8 Clitlieroc Advertiser & Times, June 21st, 1990


SQUASH CLUB & fitness centre


CLITHEROE


There's plenty to do at Clitheroe Squash Club even if squash is not your game. We can offer members:


— Superb 16 station fitness room and free advice


— Very popular aerobics classes, now increased to four a week (non-members welcome)


— Light refreshments available all day — Sunbed — Free Sauna.


— We have just introduced SPECIAL SUMMER SUBSCRIPTION RATES, with a further reduction for 'Non-squash' Mem­ bers — We are open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. SEVEN DAYS A WEEK so ring us on 26887 or call in any time for further details


Across Cricket Ground off Chatburn Road, Clitheroe


uri HEALTH -SCREENING


★ For individuals or


companies our rates for health screening examinations are unrivalled.


★ Comprehensive check on weight,


sight, hearing, blood pressure, heart, chest, lungs and functioning of vital


organs. Also, womens examinations


including breast'and cervical screening.


★ Company •package* deals


tailored to individual needs including pre­


employment medical examination.


★ No waiting


involved and fully confidential service.


Phone Gisburn f 0200 445 693


Gisburmc


SOTHEBY’S Free


FOUNDED 1711 Saleroom Valuations


E d i t ADVICE ON SEI.I.INO I’AINTINUS, SILVER, FURNITURE, CERAMICS,


WORKS OF ART, COLLECTORS’ H EMS OR JEWEI .1 .FRY AT Al '( U K >N, I’LKASE CONTACT:


S u sa n Y< >kke, T i .l f i ' I io n e : (0200) '11520.


Our p r iv a te hospital and rehabilitation c e n t r e h a s y e a r s o f unrivalled s u c c e s s in t re a t in g alcohol d e p e n d e n ts — th e v a s t ma jor ity a ro still ab s ta in e r s .


For help an d details o f ou r fully confidential t r e a tm e n t program me simply ph o n e Gisburn


or further details Park


PRIVATE HOSPITAL L ftFIIAIlll.lTAfluN (T.Vntf,


Letters to the Editor


A wretched sight after acid house party ‘invasion’


DO you remember when th e floor of Crosshill Quarry was a fine, close tu r f and studded with flowers — thyme, bird’s foot trefoil, the occasional bee orchid and felwort in autumn? It was one of the best


fragments of limestone grassland in the area, a treasure for local botanists and enjoyed by everyone who walked there.


last week, after Sunday's acid house invasion finally reduced the only flat space to beaten, bare earth, with dozens of new fire sites and piles of rubbish. How ironic, too, that this hap­ pened only days after Cross Hill (as it appears on maps) and Salthill became official Local Nature Reserves, leased by the Ribble Valley I’or- ough Council to the county naturalists’ trust, the Lan­ cashire Trust for Nature Conservation (LTNC). A f te r more than 18 months’ negotiation, the ink was barely dry on the lease!


What a wretched sight


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to provide some manage­ ment funding and LTNC, through a local committee, will manage the areas for wildlife and amenity use. As the newly-appointed reserve manager (it Clitli- eronian who has returned after 25 years away, work­ ing as a botanist), I shared


The borough council is


the hopes of local natural- Scrub invasion is por- ists that Crosshills, espe- fectly normal, a stage of cially the quarry, could be restored to something like its former glory.


I say “ r e s to r e d ” because, even before the acid house party, Crosshill Quarry was in a sorry state. There were several burnt patches where fires had been lit, awful bare tracks, mostly from motor bikes and cycles, scarring the far end and, above all, hawthorn scrub growing up everywhere.


natural succession from grassland to woodland that occurs whenever open grassland is not grazed or mown. If rabbit popula­ tions build up sufficiently between bouts of myxoma­ tosis, they prevent new shrubs from establishing — but they cannot get rid of older shrubs. So “scrub bashing” by hand is the only solution. Last year, the Ribble


V a 11 e y Conservation Group made a start and


cleared much of the flat area at Crosshill Quarry. The intention was to con­ centrate on extending this clearance and leave res­ toration of the more dis­ turbed areas — tracks and fire sites — until later. A small amount of distur­ bance is no bad thing, because it allows flower seedlings to become estab­ lished, but disturbance and trampling on the scale I saw last week is not tolerable. So what is to be done?


Fencing off the whole of


NO DRUGS ABOUT — SO ‘LET’S JUST CALL IT A PARTY’


rest, no drug-related arrests were made and no drugs were seen to be sold or used, so let’s just call what happened a party. A party in the middle of


police say “acid craze,” p e o ]> I e (m y m o t h e r included!) automatically associate it with the hallu­ cinatory drug LSD. To put parents’ minds at


a disused quarry, where •1(10 young people danced until dawn, not causing anyone any problems, least of all the police. So


I WRITE to you in response to the article in the “Advertiser and Times” dated June 7th and headed “Help us squash acid craze — police appeal.” I assume when the


kinson, of Clitheroe Police, was quoted as saying: “These parties have many potential dangers for peo­ ple attending them." Let’s say, then, a fire


what was all the fuss about? Chief Ins]). Derek Wil­


broke out. Would Chief Insp. Wilkinson rather be in a club with only a couple of fire exits with 500-plus panic-stricken people crushing for the exits — or in the middle of a quarry, where he is able to calmly walk away?


Dover’s article, I got the feeling that the police had halted the party. Okay, so they did — nearly eight hours after it had begun and when everybody had started to leave anyhow. They sent everyone


From reading John the far (north eastern) end m u r R R js a management technique


h'ilS .‘,us S i X lT.'; called “Management by Objectives" drastic and unsightly (MRO) would be a moratorium on '


lighting fires and biking — J u d g i n g b y th e


if only it could be made to work and always assuming that there are no further mass invasions. For those who want to


about bikes? Your views are needed; after all, this is a local nature reserve and the aim is to manage it for wildlife and for the benefit of local people.


DR IRENE RIDGE, Reserve Manager, Crosshill and Snllhill Local Nature Reserve, Smallcv’s Farm, Whallcy Old Road, Hillington.


Silent army of carers


away at around (i to 7 a.m., when they arrived for their second visit of the night. 1 say second, because at


around 2-45 a.m. three Clitheroe policemen came down to the party and took a look around, asked a few <|uestions and promptly left. Some young lads arriv­


ALTHOUGH Mr Joynson (“Who will care for the less fortunate?” June 7th), wa s a d d r e s s i n g his thoughts at politicians and the professional carers, may I respectfully remind him and others that there is an enormous group of people who, working in a voluntary capacity, help those in need. These helpers are a very


their eyes and take a close look at what is going on — dancing to music is not a craze. People have been dancing to it for hundreds of years. Why try and stop it now? Is it the style of dress or the music? Maybe dancing to a


ing half-an-hour later explained how they had seen three policemen while they themselves were blundering about in the darkness of Brungerley — the kind officers promptly directed them in the direction of Cross-hills! The police need to open


going to stop, so should they be legalised? If they are not, it still won’t deter us, because the Clitheroe ravers of the night will unite and join me every weekend in my journey to party freedom land. So, DJs everywhere, prepare to get us at it.


MICHAEL Clitheroe.


HALL,


heavy bass line wearing flares isn’t a lot of people's idea of fun — but it cer­ tainly appeals to the 10,000 people who turn out over East Lancashire every Saturday searching for a rave. The parties are not


have campfires and pic­ nics, there is a less deli­ cate open area that could be used; it is situated, on the right, further along the bottom path. Would people use this if we put up direction signs? And what can be done


muddled decisions and thinking exhibited over recent years by the borough council, it has never heard of


such a technique. Short of any jargon,


MBO simply means that aims and objectives should be clearly stated. Manage­ rial decisions should then be taken with a view to their achievement. Three plans for the auc­


Clear case of sour grapes


I READ with great interest the reports of the meeting called by Millard Properties Ltd. It came over as a clea r case of sour grapes.


tion mart site have been displayed and the public has been asked to com­ ment. What is missing is any clear-cut statement by the council of what, pre­ cisely, they are trying to achieve. Given this information the public would be ena­


objectives themselves were worthwhile. b. Measure the effec­


bled to: a. Evaluate whether the


tiveness of the alternative p l a n s a g a i n s t


important group who very quietly get on and do what is needed, without any fuss or attention seeking. I hope, in new plans result­ ing from the new Act, that the professional carers will remember and wish to continue working with this silent army. Obviously, I have a con­


plans, my personal belief is that none of them really achievesworthwhile objec­ tives, and that those peo­ ple now advocating an extension of the present market, with the retention of ]iarking facilities as at present, are correct, which must mean that the council is demonstrably wrong (again). Perhaps someone would


objectives. Having studied the


t h e


clarify the aims before a decision is actually made. G i v e n t h e v i e w s


expressed so far, to regard the three plans as the only a l t e r n a t i v e s w o u l d obviously be idiotic.


nection with one such group, namely the WRVS, whose work in the Ribble Valley is presently con­ cerned with the elderly. However, the role of the WRVS is not confined solely to meeting their needs and if anyone feels that there are unmet n e e d s i n a n y o t h e r direction I would be interested to hear from them.


MRS S. BAKER, 6 Southfield Drive, .West Bradford.


PRO BONO, Clitheroe.


WOULD you please convey our most sincere thanks to


all your readers who helped or contributed to th e B r i t ish S a i lo r s ’ Society’s recent house-to- house collection in Clith-


-eroe. The total raised, £971.15, represents a mag­ nificent effort. It will help to provide services to our


needed locally FEW people in Waddington seem to be aware of the public inquiry held in the village week.


Open government List


attendance of one of Her Majesty’s inspectors, a


As it necessitated the


indicates that I may be either a blue-coloured fairy (a colour that he seems, for one reason or another, to dislike) or a person taken to fictitious witterings.


MAY I, through your esteemed paper, reply to Mr Pickup’s letter and also apologise for the lateness of reply, which is due to my overseas commitments. In his letter Mr Pickup


True-blue remark not used politically


or bad. May I, though, offer a


Fluciuating farm incomes, financing machinery and th e Single Market.


These are just some o f the range o f issues facing farmers in the local area. So it's likely that you, as a local farmer, may need support. Perhaps you want financial guidance on how to improve your farm


business? Or finance for equipment, stock or land to make it more successful? Whatever your particular requirements, contact one of the many NatWest Hank Managers in your region. You can ask for a free copy o f our Farmers File and also arrange a meeting. Our Managers have been deal ing wi th farmers for


years. And you can he sure that your business will receive individual a t ten t io n . So give your nearest branch Manager a ring ami lie’ll come and see you. Anti endeavour to make your profits grow.


Emm Irf t to right your local NatWrsi Hank Manager* are: Geoff Bali (I. 1


0772 58276) T u iA H v l l jm i ( tu i» u n [ l l r jm l i 09052 S120. O jv i. l M j lu l l (Lunitr idgr Branch 0772 782-H2). .7-. W7fi, r i ,7 7 IK:,u,jm l!,jni1' 0772 M- ,i>7’" s«»» NatWest’


ACT I O N BANK


iw h 0 2 0 0 2 5 1 2 0 : M,ic a,..i,™ B «„ch


witterings or fairy tales then he will see that I actually condemned the RVBC and LCC in their entirety and did not single out any party, which I am sorry to say he does with­ out fail, regardless of whether it is a good policy for the community as a whole, as well as moaning about the 32 Tory mem­ bers at the RVBC being in charge. May I ask the good Mr Pickup who voted them into power? Mr Pickup condemns my figures but fails to enhance his own witterings on where, in fact, did the Nortli Sea oil revenue go. But, of course, he may not be able to see more than a few feet past his red-rose banner (an emblem of Lancashire that was used without our permission) and come up with facts on how it was spent for good


last two correspondences though the Government he could have saved his pen and paper for a much more worthwhile subject. If Mr Pickup ever gets to Australia he will hear the phrase “A true-blue Aus­ sie” which everyone in Australia knows indicates a true-born Aussie (oh, by the way, they have had a Labour government for years) and has nothing to do with politics. Also my pas t correspondence stated quite plainly that these were my own figures that I quoted and there­ fore could not be relied upon as being fact. But I am afraid Mr Pickup seems only capable of reading the parts that he may (he hopes) make polit­ ical gains from. If he cares to digest my


If he cares to reread my £137m increase) even


that all price and wage increases for the year were more than covered in the 10% allotted for each section, but the LCC thinks otherwise. If we take the £37m out of the budget this would give (based on 860,000 poll tax payers) a saving of £43, yes £43, per person on the LCC precept alone which would still give LCC over­ spending on last year’s budget by £100m, which is a 14.5% increase by anyone’s reckoning. As I said, who is kidding whom? I know that Mr Pickup


will rush to put pen to paper again to condemn my fairy-blue tales but I feel that this letter must, for the time being, be my last on the subject (unless the editor feels that future correspondence is in the public interest).


MR R. J. M. LOEBELL, Yanbu-Alsinaiyah, Saudi Arabia.


few facts on the LCC expenditure for 90-91, taken from its budget leaflet. LCC has increased its spending by 19.5% ( a


down the columns of expenditure and income one will find most sections have a 10% increase on last year’s budget, but one gets a rude awakening when we reach “other ser­ vices” — i.e. fire, library, waste disposal etc., which warrants a massive 45% — £l(im increase. When we look at the “inflation pro­ vision” for wage and price increases then we have another shock — a 60% £21m increase. One would have thought


told it that a 7.5% increase would be more than ade­ quate to finance services. If one cares to look


solicitor representing the county council, the solici­


tor’s assistant — he was needed to pass round the attendance sheet — and the county council’s spokesman on rights of way, one might reasonably have assumed that the case was one of consider­ able importance. Although involved, how­


ever, the parish council, because of holidays and other engagements, was thinly represented. In the event, the matter


jumped the gun by buying Turner’s shop with the intention of knocking it down.


th is company had assumed that it would lie the only contender in this development tind it appears that it


It would appear that


ments that the town will die without the multi-nationals, it appears th a t they must go about with their eyes closed. We


Hardy Willis and Woolworlh (Black­ burn has not got one!) — who else do we want? Mothcrcurc or C & A perhaps?


have Boots, Tesco, I c e l a n d , F r e e m a n


redevelopment of the mart site and would prefer the market to be expanded, leaving the rest of the site to h e r e t a i n e d f o r parking.


I am opposed to


R. TOWNSON, Felimonger’s Cottage, Shawbridgc Street, Clitheroe.


Thanks for your help


seafarers throughout the world.


M. S. BRENNAN, Crnighton House, Rcdcar, Cleveland.


Why h id e b e h in d a n


Worston Road was pushed for by the parish council at the request of parishioners who were fed up with speeding heavy lorries travelling through the vil­ lage at all hours. After a public inquiry it w a s d e c i d e d by th e


ceeded, it was revealed that the issue to be deter­ mined — whether the path was a public right of way or not — was first raised in 1984. Although the owners of the land over which the path runs had pressed for a settlement and were even prepared to allow the parish council to take over the footpath, it chose to do nothing beyond referring the ques­ tion to the county council — whose intervention led to the public inquiry. At length, both councils,


to be settled proved to concern a footpath of some 50 feet, a matter, more­ over, which the parish council readily admitted could have been settled “out of court.” As the hearing pro­


realising the folly of their policy and seriousness of its consequences, made frantic but unavailing efforts to have the inquiry postponed or withdrawn. We now await the


censored the local televi­ sion programme. Could we, in future, have more open govern­


ment at parish council level?. Clearly, change is needed.


18 Waddow Grove, Waddington.


M. BRIDGE, some


ago, when we were treated to a mini-round­ about near the Higher Buck Inn should have deterred our council from this last escapade. No wonder it excludes the public from its debates whenever possible and


clear: public money has been squandered. Much distress has also been caused by the failure to exercise a little common sense. The fiasco of a few years


inspector’s decision. One thing is abundantly


Government inspector that no weight restriction would be granted through Chatburn until Worston Road was improved, as is now happening.


will attend future public meetings and speak to the council, instead of making wild statements and hiding behind a nom-de-plume.


P. A. WHITTAKER, 21 Downham Road, Chatburn.


Tree felling


monstrous THE proposal to fell splendid mature trees in order to straighten a bend on the A585 Worston- Chatburn Road is quite monstrous.


some official happened on plans made some seven years ago and before the new road with its re­


It would appear that


to use a little-used lane when there is already a much-used wide road spe­ cifically constructed for use by heavy commercial traffic.


comment throughout the country. MRS S T E PH A N IE


Woodfield View, Whalley.


another example of incom­ petent bureaucracy: a was te of money and destruction of the environ­ ment — things which are a permanent course of angry


H ere we have yet


cently-constructed round­ about was contemplated. It is totally unnecessary


long consultation between landowners and county and parish councils. The parish council is assured by experts that many of the trees to be felled are past their best and, on completion, new trees to replace felled trees will be planted. Perhaps “Sinceretas”


This is being done after


attended one annual public parish meeting in Chat- burn since 1976? If he had, he would be under no illu­ sions and would not jump to in ep t conclusions through not knowing the entire facts; indeed, per­ haps he does not know any facts at all. The scheme to improve


a l ia s? WHY does “Sinceretas” need to write under a nom-de-plume? H a s “ S i n c e r e t a s ”


As regards the com­


Clitheroe 22321,


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