From Norman Coombes, Spring Lane, Blackburn. Stipplepod the Goblin was feeling bored one day, When the fairy folk came calling to invite him out to play. We can scramble up the hillside, we can wander in the glen, We can picnic on jam sandwiches
A NEWCOMER on the high street attracts the takeaway reviewer like a moth to a flame. So Omarji's was a natural choice for this week's column. Having driven past it on the way home I couldn't face tackling driving back into town so I phoned through an
Best known for his role as tiger-striped Young Kenny in Phoenix Nights, Justin Moorhouse has been plugging away on the North West comedy circuit for years. See him in action in Blackburn on July 7. He's come a long way since winning the Manchester
To put it quite simply, things have gotten out of hand. If you want to see a real spectacle visit the hospital on a Saturday night. There are more nuts going to that place in one night than there's been in the last five Big Brother households. Now
BLACKBURN Rovers striker Paul Gallagher helped to present trophies at the first annual football tournament to be held in memory of a teenager killed in a car crash. The Rovers player attended the five-a-side eventand spent about two hours chatting, signing
THOUSANDS of Lancashire holiday-makers heading for Europe this summer are being warned of a potentially life-threatening disease. Tick borne encephalitis (TBE) can lead to meningitis and in serious cases result in paralysis and death, with about one
QUITE a lot of emphasis is being made regarding the National Health Service running at a massive loss. Nobody mentions the country that has the finest health service in the world. Why? Because it is an unashamed communist country, Cuba. When Britain
A TEENAGER charged with dangerous driving has learned the hard way about the perils of the road, a court was told. Magistrates heard that after he had been involved in an alleged race with another motorist, Clitheroe teenager Philip Walmsley had been
THE boss of an East Lancashire property firm behind some of the best known developments in the area has scooped a top award. Stephen Ashworth, chairman and managing director of the Hurstwood Group, based in Rossendale, has been named Property Entrepreneur
A GREAT grandmother today described how a bogus caller labelled The Handyman wrecked her life. Jean, 76, who is partially sighted and did not want to give her surname, told how the callous conman had stolen £130 from her home in Blackburn. She spoke
A TEENAGER who was left with head injuries after a car crash remains in a critical condition in hospital. Thomas Maylor, 17, of Whitecroft View, Baxenden, is still in the critical care unit of the Royal Preston Hospital after the accident almost three
RESIDENTS today said their lives were being made a misery by persistent power surges which have caused problems with their electricity for six years. Around 70 of Twin Valley's tenants in Shakespeare Way, Blackburn, were left without electricity for
THE England team may well be focusing on winning the World Cup but pupils from across Blackburn with Darwen have their thoughts on their own soccer showpiece. While Beckham and the boys have been carrying the hopes of the nation in Germany, girls and
A Blackburn flower firm has been shortlisted for an award which would see them named as the best in the country. Easthams, Victoria Court, in the town centre, recently entered the National Flower Shop of the year award and has got through the first round
THE parents of a schoolboy who died after crashing a Land Rover have appealed to the last person to see him alive to reveal exactly what happened. Derek and Elizabeth Makinson pleaded with Sarah Calvert to help them with their grief over the tragic death
THE brother of murder victim Nazia Ahmed has made an emotional appeal for her suspected killer to give himself up. Police are hunting estranged husband Zameer Ahmed after Nazia, 23, was stabbed to death and her sister Shazia was seriously injured at
A Nelson teenager was attacked by a gang, including one armed with a hammer, when they tried to steal his bike. The assault happened at 3.45pm on Tuesday in Hibson Road, when the 18-year-old builder was approached by three youths. The group demanded
PENDLE Council has officially objected to controversial plans to build a new super school on playing fields in Brierfield. The borough's development control committee sided with its colleagues by refusing to back plans for a 1,050 pupils secondary
A BURNLEY teacher who has travelled the world during a career spanning almost 30 years is set to retire. Janet Smith started her first job on her 21st birthday and is now calling time on her career as she turns 57. Janet will retire at the end of this
A NEW £5million project to improve flood defences to hundreds of homes in one of East Lancashire's highest flood-risk areas was set to be unveiled today. The Pendle Water flood alleviation scheme was to be officially opened by the borough's MP Gordon
A MIDDLE-AGED drunkard who stalked his estranged wife and threatened to kill her has won his freedom. Burnley Crown Court heard how angry John Quigley, 56, left victim Donna Quigley frightened and distraught after twice confronting her in the early hours
CRAIG Bellamy today insisted it was a tough decision to leave Blackburn but the chance to join Liverpool was simply too good to turn down'. The Welsh international striker finally completed his £6.5 million move to the Reds last night, less than a year
CLITHEROE will face an ever-improving Read side as they look to take a grip on the VEKA Ribblesdale Senior League title. Second-placed Baxenden face another tough battle as they take on Padiham, who are just a place below them. At the bottom, Barnoldswick
PROTESTERS have renewed appeals for the Government to intervene in a row over plans to build a waste plant in their village. Residents in Huncoat have pledged to keep up opposition against a new waste treatment works at the former Huncoat power station
A DRUNKARD who was sent to an anti-addiction hostel in a bid to save his life has returned to Haslingden and has been told he has just a year to live unless he stops drinking. Derek Maxwell, 33, lasted three weeks at the church-run facility in Birmingham
A HOST of top bands and well known acts have been lined up to perform at Blackburn's Arts in the Park event on July 22 and 23. The free festival will see thousands of music lovers heading to Blackburn's Witton Park to listen to some chart-topping
WANTED man Stephen Foster insists the lure of playing under Steve Cotterill was the deciding factor in joining Burnley on a two-year deal. Clarets boss Cotterill swooped from the under the nose of Championship rivals Barnsley to secure free transfer
A CONMAN who tried to hoodwink a judge in a bid to get out of handing over the spoils of his crimes was today starting his second 12-month jail term. Burnley Crown Court heard former company director Neil Demaline, who netted more than £82,000 from
DRIVERS in Rawtenstall face diversions next week as part of St Mary's Way is closed for resurfacing work. The A682 from its junction with C709 Bacup Road to its junction with the C705 Newchurch Road will be closed to northbound traffic from 7pm on
A FUN DAY football competition in Brierfield has been renamed in honour of a councillor who died while out walking. As part of the Heyhead Park fun day organisers have decided to hold a tournament tribute to Bill Clegg, who was described as Mr Brierfield
YOUNGSTERS in Burnley are being warned by police of the dangers of swimming and sailing in reservoirs , lodges and canals over the summer months. The move follows concerns from officers about youths spotted using a small dingy in the lodge next to Queen
AWARD-winning Burnley brewer Moorhouse's is set for a massive £1million expansion in its business and a doubling of the amount of beer it produces. Over the next three years bosses at the firm, based in the town for more than 140 years, want to build
The door could be open for Lee McEvilly to make a sensational return to Accrington Stanley. The strapping striker, who signed from Rochdale in May 2004 before moving to Wrexham a year later, is a free agent at the end of his one-year contract with
"THIS is what we've worked for!" That was the reaction of Accrington Stanley chairman Eric Whalley after the official release of the new season's fixtures. The Reds have been handed a trip to Chester City for their first game back in the Football League
MICHAEL Owen's knee injury might be catastrophic news for England but in a perverse way it suddenly makes Sven Goran Eriksson's job a whole lot easier. No manager would want to lose a player of Owen's calibre at this stage in a major tournament, particularly
COLNE entertain fellow strugglers Rawtenstall with both teams looking for the win that will kick start their season. Captain David Swarbrick said: "At the start of the season, a lot people were backing us and Rawtenstall to be challenging for honours
ROSSENDALE-based Driver Group plc has reported its profits have increased by more than £800,000 over the last six months. The company, which specialises in dispute resolution in the construction industry and has its headquarters in Haslingden, saw pre-tax
PLANS to convert a former petrol station into a car park look set to be approved by Hyndburn Council. Workers and shoppers at Oswaldtwistle Mills have been using the former Badge Brow Filling Station, Union Road, Oswaldtwistle, for the past year without
RE the proposed hostel for the homeless at James Street, Darwen. I believe the site is totally unsuitable for such a development, modern or otherwise. I feel it is vitally important, purely for the look of the town, that we retain as many of our landscaped
I WAS incensed by the comments made by Councillor Ann Scaife about Hyndburn coming top in a survey of litter in East Lancashire). Many council officials make similar comments each year on this important subject. Every year we hear the same old comments
I READ with shock the LET report on the poor response to the consultation documents on the future of East Lancashire Hospitals, mainly because it meant that the approximate 60,000 unpaid carers in the area had not taken the trouble to reply, although
EXTENSION plans at a pub in Clayton-Le-Moors look set to be dashed by officials at Hyndburn Council. Bosses at the Fort Arms Hotel, Lower Barnes Street, had hoped to increase the size of the pub by converting an attached barn and building a two-storey
A TEENAGER who shot a 12-year-old girl in the head from close range with a pellet gun has been ordered to behave. The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, aimed the plastic weapon at Samantha Gibbons, hitting her just above the eye with
CAMPAIGNERS who battled at keep a village library open have won their funding bid to create a community centre in the building. Pendle Council has agreed to give Fence Parish Council £4,000 to help turn some of Wheatley Lane Library into a village hall
THE former leader of the Liberal Democrats on Blackburn with Darwen Council has quashed rumours that he has resigned as a councillor. Coun Paul Browne, who represents the Sudell ward, said since he stood down as party leader he has been flooded with
ONE of the North West's leading health experts has quit his Government job with a stinging attack on the "bureaucratic" NHS. Professor John Ashton, the Department of Health's top health adviser in the region, said he was fed up of Government reforms.
More people have walked on the moon than seen Theo Walcott play a competitive game of football. OK, that's an exaggeration. However, unlike Sven, I have seen the teenager in more than just a friendly - and was thoroughly unimpressed. When my side played
