A SOUTH Shore sewage works which has been kicking up a stink over the summer may just smell sweeter in the New Year. But residents on Lennox Gate and surrounding areas have been warned things could get worse before they get better. A £1.53 million upgrade
X-RAY experts at Blackpool have won an 'Oscar' for service. Staff from Victoria Hospital Trust's radiology department have become the first in the country to receive the coveted Charter Mark. Lesley Stanney and Ruth Child collected the top national award
AROUND 500 employees of Hollands Pies descended on Ewood Park this week, for a business briefing on the company's future. Eight coachloads of workers were taken to the stadium for a presentation on the direction the company intends to take over the next
WORKERS are being urged to use a hotline to 'shop' Scrooge bosses in East Lancashire. The hotline has been set up by the TUC in the North West this week, for people to complain about bullying bosses, poor working conditions and lousy wages. Urging people
MORE than 28 years after tragedy struck a Blackpool family, they have been reunited with the long-lost son of their beloved brother. Bryan Siddall was just 28 when he was drowned in a fishing accident in Ireland in 1967 - a month before his wedding. A
PENDLE was reeling today after a double jobs bombshell. Medical supplies giant Smith & Nephew confirmed 50 jobs are to go at its Brierfield mill. And at textile firm Carrington Viyella talks are underway to try to save its factory and almost 100 jobs
RAIDERS smashed their way through a strengthened window and stole two children's mini motorbikes from a town centre shop. And detectives have been checking footage from Accrington's newly installed closed circuit television system in the hope the smash-and-grab
BIRTHDAY boy Duane Jarman's smile lit up the Citizen office when he popped in with mum Caroline to say a big thank you to generous Citizen readers. Cerebal palsy sufferer Duane, of Thorneyholme Road in Accrington, celebrates his 13th birthday tomorrow
NEW owners of a shut-down Leigh night club aim to provide quality entertainment for over 21 year-olds. Travel firm boss Alan Muir - head of Monks European Tours - his wife Margaret and sons Craig and Clive intend their Five Pearl Ltd family venture will
BLACKBURN Rovers can walk a little taller today. True, their sweet 4-1 success over Rosenborg as the curtain came down on the UEFA Champions' League was hardly likely to prompt a spate of street parties in East Lancashire. But, as manager Ray Harford
PRESTON was set alight with the spirit of Christmas this week and people flew in from all over the globe to witness it. Oscar winning animator Nick Park pulled the switch following the Northern Premier of his newest film A Close Shave. He was joined by
BUS passengers throughout Greater Manchester will get a ticket boost next February when the area's 50-plus operators will accept a universal travel card. Waiting for a bus operator's individual bus will be a thing of the past. Regardless of which bus
FROM April next year Bury's general practitioners will be able to refer people with mental health problems to a new, 24-hour community service which will operate every day of the week. The Prestwich-based service follows discussions between Mental Health
COUNCIL tax is set to rise and local services will be slashed as Bury Council faces cuts of £5 million. The news came after Government confirmation of next year's Rate Support Grant. Although the figure was lower than the anticipated £7 million, council
PEOPLE whose lives have been blighted by the M62 Relief Road fiasco should be compensated by the Government, says Euro MP Gary Titley. Following last week's announcement that the controversial scheme is scrapped Mr Titley, together with Worsley MP Terry
CELEBRATIONS are in full swing at the East Lancashire Contact Centre after it received a £1,000 Christmas boost - thanks to the Citizen. Trustees of the Hyndburn Sick Poor Fund - who include the Mayor of Hyndburn, Councillor Jean Battle - pledged the
RAMSBOTTOM will go back in time on Sunday when the whole town celebrates its own Viking day complete with Viking village and the burning of a Viking longship. The new Quays area, opposite the East Lancashire Railway Station, will be taken over by Vikings
HOPPERS got back to winning ways with a solid if unspectacular performance in which the return of Mike Sword and Glyn Dewhurst to the back row, where they formed a formidable unit with Neil Ashton, was significant. Wade Dooley also reappeared in Hoppers
DOWN the mean, working class streets where I come from, wearing a squirt of under-arm deodorant is considered definitely cissy. So when my editor told me I had 'volunteered' to become a pantomime dame for the day, I thought if the lads ever got wind of
SOCCER bosses are providing a festive park-and-ride scheme to help ease shoppers into the Christmas spirit. And people taking advantage of the Blackburn Rovers' plan will qualify for five per cent discount in the club shop. From Saturday, the present-buying
IT has been a dreadful year for many of Preston's children. Time and again we have reported sad stories of youngsters in trouble or in danger. Unthinkable horrors of neglected children living in poverty and squalor. Terrible tales of youths beaten and
BECAUSE it doesn't want to risk losing grants Bury's development services committee is to go ahead with its plans for Ramsbottom's historic town centre - while one issue still remains unresolved. Comments from the public have already been taken into consideration
FORMER Burnley FC chairman, John Jackson, today refused to rule himself out as the mystery buyer bidding for shares in the club. As rumours abounded over the scramble for a stake in the Clarets, the Clitheroe barrister said he had made no public statement
FACED with drugs and crime on their doorsteps residents in Pimhole, Bury, say their answer to the problems of the area is - bulldoze the lot! One resident on East Street who does not want to be named for fear of retaliation, says he has had enough. He
BATTERED and bruised, that's a fair enough description of me this week after taking a roasting from Bolton Street's traders, and indeed a pounding from the President of Bury's Chamber of Trade. But it doesn't alter this one very pertinent fact. If any
IWOULD like to thank the people of Darwen for their loyalty and support and for the time and trouble to sign the petition to keep the police station in Darwen open 24 hours a day. An incredible 12,500 signatures were taken - which was a major contributory
THE great grandson of one of Colne's greatest benefactors is interested in the future of Hartley Hospital. The hospital, now owned by a development company, was set to become a nursing home but work has not yet started. Nick Hartley, great grandson of
THE Ministry of Defence was today told to mount an urgent investigation to find out whether corrupt civil servant Gordon Foxley had been bribed by more companies to give them ammunition orders than the three so far identified. An all party group of MPs
A SURVIVOR of the Sir Galahad bombing and an ex-Army tank driver are making a success of life in Civvy Street. Terry Wood, 51, and stepson Dave, 37, set up their own business, Countrywide Couriers, two years ago, after Terry was made redundant and Dave
It's always nice to hear from our MPs - especially passing on their enlightened views on various topical subjects affecting their constituents. Take last week for example - we hear that possibly more than 30 jobs are to go at the Lancaster Blood Centre
A MAN who tried to stop a thief making off with his car ended up with a bruised face and leg. The 61-year-old car owner was returning to his parked vehicle in View Road, Rainhill at about 8.30pm on Monday when he noticed condensation forming on the inside
A PATIENT-watchdog leader today warned that an increasing shortage of family doctors in East Lancashire could have a "horrendous" effect on healthcare. Nigel Robinson, chief officer of the Blackburn and district Community Health Council, said the dearth
FORMER Accrington Stanley reserve Paul Grayson has been selected for the England rugby union team to play Western Samoa at Twickenham on Saturday. The 24-year-old, who was a skilful player for Stanley before turning to rugby union six years ago, lines
A NEW recession could be about to bite following the latest round of job losses in East Lancashire's textile industry, a boss has warned. Fifty jobs are to go at medical supplies giant Smith and Nephew in Brierfield and almost 100 at Carrington Viyella
HEALTH chiefs were celebrating today after treating their 20,000th patient on East Lancashire's CT scanner. The landmark comes just seven years after the machine was installed at Blackburn Royal Infirmary. The CT scanner was bought after a mammoth Lancashire
Dudley Hill 22 Thatto Heath 29 THATTO HEATH showed superb team spirit to clinch this Silk Cup Challenge Cup tie. Their courage began to manifest itself after just three minutes when prop Chris Ashurst was shown the red card for dissent. Their team spirit
A HEADTEACHER has slammed the government and attacked politicians for not valuing education. Allan Grey, of Moorhead High, Accrington, has added his voice to the growing number of East Lancashire heads who have criticised the Government's record on education
VANDALS have wrecked a religious group's sign outside their worship centre for the second time in three weeks. And the incident has led peace-loving Quakers to urge other members of the community to learn more about their beliefs and treat them with tolerance
CHILDREN in Burnley and Pendle will pay the biggest price if the local bus company is sold off, according to environmental campaigners. Burnley Friends of the Earth say Pendle Council's plan to sell its half share in the transport firm is an attempt to
SEVENTEEN goals in two games in the space of four days have confirmed that Christie Park really is the place for entertainment this season. Just when you thought things couldn't get any better, Saturday's seven-goal thriller against Southport was followed
SHOWING true Scouting spirit local youngsters are carrying on with Christmas fund-raising plans despite losing their Scout headquarters in a massive blaze. The 16th Morecambe and Heysham Scout Group hut went up in flames late on Saturday night after a
AN elderly couple, brutally attacked and robbed of Christmas Club funds by armed raiders, claim the thugs must have stalked them before they pounced. Pensioners Jean and Charles Parkinson, were attacked as they locked up their car after a night at The
THE bravery of two men from the Lancaster and Morecambe area has earned them top awards from Lancashire's police chiefs. Heysham's Stephen Pearson, 32, joined Morecambe policeman Geoffrey Bowers, 33, at Lancashire Police Headquarters yesterday (Wednesday
BRITAIN'S premier resort has gained a new fan - top musical star Michael Praed. Michael, in town to star in Copacabana at the Winter Gardens, has never been to Blackpool before but as he revealed to the Citizen this week, already he is overawed. "Although
THE COUPLE fighting a deportation order will put their worries on hold to spend Christmas in the sun. Roy and Julieta Llewellyn, of Willows Lane, Accrington, left England last weekend for the Philippines - Julieta's native country - so they can apply
A POLICE station which opens 24 hours a day and seven days a week - that's what they fought for and that's what they got! Campaigners celebrated after the future of Darwen police station was secured when Blackburn's new Chief Superintendent, Eddie Walsh
A VIDEO about Leigh's past, which took eight months to make, is set to roll into local shops this week. Produced by former Leigh journalist Mavis Fairhurst, who now lives in Bryn, the video looks at the past 80 years of events and developments in and
A RETIRED turf accountant has won a "David and Goliath" battle to open an independent bookmakers in Accrington town centre. Mr George Alan Bradley, 66, of Grindleton View, Chatburn, has been granted a betting office licence for number 19 Blackburn Road
A MASSIVE oil spillage has sparked a frantic clean-up of a brook feeding the River Hyndburn. The National Rivers Authority has described the three-quarters-of-a-mile-long oil slick in Warmden Brook, Accrington, as "significant". The week-long clean up
A STUNNING collection of more than 50 vibrant watercolour paintings with circus animals in opulent settings by former Leigh woman Dawn Seddon has gone on display in Warrington Art Gallery. It is the latest venture for Dawn, 27, who now lives in Culcheth
SPENDING half a million pounds on modern technology could clear-up a recurring fly problem from Leigh Sewage Works. Repeated complaints from nearby residents resulted in Mr Cunliffe and Cllr Jarvis pressing for action from the water authority. And Lowton-based
RESIDENTS of an Atherton street have had enough of crime and have come up with a 'Fight Back Plan' to defeat local yobbos. About 30 householders in Rowland Street have decided to clamp-down on a crime wave of 45 incidents reported in the past 18 months
NORTH End's David Moyes is November's winner of the Citizen's Player of the Month award. Just when it looked like Andy Saville was going to clinch the title for the third month running, a late flood of votes came in for Preston's stalwart defender Moyesie
AMBULANCES in Preston are faster at attending emergencies than ever - making the Lancashire service one of the best in the country. Since April 1, nearly 99 per cent of calls were attended within 19 minutes and more than 70 per cent of calls within eight
A DISABLED musician from Preston has put his own suffering behind him to help struggling new bands top the charts. Owen McGough has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, but he hasn't let it stop him achieving his life-long ambition to set up his own recording
THE Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Alan Chesters, is to become a member of the House of Lords. He will be instituted at 2.30pm on Tuesday and take his seat alongside the other 25 Bishops of the Church of England. Mr Chesters will be supported by the
BACK to basics! The glamour of televised FA Cup action is now forgotten and North End have to concentrate on picking up league points. It's bread and butter stuff from now on. Getting out of the basement division is Gary Peters' only priority and PNE
A superb nine minute hat-trick by Mike Newell last night (Dec 6) gave Rovers their first taste of European glory. In a superb opening spell Ray Harford's men brushed the Norwegians aside with the type of football Ewood Park has witnessed in recent weeks
HUNDREDS of hard-core porn movies - some believed to involve children - were seized by Lancashire's trading standards chiefs in raids on five sex shops in the county. Officers swooped on the premises, two in Preston, in joint raids. The operation, codenamed
CARING Citizen readers have come to the rescue of a church charity which hands out furniture to needy families. Last week we told how Blackburn Churches Action urgently required van drivers and volunteers in its race against time to make Christmas one
DECEMBER 8 is a very special night for all members and supporters of North East Lancashire branch of the Irish in Britain Representation Group, because, we will be celebrating our tenth annual free pensioners night at St Paul's WMC in Montague Street,
PRESTON charities are being left out in the cold this winter as the big stores cash in on the charity christmas card market. That's the claim of the Charity Christmas Card Council (4C), who say more and more customers are buying their cards from major
TWO more books crammed full of local nostalgia have hit the bookshelves - just in time for the Christmas rush. And for those folk rushing round the shops without a clue what present to buy awkward Uncle Arthur - these books could turn out to be a godsend
A MAJOR investigation is to be launched into a trend more in keeping with the dark days of the Victorian era - child labour. Blackburn Borough councillors were shocked to discover that up to three quarters of British schoolchildren carry out some form
WILDLIFE conservationists in Bury are hoping to put the brakes on builders before the last areas of green in their town are concreted over. They fear a patch of rare flowers will be wiped out as woodlands are bulldozed for future development. The rare
BIG Ron Atkinson faces a major problem. His Coventry are rooted to the foot of the Premiership and Alan Shearer looms on the horizon. Rovers travel to Highfield Road on Saturday (Dec 10) to take on the flamboyant manager's kamikaze Sky Blues, who have
SOLDIERS from East Lancashire are keeping a very close watch on Buckingham Palace. Lance Corporal David McLeary from Blackburn and Lance Corporal Adrian Jennings from Burnley, are two of the soldiers from the 1st Battalion, the Queen's Lancashire Regiment
A MAJOR Legionnaires' Disease investigation was launched in Blackburn after two men were struck down by the illness. Factories, offices and other industrial premises throughout the town were being checked as environmental health officials raced against
DEFENSIVE strategies are thrown out of the window wherever and whenever these two teams meet, and their high scoring traditions were maintained as Bury and Plymouth provided another highly entertaining encounter. The Raiders rode into Bury last Saturday
HYNDBURN was set for a Sunday trading boom with shopkeepers anticipating the change in the law to cash in on Christmas spending. Several major businesses were to open despite the risk of court action and the manager of sportswear shop Swimwear UK said
I READ with interest John Blunt's article "Legacy of a monster from hell" (LET, November 29) regarding multiple murderer Rosemary West. He went on to say how, as she settles down to her new life in jail, West will be cosseted for life, with the tabloid
I CONCEDE that it is an unfortunate fact that many Tory MPs do not support the return of capital punishment. However, there is a fairly large section of Conservative MPs who do, while on the Labour side, you'll be lucky to find five or six MPs who would
IN response to D Pearson (Letters, November 28), the no-hanging bill got through Parliament on a trial basis. I was dubious at the time. What we have had ever since is MPs rubber-stamping without any reference back. Whenever the matter is raised, the
THE "mad cow disease" scare goes on - as parent-power pushes beef off the menu in school canteens and school dinners caterers themselves are advised to defy government guidelines that insist that British beef is safe. But who can blame them for their
THE FULL story may never be told of how crooked civil servant Gordon Foxley robbed hundreds of East Lancashire workers of their jobs when he took millions of pounds in bribes from foreign arms firms for orders that ought to have gone to Blackburn's Royal
A DISTRAUGHT mother has hit out at the "scandalous" two-year jail sentence handed out to the man who killed her daughter. And Madge Holden spoke about the six years of hell endured by tragic Christine Bebbington after she met and married her husband Mark
GOVERNMENT ministers have been hearing how a Citizen reader was paid just 15p an hour for making clothes at home. The granny's shocking plight was revealed in our pages last month and so alarmed Pendle MP Gordon Prentice that he brought the matter up
HOSPITAL bosses in East Lancashire have been given a clean bill of health in their battle against bureaucracy. The two East Lancashire NHS hospital trusts received the all-clear in Government league tables on red tape. Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell
TROUBLED householders in the Knotts Lane area of Colne say their lives are being made a misery by thieves and drug users. Some people dread having to leave their homes in case they return to find it has been raided. Now they take it in turn to watch each
EVERY year, hundreds of westernised Asian youngsters are running away from home for fear of arranged marriages. But the Asian Family Counselling Service, which helps resolve the conflicts which threaten traditional Asian culture, is facing its own crisis
CLARETS full back Gary Parkinson is out until the New Year. The 27-year-old defender suffered a recurrence of the hamstring injury, which has sidelined him for the past two weeks, in the reserve match against Preston on Tuesday night. And Burnley physio
MARKET tenants in Burnley set out their stall for a rents battle with Burnley council in the county court today. But the hearing was called off at the eleventh hour when the key man who would have been representing the council, markets manager John Heys
FINE Art Developments, parent company of one of Hyndburn's largest employers, today announced an increase in profits. The company, owners of Express Gifts at Church, and Hambledon Studios in Clayton-le-Moors, saw pre-tax profits rise by seven per cent
SALES manager Kevin Verbruggen is kick starting his own fund-raising mission for Africa with the help of a Blackburn Rovers football. The ball, signed by the Premier League championship team, is due to be raffled at the home game with Middlesbrough on
ST HELENS Council is closely monitoring public concern over the use of beef in school meals. A spokesman for the council told the Star: "At the moment, we are following the Government's advice, which is that there is nothing harmful about beef, therefore
LANCASHIRE County Council has come under renewed fire from Environment Secretary John Gummer who has accused them of cheating schools out of cash. Burnley MP Peter Pike asked: "Do you accept that increasing the standing spending assessment for education
SPECIAL police squads in St Helens joined in the biggest ever blitz on burglars with a series of pre-dawn raids on suspects' homes. Using steel battering rams to gain entry, they swooped on a number of target locations throughout the borough. At one raid
AGE CONCERN workers in East Lancashire are urging Labour MPs Jack Straw and Janet Anderson to fight against cuts to the insulation grants budget. The charity has slammed the government for cutting the budget for the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme which
BABY John Robert Dooley is living proof that miracles really CAN happen! For the tiny battler has already overcome more traumas - including the loss of his twin brother Thomas - than the average person faces in a lifetime, despite being just seven months
THE jobs blow left workers and local traders facing a bleak Christmas. In Barrowford, where the future of Carrington Viyella seems in doubt, local shopkeepers said the news that jobs are in the balance came as no surprise. "It's got so low now that it
A COCKTAIL of drugs and alcohol led to the death of a Nelson teenager who had never dabbled in drugs. An inquest was told by Det Chief Inp Garry Gluyas that police did not suspect Mark Charles Hudson had ever had any involvement with drugs. Mr Hudson,
THE new headmaster of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, promised "change, change and more change" at his first speech night. Dr David Hempsall, who took over in September, said he would be polling parents with a questionnaire seeking their
THE loss of rural tranquillity is something the average nineties person can blame themselves for. Last week Jonathan Dimbleby, president of the Council for Protection of Rural England, launched a Tranquillity Area map, illustrating the loss of the country's
NEWSPAPER boy Danny Holden is due a lucky break after a horrific fall through a factory roof. Danny, 13, of Beech Street, Great Harwood, suffered a badly broken leg and will be spending Christmas in hospital in traction. But Great Harwood newsagents David
CENTENARY League high-fliers Saints and Halifax put championship matters on hold when they clash in a Regal Trophy quarter-final tie at Knowsley Road on Sunday, kick-off 3pm. Saints are currently lying second and 'Fax fourth, and a battle royal is in
THE Boys' Brigade is alive and well in Blackburn. There are two companies - the 3rd Blackburn, based at the Ragged School and the 4th Blackburn, based at Feniscowles Methodist Church. The reason I feel compelled to announce this is because on Saturday
COLIN Hendry has joined his defensive partner Ian Pearce on the casualty list in another blow for Blackburn Rovers manager Ray Harford. Substituted early in the second half of Saturday's game against West Ham, Hendry feared initially that he had suffered
MIKE Newell's magnificent hat trick helped Blackburn Rovers stuff some of the taunts down the throats of their critics at Ewood last night. They included not only members of the national media, who seem to have taken great delight in ridiculing Rovers
THE race is on to find a company ready to complete the work on Clitheroe's town centre camera system. The contract to finish off the second phase of the closed circuit television project, covering a wider area of the town centre, has been opened up for
A MYSTERIOUS battle to buy up shares in Burnley FC has seen their value double in a matter of weeks. Councillor Harry Brooks, a well-known critic of the club's board of directors, made a bid for power by offering to buy shares at £50 a time - twice the
Bamber Bridge 0 Lancaster City 1. LANCASTER City are in the hat for the quarter finals of the Unibond League Challenge Cup at the expense of the holders and favourites Bamber Bridge. Bridge are currently seven points clear at the top of the Unibond Premier
AN Aladdin's cave of stolen antiques worth more than £45,000 has been discovered during a police raid on a lorry in the Lancaster area. Rare and expensive items stolen from local people's homes were stashed in the back of the eight tonne HGV found on
