DAVID Barker has been appointed banking consultant at chartered accountants Pierce. He has worked for the Nat West bank for more than 30 years and before taking up his new post was senior business manager of the East Lancashire Business Centre in Blackburn
BEST friends Ayesha Keighley and Jane King are the holiday hot-spot stars of a new television documentary. The two 18-year-old clerical assistants were chosen from hundreds of hopefuls to have a camera crew follow them on a week's trip to Ibiza. Ayesha
A DISTRAUGHT family have joined police in a search for two young sisters who went missing during a shopping trip. Gail Marie McWalters, 12, and Julie Fiona McWalters, 14, of Clitheroe, haven't been seen since leaving friends in the town centre on Saturday
A STORMY council meeting was adjourned so that feuding members could cool off. Rossendale residents had marched into the chamber wielding placards before dumping red bricks on the carpet. The residents from the Heys Street, Lincoln Street and Laburnum
A VICAR believes that wedlock is waning in East Lancashire because a growing number of couples are choosing to live together without marrying. The Rev Rodney Nicholson said there had been a decline in the number of weddings at St Paul's Church, Low Moor
GO-GREEN Hyndburn Council is moving up a gear in its recycling crusade. In less than 12 months its "mean green paper machine" has collected more than 837 tonnes of waste paper which would otherwise have gone to rot on the tip from homes across Hyndburn
I CAN understand why some women find President Bill Clinton an attractive man. But it's beyond me how Foreign Secretary Robin Cook attracts women. They must be hard up for a man. OLIVE SLATER, Sussex Street, Nelson. Previous news story Converted for the
JUST a brief thought, prompted by the rantings of B Gavin (Letters, January 28): If the public are as disturbed by the activities of the Labour Government as he says, could he hazard a guess at why the Labour Party are still 30 points ahead of the Tories
REGARDING your report 'Parents asked to join in fluoridation' (Letters, January 27), whenever we hear of fluoridation officially, we never hear of the downside of the practice - the dental fluorosis, digestive complaints, etc. Anyone reading a fraction
THE news (LET, January 30) that Hyndburn households face a massive increase of, on average, £100 in 'county' Council Tax is shocking, especially when it will come on top of Hyndburn's own increase. The total amount of these two will mean a tax bill of
THE dismissal last night of the National Lottery regulator Peter Davis, though right and overdue, must be only the first step in moves to clean up the lottery and restore people's faith in it. For after Richard Branson's libel case victory upholding his
THE concern expressed in letters over the future and location of the Lewis Textile Museum certainly indicates a desire to preserve the textile heritage and history of Blackburn. The display within the museum, useful as it is, does nothing more than show
Nature Watch, with Ron Freethy I HAVE pointed out many times that very few Lancashire mammals actually hibernate. The only two which always have a long winter sleep are bats and hedgehogs. In 1997-1998 even the hedgehog is not obeying the rules and some
TWO men escaped serious injury when the car they were travelling in hit a dry stone wall on a narrow country road and overturned. Police said driver Andrew Matthews, 19, of Colne, lost control of the Peugeot 305 GTi, which collided with the wall in Back
FIRE victim Chantelle Ryan is hopefully on the road to recovery after the latest skin grafts on her head appear to have taken. Doctors at the specialist burns unit of Booth Hall Children's Hospital, Manchester, recently performed the fourth skin graft
The Entertainers - a new series meeting the select band of celebrities who have put East Lancashire on the map. Today: Valerie Cowan talks to Whalley-born Steve Pinder, known to millions as restaurateur Max Farnham in Channel 4's Brookside. THE last year
CHRIS Waddle paid tribute to his three-pronged strikeforce after Kevin Henderson became a paid-up member of the goalscorers' union last night. Henderson marked his Burnley debut with a stunning strike as the Clarets dumped holders Carlisle United out
Auto Windscreens Shield QF (North): Burnley 4 Carlisle United 1 - Pete Oliver's big match verdict THE Claret machine rolls relentlessly on with Carlisle the latest to be steamrollered into submission. Despite some tinkering with the components, Chris
BED and furniture giant Silentnight has completed a cross-Pennine buy-out. The Colne-based firm is paying an initial £2.75 million for the West Yorkshire bedding business Rest Assured. It is expected the total sum eventually paid for the firm will be
A GROWING firm has changed shape to meet with worldwide demand. Longworth, the Blackburn-based filter refurbishment firm, has restructured its management team. Tony Bannan takes over as technical/engineering manager for both the group's process and systems
VICAR Dick Cartmell will be praying for a rest after tackling seven different jobs in five days. The have-a-go reverend set himself the work experience challenge in a bid to see how hard his flock laboured. Mr Cartmell - vicar at St James Church in Lower
AN ESTATE of 42 new houses is set to take shape on and around an old Rossendale village mill site, despite objections from local residents. The homes will complete planned housing development in the Weir area of Bacup and see two roads, which have been
A PLUCKY pensioner beat off robbers at his son's newsagent's shop, despite being beaten with a broom handle. Two men came in just as the shop opened and bought cigarettes and sweets before setting about 66-year-old Clarence Longshaw, who defended himself
TAXI drivers in Blackburn and Darwen are planning to renew strike action following a breakdown in talks with the town hall. The cabbies will take action this Friday night in protest at rises in charges for MOT tests and licence fees and the introduction
A SAILING club and a sub-aqua club will be making serious waves thanks to lottery grants of nearly £235,000. Rossendale Valley Sailing Club, based at Clowbridge Reservoir, Dunnockshaw, will use its £222,608 grant to help build a new multi-purpose water
ROSSENDALE Council faces a cap on spending for the ninth year in succession, councillors have been told. A meeting between Ministers and local government chiefs from Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle and Rossendale failed to relax the government's tight hold
A GRANDMOTHER has completed a transatlantic mercy dash to help her grandson, who is suffering from a rare brain disorder. Clara Pickup, 75, of Moorgate Street, Mill Hill, Blackburn, is helping care for seven-year-old Robert Pickup at his home in Sparta
FAST improving Lancashire Hawks travel to Kingston tonight (face off 7.30pm) looking for a repeat performance of their last visit. The trip down the M62 gave Hawks their last win this season - exactly seven weeks ago to the day - and they will be hoping
I WAS under the impression, that democracy and equality generally had been achieved, but your article (LET, January 28) regarding the council Tax forecasts appears to completely refute that. I refer to the exorbitant increase that people in the Ribble
THE extension of the Government's welfare-to-work programme to young offenders in prison - in an experiment that will include many from East Lancashire - is a move that deserves support. For, inmates at Lancaster Farms will spend the last eight weeks
Mark Templeton Surfs the Net THAT big day is approaching. Your loved one is expecting champagne, flowers, chocolates...well, at least a card! This year, you have no excuse. For just a small amount of cash and a few taps on your keyboard you can send your
The John Blunt column WHEN the breathalyser law against drink-driving was introduced 30 years ago was a safe limit - that of around two pints of beer - plucked arbitrarily out of the air? No, of course, it wasn't. The level of 80 milligrams of alcohol
A TOP council official has been critically injured in a motorbike crash. Jim Gillan, the recently-appointed head of policy at Blackburn with Darwen Council, suffered serious head injuries in the crash on Sunday afternoon. Mr Gillan, who lives in Dewsbury
A SELL-OUT is predicted for the visit of mystical hard rockers Kula Shaker, who bring their brand of Eastern-influenced psychedelia to Blackburn's King George's Hall on April 6. Tickets go on sale today, but staff at the venue say the gig is nearly sold
INSURERS today offered a "substantial" reward to help catch the arsonist who started a multi-million pound mill fire. The four-storey Vale Rock Mill in Johnson New Road, Hoddlesden, was reduced to rubble in a blaze tackled by almost 100 firefighters from
TOP Nationwide League referee Phil Richards believes players must take responsibility for their actions in an effort to stop violence from fans. The day after assistant referee Edward Martin was attacked at Portsmouth, Richards was thrust into the spotlight
ROY Hodgson is sweating on Kevin Gallacher's fitness as Blackburn Rovers' double-chasing campaign is about to enter another crucial phase. The Scottish international striker, who has been playing arguably the best football of his Ewood career this season
