Archive

  • Pride of Lancashire!

    BURY 3, PRESTON NORTH END 0 Any lingering suspicions that Bury's promotion pedigree wouldn't stretch to a second successive uplift were comprehensively blown away by a dazzling display of power and precision. It all proved too much for Preston who were

  • No thanks for the memory

    BRISTOL ROVERS 4 BURY 3 BURY'S first trip to the Memorial Ground was anything but memorable as their normally rock solid defence crumbled. Not since the Coca-Cola cup tie against Crystal Palace earlier in the season had the men from Gigg Lane conceded

  • Protection racket!

    POLICE today advised residents to be extremely cautious after an anonymous firm targeted homes to offer private security. And Shadow Home Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw said the scheme sounded like little more than a "protection racket." Leaflets

  • Village schools escape the axe

    VILLAGE schools have been saved from the threat of major budget cuts - or even closure - after education chiefs agreed to carry on their vital subsidy. Small primary schools, with less than 150 children, get the special funds, known as the small schools

  • The day my bubbly blew

    WITH the festive season almost upon us, I purchased a bottle of 'sparkling' wine. But last week it blew apart. It had been stored upright, in a cool place, undisturbed for just two weeks. I didn't appreciate how far one bottle of liquid could travel,

  • Festive alert to combat terrorism

    POLICING in Bury town centre will be stepped up over the Christmas period as part of a nationwide anti-terrorism campaign. The high profile campaign will see greater number of officers patrolling the streets, both to deter the terrorists and reassure

  • Investigation quells lodge flooding fears

    FEARS that a Ramsbottom lodge's banking could collapse causing severe flooding have been dismissed by a leading engineer. Residents' concerns were aroused by reports that the banking on Springwood Lodge had moved several inches and severe flooding could

  • Heads set to roll in retirement rush

    SCHOOLS are bracing themselves for a mass exodus of senior staff because of a change to early retirement rules. Dozens of highly experienced teachers, including a number of heads and deputies, are rushing to get out of their jobs before March 31. Bury

  • Quarry campaigners 'using scare tactics'

    CAMPAIGNERS battling against quarrying at a Ribble Valley beauty spot have been accused of creating "unnecessary concern". Castle Cement chiefs have criticised a leaflet campaign launched by the Bellman Quarry Action Group in response to plans to extend

  • Killer 'burger bug" found in Bury

    THE potentially lethal "burger bug" has been picked up in Bury. One person has been diagnosed with the E.Coli 0157 bacteria, which has killed seven people in Scotland. And council health chiefs have issued a danger warning to residents, urging them to

  • 10 YEARS AGO: New stand plans unveiled

    NEW plans to rebuild Blackburn Rovers' Riverside stand, closed on safety grounds for two seasons, were unveiled. The scheme, which was still at the design stage, was revealed to County Council safety chiefs, who have been monitoring the structure of the

  • Tory storms out of old folk's home debate

    TEMPERS boiled over as protesters were told there is little hope of saving Croich Hey old folk's home. And Tory councillor Roy Walker stormed out of the debate accused of hypocrisy, sanctimony and lies by Labour members. Around 30 campaigners made another

  • SUPERBIKES: Foggy honoured

    CASTROL Honda's Carl Fogarty will be one of a host of World Superbike celebrities honoured at the Bologna Motorcycle Show in Italy on Saturday. Blackburn ace Fogarty will be joined by 1996 World Champion Troy Corser at the event which will be filmed by

  • Willetts had no choice

    WONDERS never cease - a government minister is handed the blame, takes it and resigns. But though Paymaster General David Willetts is said to have "done the honourable thing," he really had no option. For was not his a sacking offence anyway? He was accused

  • Deficient in humour

    I FEEL sorry for my good friend Marcus Johnstone - reported to Tony Blair by the sage of Burnley Coun Harry Brooks (LET December 4). Nevertheless, I think he has to take some of the blame. He made a humorous remark in the presence of Coun Brooks, but

  • School's policy is just plain common sense

    UNLIKE the mother of 15-year-old Blackburn schoolboy Stephen Houghton who was sent home when he turned up with his hair permed, we do not find the school's attitude bewildering. You would never believe this is the 1990s, the parent protests. But whatever

  • Making the guilty pay is sound prescription

    THE PROPOSAL that motorists should pay for the hospital treatment of anyone they injure in accidents may seem radical, but the notion makes a lot of sense in principle and financially. For while motorists may view with alarm what the scheme - put forward

  • Trouble tenants in firing line

    A CROSS-party meeting will be held in Blackburn to get rid of "neighbours from hell". Councillors from the main political parties will take part in the meeting to draw up a strategy on nuisance neighbours. The meeting is part of an initiative which will

  • Dairy investigated in E-coli probe

    MILK supplies at a Ribble Valley dairy have been destroyed as part of the investigation into an outbreak of E-coli food poisoning in Pendle. Tests are being carried out on samples taken from the farm to see if it is the source of the infection. But no

  • Patient attacks 999 crew

    TWO ambulance paramedics were injured after being attacked by a male patient they had taken to hospital. The man, who had apparently suffered an epilepsy-related complaint, assaulted the male and female crew after being ferried to Bury General Hospital's

  • Boom town Bury

    BURY town centre traders can look forward to a sparkling Christmas if last Sunday's (December 1) buoyant level of business continues throughout the festive period. It marked the first in a series of Sabbath openings in the run-up to Christmas. Also playing

  • Elderly to benefit under new care charge scheme

    OLD and vulnerable people should finally find it easier to pay for their community care. After many months of wrangling and trial projects, social services bosses are bringing in a new charging regime for things like home helps and transport to day centres

  • A bid too far for the Lancashire Fusiliers

    A VICTORIA Cross - one of the six "won before breakfast" - has been sold for £54,000 to a private collector. Members of the Lancashire Fusiliers Museum, who wanted to bring the cross home to Bury, were "deeply saddened" by the sale, after being out-bid

  • £250,000 fake Levi jeans seized in swoop

    MORE than £250,000 worth of fake Levi jeans destined for the Christmas market have been seized in a series of swoops in the Whalley Range area of Blackburn. Trading Standards and police targeted three units and took away thousands of pairs of fake Levi

  • Shakers swoop for York City schemer

    BURY are on the verge of clinching a six-figure deal that wil bring midfielder Adrian Randall to Gigg Lane The 28-year-old schemer is spending the weekend thinking over the move after Shakers' boss Stan Ternent agreed terms with York City. Randall, a

  • Blair attack small-minded

    DURING the course of yet another small-minded attack on Tony Blair, Mr D Pearson (Letters, December 2) draws attention to an important feature of the local government scene. The Labour Party currently controls 209 councils across the United Kingdom while

  • School crash horror

    A TEACHER and her seven year-old daughter were flung several yards into the air after they were struck by a car while walking across a zebra crossing outside a school. The crossing in Burnley Road, Padiham, has been the scene of several accidents. Mrs

  • ROVERS: Sampdoria agree to Eriksson switch

    SAMPDORIA have given their blessing for Sven Goran Eriksson to take the reins at Ewood Park. But that does not mean the Swedish coach has already made up his mind to become the new Blackburn Rovers manager. It is believed Eriksson is uncertain about abandoning

  • Lottery luck for bowling club

    Close Park Veterans' Bowling Club in Radcliffe has been battling to survive without its pavilion, which was burned down by vandals last year. But a little bit of lottery luck looks set to breathe new life into the club. The handout of £72,465 from the

  • Sorry, you'll have to wait!

    MORE than 30 local groups desperate for cash have been told: Come back next year. Community, sporting and youth clubs will have to wait until March because the local authority is in dire straits. Councillors have deferred 34 applications for funding while

  • Day school in opt-out row

    VOTING starts this week on whether a Jewish day school opts out of local authority control. Parents will be asked to decide whether Prestwich Jewish Day School stays in the Bury "family of schools" or goes it alone as a Grant Maintained (GM) school. And

  • Bury bucks trend over expulsions

    BURY has bucked the national trend with fewer pupils being expelled and suspended from school. Nationally figures have risen greatly in the past eight years, since schools were given power to exclude pupils themselves. But in the last year work in schools

  • Forgotten letters of wartime

    FORMER East Lancashire Regiment officers, their relatives and historians can now get hold of Army documents from the Second World War. Blackburn Council has 42 official letters of appointment dating from 1939 to 1953 at the town's museum and art gallery

  • 5 YEARS AGO: Town hall jobs axe

    ABOUT 122 jobs were to be axed in a town hall department investigated by police, it was revealed. The pre-Christmas bombshell came after a leaked report revealed how mismanagement of the Blackburn and Darwen Operations Department was costing thousands

  • Party workers angry at boundary changes

    PARTY officials in a Blackburn ward are incensed at plans to reshape constituency boundaries following a shake-up of voting arrangements. A government-appointed commission has just completed an eight month review of council wards in the borough. Residents

  • CLARETS: Hands-off Kurt, Scots warned

    BURNLEY have issued a stark hands-off warning to border raiders Dundee United. Sources in Scotland have today linked the Tannadice club with a move for Turf Moor's leading marksman, Kurt Nogan. But manager Adrian Heath, who saw Nogan score his 13th goal

  • Paper group warns of reduction in profits

    PAPER and packaging group David S Smith today warned profits would fall in the second half of the year as it reported a dip in earnings for the first six months. The firm, parent company of St Regis Paper, which owns Hollins Paper Mill in Darwen, said

  • ICE HOCKEY: Man for all ice ages!

    Neil Bramwell meets former Blackburn Hawks boss Steve Moria who tonight leads Great Britain on an Olympic mission THE rest of the Great Britain ice hockey team call him Methuselah. And while Steve Moria has not quite outlived the 969-year-old Biblical

  • Food for thought

    ON July 1, 1940, in the Second World War, the Channel Islands were invaded by German forces. Over the past weeks the media has suggested that some islanders were guilty of collaborating with the Germans. But do we think it would have been different, if

  • Well done Bury! - Major

    BUSINESS is booming - and the Prime Minister knows about it thanks to local MP David Sumberg. The MP was taking a message of congratulations to members of the Bury and Bolton Chamber of Commerce from John Major at the Chamber's Christmas lunch today (

  • Jail for crash driver

    A SPEEDING drink-driver who smashed into a pensioner's car causing her multiple injuries, has been jailed for six months. Ramsbottom man Ian Stanley, whose passenger Vicky Cunliffe (22) had an eye removed after last December's accident, thinks about the

  • 'Babies for sale' TV couple's joy

    A COUPLE who helped Roger Cook's "babies for sale" TV investigation are preparing to give a home to the baby boy they feared they would never see again. During the eight-month Cook Report investigation, Pat and Steve Hampson, of Darwen, claimed they were

  • Pubs packed as fans invade "wrong" town

    PUBS in Bury town centre were stretched to the limit when coachloads of Bolton-bound soccer fans descended unannounced at the weekend. Hundreds of Barnsley fans, on their way to watch their side play Bolton last Saturday, November 30, streamed off coaches

  • Fine Art profits slump by half

    PROFITS at greetings cards to crackers group Fine Art Developments have slumped by more than half, according to figures announced today. The firm, which issued a warning about profits three weeks ago, today confirmed that pretax profits for the six months

  • Sean jets in to thank a very special 'mum'

    A YOUNG American boy has just crossed the Atlantic to visit a very special mum - who helped to save his life two years ago. Mother-of-three Elizabeth Roebuck of Prestwich was the only person in the world who could save little Sean McCarthy from Connecticut

  • Horror tale of the buses

    YOUR article 'Stagecoach caned over school buses' (LET, December 4) horrified me. This is one of the largest bus companies in the UK and receives gigantic amounts of public money to route subsidies, fuel rebates and certain vehicle purchase subsides.

  • New hairstyle pupil may face perm-anent ban

    A SCHOOL sent a pupil home when he turned up with a new hairstyle...a perm! Stephen Houghton, 15, was told to get his curls cropped before coming back to school. Mrs Linda Robinson, head teacher at St Wilfrid's High School, Blackburn, said: "Pupils have

  • Councillor slams 'free home computer' plan

    IT WOULD be "foolish" for a council with a cash problem to consider home computers for members, claimed Independent Harry Brooks. A war of words erupted between Mr Brooks and Labour's Marcus Johnstone as the results of a survey of Burnley councillors'