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A n= A T


A GLANCE A man who was lu*ad of sports at Stouyhurst C’ol- k*gi* faros an indo- o u lit a s s a u l t charge against a teenage hoy.


page Hi


Sports reporter Matthew Evans travels to Wemb­ ley tor Sunday’s Char ity Shield between Black­ burn Rovers and M a n e li e s t e r United.


■ page 15 A former minister


ste]is out to raise £1,400 for local church renovation


fund.


A local man is rewarded for his wartime heroism.


paRC 1


How much are local government representatives cost in;[i you'.'


— —— page S Fascinating facts about the local economy.


■page !)


FO G G IT T ’S W E E K E N D


W E A TH E R :


Changeable condi­ tions! with sunny periods and show­ ery intervals.


L IG H T IN G UP T IM E : S-:i4 p.ni.


CALLUS News: 0200 22324 Advertising: 0200 22323 Classified: 0282 422331


0200 443467 Driving Rwandan message home


THE Kibble Valley men who arc driving home the plight o f Rwandan refu­ gees in an Austin Seven have completed the first leg o f their Scottish fund-raising tour.


Mr Alan Blea/.ard, of


Fairfield Drive, Clitheroe, rang the "Advertiser and Times” from a telephone box in the Scottish town of Ballater on Tuesday morning. Mr Blea/.ard and driving


companion Mr Boh Edwards,


of West Bradford Road, Wuddington, wanted to update readers about their


progress in the Austin 750 Scottish Trials, which they are undertaking in aid of the Rwandan relief effort.


The outpouring of support


from Kibble Valley residents has already enabled them to send a £1,000 cheque to the Tear Fund, the chosen char- itv of St James’s Church, Clitheroe, where the two men arc parishioners. It is hoped the fund-raising total will


ultimately reach the £1, mark. Mr Blea/.ard said the 1030


.500


Austin Seven Ruby was one of 10 Austin Sevens, dating from the 1020s and 1030s, taking part in the 870-milc tour of the Scottish Highlands.


The rally began on


Monday, when Mr Blea/.ard and Mr Edwards travelled more than 100 miles from Crieff to Ballater, near Balmoral, in Royal Deeside. On Tuesday, they were to continue through the


mountains, via Orantown-on-Spcy, to


Inverness. Before finishing the rally'


on Saturday, the pair will have visited Ullapool, the Isle of Skye and Fort William, among other Scottish beauty


spots. Anyone else who would like


to add their sponsorship to the Rwandan aid effort can


contact Mr Blea/.ard (Clitheroe 24273) or Mr Edwards (2(i(>25), who will be returning to the Ribble Valley on Sunday.


The Clitheroe


dvertiser and I imes rr\# ^ Th e paper that champions the Rlbble Valley cause Save £££s again Spotlight on our


on Tesco bill page 10


quality shops free supplement


Busy round for MP


fresh from Sri Lanka


LOCAL MP Nigel Evans will be putting democracy


into action by starting his mobile surgeries around the Ribble V a l ley — within hours of returning from a 13-day trip super­ vising elections in Sri Lanka. Mr Evans travelled to


Local drug alert Addict speaks out to save young lives


A CLITHEROE drug taker who says he has ruined his life through his addiction has spo­ ken out to warn local youngsters against ending up on a similar


path of no return. The young mail plucked


up the courage to come into our office to talk about the mess he has made of his life over the past 12 years. "I don’t think I will be


h e re a ft e r 1 5 , ” li e admitted. For him, he accepts


there is no escape from the evil which he regularly injects into his body. A recent spell in hospital has helped, but will not cure him of his addiction. He readily admits that he has wasted his life — a


-by the editor


THE “ Clitheroe Advertiser and Times" is a newspaper which avoids sensationalism like the plague.


But there are limes when shock


treatment of a news item which arrives in our office is called for and, we feel, this is one of them.


The adjacent story has been given


us hv an addict who had nothing to gain financially, hut showed cour­ age in speaking out to try to prevent others following him down a path of self-destruction from which, often.


life that has turned him to the lowest of crimes to feed his addiction — but feels now that if he can save at least one young person from a similar ordeal there will have been some small point to his tortured existence. He has set about this in


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Arrangements David Winter Cottages


56 King Street, Clitheroe


Telephoned 5 2 - 1 • i


two ways — by asking us to help stop young people experimenting with drugs and to give advice to par­ ents who might suspect their children are dabbling with dangerous drugs. The addict, who for his


own protection wishes only to be known as f’hi-


lip, has spoken to the “Advertiser and Times” in


an effort to spotlight the town’s burgeoning drug problem. Philip, acting coura­


geously but speaking ner­ vously to our reporter, recounted a litany of hor-


• ror caused by his addic­ tion, including the commit­ ting of crimes in order to


fund it and the piecemeal destruction of his health. Well-heeled Clitheroe


has a long-standing drug problem, claims Philip, who has been an estab­ lished addict for several years


there is no return. It is wrong for newspapers to sen­


sationalise for the sake ol it. Equallv, a newspaper which


shirks its duty to alert its commu­ nity about evil within its midst is not doing its duly and does not deserve the respect of its readers. We hope young people and their


parents will read our story carefully and make sure they do not fall vic­ tim to the cancer of drug-taking which is. slowly but surely, taking a fatal grip on society.


He commented: "People


try to hide it. They ignore what is happening. But you only have to walk round the Castle on a Fri­ day night. Everything from amphetamines to heroin is sold in Clitheroe. Y o u c a n e v e n b u y methadone." And the problem is get­


ting worse, lie warned, commenting: "During the past two years I have seen a sharp increase in the number of people using drugs and the amounts and types of drugs avail­


able in this town. The police and councillors


should be doing more." Philip said he recently realised the travesty of his


life and, in a moment of immense courage, bad decided to tell this news­ paper his story in an attempt to stop other youngsters falling by the wavside. He said: " I f only one


youngster reads this and is saved, then it has been worth it. 1 would like to say to these youngsters, drugs ruin your life, your health, your career pros­ pects, your social life, you name it. When you are a drug addict, you are


shunned. I f you want to die young, then try drugs. It’s as simple as that.” The yet more insidious


side to'dnig taking is the twilight and often violent world of crime that sur­ rounds it. Newspapers these days


seem to be full of drug- related horror stories, as


warring factions vie for control of Britain's city streets and the chance to peddle their destructive clandestine wares to great profit. P li i 1 i p c o m m e n ted:


"Drugs can lead you into crime in order to service your habit. 1 have picked up old men and taken them into public toilets in my time, supposedly to perform sexual acts for money, but instead I have had a friend waiting with a rounders bat and we have battered and robbed them. "1 have snatched hand­ bags and committed other


offences. Drugs attract crime. There arc people who would break my legs for what 1 am telling you." Philip has this advice for


Kibble Valley parents con- O continued on page Hi


tCpritabti p pH c e fo r OUR police are well aware that all forms of drugs are


available throughout tile county. Dot. Chief Insp. Trevor Taylor, of the drugs unit


at Lancashire Police headquarters, Hutton, said his officers' primary concern was slopping the traffick­ ers. The unit is involved with drug prevention, educa­


tion and demand reduction. In Clitheroe, Insp. Carol Kntwistle said the situa­


tion locally was much the same as in any town at the moment: there were drugs about. There was evi­


dence, she said, providing ample proof that some o those dabbling in soft drugs certainly went on to hard drugs. There was also evidence linking diug-t.ating


with crime. Told of used svringes found in the vicinity ot . . .


the railwav station (see below). Insp. Kntwistle said that the use of injected drugs certainly gave cause for


grave concern. "A lot of people are stealing to satisfy the habit, not ,


just in Clitheroe, but in most towns." she added, advising anv parent worried about drugs to contact their local police station, accepting that it might seem a drastic step, but commenting: "Sometimes it is the


best way to stop it." Used syringes near train station


USED syringes have been found in the vicinity of Clitheroe railway station. Ribb 1 e V a i le y Rail


chairman Mr Peter Moore has collected around 14 in the area over a period of


several months. Armed with a pair of


disposable gloves and spe­ cial container, he has removed the syringes, handing them in at Clith-


c-iue Health C en tre for destruction. His grim discovery


bears out details given by Philip to our reporter — that some users are now catching trains to Black­ burn to obtain their drugs. Although the area round the station is not as fre­ quented as the Castle grounds, he said it was still another problem zone. “These syringes could


be picked up by anyone," says Mr Moore. "It both­ ers me that young children could handle them, with the subsequent danger of


Aids.” Use of the v ic inity


round the station seems to go in cycles, he said, adding that as long as two years ago, one or two were picked up. “ It’s not a daily or even a weekly occurrence,” he added.


We get quite a lew, then


it goes quiet.” There is, of course, another extremely serious concern with regard to people using areas around stations for drug taking — the possibility of someone falling on to the line and tile consequential loss of life, not forgetting the traumatic impact on the


driver, should a train be due.


Sky’s the limit


THE sky is the limit for a sunflower which is shooting' towards the heavens in a Waddington


‘ Mr Mel Thompson and his wife, Margaret, ot Cross Lane, cannot believe their eyes every time they look out and find that their statuesque sunflower has grown another few inche.-


garden. At the last count, the giant specimen was


and still on tile move — about to reach the first- floor bedroom window without having even bloomed yet.


So large has the plant


become that their three- y e a r - o 1 d g rands o n, Gareth, of Clitheroe, refers to it as "Grandma’s tree," while Mrs Thomp­ son is considering felling tile sunflower and decorat­ ing the branches with bau­ bles for Christmas.


The coiqile, who own


Castle Cobblers, have never considered them­ selves particularly green­ fingered. Ill fact, the sun­ flower was picked out of some wild bird seed. Mrs Thompson exp­


lained: 'T started the sun­ flower in a pot in the greenhouse, then planted it out when it was about five inches high. It's never stopped .since. We don’t know how high it's going to go."


Dream comes true for ‘Cantona Kid’ ‘THE Cantona Kiel Hibbert to bring him back


by Matthew Evans o ' im Wolves manager George


finally niet up with his f,.onl France to take part, id ol w h e n N i k e His action attracted a Sportswear stepped in host of media attention, to set up a promotional but more^ personal than


ideo at Old Trafford. The “ Kid,” Valentin


Labonne (10), was the for­ mer exchange student from France who spent six months with primary


any of the hype was a good luck message from Eric Cantona, Manchester United’s French striker. An article in French


school pupil Thomas Woods and his family in ^ ........ West Bradford.


tX Z Jm J S R m into the national spotlight


when his Gallic flair helped the Clitheroe Wolves to


under 11s to reach the Accrington and Dist >ct u


eaci, Boys’ League Cup * m.u


against Huncoat United. Hibbert) the man who Valentin’ s stay in


1 B f S S K * * invited along, too.


magazine “ L ’ equipe” resulted in representa­ tives from Nike offering Valentin a chance to appear in a promotional


with some Nike products in French shops from September. Valentin returned to take part in a two-day


bei"H"Eiven uk(j part


ghoot with tl„. Rnccer star. A


ends


A C0Uple o friends nd aiu a)1 possible, were


jn a lWo-day nf


PICTURED at Old Trafford with idol Eric Cantona are, from the left: Valen­


tin Thomas Woods, Sarah Woods and John Paul Fagin, with Thomas Hibbert and his father, George, in the background


VS 13 Adults, children and infants sizes


available, various colours From


£15.75 HARRISONS W & E SUPPLIES Kendal Street, Chtheroe.Tel: 24360 PARK AT THE DOOR


the South Asian island with a party of six other MPs and e xp e r ts to observe the elections and make sure they are “free and fair.” The team is part of an international effort to ensure the poll is con­ ducted properly and the result accepted. Since the Tamil Tigers


launched a campaign for a separate state, Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, has been plagued with terrorism and faction fighting. Mr Evans has p re ­


viously worked as a volun­ teer in American elections and been to Malawi during an election. After arriving home on


Sunday, Mr Evans will be commencing his mobile


Parliamentary surgery. The first will begin at 9-30 a.m. on Monday in Lon- gridge Conservative Club, fo l low ed by Know 1 e Green, Ribchester, Hurst Green, Whatley, Billington and Wilpshire. On Tuesday, he will


visit Waddington, West Bradford, Grindleton, Sawley, Gisburn, Payth- orne, Rimington and Downham, travelling on Wednesday from Rams- greave to Langho and the Sabden area. Next Thursday and Fri­


day, he will be travelling to Wiswell, Dunsop Bridge and Grimsargh.


Royal approval


MEMBERS of the Ribble Valley branch of the Derian House Children’s Hospice Appeal have been- celebrating the arrival of a very special letter from the Princess of Wales. Her Royal Highness


would have been making a v is it to the Chorley hospice this year, but unfortunately it had to be cancelled. She lias, however, sent Derian House a substan­


tial donation, the second one in fact, along with her very best wishes.


THURSDAY, AUGUST 18th, 1994 No. 5,641 37p


S A L ENOW ON Tel: 22562


FRED READ & CO 30 Castle St, Clitheroe OPEN 6 DAYS


JtL, A-.U


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