A LOOK at events, from amateur theatre to rambles through our beautiful countryside. Museum, Gift Shop and Tea Room, Pendle Heritage Centre, Park Hill, Barrowford, Nelson. Towneley Art Gallery and Museums, Towneley Park, Burnley. Victorian Industrial
A LOOK at events, from amateur theatre to rambles through our beautiful countryside. Volunteer Drop-In, New Era Centre, Paradise Street, Accrington, 10am-2pm. Lunch Club and Social, noon-3pm; Youth Club, 7pm-9pm, Livesey Community Base, 132 Brookway,
YOU don't have to look far in East Lancashire to spot youngsters whizzing along on motorised scooters. The noise of the motor is the first thing to alert the unwary pedestrian before the contraption shoots past either on the road or on the pavement. It
YOU are confused about 'Star Ratings' as they only measure what they are set out to measure, as such organisations who do well on the measured issues will get a high rating. Star, or any other 'objective' rating can only assess the measurable. Individual
FRONTLINE NHS workers in the area are to undergo specialist training to deal with a big increase in violent incidents against staff. The NHS security management service is setting up the country's largest ever training programme for medical workers after
A MAN dropped dead from a suspected heart attack after being told his brother had been killed in a car crash. Today a community was trying to come to terms with the shocking death of two brothers who died within hours of each other. The deaths of taxi
FRAIL and elderly residents have spent Christmas being carried up and down stairs after engineers left them without a lift for a week. Many of the 68 pensioners in the three-storey Brackendale sheltered flats suffer from arthritis but their lift broke
PAUL Gallagher last night admitted he wasn't sure how he managed to score Rovers' winning goal against Newcastle. Gallagher's match-winning effort was shrouded in controversy as TV replays later showed the ball clearly went in off his hand. "Brett Emerton
GRAEME Souness was today counting the cost of Blackburn's 1-0 win over Newcastle as he faced up to the prospect of losing Barry Ferguson for the rest of the season. Ferguson underwent an operation to repair a broken knee-cap last night after sustaining
JUBILANT Blackburn boss Graeme Souness paid a glowing tribute to his back four after they stopped Alan Shearer dead in his tracks to set up a vital 1-0 victory over Newcastle. Rovers shrugged off the absence of Craig Short to keep their third clean sheet
MENTAL health charity MIND is challenging people in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale to participate in one of its new events in the New Year. MIND's Cuba Trek and Cuba Cycle will raise vital funds to help improve the lives of people who experience mental
A TOWN council clerk has written to the Government in a bid to save a multi-million pound plan to turn an abandoned weir into a regional canoeing and fishing centre. News that the European Regional Development Fund would not be putting any cash into the
Huddersfield 1 Bury 0: SHAKERS have not won at Huddersfield for 40 years -- and Danny Swailes' own goal continued the jinx on Sunday. Swailes deflected a Rob Edwards corner past Glyn Garner on the half-hour to send the Shakers to a seventh straight defeat
ARMED robbers threatened an employee at a bank in Prestwich and escaped with a quantity of cash. Three armed men approached the 31-year-old man at the side of Barclays Bank in Bury New Road, near the night safe deposit box, at about 4.30pm on Boxing Day
CLARETS skipper Graham Branch has fired an icy blast at the Burnley boo boys. Branch declared himself a "jinx" after his split-second error allowed Stoke striker Adi Akinbiki to seal a miserable Christmas. But Branch could not contain his anger after
STAN Ternent bowed to the fact Burnley now find themselves in a "precarious" position in Division One. The Clarets slipped to 21st place after Stoke inflicted a fourth straight defeat thanks to Adi Akinbiyi's second half strike. The Burnley boss vowed
THE Queen once called it her 'Annus Horribilis'. Stan Ternent's take on 2003 was a little less grandiose. "An absolute nightmare" was how he summed up a year he will be more than glad to see the back of. But just like the worst nightmare, one can only
AN elderly couple prevented a Christmas tragedy when they rescued a mum, her young daughter and baby trapped inside their smoke-filled house. Tom and Freda Bryers, both in their 70s, have been hailed as heroes by firefighters after they dashed next door
CAMPAIGNERS say planning officers were slow to respond over fears that protected trees fringing lodges at Lowercroft were being felled. Chainsaws were heard on Monday morning last week as trimming work on trees bordering the lower Whiteheads lodge took
CLARETS skipper Graham Branch has fired an icy blast at the Burnley boo boys. Branch declared himself a "jinx" after his split-second error allowed Stoke striker Adi Akinbiki to seal a miserable Christmas. But Branch could not contain his anger after
GRAEME Souness was today counting the cost of Blackburn's 1-0 win over Newcastle as he faced up to the prospect of losing Barry Ferguson for the rest of the season. Ferguson underwent an operation to repair a broken knee-cap last night after sustaining
LOSE weight, eat healthily, move to New York, write a novel, join a gym, see the world, stop biting my nails, get a job as a researcher on the Holiday Programme, try not to scream at the children, marry a man with the surname Onassis. Such have been the
A LITTLE girl who suffered a type of stroke at the age of five has been allowed home to start the New Year with her family. Melissa Lambert, five, of Northcote Street, Darwen, became semi-paralysed almost three weeks ago when she contracted a rare illness
RUNNERS used the perfect opportunity to burn off the extra pounds piled on over Christmas by taking part in an annual Boxing Day fun run. The 26th annual Whinnbury Naze Dash started off in Rawtenstall with participants running 4.5 miles in the cold and
A NEW group formed in Rossendale to give residents their say on a variety of issues will meet for the first time next month. The forum, called Confident Communities, will allow the public to voice their concerns and ideas with the council, police, the
POLICE in Blackburn were today appealing for information about a theft in which a man stole £50 from a shop till. The man walked into Hasware Confectioners, in Rockcliffe Street, at around 5.25pm yesterday while it was still open to the public and approached
THE YMCA building in Blackburn could be demolished and replaced with new flats under proposals being considered by charity bosses. Soaring maintenance costs at the Clarence Street building mean the charity is considering leaving the site and getting new
CHILDREN as young as 12 riding 40 mph motorised scooters on roads and pavements are facing motoring convictions, police warned today. Officers are so fed up of the youngsters putting motorists and pedestrians in danger in the Roe Lee and Brownhill areas
FRAIL and elderly residents have spent Christmas being carried up and down stairs after engineers left them without a lift for a week. Many of the 68 pensioners in the three-storey Brackendale sheltered flats suffer from arthritis but their lift broke
OUR council wastes large amounts of money on schemes which do not benefit the public and are not practical. Maybe someone will enlighten me as to why when the council applies for various grants the money is 100 per cent earmarked for unknown (must be
SOME folk have been talking about something being sited at the top of our famous Coppice and one of the things mentioned was some sort of UFO. Hyndburn Council are now discussing what should be done with our fountain, which has been obsolete just a few
I HAVE just been reminiscing on Christmases past and I remember being newly-married and not having much money. We were living in a rented house with a tin bath, no central heating and had spent almost all we had on a fresh turkey with trimmings. It was
COAL barges on the canal at Leigh, deep snow in Hindley town centre and a Golborne walking day procession are scenes featured in a 2004 calendar being distributed to 25,000 Council tenants by Wigan and Leigh Housing.
THE key stats and moments from the match against Newcastle BRAD FRIEDEL: Inspired confidence with everything he did. Made a couple of top-notch saves and caught every cross he came for 8 LUCAS NEILL: Far more comfortable in his normal position even though
ORGANISERS of a massive event that attracted more than 30,000 people to East Lancashire are already planning their follow up. And those behind the huge Balloon Festival are promising next year's event will be bigger and better than ever. The show, which
PROPOSALS to build 24 homes on open land near Hendon Brook in Nelson will go before councillors next week. The plans, submitted by Eagle Property Services, are for two detached houses and 11 pairs of semi-detached houses on the north side of Hallam Road
A FAMILY stepped in to save the day when they turned up at their local pub for Christmas dinner and discovered there was no chef. The Hunt family headed for the pub to avoid slaving over a hot stove. But in scenes reminiscent of an episode of the classic
BURNLEY'S football Christmas box was only half as full as it should have been. Clarets were beaten by Preston North End 2-1 at Turf Moor on Christmas Day and lost by the identical score at Deepdale in the return match on Boxing Day. And three young Blackburn
YOUTHS are being urged by Lancashire Fire and Rescue to stop messing around with dangerous gas cylinders. The latest warning came after firefighters from Accrington were called to a rubbish fire in Barlow Street at 9pm yesterday. Leading firefighter Alex
PRODUCTION was halted at a Bury factory after arsonists caused £20,000 of damage. A storage unit in the courtyard of Styx Signs, in Hornby Street, had been forced open late last Monday evening (December 22) and thousands of cardboard packing cases torched
A SEVEN-day festival of food featuring some of the country's top chefs is set to take place in East Lancashire. The Festival of Food and Wine, being hosted by Northcote Manor, Langho, has already become world renowned among gastronomes, helping to boost
ON A DAY when very few scheduled non-league football fixtures beat the weather, Padiham's North West Counties Football League Division Two derby encounter with Darwen at the Arbories on Saturday proved to be the exception, providing a venue for those
A 26-YEAR-OLD man from Ramsbottom died after his car was involved in a head-on collision and fell down an embankment. Peter Graham Pilkington was driving his Toyota Corolla along the A671 Whalley Road, Read, towards Burnley on Boxing Day afternoon when
PRODUCTION was halted at a Bury factory after arsonists caused £20,000 of damage. A storage unit in the courtyard of Styx Signs, in Hornby Street, had been forced open late last Monday evening (December 22) and thousands of cardboard packing cases torched
METROLINK services face disruption on New Year's Day, with a planned 24-hour strike by drivers. About half of the company's 160 drivers are expected to take part in the strike. The action involves members of ASLEF which is claiming union recognition from
CAN you chat, listen and enjoy meeting new friends? If so, Jigsaw Link is seeking volunteers to provide friendship and support to those who are socially isolated and lonely due to their disabilities. Jigsaw Link is a voluntary befriending scheme providing
BLACKBURN Rovers' incredible ability to produce the unexpected never ceases to cause amazement. One point from a possible six over Christmas left Graeme Souness feeling greener than The Grinch as he contemplated a bleak mid-winter fighting a desperate
BURNLEY residents are being urged to plan ahead and think about how festive items can be recycled. Christmas cards, bottles, cans and trees can all be recycled rather than thrown away for landfill. Cards can be placed in the white sacks used for recycling
A DREAM came true for a chronically ill 10-year-old boy when he had his festive wish granted. The Make a Wish Foundation, a charity set up to make dreams come true for poorly youngsters, organised a day of surprises for Tom Wadsworth, of Berry Street,
A MAN dropped dead from a suspected heart attack after being told his brother had been killed in a car crash. Today a community was trying to come to terms with the shocking death of two brothers who died within hours of each other. The deaths of taxi
A CANOE polo group is being set up in Nelson. Pendle Paddlers recently received £7,000 lottery cash to buy specialist canoe polo equipment, and the group hopes to launch a squad at Wavelengths, Nelson, in the New year. The 94-strong club has weekly sessions
LIFE in Colne in the 1950s and 60s is one of the subjects for a new TV documentary of unseen colour footage from the era. The 50s and 60s in Living Colour is a three-part series being shown on ITV today, tomorrow and Wednesday, created by the makers of
PEOPLE queued from the early hours to snap up bargains of colour televisions at £45 and sets of furniture down to £150 at Blackburn Co-operative Society's New Year Sale. The man who had been organist and choirmaster at St James Parish Church, Accrington
A HAPPY couple were to marry after being reunited by their love child -- 35 years after splitting up. Sweethearts Jack Wright and Dorothy Taylor were persuaded to marry by their son taxi driver David. And a choir girl told of the on-stage antics of children's
AN elderly woman who was returning home from shopping and visiting friends on Boxing Day had her Christmas ruined when thieves knocked her to the ground and stole her handbag. The 81-year-old had been walking towards the junction of Henry Street and Tanpits
STAFF at an animal sanctuary have been left "shattered" by the death of one of their most popular residents - a 25-year-old shire horse called 'Big Jim'. The gentle giant - who stood at 6ft - collapsed at the Only Foals and Horses Animal Sanctuary in
THE families of a murdered Nelson policewoman and her husband were today looking to start making funeral arrangements following the release of the two bodies. PC Clare Mace was stabbed to death by her husband Richard, who then killed himself at their
A LOOK at the key moments from the game against Stoke BRIAN JENSEN: Confident in everything he did - even one full-length punch under pressure that led to more catcalls from the stands. STAR MAN 7 DEAN WEST: Started like a house on fire, but finally got
Ashton United 3 Radcliffe Borough 3: RADCLIFFE Borough had to settle for a point after a see-saw Unibond Premier Division match at Surrey Street. Kevin Glendon's men were in front, behind and then took the lead again before Dean Johnson equalised for
PEOPLE out walking near Darwen Tower are being urged to be on their guard by the police after a syringe containing insulin was lost on the moors. It is believe the dose of insulin in the syringe could be lethal to anyone who does not normally use the
RESIDENTS living in parts of Darwen are giving thieves an easy ride by not claiming security packs they are entitled to. During the festive period police across East Lancashire have warned people to make sure their property is securely locked up after
THE popular Pendle Jazzmen are hoping the public will support them in the New Year when they make regular appearances at a new venue in Rossendale. The Jazzmen, who were regular performers at the Whitchaff Inn, Bury Road, Rawtenstall, will now be appearing
FLUORIDATION is to be debated by experts and residents in Rossendale next week. Rossendale Council's overview and scrutiny committee is to offer the debate to the public at an open meeting. The Water Bill being considered by Parliament gives strategic
LEADING students from Kingfisher's Learndirect centre have picked up awards celebrating their skills, determination and courage. Christine Hawke, Kingfisher Centre manager, said: "We see a lot of mature students who have had little or no experience of
LATE night revellers in East Lancashire are being urged to clean up their act and stop leaving a mess behind on the streets after a drunken night out. It has been revealed that drunken louts across the North West are returning home in the early hours
FRUSTRATED front man Lutel James described his first goal for five games as a "big relief". And the Accrington Stanley striker hoped his first-half effort, which secured an important 1-0 win over Morecambe, would encourage manager John Coleman to revert
A CAREER in teaching. Anyone in the profession will tell you it's one of the most rewarding jobs around despite the hard work and long hours. For many who are juggling a demanding home life or who may not have a CV loaded with qualifications however,
