Archive

There is a Grand Sale at St James's, Church, Halingden on Saturday, 31st July from 9am until noon. There's a wide variety of stalls and activities together with a fund-raising cafe.

A BIZARRE own goal put Accrington Stanley on the way to a friendly victory at Southport tonight. Stanley took the lead early on as Steve Dickinson parried Rory Boulding's shot and, with little danger, Southport defender Earl Davis inexplicably put his

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy who has terrorised Burnley Wood residents for two years has been given an anti-social behaviour order. Kyle Barnes, of Dall Street, has been banned from entering the grounds of Unity College, in Towneley Holmes, unless for an

A CRACKDOWN on yobs that vandalise playgrounds has been launched by police ahead of the summer holidays after a spate of attacks. Play areas in the borough will receive regular daily visits throughout the break in a bid to cut incidents.

A TEENAGE musician from Pendle is celebrating winning a prestigious composition contest. Gifted Vahan Salorian, 17, of Barnoldswick, scooped the North Yorkshire Young Composers Competition for the second time in three years. As part of his prize, he

NELSON'S Tesco superstore is to close, it has been announced. Stunned staff at the supermarket, Leeds Road, were told the news today. More than 100 staff work at the store, which only opened in February 2008. Now it will be closed

VISITORS to Blackburn’s new Primark store yesterday bought 50 per cent more than the chainstore’s average shopper, bosses confirmed. The cut-price clothing shop was the centre of frenetic activity on what was described as a ‘great day’ for the town centre

Brazilian striker Rodrigo Branco is continuing his trial with Blackburn Rovers. The 28-year-old featured in Rovers reserves’ 2-0 win over Rhyl on Saturday, following on from his appearances against Huddersfield and Preston last week. Brazilian

A WOMAN motorist was pinned down in her car and robbed while she was parked near to a T-junction. Police have described the incident in Hurstwood Lane, near Salterford Lane, Worsthorne, as being ‘very serious’. Officers said that two men opened

THE school holidays are here and, like most parents, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Six whole weeks with the children can test you to the limit, but in many ways it is easier than term time. The way I see it, there are advantages and disadvantages

Brian Laws has swooped on his former club Sheffield Wednesday to capture goalkeeper Lee Grant. The 27 year-old, who was regarded as one of the best keepers in the Championship last season, has agreed a three- year deal at Turf Moor for an undisclosed

Blackthorn blossoms early in the year and there used to be an old country custom that if the weather was cold as the blossom appeared then the next few weeks would be cold. My diary shows me that this was the case in 1981 and 2010 was another blackthorn

ACE all-rounder Stephen Dearden believes Haslingden’s horrendous pain of 2009 has spurred on the class of 2010 – and says the young players are now steeled for the Lancashire League title run-in. Haslingden blew the title last year in the most

FOR 10 years they have relentlessly mushroomed across Lancashire’s roads. But now the future of the county’s speed cameras are under threat after March due to Government cuts aimed at ‘ending the war on the motorists’. There are now 290 fixed cameras

A MAN claimed more than £16,000 in housing benefits in a five-year scam, a court heard. Burnley Crown Court heard how Michael Parkinson, 56, claimed he lived alone and the only income coming into his house was incapacity benefits. But his wife Patricia

STAFF at the North West’s business support and regeneration organisation have been offered voluntary redundancy after the Government axed funding. The move comes after Chancellor George Osborne announced that the North West Development Agency would be

REPLACEMENT bus services are running this afternoon on the Blackburn-Clitheroe and Blackburn-Colne lines due to rail signalling problems. Journeys may take 30 minutes longer than expected.

THE FIRST group of Burnley taxi drivers to complete a new training programme have been honoured at a presentation ceremony. More than 100 drivers who went through the driver training programme with Burnley Council and Burnley College were presented with

PET owners in East Lancashire are being urged not to overfeed their animals after figures revealed an increase in dog obesity. The statistics, released by the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) yesterday, show that the number of obese dogs

THE annual Haslingden Sports Centre football tournament attracted teams from across the North West and beyond in a sell-out event. Teams from Birkenhead to Bury and Morecambe to Manchester took part in a competition that has establ-ished itself as one

People in Blackburn with Darwen die, on average, eight years earlier than people in other parts of the country. More people die of cancer than is usual in England. The death rate from stroke and heart disease is higher than the average in England.

ST JAMES Primary School have been crowned national mini handball champions for the fourth time. The super Saints beat previous winners Daisyfield in an all-Blackburn final at Haslingden Sports Centre. The competition, now in its 15th year, attracted

AT the recent Extraordinary Meeting of the council I was pleased to hear Coun Mulla’s passionate speech in support of Ivy Street Community Centre. Unfortunately, as residents served by that centre will confirm, in the first two years that I

ZURAB Khizanishvili has always been a popular figure at Ewood Park even though his appearances have often been limited. The cocktail of being a likable individual, a dependable defender and a real team player has seen him fit in well at Rovers

Dog-lovers will be on the defensive but any attack, whether on a baby, defenceless farm animals or other timid dogs, can be attributed to careless or incapable owners. Leave it to chance and the canine will revert to its basic instincts. With felines

A DRUGS raid in Burnley has uncovered £6,000 of heroin. The Class A drug was found after officers raided an address in Williams Road after a tip-off from residents. A 20-year-old woman and 21-year-old man were arrested at the property on suspicion of

UNDERCOVER police are testing scrap dealers in the latest bid to cut down on illegal metal trading. A rise in scrap metal thefts and reports of stolen lead and cable from East Lancashire’s railways has prompted a joint crackdown between neighbourhood

A PENSIONER on a street corner talking to a friend was attacked by a 21-year-old man wielding a martial arts weapon. Blackburn magistrates heard Mark Finn hit his victim with a nunchuck, two pieces of metal joined by a chain, bringing him to the floor

BOSSES from a Lancashire security firm last night walked away with £100,000 of investment after winning over the stars of TV’s Dragon’s Den. Peter Harrison and Wesley Downham pitched to ‘Dragons’ Theo Paphitis, Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones

A team of Rovers youngsters are jumping for joy after winning the inaugural Premier League 4 Sport National Volleyball Tournament. The St Bede’s schoolboys, who are coached by the club’s Community Trust and only took up the sport just three weeks earlier

ST JAMES Primary School have been crowned national mini handball champions for the fourth time. The super Saints beat previous winners Daisyfield in an all-Blackburn final at Haslingden Sports Centre. The competition, now in its 15th year, attracted

BROTHER and sister Joe and Polly Pearse show they are on track when it comes to athletics success. In fact, the Clitheroe Royal Grammar School pupils are all-rounders in every sense of the word as they both shine in a range of sports. While Year Nine

LANCASHIRE commuters are facing lengthy delays this morning after a man was found dead after he was struck by a train. The death, around 8.30am this morning at Leyland train station, is being investigated by British Transport Police.

THE annual Haslingden Sports Centre football tournament attracted teams from across the North West and beyond in a sell-out event. Teams from Birkenhead to Bury and Morecambe to Manchester took part in a competition that has establ-ished itself as one

A NEW style schools athletics competition has been hailed as a huge success. Quadkids, a concept intro-duced by England Athletics, was used for the first time at the Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Primary Schools Athletics Championship. The format sees

EAST Lancashire swimmers will be swimming for glory at the end of season national swimming champion-ships. Swimmers from across the area will be representing Gallica - the county elite squad - at three major competitions. Blackburn Centurions Lucy Davis

AN INJECTION of funds will help look after Hyndburn’s natural habitats. Approximately £9,600 has been set aside to improve the management of the borough’s Biological Heritage Sites, including ancient woodlands, peatland and marshes. Places that will

A NEW style schools athletics competition has been hailed as a huge success. Quadkids, a concept intro-duced by England Athletics, was used for the first time at the Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Primary Schools Athletics Championship. The format sees

HUNDREDS of youngsters are set to be helped with a new £1.5million plan to revamp an Accrington town centre building as a specialist training centre. The building is the former Old Moseley’s Bakery in Grange Lane, which until recently was the Elite

I’VE been considering all the work the Queen carries out. I wonder when we sing our National Anthem including ‘long may she reign over us’, do we ever really think how long she has been doing just that? A friend sent me an e-mail this week which listed

A 25-YEAR-old Blackburn man has been jailed for eight years for raping a seven-year-old girl. Gareth Hodgeon, of Whalley New Road, Blackburn, was convicted of raping and indecently assaulting the girl nine years ago. Hodgeon was aged just 16 at

PETER Jones has set his sights on winning medals at the World Masters Swimming Ch-ampionships. The Clitheroe swimmer heads out to Sweden next month in the form of his life having won three gold medals at the recent British Masters. The 40-year-old is

CROWN Paints has announced a big turnaround in fortunes since a management buyout, turning a £2.8million profit. The business, which employs half of its 1,400 staff at its Darwen headquarters, made sales of £179.2m in the 12 months to December last year

FOREIGN investors expressed interest in the North West’s aerospace market during the Farnborough Air Show, an industry leader said. Martin Wright, chief executive of the North West Aerospace Alliance, spent last week at the world’s biggest industry show

MORE than 100 businesses attended a ‘digital revolution’ seminar held at the University of Central Lancashire campus in Burnley. Among those at the event were BBC North director Peter Salmon, Peel Media chairman Bryan Gray and others from the digital

DARWEN is all ‘fur coat and no knickers’, according to a local councillor. Roy Davies, who represents the Sudell ward, made the comment after becoming increasingly frustrated at rubbish left in back yard and ginnels. He pointed out Anyon Street

GRAHAM Alexander has warned nobody’s place is guaranteed in Brian Laws’ side, as Burnley bid to mount another promotion assault. The 38-year-old started all of the Clarets’ 61 games in their play-off winning season of 2008/09. But with two players

A HARD-hitting film tackling bullying, racism and knife crime, shot by young people, will get its premiere in Nelson tomorrow night. Professional film-makers have been drafted in to ensure that ‘Missed Opportunity’, which also deals with alcohol abuse

SAM Allardyce has not given up on resurrecting Andranik Teymourian’s Premier League career despite the Iranian midfielder opting out of Rovers’ tour to Australia. While Rovers’ board are working hard on bringing a new striker to the club, negotiations

A CRICKET club which was hit for six when it was told to leave its home of more than 100 years has won its bid to stay. Stackstead’s Cricket Club was threatened with closure three years ago after the owner of the ground, Geoffrey Fielding-Bell, made

SPEED cameras will not be disappearing from Lancashire’s roads just yet, according to road safety campaigners. The Government’s decision to end road safety grants to local authorities has led some councils in England to switch off the unpopular Gatsos

The man arrested on suspicion of murdering nurse Jane Clough was sacked from his job as an ambulance technician in May. Last night Jonathan Vass, 30, was being questioned by detectives after police arrested him in Barrowford yesterday morning

ONE of the friends of murdered nurse Jane Clough fought back tears as she said: “You can’t believe this would happen to somebody who was so nice. “She was so pretty. “I feel so sad for her family.” Emma Sumner, 24, of Barrowford

X Factor favourites and Manchester United fans Jedward have offered Wayne Rooney a cameo appearance in an upcoming documentary and the England striker says the Irish twins can use his box at Old Trafford after they bumped into each other in a London hotel

TRIBUTES have flooded in for the Pendle nurse who died after being stabbed to death on a hospital car park. Jane Clough, 26, of Camden Street, Barrowford, was described as ‘lovely and caring’ and a ‘compassionate’ nurse. Miss Clough’s parents

PETER Jones has set his sights on winning medals at the World Masters Swimming Ch-ampionships. The Clitheroe swimmer heads out to Sweden next month in the form of his life having won three gold medals at the recent British Masters. The 40-year-old is

THE search is on to find the third East Lancashire darter to reach the final of the John Smith’s People Darts compe-tition. The annual event gives local darts players a once in a lifetime opportunity to play on the biggest stage of all - the Lakeside

BLACKPOOL’S Blackburn-born striker Louis Almond has been ruled out for up to three months with a dislocated shoulder. The 18-year-old product of Mill Hill FC, who had a spell on loan at Cheltenham last season, is to have an operation after suffering

THE cream is rising to the top in the British and English Fell Championship after two more races in the last month. A good result at the Sedbergh Three Peaks Race was imperative for anyone serious about doing well in both competitions, as it

ACCRINGTON Stanley have agreed deals to sign former Bradford duo Rory Boulding and Jon Bateson – and boss John Coleman is still keen to add two more strikers to his squad before the start of the season. Boulding, the 22-year-old younger

BLACKBURN Harriers hammer thrower Sophie Hitchon has been tipped to compete for a medal at the 2012 Olympics in London after claiming gold at the World Junior Athletics Championships. Burnley athlete Hitchon, 19, took gold in Canada with Harriers

Accrington athlete Leigh Lennon has been training with her mentor Dame Kelly Holmes this month at an ‘On Camp with Kelly’ training camp in Tonbridge. Lennon has been a member of the double Olympic champion’s successful ‘On Camp with Kelly

SAM Allardyce wants to quit the Premier League for international management within three years – but is determined to first take Blackburn Rovers beyond people’s expectations. Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s pre-season friendly against AEK Athens

MORE than 27,000 perspective students are competing for 4,000 places at the University of Central Lancashire. And Blackburn College’s University Centre, which was granted 299 additional places, still has places available for September. Nationally the