THE longest serving director of carpet and tiles group Gaskell Group plc has retired after 44 years' service. Roger Taylor, a board member of Clayton-le-Moors based Gaskell Textiles, joined Gaskell after leaving the army in 1954 and has been heavily involved
AN MP has praised a firm's training and support schemes following a visit. Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson was shown Darwen ICI's acrylics facility by Euro business manager Graham Bonner. She was told of the firm's association with the town from
VILLAGERS have failed to persuade councillors to turn down plans for an art gallery and offices in a residential area of Whalley. Anvilewood Limited wants to build the workshop at The Sidings off Station Road. Ribble Valley Council planning committee
CHAOS hit Blackburn town centre when a hoax bomber struck - leaving councillors locked out of the town hall, and shoppers and workers shivering in the streets as the town centre was sealed off. Bomb disposal experts used a radio controlled robot to inspect
PARENTS and schools are being urged to provide more sex education for East Lancashire's teenagers. The appeal was made at the start of Contraception Awareness Week which began today. Sheila Shaw, manager of Blackburn's Brook Advisory Centre, said awareness
A SYRINGE-SWAP scheme to combat AIDS among drug addicts was set to get backing from councillors. The scheme proposed to distribute needles and information about the risks of Aids through chemists working together with Burnley's health authority and environmental
GOVERNMENT officers have apologised for branding a council's housing performance as "well below average." Chief officers from Rossendale Council challenged the criticism at a meeting with staff from the Government's regional offices and were told a mistake
A MAJOR conference dubbed the 'forum on the future' is taking place this month to look at how East Lancashire should develop in the millennium. The East Lancashire Partnership - comprising leading players in the East Lancs region - is staging the event
I WAS disgusted to hear on the radio a mother complaining that her son had suffered tooth decay because North West Water failed to fluoridate the water supply. The child was suing them for neglect. There was, however, no suggestion that he was suing his
Lancashire Hawks 6 Paisley Pirates 9 ; Murrayfield Royals 6 Lancashire Hawks 3 LANCASHIRE Hawks have hit rock bottom after another fruitless weekend. Even Murrayfield Royals, everyone's whipping boys, proved too hot to handle last night. A Saturday reverse
I APPLAUD the launch of Age Concern's campaign against age discrimination aimed at older workers and older unemployed people. Although the New Labour Government is aware of the problem and will urge companies to adopt a voluntary code of practice, this
REGARDING your article (LET, January 20) on the situation between the Pakistan Welfare Association and the Ethnic Minority Development Association in Blackburn, we want to set out the situation as we see it. The Pakistan Welfare Association has been in
AS A long standing user of Shadsworth Leisure Centre, Blackburn, I am disturbed by the rumours of its proposed closure. It would be a sad loss to the town, especially to the Shadsworth area if the facilities were withdrawn. At a time when there is great
IT IS perhaps an opportunity that local government reform missed - that of making East Lancashire into a single city. But in looking ahead at how the region should develop beyond the Millennium, a major conference homes in on the entity of a united East
CHRIS Waddle is to ask the referee to reverse his decision to book in-form striker Andy Cooke during Burnley's thrilling 3-2 derby triumph at Preston North End. Cooke was shown the yellow card for diving by Fraser Stretton but Waddle was furious with
GLENN Hoddle's assistant John Gorman today hinted that the England door could still be open for Chris Sutton - but it looks down to the player if there is to be any change in the situation, writes PETER WHITE. That seems unlikely at the moment and Blackburn
Blackburn Rovers 0 Tottenham Hotspur 3 - Peter White's big match verdict AS a golden opportunity of gaining vital ground on leaders Manchester United slipped through careless hands at a depressed Ewood Park, one message sounded loud and clear. Blackburn
A HIGH tech firm has opened a new design facility. GD Technik, one of the country's leading electronic component distributors, has taken offices at the Blackburn Technology Management Centre. "The centre is a 'pure' technology park which is one of the
AN on-site meeting between councillors and a developer has been called in a bid to find a solution to three derelict detached houses, branded a death trap by local parents. Rossendale Council took emergency action to board up the three houses on Cowm
SCHOOL staff and pupils were celebrating today after a big vote of approval from inspectors - and parents. Crosshill School, Shadsworth Road, Blackburn, was described as "good with many strengths" by a team from Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education
A PROJECT aimed at restoring to its former glory a lost Victorian garden in the Ribble Valley now has a "Friends" scheme. Workers behind the flagship project, involving 17 acres of walled gardens at Leagram Hall near Chipping, are inviting local conservationists
NOTHING was going to dash the wedding dreams of bride Michelle Doughty on Saturday. The Longridge machinist broke her left arm three weeks ago, then her mum suffered a severe heart attack last week. But brave Michelle, of Mersey Street, walked up the
IF TONY Blair is keen to shake up local government to combat corruption and incompetence, he will need first of all to combat widespread public apathy towards the town halls and, then, the complacency of many councillors inside them. For, consider the
DON'T kill kids was the startling headline (LET, January 31) which must have brought wry smiles to the parents of children attending St Francis C.E. Primary School, Cherry Tree, particularly as it was followed by words of wisdom and advice from the chairman
Looking Back, with Eric Leaver THE row over Blackburn Council's concern for the town's heritage, stirred up by proposals to shut the Lewis Textile Museum, isn't the first time the town hall has been in the middle of such a fuss. But 65 years ago when
Preston North End 2 Burnley 3 - Pete Oliver's big derby verdict COMETH the hour cometh the man, and captain Neil Moore could not have chosen a better moment to set a stunning example. Almost four minutes into stoppage time at Deepdale, Moore settled what
