Janet Anderson MP Surgery, Sudellside Community Centre, Darwen, 5.30pm-6.30pm. "Nick Wilty" -- comedy, Darwen Library Theatre, Knott Street, 8.30pm. Hobbies Exhibition, St Silas Church, Preston New Road, Blackburn, 2pm-3pm and 6pm-8.30pm. Haslingden and
IT IS absolutely right that pensioners have been put at the front of the queue for Chancellor Gordon Brown's £5billion pre-election handout. The increases he announced, of £5 a week in the single person's pension, £8 more for a couple and of £50 more
A REVISED mission statement looking to the future of St Bede's High School, Blackburn, was at the heart of a speech by headteacher John Challoner. Mr Challoner told pupils and guests that as a Catholic school, its mission statement was "rooted in the
REGARDING your Looking Back article (LET, October 30), I remember the smithy in Forrest Street, Blackburn, as I used to live nearby in Dorset Street. As kids, we all used to go to the smithy to see the horses. The men there used to run us off, but we
A CLOUDBURST of biblical proportions over a thousand-tree, mature, deciduous forest will deliver two per cent of the downfall into a river situated half a mile away over a four-to-seven-day period. Replace the forest with a housing estate and 90 per cent
OFFICIAL figures released this week show that, since Labour came to power in May, 1997, taxation has risen by £30 billion. We all know that we have the dearest petrol in the whole of Europe, with 72p going to the Chancellor from every pound we spend on
IN reply to his remarks about Remembrance Day hypocrisy (Letters, November 2), I would ask Mr W Soley if he knows that a lot of the troops volunteered to fight -- such as the Accrington Pals, many of whom were lost. It was not in vain. For all who were
WEIGHTLIFTER Mike Pyke is feeling just champion -- world champion! The Leigh-born wheelchair wonder arrived back from Las Vegas on Tuesday night as newly-crowned international champ. "I still can't believe it. I'm over the moon," said spina bifida sufferer
DISABLED youngsters are to get the chance to take part in sport after a new club was launched this week. From November 25, youngsters will be able to attend sessions at Turf Moor leisure centre to take part in a number of sports. While the club is the
NOW for something completely different -- but not if Gerry Smith has anything to do with it! For Gerry is the driving force behind Blackburn Backgammon Club, which is alive and flourishing at the Moorings pub on Bolton Road. The club boasts over 50 members
Bonfire Night Mini Rugby Tournament at Blackburn Rugby Union Football Club THE bonfire may have been postponed for a week but there were plenty of fireworks on the pitch as Blackburn hosted yet another successful mini rugby tournament. Clubs came from
Accrington Combination Walmsley Cup Peel Park 2 Heys Athletic 1 THE fact that this was only one of a handful of matches to survive the weather even caught Heys Athletic by surprise. For a handful of players did not even bother to turn up, thinking the
A MAN who suffered serious burns in a house fire which killed one of his best friends told an inquest: "I didn't start it." East Lancashire Coroner David Smith questioned asked Darren Barker about the fatal fire in Hunslet Street, Burnley, in July, after
BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today refused to get carried away after his Rovers side rattled up their sixth straight league victory thanks to a 2-1 win at Barnsley last night. Second half goals from Matt Jansen and David Dunn cancelled out a 19th minute
BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today revealed out-of-favour duo Keith Gillespie and Simon Grayson have both been told they can leave Ewood on free transfers. The two players have not been released from their contracts but Rovers are now prepared to let
CUSTOMERS from Burnley fashion shop Collections stepped onto the catwalk to help raise money for cancer treatment but wee disappointed with the amount raised. Club and party wear, evening gowns and Christmas wedding outfits, were modelled by women aged
A GANG of 30 thugs hurled bricks and stones at a fire crew after luring them into a trap by torching a car. Firefighters came under a hail of missiles when they arrived at the incident in Kent Street, Stoneyholme, last night. The attack was so fierce
A SOCCER thug who grabbed a police dog by the throat has been banned from all football matches in this country for 18 months. Clarets fan Philip Holmes, 39, who may also face a lifetime ban from Burnley games, could end up in jail for up to six months
A SCHOOLGIRL who spent three months at home in protest because the schools she wanted to go to were full was celebrating today after finally being found a place. Youngster Danielle McKillop was downcast when she was turned down and her appeals rejected
A MAN who suffered serious burns in a house fire which killed one of his best friends told an inquest: "I didn't start it." East Lancashire Coroner David Smith questioned asked Darren Barker about the fatal fire in Hunslet Street, Burnley, in July, after
A DRINK-driver arrested and put in a police cell carried out a "frenzied attack," on the door with a metal grate. Burnley magistrates heard how Brian Taylor, 60, had been obstructive and argumentative with officers and had begun to hit the door with his
TWO men ended a day's drinking session in a rumpus with police officers. Burnley magistrates heard how David Kemp, 26, threatened "to do" police officers. His friend David Jackson, 25, who had initially been acting as peacemaker, was also arrested. Kemp
POLICE are hunting thieves who stole two valuable birds of prey. The thieves broke into the aviary in Union Road, Oswaldtwistle and made off with a female harris hawk, which is described as almost black in colour with red brown wings, yellow feet and
A SEMINAR was held at Burnley Football Club to develop a more structured approach to dealing with domestic violence. The Lancashire-Wide Network for Minority Ethnic Women, based in Accrington, organised the event which featured a performance of The Knot
A PENSIONER who heroically rescued a young girl from a canal in his youth has finally received an award -- 63 years later! John Walsh, 87, rescued Edna Skellern, now 70, from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Rishton in the June of 1937, when Edna was
THE chairman of the world's best-known small football team today accused the local council of thwarting the dream to take his beloved club back into the Football League. Eric Whalley, chairman of Accrington Stanley, said he could not understand the logic
YOUNGSTERS at a Clitheroe school are to record a Christmas CD to raise cash for charity. Pupils at Ribblesdale Technology College are to record a Christmas ballad penned by Clitheroe songwriter and dance teacher Gladys Sutcliffe. The song, A Second After
THE web is not just for fun, although immense fun it is and hopefully always will be; it can also be there as a public service -- to entertain, inform and educate, to coin a phrase. Thus it is with a new website to help people who have dyslexia. The new
Blackpool 0-1 Shrewsbury The dreaded manager of the month award came back to haunt Blackpool again as Shrewsbury Town steal the points at Bloomfield Road. Paul Simpson had the best opportunity in the opening minutes when his left shot looked certain to
SEVEN-year-old Kealy Smith from Cliviger won a Sony PlayStation won in a summer promotion at Burnley leisure facilities. Hundreds of youngsters entered their loyalty cards into the 11 Up promotion. Each centre organised holiday activities including trampolining
ON-LOAN Clarets striker Paul Robinson may have the chance to sign off in style or earn himself a longer stay at Turf Moor by featuring against Sheffield United on Saturday. It was thought that Robinson's initial month's loan from Wimbledon was due to
EVER wondered who is the worst dressed man in Blackpool? Well now we know, thanks to Van De Marc menswear in Cleveleys. The store decided to hold a competition for people to nominate who they thought was the scruffiest Sandgrown'un -- and it turned out
AN INQUEST is due to open next week on a nursing sister who is believed to have used hospital drugs to kill her two children and then herself. Forty-six-year-old Yew Chein Crowther -- known as Rosie -- trained as a nurse at Blackpool's Victoria Hospital
POLICE have got a real devil of a job. And it's perhaps their underworld contacts who will be of most use in helping them to trace a 12-foot tall statue of Satan missing from Blackpool's Club Heaven and Hell. The missing devil is 12 feet tall, made of
A PUBLIC meeting is due to take place tonight (November 9) when the residents of Freckleton discuss the complicated history of a "secret fund" of public money worth £110,000. The meeting at Freckleton Primary School, School Lane, has been called after
ON-LOAN Clarets striker Paul Robinson may have the chance to sign off in style or earn himself a longer stay at Turf Moor by featuring against Sheffield United on Saturday. It was thought that Robinson's initial month's loan from Wimbledon was due to
BURY skipper Nick Daws has set his Shakers team-mates a Christmas target. He wants 35 points by mid-December to keep Bury on the trail to promotion glory. The same number of points in the second half of the campaign would give the Shakers a total of 70
RIGHTS of way campaigners are furious that council lawyers have put a sixth temporary ban on the use of a controversial footpath. The route through the Charles Turner Ltd site, Belmont, which was first blocked almost two years ago, has been closed for
WINTER'S coming, the evenings are getting longer but the UK's annual festival of Mediterranean-style food is here again to put the sunshine back into our lives. Britain needs no better excuse for days of feasting than to celebrate National Pizza, Pasta
PETROL retailers issued a "Don't panic " plea to motorists this week in the hours leading up to next week's price protest deadline. And one of the Fylde coast's biggest fuel outlets, Morrisons, told the Citizen: "There was a short lived panic last week
YOU may complain about the rising price of beer year in year out, but one Poulton artist is hoping to pull in a cool £25,000 for a pint of Boddies! The 3D picture of "The Cream of Manchester", above, is the cream of the crop from works by respected artist
A BLACKPOOL Biggles fan is all set for soaring success himself with the publication of his latest book. Colin Foe (pictured), 54, a former teacher of Longton Road, Blackpool, will see his fictional work Albert the Aeroplane go on the shelves of bookstores
APPALLING weather reduced this year's Bonfire Night to damp squib proportions along the Fylde Coast. All leave for firefighters was cancelled for November 5 celebrations, but there were only ten emergency call-outs and they were to out-of-control bonfires
EAST Lancashire's training and enterprise council has been named top of the TECs just months before it is due to be disbanded. ELTEC, which has helped develop dozens of businesses and train hundreds of staff and students, has achieved top place out of
PUPILS and staff at Witton Park High School, Blackburn, have achieved their sixth consecutive year in which there was improvement in GCSE results. Headteacher John Gosling last night praised his staff and students for their successes and said how it reflected
A REVISED mission statement looking to the future of St Bede's High School, Blackburn, was at the heart of a speech by headteacher John Challoner. Mr Challoner told pupils and guests that as a Catholic school, its mission statement was "rooted in the
MORE THAN 100 jobs have been put at risk after two textile firms called in the receivers -- despite an annual turnover of about £10million. Directors of the Witton Mill Company and its subsidiary Wittrex -- both based at Stancliffe Street, Blackburn -
MOTORCYCLE ace Carl Fogarty has explained why he was unable to attend a star-studded event to recognise People of the Year 2000. The local hero and four-times World Superbike Champion was unable to join others, including Olympic rowing medallist Steve
DESIGNER sportsgear may be every child's dream Christmas present -- but fakes like these are costing hundreds of millions of pounds and thousands of jobs. That's the message from trading standards officers and sports industry bosses who are clamping down
THE Charlotte Slater Memorial Fell Race is for all age groups from under nine upwards. The youngest runners race half a mile, the under 12s run a mile and a half and the under 14s a mile and threequarters. Under 17s run the senior route of 3.5 miles.
Tactics pay off AMANDA Parkinson took third place in the second round of the Reebok Cross Country Challenge in Birmingham on Sunday. The former Hyndburn AC athlete had felt that her tactics had let her down at Liverpool where she was fourth, but here
Girl Power with Dany Robson TRAMPOLINING became an Olympic sport for the first time in Sydney this year and British star Jaime Moore was at the forefront of publicity for the event. Jaime didn't make the finals -- she finished 12th in Australia -- but
PUPILS and staff at Witton Park High School, Blackburn, have achieved their sixth consecutive year in which there was improvement in GCSE results. Headteacher John Gosling last night praised his staff and students for their successes and said how it reflected
I WAS sorry to read your correspondent's ill-informed comments in Leaver at Large (LET, September 27), with regard to Blackburn's Queen's Park Hospital being a World Health Organisation Health Promoting Hospital. In answer to his question "Are there any
HOW I agree with Paul Anthony's views (Letters, November 7) about panic-buying of petrol. I am a service engineer and genuinely needed to fill up with fuel last Saturday, as I estimated I was down to my last gallon. Imagine my surprise and horror on finding
Accrington RL 22, Wigan Rose Bridge 6 ACCRINGTON returned to action with a win after so many of the games were called off due to the weather. It was only the club's fourth match of the season and Accrington made the most of this rare outing to put in
DARWEN-based West Coast Wasps are the British under 12s roller hockey champions. The team, made up of youngsters from across the North West but captained by Darwen's Oliver Lomax, swept aside the cream of the crop to land the title on a day to remember
Whistle Blower with referee Neil Yates I HAD some sympathy for Trevor Hanson's comments in Tales from the Touchline last week regarding the standard of match officials he encounters in junior football. Regular readers will know I have absolutely no affinity
Karrimor International Mountain Marathon TIM Laney was the pick of the local athletes who braved the elements to take part in the annual Karrimor International Mountain Marathon. The Clayton Harrier was just one of 3,000 competitors who headed for the
Steve Tinniswood's Park Patrol SEAN Riley says that he has his feet firmly on the ground when it comes to the possible future as a Football League physiotherapist. But it looks like those size eights could be planted firmly on foreign ground...China to
Burnley Primary Schools Netball Competition at Towneley High School WELLFIELD Primary School got their revenge and in doing so won their first ever netball final. Wellfield reached the last two last year only to lose out to Christ the King in a thrilling
AN MP today demanded a full explanation over a school's decision to axe the trip at the centre of a banning row involving a diabetic pupil. Clitheroe Royal Grammar School pupils were "left in tears" when they were told a watersports trip to France next
INTERNATIONAL forward Dave Bradbury is coming home to join the club he supported as a boy. The former Great Britain tourist and current Irish pack star has signed a one-year deal with Leigh Centurions and will link up with his new Hilton Park team-mates
BARNSLEY boss Dave Bassett was left cursing his luck after an error from keeper Kevin Miller put Rovers on their way to a sixth straight victory. Miller had been outstanding until he let a Stig Bjornebye cross squirm out of his grasp in the 72nd minute
SEVEN-year-old Kealy Smith from Cliviger won a Sony PlayStation won in a summer promotion at Burnley leisure facilities. Hundreds of youngsters entered their loyalty cards into the 11 Up promotion. Each centre organised holiday activities including trampolining
NEIGHBOURHOOD wardens or street rangers could be operating in Burnley -- and make a return to Accrington. Half a dozen rangers in police-style uniforms could be on the streets in the Barclay, Burnley Wood, Calder, Coal Clough, Daneshouse and Trinity areas
WATER bosses announced reservoirs were at desperately low levels. Stocks in Burnley and Hyndburn were reported to be at just two per cent -- the lowest in the North West -- and Rossendale's reservoirs were only eight per cent full, Pendle's 11 per cent
A PUBLIC awareness campaign was launched after it was revealed that thousands could be at risk from lead poisoning from their tap water. A study by Blackburn Council and North West Water showed about 80 per cent of homes in Burnley could be at risk, with
IN a report of the industrial tribunal action being taken against Lancashire Police by WPC Reehaina Saddique in yesterday's news pages of This is Lancashire, we incorrectly stated that a picture of a police recruitment campaign poster featured WPC Saddique
A FRANTIC father whose schoolgirl daughter has been missing for more than two weeks is appealing for help to find her. Fifteen-year-old Jolene Savage (pictured) disappeared from a children's home at Rainhill, near Liverpool, 15 days ago but she is thought
RESIDENTS trying to transform an Accrington wasteland into a £33,000 community garden say they are devastated by fly-tippers who are turning their dreams into a rubbish dump. Members of the West Accrington Residents Association teamed up with environmental
COUNCIL gardeners and police in Clitheroe have denied that potent "magic mushrooms" are growing within the grounds of a local beauty spot. Magistrates in Blackburn had heard the case this week of a Clitheroe man who caused hundreds of pounds worth of
PREVIOUSLY mentioned many weeks ago in these pages was Joe Eddlestone's Tracks and Tours website. This online business has been improved and augmented over the months, and now boasts a range of new features, including cartoons and a range of new products
AN MP today demanded a full explanation over a school's decision to axe the trip at the centre of a banning row involving a diabetic pupil. Clitheroe Royal Grammar School pupils were "left in tears" when they were told a watersports trip to France next
LATEST specious survey sent by a public relations consultancy to try and flog something tells me that us Northerners are getting reet handy at shopping on the web. Research for credit card firm Visa shows that 68 per cent on Northerners who shop on the
THE great thing about the world wide web -- well, one of the many, many great things about the world wide web -- is that it's something you do, not just something you read. Thus we have given all you football fans something to do while you are taking
SENIOR rugby players from King Edward and Queen Mary School, Lytham turned up the heat on their Scottish opponents during a four day tour north of the border. Both first and second XVs had excellent wins against Madras College in St Andrews. Two tries
TWO St Annes women have "eclipsed" any other visitor to Blackpool Pleasure Beach, with 300 visits to the Eclipse show. And as a reward Pam Hulme (right) and her friend Barbara Cleveland (left) visited star of the show Vladimir on stage recently. "It was
PICK up a picture of the past as Blackpool Civic Trust holds its annual postcard fair. Billed as "a deltiologists delight" (postcard collectors to you and me), the fair takes place on November 12 between 10-4pm at Palatine High School, St Annes Road,
FORMER students from Fleetwood High School have thanked The Citizen for helping trace a number of relatives of 18 ex-pupils who died in the Second World War. Patricia Capron of The 36 Association -- a group of pupils who attended the school in 1936 which
BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today revealed out-of-favour duo Keith Gillespie and Simon Grayson have both been told they can leave Ewood on free transfers. The two players have not been released from their contracts but Rovers are now prepared to let
A BLACKBURN accountancy firm is holding a free breakfast seminar for local firms concerned with the introduction of stakeholder pensions from next year. Pierce Chartered Accountants and Business Link are inviting companies to the conference at the Dunkenhlagh
THE Duke of Westminster was among the first to congratulate an East Lancashire firm for its commitment to building business competitiveness through workforce development. Rossendale-based Technology Solutions, which designs and installs a range of close-circuit
AN East Lancashire town has been chosen to host the Government's flagship programme for lifelong learning. The University for Industry will be based at the Kingfisher Centre, Rawtenstall, and learners will be able to develop their talents at their own
"An Evening of Flowers and Music -- with Christmas in Mind" will be held at St James-the-Less Church, Burnley Road, Rawtenstall on Wednesday, November 22 at 7.30pm. International floral demonstrator Gerry Reid will give a presentation. Tickets are £5
WHAT'S in a name? Plenty if you are a famous pub chain about to open a new watering hole in St Annes. Work is soon to begin on a new Wetherspoons pub in Wood Street and The Citizen has teamed up with Harrison Ince architects in an exclusive competition
ILLUSIONIST Guy Barrett is used to making things disappear. But he was less than impressed when he awoke to find ten years' worth of tricks had vanished from outside his house. Guy, 29, is appealing to the public to help get his illusions back which were
THREE St Annes students are about to see months of hard work finally splashed across the silver screen as they premiere their first film. November 11 sees the first screening of a short film by James Wolstenholme, Jemma Twist and Simon Morgan entitled
BLACKPOOL is set for a tremendous festive season this year with more to offer shoppers and leisure seekers than ever before! Not only does the late night shopping start earlier than usual -- on November 16 -- there is free evening parking at most town
A CHILD stole £165 from a Blackpool drinks store while two adults distracted the staff. At around 4.30pm, on October 29, a man and woman with three small children entered Booze Busters, in Highfield Road, and the adults proceeded to keep the assistant
FYLDE Community care facility for boys WILL definitely close it was exclusively revealed to the Citizen on November 8. And the Poulton centre -- known locally as Fylde Farm -- will shut down within two years, even though social service chiefs insist the
A GP surgery whose phone lines were accidentally cut six days ago is struggling to keep services going with only one mobile phone. The Preston Old Road doctor's surgery in Blackburn has been operating with one phone, even though it was earmarked as a
AN AMBITIOUS scheme to hand over a host of Blackburn with Darwen Council services to a private company will be only the second of its kind in the country. Final negotiations are now under way to allow London-based Capita Group to run a number of council
ANYTHING the WI can do, we can do better! That was the rallying cry from a group of women who, when they were told the final curtain may have to fall at the theatre they had grown to love, decided something else would have to drop too...their clothes!
MOTORISTS and pensioners in East Lancashire gave a mixed reaction to Chancellor Gordon Brown's pre-budget speech. Mr Brown said he would freeze fuel duty until 2002 and announced a 3p cut per litre in green ultra low sulphur petrol and diesel which he
TODMORDEN Harrier Andy Wrench has capped a wonderful season on the fells by winning the 12 race South Pennine Grand Prix. Lancashire Champion for the past two years, he finished second in the six mile long Shepherd's Skyline Race at Todmorden to clinch
NEIL Tattersall of Hyndburn AC and Susan Coulthurst of Red Rose Road Runners are the winners of the Chorley Millennium Grand Prix -- but both had the shock of being beaten by their nearest rivals in the final round. The Asics Through the Villages Race
GEORGE Kirby, who was this newspaper's Athletics Correspondent for 40 years, has recently been appointed President of the Lancashire Athletic Association. George has been a prominent member of Blackburn Harriers for over half a century and his name will
A BURY-born woman is trying to research a bizarre story dating back 60 years -- about a starving Bolton bride in a coffin on Blackpool Promenade! Chrissie Gittings, a poet who now lives in London, is trying to find out more about the amazing stories of
