R ETAIL spending in Lancashire has risen slightly, according to new figures, but customers in the county are said to need more incentive to spend. According to new figures, released by the Office for National Statistics, retail sales for Lancashire
TWO prolific burglars who targeted and ransacked a man’s home in Burnley have been jailed for a total of almost six years. Burnley Crown Court heard how drug addicts Colin Raw, 44, and Steven Rickwood, 38, were caught red-handed breaking into the
London Mayor Boris Johnson was left hanging today as he got stuck in mid-air on a zipwire at an Olympic event. Mr Johnson tried out the 148ft (45m) high, 1,050ft (320m) long line as he visited Victoria Park in the capital. Wearing a hard hat
A RAIDER who ripped copper piping from a house in Haslingden was spared jail – and a judge told him he should think himself “very lucky.” Richard Mooney, 21, then living in the area, was caught leaving the property in Piccadilly Street, after an
FREE parking for the first four hours is to be introduced at most of Chorley’s car parks in an attempt to boost town centre trade. A five-month trial is set to begin at the start of September which will see parking charges waived for long periods
A GLOBAL provider of precision engineering equipment, based in East Lancashire, has been bought out by the management. NR Automatics Engineering Ltd, in Colne, has been acquired for an undisclosed sum by a newly-established company called NRA Engin-eering
A ‘DEVOTED family man’ died from an accidental combination of alcohol and prescription drugs, an inquest has heard. Kevin Rowley, 60, was found by his brother-in-law, James Cropper at his home on Dean Lane, Water, on February 21. An inquest
A FORMER Burnley nightclub could be given a new lease of life as a halls of residence for the town’s rising student population. Plans have been unveiled to convert the Circulaton Club in Holmes Street into a 64-bed development. Supporters say
A PENNILESS builder who went out burgling also had a 30 plant cannabis farm at his home, a court was told. Addict Daniel Storey, 29, raided a home on New Year's Eve while the victim was out, because he claimed to be desperate for cash. He took
An appeal from South Korea over the expulsion of two pairs from the London 2012 women's doubles competition has been rejected. The Badminton World Federation also announced that Indonesia withdrew an appeal against their disqualification. The
Wimbledon champion Serena Williams cemented her status as the favourite for Olympic singles gold with a crushing 6-1 6-0 victory over Russia's Vera Zvonareva to reach the quarter-finals. The American, seeded fourth, needed only 51 minutes to cruise
YOUNG wannabe Bradley Wiggins and Stephen Burkes could benefit from a new cycle track around popular parkland in Nelson. Plans are being drawn up for a one kilometre- long multi-purpose trail to be established around Swinden playing fields.
AN evening concert is to be held in Chipping next month. The Travelling Band, accompanied by Ribble Valley group Sweeney Astray, will feature at Chipping Village Hall on Friday, September 21. Tickets are £9. Call 01772 866171.
VOLUNTEERS are needed in two Longridge charity shops. St Catherine’s Hospice shop, and Vine House Cancer Help, both in Berry Lane, need extra helpers. To find out more, inquire at the shops.
THE number of homeless people and families requiring emergency housing in Burnley and Pendle has rocketed in the past three years but fallen in Blackburn with Darwen, new figures have revealed. Housing experts say the current economic climate has
THE Blackburn Rovers fans group behind protests against the club’s owners and manager is to launch a new membership scheme. Blackburn Rovers Football Club Action Group currently has no membership structure outside its elected committee. But
BILLY Anthony Woodhouse, 27, of Elswick Street, Darwen, elected to be tried at Preston Crown Court when he appeared before Blackburn magistrates and pleaded not guilty to possessing cannabis.
SEVEN daredevil council employees are raising money for East Lancashire Hospice by jumping out of a plane. Diana Sandham, Nasreen Chaudhry, Emily Morris, Peter Chapman, Kristy Atkinson, Leonie Jenkinson and Mohamed Sidat, who all work in Adult
YOUNGSTERS will be getting into the Olympic spirit with a flag and torch-making session in Blackburn. From Monday, morning and afternoon craft sessions will be run by Blackburn with Darwen Council at Seven Trees Children’s Centre, in Whalley Street
BUDDING athletes are invited to attend a fun athletics club during the summer holidays. Blackburn Harriers and Athletics Club are running the Startrack scheme to give children a real athletic experience. Startrack is billed as a fun athletics
FRIENDS of Darwen Library are seeking more information about the life of a local artist. The friends are compiling information about impressionist James H Morton, and seeking additional knowledge of him as a young man. Little is known
DARWEN families are invited to a group picnic at Chapel Wood Picnic site on August 5. The event has been organised by Darwen Town Council and groups can join the fun by bringing their own picnics between 2pm and 4pm. For more information call Yvonne
DARWEN Leisure Centre is holding new dance sessions every Friday for children. The Junior Street Dance classes are at 4.15pm for children aged between six and 11-years-old.
A DARWEN pub is planning to hold live music sessions throughout the day to mark August Bank Holiday. The Rock Inn Country Pub and Restaurant on Tockholes Road, Tockholes are to have music throughout the day, fancy dress and a barbecue on Monday August
THE owner of 21A Exchange Street, Blackburn, has applied for a certificate of lawfulness to use the building as a self contained flat.
GOVERNORS at Daisyfield Primary School, Clinton Street, Blackburn, have applied to remove an existing rooflight and replace it with a barrell vault rooflight. Blackburn with Darwen will make a decision in coming weeks.
A LIGHT caught fire at a shop in Hindle Street, Lower Darwen, at 8.48am yesterday. The light was destroyed and the shop floor was slightly smoke logged.
TWO RAMSBOTTOM chefs have been nominated for a regional restaurant award. Louise Varley from Hideaway in Market Place and Mini Sankar of Sanmini’s in Ramsbottom Lane, have been nominated in the Chef of the Year category of this year’s Manchester
The number of permanently excluded pupils was 34 in 473 schools. The number suspended for just one day was 322 in 473 schools. So over 90% of schools never had to permanently exclude a pupil. And over a third of schools never had to even exclude
Blackburn is not the town it was 50 years ago (‘Critics rap survey claiming Blackburn folk aren’t satisfied with their lot,’ LT, July 27). Yes, the built environment is much better in most cases and air quality is much improved and both schools
They call them ''sex workers''. In reality, these people are victims. No one would do that job unless they were desperate. They need help and advice, whether that is to get off drugs, or to sort out their finances, or whatever. Remember the
With reference to Dave from Burnley’s letter. ‘Support plea is a little hypocritical’, I think he should do some more research. Although car and other motor vehicle manufacturing in the UK made a profit last year, very little of it is British designed
SHOPPERS in Burnley will be able to take advantage of free parking on selected Saturdays in coming months. The moves comes as part of the council’s Rediscover Shopping in Burnley campaign, which hopes to attract more shoppers into the town centre
FORMER postal worker Abdul Musa’s treatment after blowing the whistle about ‘endemic racism’ at Blackburn’s sorting office is extremely worrying. In a 62 page employment tribunal decision, a judge ruled that Mr Musa was unfairly dismissed and upheld
POLICE in Nelson are appealing for information about a woman who has been missing from home for two weeks. Ruth Sumner, 43, has not been seen since 9am on Thursday, July 19 when she left friend’s address on Victory Close, Nelson where she had been
I WENT to on a hen party to Magaluf recently. Before this the last time I went was ten years ago. But this time around we were older, more organised and the apartment was much nicer than where we stayed as teenagers, which back then slightly
Bradley Wiggins today secured his position as one of Britain's greatest-ever sportsmen by adding an Olympic gold medal to his historic Tour de France victory. The 32-year-old raced to glory in the time-trial around Hampton Court giving him a record
A SURVEY has shown that almost half of Blackburn firms want IT systems that allow employees to work flexibly over investments such as faster internet or improved email capacity. The study by TalkTalk Business showed 48 per cent of firms in the
A MAN at the centre of an incident which closed a road in Clitheroe has appeared in court. Blackburn magistrates heard Rizwan Ali Shah claimed to be carrying a machete minutes after a brick had been thrown through a restaurant window. Shah,
A change in the law that closes a legal loophole used by violent child abusers to escape justice has been welcomed by East Lancashire MP Andrew Stephenson. It means that people accused of seriously abusing children who try to avoid punishment by
AN EYESORE MILL in a residential area is being flatttened after it had attracted vandals and thieves. Rishton’s York Mill, most recently home of Eric Whalley’s packaging business EW Cartons, is to be demolished after the site became the target
Emma Pooley came face to face with an old sporting adage in the cycling time trial. A good big 'un nearly always beats a good little 'un. In Pooley's case it was a case of five big 'uns as the slightly-built 29-year-old from Wandsworth came
COUNTY councillor Michael Green braved the mud to join voluntary archaeologists at Accrington’s voyage into the past. The Plantation Mill area of Peel Park has been transformed into a hive of industry as local people work together to dig, survey
AN East Lancs gymnastics company has proved to be the springboard to Great Britain’s medal-winning dreams. Gymnova has provided the gymnastic equipment for the artistic and trampolining events in the North Greenwich Arena, formerly the O2, and
A BURNLEY College student will be pursuing her Olympic dream this summer after beating off competition from thousands of others. Natasha Howson, a travel and tourism student, has been selected as an Olympic Ambassador. The 18-year-old from
The four women's doubles pairs at the centre of a match-fixing scandal at the London 2012 badminton tournament have been disqualified. The top seeds from China, two pairs from South Korea and another from Indonesia deliberately conceded points
Friends and colleagues of Britain's first gold medallists of the 2012 Games have spoken of their pride in the Olympic champions. Helen Glover, 26, a former PE teacher from Penzance, Cornwall, had been rowing for only four years before storming
BLACKBURN-raised fashion designer Wayne Hemingway has been awarded an honorary degree. Wayne, co-founder of the Red or Dead brand, was granted the honorary doctor of arts from Leeds Metropolitan University in recognition of his contribution to
BUSINESSES say ‘road work chaos’ on main arteries in and around Darwen is halving trade. Since work to replace gas mains work began in the Lynwood area, traffic on the A666 has often been at a standstill with 10-minute journeys often taking an
As East Lancashire’s Muslim community observes Ramadhan, ANNA MANSELL spoke to a mum combining the challenges of day-to-day life with those of fasting for the religious celebration. FOR Aisha Hussain, life is busy enough at the best of times;
A LANDLADY has spoken of her shock when three masked men burst into her Burnley pub armed with a hammer and demanded money. Sue Thompson, the landlady of the Rose and Crown, was off duty in the Manchester Road pub, when her son came running downstairs
URBAN explorers armed with spray paint cans have transformed the former Huncoat Power Station into a graffiti paradise. Some of their work has been described by experts as ‘strong’ and ‘creative’, reclaiming a derelict building for art and the
Golden girls from either end of the UK brought home Britain's first gold medal of the Olympics today. Ecstatic flag-waving fans, who have been longing for Team GB to take their place at the top of the podium, saw Helen Glover and Heather Stanning
AN East Lancashire mum’s decades of agony have ended after she received a high-tech knee replacement. Michelle Siddle, 48, has osteomalacia, a rare condition which leaves the bones soft, and prone to pain and fractures. From the age of 16,
AN internal investigation by Royal Mail found there was ‘regular racist abuse’ at an East Lancashire sorting office for a number of years. Ex-postie Abdul Musa, from Burnley, has won an estimated six-figure payout after being tormented by racist
ROYAL Mail has been condemned over its treatment of a ‘whistle-blower’ who flagged up ‘endemic racism’ at an East Lancashire sorting office. Former postal worker Abdul Musa is believed to have walked away with a settlement of at least £100,000
Former British badminton star Gail Emms has called for the four women's pairs who last night apparently tried to throw matches to be disqualified from the Olympics. She also claimed the referee had been warned before the matches that something
A NEW supermarket in Darwen will ‘kill’ the town’s market, according to traders. Stall holders are preparing a protest against plans to build a food store on the Lucite site in Duckworth Street, as part of an £18million investment by the acrylics
A SECOND emergency meeting is being held by residents to discuss the swarms of flies plaguing Oswaldtwistle. Despite promises that rubbish dumped on the Nipa site by Blakeleys Waste would be removed today, a statement has appeared on Facebook claiming
BLACKBURN global advisor Shebby Singh insists there will be no ‘panic buys’ made in their search for more fire power – but Jordan Rhodes remains on Rovers’ radar ahead of the Championship campaign. Leon Best’s cruciate knee ligament injury has
THREE East Lancashire communities are among 18,700 homes and businesses in the county with faster broadband, BT announced yesterday. Hoghton, Earby and Turton now have next generation broadband service delivered over copper lines. The investment
CHORLEY teenager Emily Taylor has put herself in contention for honours at the English U18 Girls’ Golf Championship at Sandiway after a stunning opening round in difficult conditions. The 17-year-old is among 11 Lancashire girls competing at the
SAM Vokes reacquainted himself with the Claret and Blue of Burnley last night, as Eddie Howe’s side stretched their pre-season winning run. Hours after completing his move from Wolves the targetman came close to marking his second Clarets debut
THE United States team won the gold medal in the women’s artistic gymnastics final, their first title since the 1984 Los Angeles Games Russia, runners-up to the US at last year’s World Championships, finished second, with European champions Romania
STEPH Houghton continued her red-hot form in front of goal as Team GB beat Brazil 1-0 at Wembley last night to seal their third successive win of London 2012. Remarkably the left back has now scored in all three of the team’s wins and it was her
EDDIE Howe described the capture of Sam Vokes as the final piece in his attacking jigsaw, after the striker signed a three-year deal from Wolves. The 22-year-old, who spent two months on loan at Turf Moor last season, became Burnley’s fifth summer
SOME statistics don’t come as a great surprise. A few days ago we read about a school headteacher who was grabbed by the throat and headbutted in his office by a parent. The parent was described as ‘angry’ – as if that goes some way towards accounting
EMOTIONS were high as the sporting heroes of Hyndburn were honoured once again. The borough’s annual sports awards were held at Accrington and Rossendale College bringing together talented teams and individuals and those dedicated to helping others
NIAMH Robinson produced the swims of his life to cement her place among the best young swimmers in the country. The 12-year-old from Pioneer 79 Amateur Swimming Club took part in the National Age Group Championships in Sheffield – the most prestigious
A WROUGHT ironwork firm in East Lancashire which manufactured luxury gates for celebrities, Disneyworld, Hollywood and Liverpool FC, has gone into administration with the loss of 37 jobs. Brian Rourke & Co, based in Accrington Road, Burnley
A DRUNKEN teenager, who was waving a knife around to ‘scare’ a man he claimed had attacked him, was spared jail. Burnley Crown Court heard how Ashley Whowell, 18, went on the rampage with the garden tool, used for sawing bushes. Whowell was said
No cycling events again today, so a bit of sightseeing, a bit of watching other sports on television, and in the evening a reception at the Royal Opera House given by the British Olympic Association for delegations from around the world. Elsewhere
Hopes for Great Britain's first gold medal-winning performances of London 2012 are pinned on the cycling, rowing and swimming. Bradley Wiggins is aiming for his fourth Olympic gold when he takes part in the men's road cycling time trial, while
A MAN accused of child sex offences had his case committed for trial to Burnley Crown Court by the town’s magistrates. Joseph Thomas Swift, now 51, of Cutler Greens, Bacup, is charged with gross indecency with a girl and four counts of indecent
