managers of Ducati's factory teams are at loggerheads over Pier-Francesco Chili's attack on Fogarty
I HAVE sympathy with Tim Brennan (LET, September 16). I also tripped up - in Duckworth Street, Darwen - and got in touch with a solicitor, who wrote asking the council to investigate. They did. With me and my solicitor present, the council men measured
Accrington Stanley 0 Chorley 0 IN an age dominated by player power, Murdoch's millions, Sky TV and their fat cats, Chorley's Simon Marsh reminded fans just what football is all about. The barrell-chested keeper hardly looks the part but his cat-like reflexes
ON Thursday, September 17, my husband Jimmy returned from work with chest pains. Only yards from the doctor's surgery at Redlam, he collapsed and stopped breathing. I drove as fast as I could and ran in to the surgery calling for help. Within seconds,
DURING my years as a Jolly Jack Tar, when I sailed the oceans of the world on various luxurious cruise liners I once heard the most graphic description imaginable of America. 'It's the biggest lunatic asylum in the world, floating on a never-ending sea
WHEN award-winning blacksmith Bill Carter was asked to make a 30-foot "upside-down shuttlecock" he thought he was having his leg pulled. But it was no joke - it was a controversial design for the Welfare State International theatre and arts building in
WORRIED Liberal Democrat Gordon Lishman has urged the Government to act to stop multi-million dollar American funeral corporations preying on the bereaved and elderly. The party conference in Brighton overwhelmingly backed a tough new licensing and regulatory
A BUTCHER whose business was hit by the BSE crisis has been jailed after he smuggled drink and tobacco from the Continent. Father-of-two Gary Goddard, of Cragg Street, Colne, evaded duty to the tune of £12,000 by making several trips over 17 months and
THE MAYOR of Hyndburn has thrown his support behind an Imperial Cancer Research 'pink ribbon' campaign to raise awareness of breast cancer. Coun Ian Ormerod invited Judith Wright, manageress of the charity's Accrington Broadway shop, along to Accrington
POLICE found three drunken men playing football in the middle of Blackburn Road outside the Dunkenhalgh Hotel, Clayton-le-Moors, in the early hours of the morning, Hyndburn magistrates were told. Engineer Steven Peter Townsend, 30, of Harwood Road, Rishton
Valerie Cowan Surfs the Net UNHAPPY with your current Internet Service Provider? Or want to get online but need to find a provider? Then we can help. The Lancashire Evening Telegraph is now offering access for just £7.50 a month plus VAT, or £75 plus
BUSINESS people retiring early from East Lancashire firms are being warned of a potential tax pitfall. The Inland Revenue has decided that people who stay on as unpaid directors of firms after retiring are still providing a service. That means the normal
AN URGENT meeting has been called to discuss claims that a housing developer has let down residents in Darwen by leaving a housing estate "unfinished and untidy." Coun Frank Connor, chairman of Blackburn with Darwen Council's planning sub committee is
