PADIHAM will celebrate reaching a footballing milestone on Saturday. They will play their 500th game in the North West Counties division when they face Ashton Town at the Arbories (3pm). And the club is offering free admission and a half-time drink
BLACKBURN Rovers striker Benni McCarthy has spoken for the first time about the racial abuse he suffered during Blackburn's UEFA Cup tie with Wisla Krakow earlier this season. The South African alleged that Wisla defender Nikola Mijailovic racially
BLACKBURN Rovers' Academy side ended 2006 on a winning note following a hard-fought victory at Stoke City. Junior Dadson scored the only goal of the game just past the half hour mark, but the visitors were also indebted to goalkeeper Zak Jones, who saved
Blackburn Hawks were left to rue "costly decisions" after they had to settle for a share of the spoils against rivals Flintshire Freeze. Hawks were the better side in a stop-start English National Ice Hockey League encounter, and even held a comfortable
BACUP manager Brent Peters has applied for the vacant managerial position at League Two side Rochdale. Peters threw his hat into the ring this week and revealed he was quietly confident he could turn the struggling side around. Brian Horton and Andy
Ukrainian defender Andriy Nesmachniy was due to start a trial period with Blackburn Rovers today. The 27-year-old Dynamo Kiev player has been invited to spend a few days training at Brockhall. If he impresses then he could seal a dream move to the
DAVID Bentley reckons he and his Blackburn Rovers team-mates need to find another gear over Christmas if they are to pull away from trouble in the Premiership. The England Under 21 international fired Rovers to a much-needed win at Reading on Saturday
THE work of a Blackburn-based training provider has been captured on film by well-known consumer TV show Working Lunch. Apprentices from Training 2000 claimed their 15 minutes of fame when Working Lunch spent three hours with them, looking at the work
A HEARTBROKEN family whose polite and sensible' son died after taking cocaine at a party have warned youngsters to steer clear of drugs this Christmas. Michael Grunshaw, 19, was a former student at Blackburn College, had a season ticket for Blackburn
A YOUNG father is preparing for Christmas after being given the greatest gift of all - his life. Adam Wood, 21, of Lime Road, Haslingden, has fought back from the brink since he slipped in a water fountain while on holiday in Ibiza in July. He had been
PUPILS at a Rossendale primary school have helped to create a Christmas CD in memory of murdered schoolboy Joe Geeling. The school choir at Holcombe Brook Primary, Longsight Road, recorded songs for the Chain of Friendship CD along with four other Bury
FORMER Burnley goalkeeper Lee Grant returns to his old stomping ground on Saturday insisting Steve Cotterill's men will fight all the way to reach the play-offs. Grant heads back to Turf Moor with second-placed Derby exactly a year after temporarily
ACCRINGTON Stanley boss John Coleman is hoping a change in training facilities will see a change in fortune this weekend. The Reds have swapped their traditional Barnoldswick training ground for more comfortable surroundings and facilities in Rochdale
BLACKBURN Rovers have announced an early Christmas present for fans by reducing ticket prices for its last Premiership game of 2006 at Ewood Park against Middlesbrough on Saturday December 30. Both sets of supporters will be charged just £15 anywhere
BLACKBURN ROVERS boss Mark Hughes will step up his pursuit of David Dunn when the transfer window opens after the player effectively said 'come and get me' last night. Dunn is desperate to secure a return to Ewood, three years after he left for Birmingham
Blackburn Rovers boss Mark Hughes remains hopeful Ryan Nelsen will be fit to return at some point next month. The New Zealand international has not kicked a ball in anger this season because he required an operation on a hamstring injury. However, the
MORE than 100 motorists were caught speeding outside a school - with some going twice the speed limit at 60mph. And bosses of Stubbins Primary in Bolton Road North are hoping that the news will finally spur the county council into installing traffic
A NUMBER of pupils have been excluded from Hameldon College, Burnley, following a series of incidents at the new super school. Headteacher Gill Broome said the expulsions were among a number of measures taken to try to tackle the problems at the school
PARKING wardens went on to a church's private car park and gave a ticket to a parish volunteer who had left her car there. The attendants, who have previously booked delivery drivers, milk floats and even a police car, have now come under renewed criticism
FORGET footballers' wives and girlfriends - an amateur team is proving that mums and grans are a far bigger hit. Relatives of players and officials from Blackburn club Sporting Athletic have got their kit off to pose in a raunchy calendar to raise money
A BODY set up to represent the region's multi-million-pound aerospace industry has appointed a new chairman. The North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA), based in Nelson but representing the hi-tech industry across the North West, has appointed Blackburn-born
BLACKBURN Rovers players said they were touched by the stories of children they met while handing out presents at Royal Blackburn Hospital. The squad took time out from their busy training schedule to visit the children's unit at the hospital yesterday
A MARKET has been raided in a Christmas crackdown on traders peddling fake goods. The raid came at the Wednesday night market at Clitheroe auction mart as part of a county-wide clampdown which saw thousands of pounds worth of goods including clothing
REHEARSALS are under way for a production of the Sound of Music after a youth group scored a massive victory over theatre bosses to get the show on the stage. Brunshaw Action Group's production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic was suddenly left
EAST Lancashire community groups have been given some pre-Christmas cheer after sharing a slice of £880,000 lottery money handed out to good causes across the North West. Meadowhead Community Junior School, Blackburn received £3,500. Stoops and
SANTA'S reindeer got a day off as the great man travelled by helicopter instead when he visited children from Simonstone Primary School. David Fishwick, owner of David Fishwick LDV, Colne, gave Father Christmas a lift in his chopper to hand out presents
RAMSBOTTOM'S MP has unveiled the town's first official commemorative plaque. David Chaytor MP was joined by town councillors and residents to officially mark the plaque put up by Ramsbottom Heritage Society outside Roger Greenlees Jewellers, Bolton Street
BLACKBURN Transport has announced it will be running its free Christmas Day bus services again this year. The company will be running three afternoon services on the day. The track 1 service between Blackburn and Darwen Cemetery will run every half hour
BUDDING young engineers from East Lancashire won a national competition to design and build a working vehicle from scratch. Primary schools from Chorley and Blackburn were among the finalists in the Primary Engineer 2006, held at the Eureka! children's
ROGUE salesmen are preying on pensioners left worried by a spate of burglaries in a "deplorable" scam. Police said the pair used fake identification to con their way into homes in Colne before offering to fit a security system, they say is worth £95,
RESIDENTS in Darwen's controversial Redearth Triangle aim to launch a new legal action in a bid to halt plans for a £33million Academy. The move comes after Blackburn with Darwen Council lodged a second Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to clear remaining
A MAN who committed six armed robberies at Blackburn off-licences will serve almost seven years in prison before he can apply for parole. Thomas Moffett, 43, of Roebuck Close, Blackburn, armed himself with a nail gun and threatened terrified shopkeepers
Members of the Whalley aerobics group sweated it out for charity by taking part in a four-hour sponsored aerobathon that raised £3,004 for Cancer Research UK. The women, who normally meet on a Wednesday night in the village hall, were put through their
A SCHEME that helps long-term unemployed people in Pendle back into work has received national accreditation for the quality service it provides. The Tackling Unem-ployment Project, run by Pendle Council, has been awarded the 'Matrix Standard' for the
POLICE have slammed youngsters' latest craze of throwing sticks and rocks at cars. And officers have urged parents to take more responsibility in knowing where in Nelson their children are at night. Over the past two weeks in the Marsden Hall Road,
A DRIVER was rescued from a car which had struck a van in Darwen yesterday. Firefighters dismantled the seats in the compact BMW to remove the driver following the accident at 10.10am on Marsh House Lane. The collision happened outside Marshmallows
RESIDENTS of a home for the elderly have won a battle with bosses to install a communal television. The U-turn from Hyndburn Homes has seen the landlord change its policy on sets in communal areas. It has agreed to pay insurance and TV licence costs
A PENSIONER was knocked of his bar stool and kicked after another drinker in a Blackburn pub felt he had been provoked, a court was told. Blackburn magistrates heard that lorry driver Peter Fairbrother punched the other man on the cheek because of comments
POLICE are trying to drive criminals off the roads with a new operation. Rossendale police are running automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) checkpoints around the valley in a bid to identify suspicious vehicles. And the operation was launched this
AN 84-year-old former Royal Navy man who drove off after crashing into a lorry on the A59 at Sawley later failed a breathalyser test. Blackburn magistrates heard Frank Heaton was nearly double the legal limit when police caught up with him in Sawley
A THIEF who got behind the wheel of a stolen van while drunk, banned and uninsured was told he could have killed someone. Burnley magistrates had heard how aloholic ex-chef William Bridge, 30, was three times the limit when he took the van from a service
A RECLUSIVE giant who murdered his only friend at a New Year's Eve party will not be released until at least 2014. Gareth Horton stabbed ex-colleague Charlotte Flanagan, of Melville Gardens, Darwen, after a vicars and tarts party in the London pub where
NEW research has revealed that East Lancashire's rural economy is benefiting from the high number of farms that have diversified into tourism. The North West Farm Tourism Initiative (NWFTI) has coined the term "Tractourism" to describe farms that have
THREE drugs gang members who helped set up a cannabis farm have pleaded guilty to growing the illegal plants. The men were arrested in April following raids on various properties as part of Operation Hornbeam, an on-going investigation into suspected
AT a time when Central Government is proposing devolving more power and more control of finances to local councils, one might be concerned that our locally elected councillors are not "fit for purpose." We read in the Lancashire Telegraph of one high
WHILST not living in Blackburn, each year at Christmas I visit Blackburn Cemetery with my wife and sister-in-law, to pay our respects to family members buried there. One would think perhaps this could be a dismal chore, but I usually take the opportunity
A MAN who committed six armed robberies at Blackburn off-licences will serve almost seven years in prison before he can apply for parole. Thomas Moffett, 43, of Roebuck Close, Blackburn, armed himself with a nail gun and threatened terrified shopkeepers
BURNLEY'S Labour leader does not expect to wrestle control of the council back from the Liberal Democrats, despite the expected sackings of two councillors. Labour and the Liberal Democrats each now have 15 councillors in the chamber, but the Lib Dems
TRIBUTES have been paid to long-serving Burnley councillor Donald Hall who has died aged 59. Coun Hall, a former paratrooper and chef who represented the Brunshaw ward in the town for 17 years, died on Saturday after suffering a heart attack. Leader
EVEN if the festive season is the only time you ever indulge in classical music, it's worth a look at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's Christmas Concert tonight in Blackburn. For one night only King George's Hall will play host to one of
DID I miss something? When exactly did Monty Don become an expert on drug addiction? In last night's Monty Don - Growing out of Trouble, on BBC2, in which the affable Mr Don takes a handful of recovering drug addicts and attempts to help them turn over
This view of the outline of Belgrave Church, Darwen, silhouetted against a dramatic sunset was captured by Konrad Tapp.
A COUPLE have celebrated their diamond wedding with a huge family party - and entertainment provided by a highland bagpiper. Harry and Isobel Moles, who moved to East Lancashire from Dunfermline in the 1950s, marked their 60th anniversary by bringing
BURNLEY Credit Union has added its voice to the criticism of hamper company Farepak which collapsed leaving thousands of needy families without their Christmas savings. About 150,000 mainly low-income families lost an estimated £50m when Farepak went
A BABY llama made an unusual addition to a Christmas nativity held to raise funds for a centre offering therapeutic services to those with special needs. The event at Lords House Farm, Wilpshire Road, Rishton, attracted large crowds. Visitors were able
A FIRM with a large mix of nationalities is doing its bit for racial harmony - with all the staff celebrating both Christmas and Eid. Netmovers, of Bridge Street, Church, employs 35 people from countries including India, Bengal, Pakistan and England.
